COVID-19 Policy Update #293
COVID-19 Policy Update
MONDAY 7/12
Hope everyone had a good weekend. Bentley and Teddy beat the heat in DC with a swim while my strategy involved a glass of Hofgut Falkenstein Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Auslese which coincidentally pairs well with tonight's update.
TOP THREE
Reopening Schools Cannot Wait: Joint statement by UNICEF and UNESCO
"In their efforts to limit transmission, governments have too often shut down schools and kept them closed for prolonged periods, even when the epidemiological situation didn’t warrant it."
"These actions were frequently taken as a first recourse rather than a last measure. In many cases, schools were closed while bars and restaurants remained open."
"The losses that children and young people will incur from not being in school may never be recouped. From learning loss, mental distress, exposure to violence and abuse, to missed school-based meals and vaccinations or reduced development of social skills, the consequences for children will be felt in their academic achievement and societal engagement as well as physical and mental health."
Vaccine Competition: The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) announced the “I Got Vaxxed Competition”
"One high school, one middle school and one elementary school will earn $5,000 for having the highest percentage of eligible persons vaccinated."
"The WVDE will award those schools $5,000 for student activities during the 2021-22 school year. The winners of this challenge will be announced the week of October 3, 2021."
Masks and Schools: Via Axios:
"About half of the states don't plan to enforce mask policies in schools, according to a mask policy tracker by Burbio."
"Within the past two weeks, eight states have rolled back their mask mandates for schools and left local districts to decide, while another eight states have banned districts from enforcing masks altogether."
FEDERAL
ED: Applications open for Innovative Approaches to Literacy Program.
House Appropriations Committee: Fiscal Year 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Funding Bill which provides:
$253.8 billion for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, an increase of $55.2 billion (28%) above FY 2021.
$14.7 billion for the U.S. Department of Labor, an increase of $2.2 billion above FY 2021 levels.
$102.8 billion for ED, an increase of $29.3 billion above FY 2021 levels.
$36 billion for Title I
$100 million for a program to reduce racial and socioeconomic segregation across and within local educational agencies (LEAs).
Mental Health Services Grants: provides $500 million for Mental Health Services Professional Demonstration Grants. Second, the bill provides $500 million for School-Based Mental Health Services Grants.
$100 million for competitive grants to LEAs to carry out evidence-based middle and high school career and technical education innovation programs.
$112 million through the Education Innovation and Research Program;
$90 million the SEED Program, with a priority for professional development on implementing SEL strategies.
Reconciliation Package: Key negotiators expect the Senate Budget Committee to settle on a roughly $3.5 trillion reconciliation package as the starting point for a Democrat-only bill for ‘soft’ infrastructure”
“That total is well below the $6 trillion that Sen. Bernie Sanders — the Vermont independent who leads the committee — had initially proposed. Adopting it would be a blow to his fellow progressives."
Child Tax Credit: Via Tax Foundation "Unanswered Questions about Upcoming Advance Child Tax Credit Payments". Among the questions:
"If the advance monthly payments a taxpayer receives exceed the amount of Child Tax Credit they are eligible for, they may need to repay the excess when they file their taxes next year. The American Rescue Plan did allow for a safe harbor “repayment protection” for certain taxpayers."
"For example, suppose the IRS calculated advanced payments for a joint filer with $40,000 in income based on their previous tax return that correctly claimed three qualifying children, but when they file taxes next year, they will only claim two children. In that case, the filer would receive $2,000 in repayment protection for their one excess qualifying child. The repayment protection phases out for taxpayers with income above the specified thresholds."
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Johnson & Johnson: FDA includes a warning of a rare nerve syndrome with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Federal regulators concluded that the risk of developing the syndrome was low, and that the benefits of the vaccine still strongly outweigh it.
Text here.
Israel Offers Third Shot of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine to Adults at Risk: Via Reuters
Deaths in Children and Young People in England following SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Study
3,105 children died from all causes during the first pandemic year in England. 61 of these deaths occurred in children who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. 25 children died of SARS-CoV-2 infection; 22 from acute infection
Evidence Suggests There Was No Benefit to Ontario Closing its Schools: Two economists via the Toronto Star:
"By comparing the experience of Ontario with that of other provinces it is now clear that provinces that kept schools open longer had outcomes that were no worse and, in many cases, better."
Government Oversight of Covid Air Cleaners Leaves Gaping Holes: Via KHN
In-person Voting Really Did Accelerate Covid-19’s Spread in America: An analysis from the Economist
"Suppose that people who would not have been infected otherwise did catch the virus at polling places. If so, then covid-19 cases in the counties with the most in-person voting in a state should either have risen unusually quickly or declined unusually slowly after the election."
"The data display just such a pattern. From mid-October to early November, covid-19 cases in counties with their states’ highest in-person turnout fluctuated similarly to those in areas with the lowest in-person voting rates. But a week after the election, positive tests became more common in places with the most in-person turnout on election day. The gap was biggest after 20-25 days, shortly after official data would include people infected by people who caught the virus while voting."
Most Unvaccinated People Have Low Incomes: Via Axios:
How Effective Are Coronavirus Vaccines Against Delta Variant? Helpful visualization from the FT
STATE
California:
California to require masks in schools regardless of vaccination status, despite CDC Guidance
San Diego State’s School of Public Health will distribute 6,000 home testing kits for COVID-19 at a San Diego County middle school as part of a pilot program.
Louisiana: A Louisiana school board is paying $165,000 to settle lawsuits by parents of two children suspended for holding BB guns during online classes.
Michigan: Detroit students return to summer school despite backlash from some teachers.
"Those educators are demanding virtual instruction through the fall, concerned about Detroit's low COVID-19 vaccination rates."
New York: De Blasio to keep masks in schools despite CDC guidelines
"Mayor: Yeah, I will start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Look, we've been constantly working with the CDC, but we also, in this case have been very careful given everything the city has been through. So, I'm absolutely confident based on this guidance and everything else we've seen that we'll be able to get all our kids back into school in September, but for now sticking with the idea that, you know, wearing the masks is a smart thing to do in schools. We'll keep assessing as we go along. But I think for now it still makes sense."
"Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Not much to add to what you've said. What I will say is that the CDC guidance mirrors the layered approach to prevention of COVID-19 that has worked in our schools thus far. And the key in that layered approach is to use all the tools that we have in our toolbox, and so we're going to be reviewing the new guidance carefully, discussing it with our colleagues at the Department of Education, and coming out with additional information for parents and students in the weeks ahead."
Tennessee: Enrollment open for Washington County Schools ‘Tennessee Virtual Learning Academy’
Wisconsin: Janesville schools will offer a program to middle and high schoolers where students will take some classes in-person and some at the virtual academy.
INTERNATIONAL
Africa: In a new paper, researchers looked at how much learning loss might be experienced in Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania and Uganda as a result of school closures in the pandemic.
"Our model suggests there could be up to a year’s worth of learning loss in the short run. Our estimates suggest learning losses will be distributed unequally, with students who started at lower learning levels falling the farthest behind."
"Our review of the literature identified two strategies which could help to mitigate learning losses and improve learning even beyond pre-COVID-19 levels. This review builds on a growing evidence base of interventions that have worked at scale in low- and middle-income countries to improve basic numeracy and literacy skills."
"The first strategy is to target instruction to a child’s learning level. This can be achieved at little cost by testing the child’s knowledge during the learning process – known as formative assessment – and a menu of activities tailored to each child’s level. This has more potential than teaching prescriptive one-size-fits-all syllabi."
"The second strategy is to introduce structured pedagogy programmes, which combine structured lesson plans, teacher coaching and instructional support. Many teachers in the status quo are often left to fend for themselves and write their own daily lesson plans. By providing some structure and ongoing support, big learning gains are possible."
South Africa: School dropouts increased drastically during lockdown.
"Between 650,000 and 750,000 children aged seven to 17 were not attending school as of May this year, compared to the 400,000 to 500,000 figure from before the national lockdown."
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Stimulus: Good piece at the Washington Post examining the economic forecasts of the $5.2 trillion in stimulus.
Policy Hackers: The application to join the second cohort of the Lincoln Network's Policy Hackers is July 18. "10 tech professionals from around the country passionate about helping bridge the gap between innovation and policy."
US Digital Response: Have hired ARP Sprint Leads and have met with 30 city, state, and federal teams to understand their priorities and needs (ranging from safety in public spaces, to universal basic income and education).
Health team launched an open source appointment availability API that unifies vaccine appointment sources at scale and in real-time.
Rural Broadband Investments Promote an Inclusive Economy: Via CAP
Despite Positive Experiences, Students Question Value of College: Third Way and New America survey.
When asked what they would prefer for this upcoming year, more students said "fully online" (33%) than "fully in-person" (26%) with the largest percentage saying "hybrid" (38%).
Agreement with the statement "Higher ed is not worth the cost to students anymore" has jumped significantly over the past three iterations of the survey from August 2020 (49%) to December 2020 (57%) to May of 2021 (65%).
RESOURCES
Back to School Spending: Deloitte's Back-to-School report. (Survey results here)
Overall back-to-school spending is expected to increase by 16% year-over-year to $32.5 billion for K-12 students
Parents plan to spend an average of $612 on average per child.
Remote learning has catalyzed sales growth in electronics. Among survey respondents, 31% said they plan to buy computers and hardware, up from 22% in 2020. Plus, 37% anticipate purchasing electronic gadgets, compared to 24% in 2020.
When School Is Voluntary: Via NYT's David Leonhardt:
“Covid-19 is undermining the idea of universal schooling… Recent polls suggest that as many as one quarter of parents plan to keep their children home. The families who choose to do so will span every demographic group, but they are likely to be disproportionately lower-income, Black and Latino.”
Remote Learning and School Reopenings: What Worked and What Didn’t: Analysis from CAP.
"E Proctoring": A coalition of 19 advocacy groups are urging school administrators to ban the use of "eproctoring" apps over concerns that the systems are invasive and violate privacy protections.
"Software that uses AI-powered systems to monitor students as they take tests, often through required webcam recordings and facial recognition technology, is known as eproctoring."
Kids and the Delta Variant: Should You Act Differently?: Va Emily Oster
"I think we are sometimes falling victim to the idea that this should cause us to completely re-evaluate everything. But you did so much work to make these decisions before! Do not throw it away!"
"Instead, we want to simply ask whether this should change what we do. The value of this frame is that it really narrows what we need to know."
'The group aged 2 to 11 is perhaps the most relevant here, and the rates are low and flat even though there has been unmasked in person school during this period. This should be reassuring."
"When it comes to kids, though, the data doesn’t point to anything that would look like alarming increases in hospitalization rates in recent weeks."
"The bottom line is there is nothing in the data that we have so far which suggests the variant is more serious for kids. The situation is murky enough that it is hard to rule out the idea that it might be *slightly* more serious (partly, the risks are so low that you’d need a huge amount of data to figure this out). It also might be slightly less serious. But: the fact remains that the risks of serious illness for kids remain really, really low."
Excitable Dog: Celebrates England's Soccer Victory