COVID-19 Policy Update #296
COVID-19 Policy Update
THURSDAY 7/15
TOP THREE
Well-being Gap Between Remote, In-person High School Learning: New study.
"The researchers had given a 10-question Character Lab Student Thriving Index survey to 6,576 high schoolers enrolled at Orange County public schools in Florida."
"High school students taking remote classes had lower social, emotional, and academic well-being survey scores compared with high schoolers who attended in person during the pandemic."
"The thriving gap was consistent across gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status--and even small effects are noteworthy when they impact millions of individuals."
"On a 100-point scale, in-person students were rated higher than remote students on levels of social well-being (77.2 versus 74.8), emotional well-being (57.4 versus 55.7), and academic well-being (78.4 versus 77.3)."
Child Tax Credit: White House Fact Sheet
The Department of Treasury estimates that $15 billion were distributed today to tens of millions of working families with 60 million children.
For the 86% of families using direct deposit, they will receive their child payment today, July 15th, and the 15th of every month for the rest of 2021.
The American Rescue Plan is providing the largest-ever Child Tax Credit – increasing from $2,000 per child to $3,000 for each child between the ages of 6 and 17, and to $3,600 for each child under the age of 6.
The White House launched ChildTaxCredit.gov – a one-stop-shop in English and Spanish for user-friendly information on the Child Tax Credit, including a step-by-step guide to using the non-filer portal in multiple languages.
Via The Atlantic: "But an estimated 4 million to 8 million eligible children are at risk of missing out, because their parents or guardians do not need to file taxes or are not filing taxes—and because they might not even know the complicated, obscure-sounding, and scarcely advertised policy exists."
FCC: The Benton Institute on the Emergency Broadband Benefit
Enrolled just 1 in 12 eligible households, but places with low broadband adoption rates show better results
3 million households have signed up for the new program
Top Ten Places:
COVID-19 RESEARCH
CDC's ACIP Committee: Agenda for July 22 includes third booster shots for immunocompromised.
Heart Problems in Children with COVID-19 Resolve Within Months: According to a new study.
What the New CDC Guidance for Schools Means For Children: Via CNN
Minority Health Social Vulnerability Index (SVI): CDC and the HHS Office of Minority Health developed the Minority Health Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to enhance existing resources to support the identification of racial and ethnic minority communities at the greatest risk for disproportionate impact and adverse outcomes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why Won’t Americans Get Vaccinated?: Via Economist/YouGov
90% of those who reject vaccination fear possible side effects from the vaccine more than they fear COVID-19 itself.
Only 16% of them believe most of the new cases of COVID-19 are occurring among the unvaccinated.
While more than one in four of those fully vaccinated believe the dangers of COVID-19 were exaggerated for political reasons, three times as many vaccine rejectors say that is the case.
The crosstabs are full of other data too including:
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling education? 42% approve / 27% disapprove / 21% no opinion.
Which of do you think is a greater risk: possibly contracting COVID-19, or possibly having a bad reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine?
Covid: Biden voters 81% / Trump voters 41%
Bad reaction to vaccine: Biden voters 19% / Trump voters 60%
The Next Covid-19 Battle Will Be About Vaccinating Kids: Via Wired
“We should not simply recommend the vaccine for children because it's available for older age groups,” says Walter A. Orenstein, a physician and director of vaccine policy and development at Emory University, who previously led immunization programs at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the CDC. “We need to determine what the optimal doses are and look at what the safety factors are, so that the FDA has a reasonable data set upon which to make a judgment.”
“If you want to get vaccines out to a population, the most practical way to do that is through pediatric immunization,” says Ofer Levy, a pediatric infectious disease clinician and director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, and also a temporary voting member of VRBPAC
STATE
Arizona: Arizona's first online school for students with autism opening
Michigan: Ypsilanti Community Schools K-8 virtual school to continue next year.
Ohio: Toledo Public Schools will offer an online learning option next year.
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State System merges six universities into two with unanimous vote
Texas: Richardson ISD will not offer a virtual academy option due to lack of state funding
Virginia: Schools need ways to check students, teachers are vaccinated, says Karl Loos, President of the Lynchburg Education Association
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Digital Divide: National Association of County Officials Broadband Task Force: High-Speed Internet Is Essential For All Counties that included the following themes:
Defining a modern "minimum standard" of broadband
Implementing smart "Dig Once" policies and practices including "rights of way" as public assets
Testing and deploying fiber, cellular, satellite and other technologies
Focusing on local community engagement and partnerships
Tackling the "Homework Gap"
Removing bans on municipal broadband
Establishing a national grants/loans clearinghouse
Regulating broadband as a utility
Committing to world-leading broadband data and mapping analytics
Overdose Deaths: Visualization of overdose deaths by state.
RESOURCES
The National School Boards Association (NSBA): Announced that Chief Advocacy Officer Chip Slaven has assumed leadership of NSBA as interim Executive Director and CEO.
Why Black Families Have Found Some Benefits in Distance Learning: Via Hechinger
COVID Testing: Under-resourced schools are about half as likely to implement regular COVID-19 testing this fall, according to a nationally representative survey of 200 administrators and principals conducted in June by Thermo Fisher Scientific.
New Virtual Offering: Environmental advocate and author Suzy Amis Cameron, and noted filmmaker and explorer James Cameron announce a partnership with public school districts with their online learning platform, MUSE Virtual.
Teacher Survey: From EdChoice/Morning Consult: Quarterly report / Briefing / Cross tabs with 251 pages of data!
Teachers continue to be more likely to think the vaccine should be mandatory for themselves than for students
Three-fourths of teachers have already been vaccinated. Teachers are also more likely than school parents to already have their children vaccinated.
Nearly all teachers are comfortable returning to school in-person right now.
Private and Charter School Teachers are about twice as likely as District Teachers to say their students progressed very well last school year.
Is There Something Worse Than COVID?: This might be a candidate for consideration.
Are The Kids OK? This guy sends his girlfriend photoshopped photos whenever she asks if their kids are OK