Top Three
Parents of Remote Learners Less Likely to Work Full Time: Via Gallup
47% of parents with kids learning remotely work full time, 71% of others
One-third of mothers with remote learners not in the labor force
73% of parents say their child is learning at home full time or part time
26% of parents with children in school say their child is learning in-person full time
55% say their child is learning remotely full time
20% say their child is in a hybrid
Parents whose children are engaged in distance learning are significantly more likely than those whose kids are at school full time to be out of the labor force altogether -- 24% vs. 15%. They are also about twice as likely to be working part time (18% vs. 9%) or unemployed (11% vs. 5%).
Kids Wearing Masks Reduces Child Care Center Closures: New study from Yale and article in The 74.
"In this survey study of 6,654 childcare professionals from all 50 states, child masking at baseline (May 22 to June 8, 2020) was associated with a 13% reduction in program closure within the following year, and continued child masking throughout the 1-year study period was associated with a 14% reduction in program closure."
"These results suggest that masking of children in childcare programs is associated with reduced program closures, supporting current masking recommendation in younger children provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
"Concerns have been raised regarding the potential for social and developmental delays when younger children wear a face mask for prolonged periods because of lack of recognition of emotional cues. Notably, these are point-in-time studies, and how quickly children adapt and recognize other emotional cues, such as body language, is not known. Evidence suggests that school-age children can identify most emotions in masked faces.Two-year-old children recognize spoken words better through an opaque mask compared with a clear face shield, suggesting verbal communication to infants is not harmed by face masks."
Sweden Decides Against Recommending COVID Vaccines for 5-12: Via Reuters
"With the knowledge we have today, with a low risk for serious disease for kids, we don't see any clear benefit with vaccinating them," Health Agency official Britta Bjorkholm told a news conference.
Federal
ED: Secretary Cardona discusses his priorities (Press Release / Text / Video). A few selected passages:
"Missed instruction has affected millions of students—we must ensure that these students receive the most resources and supports. Let's come together to ensure that all children, in all schools, feel connected and supported."
"I'd like to see every high school student in America participate in at least one extracurricular activity in their school—whether that is being a part of an arts or theater program, athletics, or an afterschool club."
"And I'd like to challenge all of our district leaders to set a goal of giving every child that fell behind during the pandemic at least 30 minutes per day, three days a week, with a well-trained tutor who is providing that child with consistent, intensive support."
"Our schools must also embed mental health supports into their day-to-day operations in new and innovative ways. Every child must have access to a mental health professional – whether through their school or through a community-based organization – and districts should use ARP funding now to hire these critical staff and create more partnerships."
"It means providing every family and every child the opportunity to start out on an equal playing field by providing free, universal preschool and affordable high quality, inclusive child care."
"It means utilizing Rescue Plan Funds to ensure in the coming years, that every child can read by third grade. Let's hold ourselves accountable."
"It is also unacceptable to be burdened with unmanageable loan debt for several decades because you chose to earn a college degree."
"As we work to make colleges more affordable and accountable, we must also make them more accessible."
"At the Department of Education, we will work with our partners in the Departments of Commerce and Labor to develop career preparation programs that will run through our community colleges."
SCOTUS: Justice Breyer offered remarks at the White House including some reflections for students.
COVID-19 Research
Had COVID. Am I Done Now?: Asks Emily Oster in a good piece today:
"I pulled the data from the last weeks reported (early to mid-November for cases, late October to mid-November for hospitalizations) and graphed the relative risks by four categories: vaccinated without previous infection (baseline risk = 1), vaccinated with previous infection, unvaccinated with previous infection, and unvaccinated without previous infection."
"One very significant takeaway is that unvaccinated people without a prior COVID-19 diagnosis are at much higher risk than any of the other three groups for both infection and serious illness. They are perhaps 20 times as high-risk for hospitalization relative to vaccinated people without a prior diagnosis, and maybe 100 times as likely as people with a prior diagnosis."
"A second takeaway is that, in this period when the Delta variant was dominant, the best protection was provided by previous infection plus vaccination. Previous infection alone was also very protective, as was vaccination alone."
The Transition Away from Universal Case Investigation & Contact Tracing for Individual Cases of COVID-19 by Public Health Agencies: Via ASTHO. Has implications for schools. More details.
Moderna: Begins next phase of Omicron-specific booster trial as study finds that antibodies remain durable despite 6-fold drop over 6 months. More via CNN.
The GOP’s Anti-Vaccine Wing Is Too Big to Fail: Via Jonathan Chait:
“When an ideological extreme faction with unpopular views emerges, it becomes a threat to the party that hosts it. At first, the party’s incentive is to banish the extremists, lest their toxic ideas taint the party’s brand with the broader electorate. But if the radical faction’s growth is not arrested, the calculus changes, and barring the doors can no longer work. It forms a large enough part of the base that the party can’t afford to alienate its members. The crank wing becomes too big to fail.”
“I believe the anti-vaccine movement is reaching that point in the Republican Party. The movement’s position is akin to the tea party in 2009, or the birther movement a few years later — perhaps (this is a rough estimate) smaller than the former but larger than the latter. The cause has too many adherents, who supply too much energy, for the party to risk alienating.”
"This week, DeSantis opened a new offense by attacking the FDA for withdrawing approval for two monoclonal antibody treatments that worked against earlier versions of COVID, but were ineffective against the Omicron variant. Studies showing the ineffectiveness of these treatments can be found here, here, and here. The decision is supported by the American Medical Association and even the companies that manufacture those treatments."
"But the decision offends vaccine skeptics. Having decided prevention is unnecessary, they have seized on treatments as a magic bullet against the pandemic. DeSantis in particular has promoted treatments as an alternative to vaccination. Their demonstrated ineffectiveness against the new variant undermines his stance, and so he went on the attack against the FDA."
The Biden Administration Used Billions in Hospital Covid-19 Funds to Pay Drugmakers: Via Stat.
"The Biden administration quietly took nearly $7 billion from a fund meant to help hospitals and clinics affected by the pandemic and used it to buy Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics, according to a document obtained by STAT."
Two Studies Say Menstrual Changes After Vaccination Are Small and Short-lived: Via Stat
"The NIH has granted $1.67 million for research to study any connection between periods and vaccines, but an editorial out yesterday in BMJ about two new studies concludes that any changes to periods are small and don’t last long."
"The first study looked at data from a period-tracking app used by nearly 4,000 Americans and found there was no difference in period timing after the first dose and a delay of just under half a day after the second dose."
"In the second study, more than 5,600 Norwegians were asked if they had heavier bleeding or pain after vaccination, but only slightly more said yes after vaccination than before vaccination (38% before vs. 39% after dose 1 and 41% after dose 2)."
Long-COVID Symptoms Less Likely in Vaccinated People: Nature on a new study.
"Researchers in Israel report that people who have had both SARS-CoV-2 infection and doses of Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine were much less likely to report any of a range of common long-COVID symptoms than were people who were unvaccinated when infected. In fact, vaccinated people were no more likely to report symptoms than people who’d never caught SARS-CoV-2."
Why Are We Boosting Kids?: Asks David Zweig.
State
Connecticut: One out of every three school districts in Connecticut have told the state that they do not have “sufficient funding” to maintain or improve the air quality in their schools.
DC: Students stage walkout to demand safer schools and COVID-19 protections.
Illinois: 100% of students, staff at Pilsen high school received a COVID vaccine.
Maryland: Parents rally to keep virtual learning as an option.
Oregon: School district loses COVID funds for ditching masks
Rhode Island: New poll:
Nearly 80% of parents supported the state's school mask mandate, despite the emotional flare-ups at school committee meetings and an unsuccessful lawsuit by parents challenging the policy.
"The survey also reveals a divide between the haves and have-nots, with 41% of parents in urban school districts expressing deep concern that their children have lost academic ground since the pandemic began compared with 36% of suburban parents."
Tennessee: Remote learning waiver process brings desperation, disruption
"As of Jan. 20, the Department of Education had received 107 waiver requests since the process began Aug. 27, said spokesman Brian Blackley. Of those, 100 were approved, including one partial approval, and two were denied. Five additional requests were deemed ineligible."
Texas: Aldine ISD will cancel Friday classes for the next 3 weeks due to Omicron and teacher burnout.
Economic Recovery
GDP: Accelerated at a 6.9% annualized pace in the fourth quarter, ahead of the 5.5% estimate.
Burning Glass Institute Launches to Track a Fast-Changing Labor Market: Announcement. The Institute also announced the appointment of six distinguished leaders in higher education, industry, public policy, and research as Senior Fellows:
Michael Bernick, Counsel at Duane Morris and former Commissioner of Labor for the State of California;
Yvette Burton, a leader in the field of people analytics with an extensive executive track record at E&Y, Deloitte, IBM, and Lockheed Martin, and Professor of Practice Emeritus and Academic Director of the Human Capital Management Program at Columbia University;
Joseph Fuller, Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School and co-leader of HBS’s initiative on Managing the Future of Work;
Tamar Jacoby, President of Opportunity America, a Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting economic mobility for working Americans;
Joe May, Chancellor of Dallas College, one of the nation’s largest and most successful community colleges; an
Debbie Wasden, Director of the Rework America Alliance at the Markle Foundation, a multi-stakeholder partnership working to help millions of unemployed workers and people from low-wage roles to move into better jobs.
Cash Aid to Poor Mothers Increases Brain Activity in Babies: New study.
"A study that provided poor mothers with cash stipends for the first year of their children’s lives appears to have changed the babies’ brain activity in ways associated with stronger cognitive development, a finding with potential implications for safety net policy. The differences were modest — researchers likened them in statistical magnitude to moving to the 75th position in a line of 100 from the 81st — and it remains to be seen if changes in brain patterns will translate to higher skills, as other research offers reason to expect," the NYT reports.
From the study: "For our part, we do not suggest that a 12-mo intervention alone would be likely to have lasting effects, nor that cash transfer policies obviate the need for direct service interventions, such as well-child pediatric visits, home visitation, or high-quality early childhood education. Nonetheless, by targeting families during children’s earliest years, BFY has found important evidence of the effects of increased income during a time when children’s brains are particularly sensitive to experience."
Resources
What We're Still Not Facing About Parents' Covid Anger: Kara Alaimo in CNN.
America's Kids Get An Internet Librarian: Via Axios, NewsGuard, a service that uses trained journalists to rate news and information sites, will become available to millions of public school students this week through a partnership with the AFT.
Holocaust Memorial Day: Today marks the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 1945.
Auschwitz Memorial: 77 years ago today over 7,000 prisoners of Auschwitz, including some 700 children, were liberated by the soldiers of the Soviet Army.
In 1938, Sir Nicholas Winton brought Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia to safety in the UK. Fifty years later, That’s Life reunited him with some of those children.