TOP THREE
Children Face Similar Risk of COVID As Adults: New study in JAMA. Along with an oped and CNN story.
It found adults and children living in Utah and New York City shared similar risks of becoming infected with coronavirus. But children only had symptoms about half the time.
"The study demonstrates that all along, children of all ages including infants and toddlers have had a similar risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with adults."
"While there has been reluctance by some, the need for appropriate use of face masks, handwashing, and social distancing among pediatric populations is evident and necessary to protect children and their household contacts. Children play a key role in the transmission of respiratory viruses, and the start of the school year typically coincides with community spread of respiratory illnesses such as influenza."
The Pandemic Changed American Education Overnight. Some Changes Are Here to Stay: Great long piece via Erin Richards in USA Today
How the Risk of Covid-19 for Kids Compares to Other Dangers: Via Vox
"The death rate for Americans under 18 who are infected is about 0.01 percent, compared to 5 percent for 65- to 74-year-olds, 12 percent for 75- to 84-year-olds, and 25 percent for people 85 and older. In total, people 50 and up make up 94 percent of Covid-19 deaths"
"The number of children under 18 who died in vehicle crashes from January through September in recent years was nearly six times higher than the number of children who died of Covid-19 from January through September of this year."
FEDERAL
Reconciliation:
Rep. Jayapal (D-WA) told the AP that she has “pushed Biden to hold the line and keep his ambitious social spending plan closer to $3 trillion instead of the $2 trillion range that he has floated to Democrats in recent days.”
Congress: The Punchbowl's Canvas survey of Hill staff:
54% of all staffers believe that Democrats will eventually lift the debt limit through reconciliation.
61% of Democrats believe Republicans will control the House next Congress. Just 39% of Democrats believe their party will keep the House.
64% of all staffers say Democrats will keep the Senate. 43% of Republicans staffers say so, and 84% of Democratic staffers.
84% of senior staffers believe that the state of the economy will be the decisive issue in the 2022 midterm elections. 61% of respondents said Covid-19 would be the top issue.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
NYT Issues Corrections: The NYT issued several corrections to Apoorva Mandavilli's article last week.
"An article on Thursday about recommended single doses of the coronavirus vaccine for children in some countries described incorrectly the actions taken by regulators in Sweden and Denmark. They have halted use of the Moderna vaccine in children; they have not begun offering single doses."
"The article also misstated the number of Covid hospitalizations in U.S. children. It is more than 63,000 from August 2020 to October 2021, not 900,000 since the beginning of the pandemic."
"In addition, the article misstated the timing of an F.D.A. meeting on authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children. It is later this month, not next week."
Merck: Applied for EUA for its drug to treat mild-to-moderate patients of COVID-19, putting it on course to become the first oral antiviral medication for the disease.
Webinar Recording of Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research FDA: Recording and slides from last Friday's Made to Save webinar.
More info the TEO Method and Made to Save “What’s Next Guide”
Vaccine Polling: New Economist/YouGov poll:
"Americans have made up their minds about vaccines — and vaccine mandates. Whether they’re asked about mandatory vaccines for members of Congress, doctors, or schoolchildren, the level of support is about the same."
Preparing for Vaccinating Children: "The government has purchased enough doses to give two shots to all 28 million eligible children ages 5 to 11."
Mandatory Vaccination of Kids Is Not a Great Option. But It’s The Best One We Have: Via Megan McArdle in the Washington Post.
"Childhood vaccination would be a powerful weapon to add to our arsenal against covid-19 as well. And to acquire that weapon, we will need a mandate, as we learned in the fight against measles, mumps and whooping cough. Vaccines that aren’t mandated stall out well below the population coverage needed to produce herd immunity."
Will Parents Get Their Younger Kids Vaccinated? CBS/YouGov poll (toplines and crosstabs here).
37% yes, 35% no, 26% maybe.
Finding a Way to Predict COVID-19 Severity in Kids: Via MedPage Today, "Pilot study measures elevated cytokine levels in saliva"
Americans Conflate Protection From COVID, Flu Shots: Some Americans are mistakenly banking on one vaccine to protect against both COVID-19 and the seasonal flu this year, according to Harris Poll data provided to Axios.
26% mistakenly say they think the COVID vaccine would also protect them from the flu
23% believe the flu vaccine would also protect against COVID
States Have Mandated Vaccinations Since Long Before COVID-19: Great backgrounder via Pew
STATE
California: "One loophole remains in student COVID-19 vaccination mandate."
Florida: Florida Board of Education approves sanctions on eight school districts over coronavirus mandates
Georgia: Dr. Nancy Messonnier, who until last spring was director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, has been named to the Decatur School District’s health advisory team along with nine other doctors, epidemiologists and public health experts.
New Jersey: Montclair schools will “pause” plans to begin voluntary pooled coronavirus testing out of an “abundance of caution” after the district was sent an article about testing provider Ginkgo Bioworks published in BioSpace.
Ohio: The Columbus Education Association (CEA), the union that represents the nurses, declared a state of emergency over the pandemic.
Virginia: VSBA statement on NSBA letter to President Biden.
"While the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) is currently a member of NSBA, it was not consulted about this letter, did not provide information to NSBA, and was not informed that the letter was being sent."
"There is no justification for physical or verbal threats directed against them, their staff and certainly not the students. Nor is there any excuse for disrupting a public meeting. When such unfortunate events occur, the local officials, working with local law enforcement, must deal with the situation appropriately. While we look for support to our state and federal governments, we do not seek the involvement of federal law enforcement or other officials in local decisions."
INTERNATIONAL
UK: "Data shows 38% of recent infections in England are among those ages 10 to 19. The Office for National Statistics estimates 8% of all high-school students in England had the virus in early October—the highest of any age group."
"Fewer than 15% of those 17 and younger are fully vaccinated. In France, 67% of children between the ages of 12 and 17 are fully vaccinated. In Portugal, the figure is 82%. Spain has fully vaccinated more than three-quarters of 12- to 19-year-olds. Italy has vaccinated 62% of the same age group."
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Jobs Report: Economy added just 194,000 jobs in September, well below the 500,000 that analysts had forecast.
"While Americans 25 and older with college degrees fully recovered from their pandemic job losses by May, Americans in a similar age group without degrees remain 4.6 million jobs below pre-pandemic levels."
"More people actually left the labor force last month — primarily women, whose numbers plunged by 300,000 as 182,000 men joined."
"The jobless rate fell to 4.8% from 5.2%. The rate fell largely because many workers exited the labor force.”
Neil Irwin doesn't see all bad: “When you peel apart the details, there is less reason to be concerned than that headline would suggest...Much of the disappointment in payroll growth came from strange statistical quirks around school reopening. The number of jobs in state local education combined with private education fell by 180,000 in September — when the customary seasonal adjustments are applied.”
Child-Care Crisis Keeps U.S. Women Out of Workforce for Longer: Via Bloomberg
"School may be in session, but the dearth of child care is still proving to be a major hurdle to women reentering the U.S. labor market."
"The number of women on payrolls last month fell for the first time since the winter coronavirus surge in December 2020, and the drop was even more pronounced for those age 25 to 44, who are more likely to have to school-age children. The decline was a major driver behind a slowdown in overall job growth in the country."
“Parents, particularly women, are slow to return to the workforce.”
RESOURCES
What Students Think About Their Third Year of Pandemic Schooling: Via EdWeek.
Bus Driver Shortage Stresses Rural School Districts: Via Pew.
With Masks On or Off, Schools Try to Find the New Normal: Via the NYT
The Hot New Back-to-School Accessory? An Air Quality Monitor: Via the NYT. "Parents are sneaking carbon dioxide monitors into their children’s schools to determine whether the buildings are safe."
The COVID Constituency: Emerging Priorities for Education Leaders: New report and site by former Governor Bob Wise and the Hunt Institute.
A Flying Dog: Would normally seem weird. But it's 2021so this isn't even among the top 10 strangest things I've seen this year...
I hope he landed safely.