Top Three
Omicron Hits Youngest Kids The Hardest: New study in the CDC's MMWR.
Once the Omicron variant became dominant, hospitalizations in children and adolescents reached levels that were four time higher than those of Delta's peak. The largest increase in hospitalizations was in children ages 0 to 4, who weren't eligible for vaccination.
During the study period, adolescents ages 12 to 17 were the only pediatric group approved for COVID-19 vaccination during the entire study period. When researchers compared their hospitalizations to that of unvaccinated peers, they found that levels were six times higher in the unvaccinated group.
Biden May Seek $30 Billion COVID Supplemental: Reuters reports the $30 billion would be used to "bolster vaccines, treatments, testing supply and research" and provide "$17.9 billion for vaccines and therapeutics."
"Administration officials and congressional staff have been in talks about the issue, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday."
Data-driven Off-ramps for Masks in Elementary Schools: Simulation study published in JAMA
"With student vaccination coverage of 70% or less and moderate assumptions about mitigation effectiveness (eg, masking), mitigation could only be reduced when local case incidence was 14 or fewer cases per 100 000 residents per day to keep the mean additional cases associated with reducing mitigation to 5 or fewer cases per month."
"To keep the probability of any in-school transmission to less than 50% per month, the local case incidence would have to be 4 or fewer cases per 100 000 residents per day."
"These on-ramps and off-ramps are highly dependent on the effectiveness of each type of mitigation, which can vary across contexts and individual school settings. We evaluated a wide range of effectiveness: 20% to 40% risk reduction for simple ventilation and handwashing, 60% to 80% for ventilation and handwashing plus universal indoor masking, and 90% to 100% for the full multilayered mitigation packages often used in 2020 to 2021."
"Screening of asymptomatic students, educators, and staff may be another tool to support more permissive off-ramps when unmasking is strongly desired. Weekly screening decreased the additional modeled cases associated with mitigation relaxation compared with only diagnostic testing."
Federal
ED: Is hiring two communications officials for outreach to disadvantaged communities.
White House / FCC: Announced more than 10 million households are enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program.
FDA: Senate narrowly confirms Robert Califf to lead the agency.
NTIA: Received 550 comments on the RFI for its broadband programs. I'm surprised there were so few, but I suspect it really isn’t yet on the radar of many organizations.
COVID-19 Research
Impact of COVID Vaccinates During Pregnancy: Study examined hospitalization trends across 20 children's hospitals in 17 states from July 2021 through January 2022. More from the NYT. Great summary from CIDRAP.
Babies born to pregnant women who had received two doses of an mRNA vaccine were 61% less likely than those born to unvaccinated moms to be hospitalized with a COVID-19 infection.
Of 176 babies hospitalized with COVID-19 over the study period, 84% were born to mothers who were unvaccinated during pregnancy. Of 43 infants who were admitted to the intensive care unit, 88% had mothers who were unvaccinated. Of the critically ill babies, one died—a child of an unvaccinated mother.
Effectiveness was lower if a woman was vaccinated in early pregnancy, during the first 20 weeks, with protection at 32% versus 80% in later pregnancy. But researchers warn that the confidence interval is wide and that the pattern should be interpreted with caution.
What Experts Know About Children, Covid and Omicron: Great piece from Bloomberg with links to other resources and studies.
"The presence of an underlying condition among children ages 5-11 years is associated with about 12 times higher risk of hospitalization and 19 times higher probability of admission to intensive care."
"Studies and modeling of transmission patterns indicate that younger children and adolescents play a lesser role in spreading the coronavirus at a population level, and that prioritizing vaccination in older age groups yields more population-level protection against Covid."
"One study using computer modeling, released ahead of peer-review in August, indicated universal masking could reduce infections among susceptible students by 26% to 78%, and biweekly testing along with masking by another 50%."
Controlled Studies Ease Worries of Widespread Long Covid in Kids: ViaStat.
"Fear has had a strong hold on Americans for more than two years, and it is a hard thing to let go of. But we owe it to children to follow the science: Children are more likely to suffer from pandemic-associated symptoms than from infection-associated symptoms. School policies should reflect this reality."
"Families and school staff need to be given factual, reassuring messaging about the actual risks of Covid-19 to children, put away the masks in most school settings — at least for now — and restore a sense of normalcy to their day-to-day lives."
Many Americans Knowingly Disagree With Scientists About COVID Vaccines: Axios on a new survey by The COVID States Project.
"The survey found that 16% of Americans believe inaccurate information about the vaccines, and nearly half say they're unsure whether at least one vaccine misinformation statement is true."
Rise of the Preprint: How Rapid Data Sharing During COVID-19 Has Changed Science Forever: Via Nature.
"A staggering 19,389 articles about COVID19 were shared in the first four months of the pandemic, a third of which were preprints, unvetted and unfiltered for all to see. That number would steadily grow, as scientists raced to find drugs to treat COVID-19, develop vaccines and wrangle with viral variants. The stakes had never been higher, swift action was vital, and pre-printing results aided rapid data sharing, which expedited research."
"But it also exposed the inner workings of the scientific process to a new audience and laid bare the best and worst of pandemic research."
Nature points out that these preprint reports are behind some of the worst disinformation rumors of the pandemic, and they also have included vitally important study outcomes that proved to be valuable and even lifesaving.
"The pace of pandemic publishing magnified shortcomings in peer review, too"
Mask Mandates: Useful map from the NYT
State
California:
LA Times Editorial: "Schools are doing fine with masks. Dropping mandates now would be premature."
California school mask mandate will remain in place through Feb. 28
Colorado: Most school districts ditch mask mandates.
Georgia: Gwinnett school district asks community about 'living with COVID-19′
Survey: "What mitigation strategies, practices, or procedures should we consider as we adjust to living with COVID-19?"
Iowa: 'This is going to be the new way': After vaccines, Iowa City's online school attracts nearly 670 students.
Louisiana: The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) is launching a new initiative urging community members to become “Pediatric Vaccine Champions.”
Virginia: Gov. Youngkin has created a PSA urging vaccinations.
International
Ireland: Fewer than three in 10 parents rated their primary school children’s online education experience during the pandemic as excellent or good.
Economic Recovery
Heartland of Talent: New report from Heartland Forward.
All in all, heartland metros comprise six of the top 20 large metros on college grads.
Heartland metros make up four of the top 20 large metros for the creative class.
Surging Small Businesses: There were5.4 million applications to start companies in 2021, a 53% jump from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to census data.
Resources
Threats Against School Board Members Soar: Via Reuters. Some really disturbing threats in this piece.
How District Poverty Levels Influence Covid-Relief Spending: Via FutureED
A Cash Benefit for Low-Income Families: I have a piece up on The 74 describing how Governors can use ARP funds to provide a direct cash assistance program for low-income parents to absorb the shocks of closed schools and quarantines or to help with learning recovery.
Smart State Strategies for Building Intensive Tutoring Systems: New report from EdTrust, ERN, and FutureEd.
Schools Are Using COVID Relief for Building Upgrades That Will Take Years: Via Chalkbeat.
A Million Dreams: Pink performing a hit from the Greatest Showman with the Ndlovu Youth Choir.