TOP THREE
Pfizer Data Suggests Kids 5 to 11 Showed Evidence of Protection: The vaccine “has been shown to be safe and highly effective in young children aged 5 to 11 years." (Press Release)
"The children who got the vaccine produced a strong immune response, comparable to the levels of antibodies seen in the earlier trials of participants aged 16 to 25 years. But children in the 5- to 11-year-old group achieved this response with 10 micrograms of the vaccine, a third of the dose given to older children and adults."
"The study isn’t large enough to detect any extremely rare side effects, such as the heart inflammation that sometimes occurs after the second dose, mostly in young men. The FDA’s Marks said the pediatric studies should be large enough to rule out any higher risk to young children. Pfizer’s Gruber said once the vaccine is authorized for younger children, they’ll be carefully monitored for rare risks just like everyone else."
They plan to apply for EUA by the end of the month.
The NYT reports that "if the regulatory review goes as smoothly as it did for older children and adults, millions of elementary school students could be inoculated before Halloween.”
"Trial results for children younger than 5 are not expected till the fourth quarter of this year at the earliest, according to Dr. Bill Gruber, a senior vice president at Pfizer and a pediatrician."
A New Covid Testing Model Aims to Spare Students From Quarantine: Via NYT: "More school districts are embracing “test-to-stay” protocols that allow uninfected close contacts to remain in the classroom."
"At this time, we do not recommend or endorse a test-to-stay program,” the C.D.C. said in a statement to The New York Times."
"A new study, which was published last week in The Lancet, suggests that the test-to-stay approach can be safe. The randomized controlled trial included more than 150 schools in Britain, and found that case rates were not significantly higher at schools that allowed close contacts of infected students or staff members to remain in class with daily testing than at those that required at-home quarantines."
What's strange is that the original story contained an error related to the CDC guidance. It was fixed, but there's no mention of the correction - just an acknowledgement on the author's twitter account.
Parent Waivers, Test Kit Shortages and Learning in Quarantine: Latest CRPE analysis:
"Of the districts we track, 94 offer some sort of online learning option to at least some students — up from 79 a month ago, and more than twice the number when we started tracking reopening plans in July."
"As for students, the number of districts in our review that require regular COVID testing increased from 9 to 15. Most of these apply only to student athletes."
"Nearly a third (31) of the districts we reviewed require all staff to be vaccinated, an addition of just one district (Nevada’s Clark County) since we updated our data last week."
"Most (79) exempt vaccinated students from quarantine, while 28 exempt masked students, 33 exempt students who recently recovered from COVID-19 and 37 shorten quarantines for students who test negative for the virus."
"Just 14 (21%) commit to providing quarantined students with live, real-time instruction."
FEDERAL
Reconciliation:
The Senate parliamentarian ruled last night that Democrats can't include pathways to citizenship in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package. She makes an important argument at the end of her decision:
"Perhaps more critically, permitting this provision in reconciliation would set a precedent that could be used to argue that rescinding any immigration status from anyone - not just those who obtain LPR status by virtue of this provision -- would be permissible because the policy of stripping status from any immigrant does not vastly outweigh whatever budgetary impact there might be."
“Sen. Manchin is privately saying he thinks Congress should take a 'strategic pause’ until 2022 before voting on President Biden’s $3.5 trillion social-spending package,” Axios reports.
"Any delay on the Democrat-only reconciliation package could imperil House passage of the separate $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which Pelosi has promised to pass by Sept. 27.”
Per Politico: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) says that more than half of the 96-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, which she chairs, has “privately indicated they’re willing to block the bipartisan Senate bill.”
Related: Federal government funding runs out in 10 days, House Democratic leaders are still coming up with a plan to keep federal agencies open (likely a CR until Dec). AND... they need to pass an increase for the debt ceiling, which Treasury expects they'll hit next month.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
EU Considers Vaccinating Children: "The European Medicines Agency will evaluate the possibility of giving Covid-19 vaccines to children aged 6 to 11 in November, Marco Cavaleri, head of biological health threats and vaccines strategy at the agency, said in an interview with La Repubblica on Saturday."
“Pfizer will send us some data at the beginning of October, Moderna should follow early November. Our evaluation will take three to four weeks”, Cavaleri said."
Natural Immunity: "When asked about natural immunity to COVID on Meet the Press, Dr. Fauci says: "When you do get infected, you get strong immunity. There's no doubt about that. The durability is unclear." Adding: immunity so high it's "surpassing any of the other two-dose vaccines that you get." What's unclear is the durability... and what is the scope of its protection against additional variants...
School Disruptions: Via Burbio
Identified just over 2,000 in-person school closures (up from just under 1,700 last week) across 469 districts (from 386 ) in 39 states (from 38).
The timing of closures in relation to the first day of school remains similar to last week, with the bulk of closures still occurring between three and four weeks after a district opens.
STATE
DC: Mayor: "All DCPS, charter, private school and day care staff will be required to be vaccinated by Nov. 1. There will no longer be a test out option for them. This includes before and after school staff, bus drivers, security staff, coaches and more."
Florida: Miami-Dade schools to ease COVID quarantine protocols.
Massachusetts: A teacher tweets, "Due to the national school bus driver shortage, my school has hired a party bus with stripper poles to transport us for a field trip. this is not a drill."
New York: "The city should test 10% of students under age 12 every week rather than every other week, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said in a letter to the mayor. Students under 12 years old are not yet eligible to be vaccinated."
Nevada: CCSD teachers say COVID reporting tool forcing them to miss work.
Ohio:
100+ nurses at Columbus schools ‘burnt out’ from handling COVID-19, says letter to superintendent and board
ASU Prep Digital partners with Ohio Charter School network to reduce student learning loss due to COVID-19.
Pennsylvania: Philly’s school nurses are exhausted as staff shortages and COVID-19 double their workload
Tennessee: "A federal judge has again blocked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee from allowing parents to opt out of school mask requirements aimed at limiting coronavirus infections in Shelby County."
“It is that unmasked presence that creates the danger to these Plaintiffs," the judge wrote Friday."
INTERNATIONAL
Australia: Australian Medical Association backs COVID-19 reopening plan.
Israel: "Unions representing both school and kindergarten teachers have slammed a Sunday decision by lawmakers requiring students returning to school following the upcoming Sukkot vacation to present a negative COVID-19 antigen test."
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
The Pandemic Made Our Workweeks Longer: “The average American’s workweek has gotten 10% longer during the pandemic, according to a new Microsoft study published in Nature Human Behaviour."
States That Cut Benefits Still See No Hiring Boost: States that ended federal unemployment benefits earlier this summer saw August job growth at less than half the rate of states that retained the benefits, according to new BLS data. More via Reuters.
Child-care Workers Are Quitting Rapidly, a Red Flag for the Economy: Reports the Washington Post
"Nearly 1.6 million moms of children under 17 are still missing from the labor force. They dropped out during the pandemic to care for children and have not been able to return to work as the school and day care situation remains chaotic, especially for unvaccinated children under the age of 12."
"More than a third of child-care providers are considering quitting or closing down their businesses within the next year, as a sense of hopelessness permeates the industry, according to a report last month from the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Over half of minority-owned centers are in danger of shutting, the report warns."
RESOURCES
Colleges Seek Virtual Mental Health Services: Via Inside Higher Ed: "New digital and telehealth options make it easier for students living off campus -- even in a different state -- to access their institution’s mental health resources."
"In America: Remember:" An art installation of 660,000 white flags to commemorate the Americans lost to COVID.