Top Three
Children and COVID-19: State Data Report
As of November 18, almost 6.8 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic.
This week nearly 142,000 child cases were added, an increase of about 32% from two weeks ago.
Child cases have declined since a peak of 252,000 the week of September 2nd, but COVID cases among children remain extremely high.
For the 15th week in a row child COVID-19 cases are above 100,000.
Since the first week of September, there have been over 1.7 million additional child cases.
NYT reports. "Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said hospitalizations and deaths among 5- to 11-year-olds were “really startling.”
Parents Are Scrambling After Schools Suddenly Cancel Class Over Staffing and Burnout: Via NPR
"Parent Jennifer Reesman says, "We're upset because it really is a slap in the face to all of those essential workers" who are parents. Reesman works in health care, in person, and is a single mother of a daughter in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. Her district canceled the half day before Thanksgiving with two weeks' notice."
"I love me a long weekend as much as the next person," Enfield says. "I get it that my staff is tired. But for families, many of whom are working multiple jobs, and if they find out with two days' notice that they have to find child care, that's not an easy lift."
"And sitting there in the audience as a parent, it really hit me that I ... and everybody in our community can no longer count on the public schools. And I feel like after the last year and a half, there was a lot of that sentiment that this is just not something we can count on," said Jennifer Reesman, a parent from Maryland.
"Mira Schwarz, 17, is a senior at Community High School in Ann Arbor. "We were all talking about, like, 'It feels like March 13th again. Are we going to come back?' I can't do virtual again. That's what they said last time, right? They said only one extra week, you know, only a couple of days. And then we were gone for the rest of the year."
The Real Risk of Heart Inflammation to Kids is From COVID-19—Not the Vaccine: Via NatGeo.
"Yet review of more than two dozen articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, government documents, and interviews with 10 pediatric cardiologists and pediatricians offer a reassuring picture of the safety of pediatric COVID-19 vaccination."
"For starters, one to three cases of myocarditis per 100,000 children and teens typically occur each year unrelated to COVID-19, explains Jennifer Su, director of heart failure and cardiomyopathies at the Heart Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Still, researchers estimate that risk is 36 times higher in children under 16 who have had COVID-19, she says."
"No reports of myocarditis after the vaccine have been reported so far in children under 12—the age group at highest risk for MIS-C."
"The likelihood that vaccine-caused myocarditis will significantly affect kids’ lives long-term is “just infinitesimally small compared to your risk of getting really sick from COVID,” Su says. “Unfortunately, in this phase of the pandemic, I think the choice is not really to get vaccinated or not, the choice is would you rather get COVID or get the vaccine."
Federal
White House: President Biden pardons turkeys Peanut Butter and Jelly ahead of Thanksgiving (remarks).
History of the pardoning along with the names of the turkeys.
Nothing beats the West Wing scene where CJ asks President Bartlet to pardon another turkey.
Or when he called the Butterball Hotline.
White House Says No More Lockdowns: "The US does not need to impose a lockdown or shut down its economy to curb the spread of COVID-19 and will rely on other tools, said White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients. "We are not headed in that direction. We have the tools to accelerate the path out of this pandemic; widely available vaccinations, booster shots, kid shots, therapeutics."
How Do Death Rates from COVID-19 Differ Between People Who Are Vaccinated and Those Who Are Not? Our World In Data with a great explainer.
"We explain why it is essential to look at death rates by vaccination status rather than the absolute number of deaths among vaccinated and unvaccinated people."
"The newspaper may run the headline “Half of those who died from the virus were vaccinated”. But this headline does not tell us anything about whether the vaccine is protecting people or not."
"To be able to say anything, we also need to know about those who did not die: how many people in this population were vaccinated? And how many were not vaccinated?"
The top states with highest ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients: Colorado: 41%, Minnesota: 37%, Michigan: 34%
How Covid Shots for Kids Help Prevent Dangerous New Variants: Via NBC News
"Each infection — whether in an adult in Yemen or a kid in Kentucky — gives the virus another opportunity to mutate. Protecting a new, large chunk of the population anywhere in the world limits those opportunities."
"Vaccinating kids also means reducing silent spread, since most have no or mild symptoms when they contract the virus. When the virus spreads unseen, scientists say, it also goes unabated. And as more people contract it, the odds of new variants rise."
“The fewer people who are infected, the less lottery tickets it has and the better off we’re all going to be in terms of generating the variants,” he said, adding that variants are even more likely to emerge in people with weakened immune systems who harbor the virus for a long time."
AstraZeneca: CEO says their vaccine could protect older people longer than mRNA vaccines.
Booster Snafu: Shots lagged data, reports Axios.
"Some of us were there several months ago," David Kessler, chief science officer of Biden's COVID response, told Axios. "Some wanted more data. In the end, there’s a convergence of opinions. It's the way an open scientific public health process should work."
"The U.S. drug approval process — with its insistence on high-quality data and careful expert reviews — is the world's gold standard precisely because it moves deliberately. Regulators have been trying to figure out how to adapt that system to a fast-moving pandemic."
Estimates of the Stochasticity of Droplet Dispersion by a Cough: New study.
"The droplet distribution suggests that, in the absence of face coverings, an unprotected cough is not safe at 2 m away from the emitter even outdoors."
Histograms of risk of infection at 1 m (blue bars), 1.5 m (grey bars), and 2.0 m (white bars) distance from the infectious emitter, compiled by estimating the risk for each cough event.
Eric Topol: "More today on why the 6-foot rule belongs 6-feet under"
How to Get Parents on Board with Vaccinating Kids: Via Real Clear Policy
Thanksgiving Roulette: Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.
"This year, 31% see a large or moderate risk in seeing friends or family for Thanksgiving — way down from 64% a year ago."
State
California: Close to 80% of students in the LAUSD are on track to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
About 44,000 students have not met the deadline.
"Families that don’t comply will have to enroll their children outside of L.A. Unified or transfer them to City of Angels, an independent study program that was adapted this year to include some live online instruction."
"City of Angels has been beset by staffing shortages and instability. Parents of students with special needs have been particularly upset at the limitations of the program — and many students waited weeks before being able to receive any meaningful instruction."
DC: Students fall behind during pandemic according to a new report from EmpowerK12.
"We find that 51% of all students assessed in grades K-2 in our sample demonstrated that they were on or above grade level in spring 2021, representing an 18-percentage point drop from their K-2 peers in 2019. Declines in reading achievement were more substantial for students designated at-risk, a 27-percentage point drop."
"We find an average 9 percentile point drop for all sample students in English Language Arts (ELA) and 10-point decline in math."
"On average, students at participating schools received in-person instruction 4% of the school instructional days."
International
Israel: Began rolling out Pfizer vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds hoping to beat down a recent rise in coronavirus infections.
Camels Bearing Healthcare Deliver Hope in Kenya: A wonderful photo essay and story from the incredible Ami Vitale.
"Lack of roads is no barrier to their work. If they cannot reach the communities by car, they switch to an older form of transport: camel. In the past three years Chat has reached more than 100,000 people with behaviour-changing messages that focus on family planning but include TB, HIV and Covid prevention services across 14 counties in Kenya."
As an aside, I have one of Ami’s prints in my office that captured the passing of the last known male Northern White Rhino.
Economic Recovery
Thanksgiving 2021 Travel Volume Nearly Triple 2020: According to TripIt. A bit skewed since it's only TripIt data but still interesting.
Dollar Tree Hikes Prices 25%. Most Items Will Cost $1.25: Via CNN, "The change is a sign of the pressures low-cost retailers face holding down prices during a period of rising inflation."
Inflation: U.S. to release 50 million barrels of oil from emergency reserve.
"The U.S. action is focused on helping Americans coping with higher fuel and other prices ahead of Thanksgiving and winter holiday travel. Gasoline prices are at about $3.40 a gallon, more than 50% higher than a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association."
Californians Flee the Coast to Inland Cities in a Mass Pandemic-Era Exodus: Via WSJ.
Resources
VA Voter Poll: A new poll, jointly released by Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and Murmuration found that education was one of the primary issues voters considered when casting their ballots in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election.
"Voters across demographics found Youngkin’s stated support to “invest more in schools, raise teacher pay, and demand better performance from our schools” (66%) convincing, including 28% of Biden voters."
"This isn’t about culture wars. It’s about frustrated voters—and parents—who want to be heard and who want increased opportunities for their children. The 2022 midterms will hinge on Democrats’ ability to learn from these lessons and lead on education." said DFER National President Shavar Jeffries.
"Education is now very much a part of the national discussion—as it should be—and we should be listening to parents to understand how to address their issues more effectively. The key to winning the growing number of education-first voters is to listen and engage the millions of parents who are focused on better, safer, and more equitable schools,” said Emma Bloomberg, CEO of Murmuration.
The Kids Are Not All Right: How 4 States Are Rushing to Improve Student Access to Mental Health Care: Via The 74
Among Many Children, Reading for Fun Has Become Less Common:Via Pew, between 1984 and 2020, the percentage of 13-year-olds who “never or hardly ever” read recreationally rose from 8% to 29%, and the percentage who read for fun daily dropped from 35% to 17%.
Gratitude: Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We live during challenging times and I'm grateful for the ways in which you're making the world better. I hope you can find time over these next few days to rest and reconnect with friends and family.
"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings." Henry Ward Beecher