Top Three
CDC Tries To Clarify Isolation and Quarantine Guidance: As I was hitting the send button on last night's update, the CDC issued a clarification to their quarantine and isolation guidance.
People who have tested positive, or have symptoms, should isolate for at least five days.
The CDC received criticism for not requiring a negative test, the way they did for healthcare workers. The revised guidance still does not require a negative test to leave their isolation, but they now say that whoever "has access to a test" and "wants to test" can do so.
Anyone leaving isolation should wear a mask for five days.
The CDC also advises those leaving isolation to “not go to places where you are unable to wear a mask, such as restaurants and some gyms, and avoid eating around others at home and at work until after 10 days after your last close contact with someone with COVID-19."
And at the very end, the CDC says that this guidance now applies to K12 schools, even though the K12 school pages do not reflect the changes. CDC doesn't say if this applies to college/universities.
The American Medical Association (AMA) criticized the government's guidelines, saying the guidance was "confusing" and risked further spread of COVID-19."
A few thoughts:
This could be good news in that isolated and quarantined teachers could return back sooner to the classroom. Same for students who would otherwise face being quarantined for 14 days.
But it raises some other questions: How should schools reconcile the 5 day period with this guidance with the 7 day period in the Test-to-Stay guidance? If a student is coming out of isolation and needs to avoid eating around others, how should schools handle lunch periods?
These are guidelines so states have some flexibility to simplify this. One option offered by Dr. Ashish Jha: Isolate for the first five days, then test daily, and end isolation after two negative tests. If someone remains positive, continue isolation up to the full ten days or until there are two negative tests.
Chicago Public Schools Cancels Classes After CTU Votes For Remote Learning:
73% of CTU members voted to refuse to work in-person until Jan. 18 or until the city’s positivity rate falls below 10%, a metric CPS set last year for shutting down schools. The positivity rate is currently 23%.
CPS called it an illegal strike. "Our schools are safe," Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said during a press conference. "There is no evidence that our schools have ever been unsafe this school year."
Mayor Lightfoot: "There’s no reason to shut down the entire system, particularly given the catastrophic consequences that will flow...”
District officials had said schools would switch back to virtual learning based on teacher or student absences.
Teacher absences: 40% or more of a school’s classroom teachers are absent for two consecutive days
Student absences: Elementary Schools: 50% of classrooms have more than 50% of students instructed to isolate/quarantine. High Schools: more than 50% of the total student population has been instructed to isolate/quarantine.
White House Press Secretary Psaki: "Schools can open safely including in Chicago."
“While Chicago families have more experience with remote learning and are better equipped with internet, equipment and know-how, compared to 2020-2021, most schools are not ready to pivot at the flip of a switch back to remote learning,” said Kristin Pollock, the chief of development and external affairs at Kids First Chicago.
More, including video excerpts, from Chicago's ABC 7. And even more from Chalkbeat.
CDC ACIP Recommends Boosters for Teens: Met today (Agenda / Slides).
The committee voted 13 to 1 (1 member was absent) to support individuals 12–15 years of age should receive a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine booster dose at least 5 months after completion of the primary series, based on the balance of benefits and risks."
The FDA on Monday authorized the Pfizer booster shots for kids 12 to 15.
CDC Director Walensky is expected to approve the reccomednation tonight.
Stat's Helen Branswell live Tweeted the meeting and posted a piece up on Stat.
Dr. Grace Lee, the committee chair, said the pandemic has burdened an entire generation of children whose mental and emotional health has suffered as a consequence of school closures and separation from their peers. “I also truly believe we have not yet addressed the long term impact of Covid infection in children,” Lee said. “I think we haven’t even scratched the surface of what we’re going to see.”
Omicron
White House Embraces a Manage-Not-Contain Omicron Game Plan: Via Politico:
“The new reality has further darkened the mood among White House aides already frustrated by the lack of progress toward ending a pandemic many initially believed could be dispatched within a year. It’s also accelerated the administration’s pivot toward preparing people to live with the virus indefinitely.”
"In interviews, officials described the next few weeks as a triage operation focused on containing the reverberations of the surge well enough to avert breakdowns in essential services, mass school closures and overrun hospitals."
"The manage-not-contain approach has been visible across agencies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in late December shortened its recommended isolation guidelines for Covid-positive people from 10 to five days provided the person leaving quarantine continues to mask. It was a move that two people with knowledge of the matter said they hoped would help avert the potential for staff shortages among fire, police and medical services."
Omicron's Feeble Attack on the Lungs Could Make It Less Dangerous: Great overview in Nature of what several studies are suggesting about Omicron.
Antigen Tests and Omicron. Great overview by Katelyn Jetelina.
Federal
FCC: Launched the $14 billion Affordable Connectivity Program (previously named the Emergency Broadband Benefit).
Provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet.
White House: President Biden remarks during today's COVID briefing.
"You know, be concerned about Omicron, but don’t be alarmed. But if you’re unvaccinated, you have some reason to be alarmed. Many of you will — you know, you’ll experience severe illness, in many cases, if you get COVID-19 if you’re not vaccinated. Some will die — needlessly die."
"Look, we have no reason to think at this point that Omicron is worse for children than previous variants. We know that our kids can be safe when in school, by the way. That’s why I believe schools should remain open."
"And, finally, as I announced recently, the federal government is launching a website this month where you can get tests shipped to your home for free, upon your request."
"Today, I’m directing my team to work with Pfizer to double our order from 10 million to 20 million treatment courses to be delivered in the months ahead."
COVID-19 Research
The U.S. Sets a New Global Daily Record of Over One Million Coronavirus Cases: Reports Time using JHU data. "The highest number outside the U.S. came during India’s delta surge, when more than 414,000 people were diagnosed on May 7, 2021."
Factors and Reasons Associated with Low COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Among Highly Hesitant Communities in the US: New study.
"The two predictors associated with a low vaccination level within highly hesitant communities were: no high school education and concern on vaccine availability and distribution."
"The most common reason driving vaccine hesitancy was lack of trust in COVID-19 vaccines (55%), followed by concerns around side effects of the vaccine (48%), and lack of trust in government (46%).
Study Finds Slight Developmental Lag In Babies Born During the Pandemic: Study and NBC News story.
The study followed 255 babies born in March to December 2020 in New York City, which was the U.S. epicenter in the pandemic’s early days.
"The infants were screened for social, communication and motor skills at 6 months of age using a standard questionnaire about their ability to roll from their back to their stomach, how often they babble and other milestones."
"In most areas, the babies born during the pandemic displayed lower scores compared to those born earlier. That held true whether they were born to mothers who had been infected with Covid during pregnancy or not, the researchers found."
"Six months is a very early developmental time point. It is not a good predictor of long-term outcomes,” Dumitriu said. “It’s a good predictor of what’s happening in the moment.”
Definition of Fully Vaccinated Definition: Via Bloomberg Law:
"Federal health leaders are moving away from an emphasis on what constitutes being fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in favor of staying current with shots."
"We’re using the terminology now ‘keeping your vaccinations up to date,’ rather than what ‘fully vaccinated’ means,” White House chief medical adviser Anthony S. Fauci said during a National Institutes of Health lecture Tuesday. “Right now, optimal protection is with a third shot of an mRNA or a second shot of a J&J.”
"The federal government has no plans to change the definition of fully vaccinated for travel guidelines, Medicare rules or any other federal requirements, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said during the same briefing."
NYT has more on how the language is changing on CDC's website.
K-12 Pandemic Related Public Schools Disruptions: Midweek update from Burbio.
CRPE's Tracker of 100 Districts: Great analysis from CRPE, including that 15 of 100 large and urban districts disrupted in-person schooling Tuesday.
State
California:
Oakland said that teachers, students and their families had reported 21,000 results from at-home tests and identified 472 positive cases — 396 among students, 64 among staff and 12 among family members. Combined with other testing over the winter break, the district reported a total of 920 infections among students or staff.
Berkeley Unified School District, of 7,687 students and staff who uploaded test results, 227 of them had tested positive.
Florida: In Miami Dade County, 10% of instructional staff, 2,100 employees including counselors, missed the first day of school on Monday.
"Broward County was missing some 1,740 teachers on Tuesday, poking a sizable hole in the districts staffing, school officials said. The school district could find substitutes for 35 percent of classrooms, leading schools to deploy campus and district staffers to fill in the gaps."
"Osceola County reported that some 23 percent of students — 12,660 — were absent from school on Monday."
"If you don’t have symptoms, you’re not a case,” state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said Tuesday at an event in Naples."
“It’s not good policy to use testing as a tool to basically limit opportunity and limit people’s ability to get an education,” Gov. DeSantis told reporters.
Louisiana: Archdiocese of New Orleans drops masking in schools.
"Superintendent RaeNell Houston said that children could still wear masks and that individual schools could also establish mandates "based on the number of infections and exposures."
Massachusetts: In Boston, more than 1,000 school staff, including 461 teachers, were out Tuesday. “If the trend in COVID-19 cases continues in an upward direction in the coming days and weeks, we may reach a level of staff absences that compromises our ability to safely operate one or more schools,” Lowell Superintendent Joel Boyd wrote to parents Tuesday.
Michigan:
40,000 students in Detroit will return to remote learning through Jan. 14.
"About 95,000 (6%) of Michigan’s public school students missed at least one day of in-person school this week because of COVID-related closures."
"The test positivity rate at the Anchor Bay School District's voluntary COVID test site soared from 1 percent this fall to 30 percent the week after Christmas, an indication of uncontrolled community spread."
"It’s no longer a question of masked versus unmasked,” Jankowski said, “the decision is can you stay in (classrooms) or not.”
"Current policies would allow someone working at McDonald’s to return to work five days after testing positive if they at that point test negative. But a second-grade teacher — or a second-grader for that matter — would have to wait 10 days to return to class."
"It adds in a whole other layer of confusion, because people don’t know which rules to follow,” said Anne Barna, spokesperson for the Barry-Eaton Health Department. “The more people are confused, the more they give up and don’t try at all.”
New York: 14,000 NYC students, school staff positive for COVID since winter break, comparable to before the winter break. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers union, said the biggest obstacle for schools right now is staffing. “We could use about 3,000 more substitutes,” he said.
Pennsylvania: In Philadelphia, 92 of the district’s 216 schools to virtual instruction due to staffing challenges.
Resources
Randi Weingarten: Tweeted that she tested positive for COVID-19 on 12/26. Wishing her a speedy recovery.
Universities Need to Catch Up to the Post-vaccine Reality: Emily Oster over at The Atlantic.
National, Regional Trends in Educators' Covid-Relief Spending: FutureEd analysis of the Covid-relief spending plans of nearly 2,100 school districts and charter school organizations in 48 states, local education agencies serving some 40% of the nation’s public-school students. Read the whole piece.
Vela Fund: 2021 end of year report and microsite covering 780 grants.
How To Form A Microschool: From Moms.com
Small Schools in the Big Apple: How State-Level Policy Inhibits Microschooling and Learning Pods: Juliet Squire over at MI.
Omicron School Disruptions Stress Already-Frayed Parents: Via WSJ.
America Doesn’t Have Enough Teachers to Keep Schools Open: Via Vox.
We Were Promised Self Driving Vehicles: But instead were delivered fish-driving cars.
I-95: The snowstorm that brought delight to Teddy and Bentley brought misery to drivers stranded on I-95 for more than 24 hours. But there were some moments of resilience:
A couple spotted a Schmidt Baking Company truck just a few cars ahead of them about 9 a.m. Tuesday. At that point, they estimated, it had been approximately 37 hours since they had last eaten. They called the Company in Baltimore in the hope that maybe it would be willing to offer whatever products were on the truck to hungry travelers. The owner called back and said they could! So the couple and driver began taking bread and rolls to stranded passengers. Here's video.
One Uber driver made sure his teenage passenger had water and crackers and got her a hotel room when they finally got off the nightmare.
NBC News's Josh Lederman was stuck too and began reporting in...along with his dog Jonas. Room Rater even gave him a 10 out of 10.
But CBS's Kathryn Watson sums it up nicely, "Moral of the story is never ever take I-95, because it will steal both your time and your soul."
Cat Duet: Sherzod Ergashev, a popular musician from Uzbekistan, laid down an initial track with his cat and then the internet did what it does best - something weird and wonderful.