Top Three
Protection against SARS-CoV-2 after Covid-19 Vaccination and Previous Infection: New study on vaccinations and natural immunity.
"Infection-acquired immunity waned after 1 year in unvaccinated participants but remained consistently higher than 90% in those who were subsequently vaccinated, even in persons infected more than 18 months previously."
Paxlovid: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial published NEJM found 89% efficacy versus Covid hospitalizations or deaths, and quick reduction of viral load.
"Treatment of symptomatic Covid-19 with nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir resulted in a risk of progression to severe Covid-19 that was 89% lower than the risk with placebo, without evident safety concerns."
More Than 1 in 3 Children Who Started School in the Pandemic Need ‘Intensive’ Reading Help: Amplify report, EdWeek article, and The 74.
"Based on data from more than 400,000 students in kindergarten through 5th grades who participated in the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, which Amplify administers."
Federal
White House: President Biden suggests ending mask mandates is "premature."
Congress: There is a lost dog following Sen. Crapo around in the Dirksen building.
COVID-19 Research
Merck's Antiviral Pill: "The European Medicines Agency is unlikely to grant conditional marketing authorization to Merck’s Covid-19 antiviral pill this month as it grapples with “problematic” data, according to people familiar with the approval process," the FT reports.
"A person familiar with the EMA approval process said at the time that the drug had been “a bit of a disappointment” and that 30 per cent efficacy “started to be on the limits of [what is considered] benefit”."
Pfizer: British authorities will offer a coronavirus vaccine to almost six million children in the UK from age 5 to 11:
"The government said young children will be offered a low-dose COVID-19 shot on a non-urgent basis beginning in April in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also announced similar measures."
"Parents can, if they want, take up the offer to increase protection against potential future waves of COVID-19 as we learn to live with this virus, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said."
Estimated 73% of US Now Immune to Omicron: The AP asks, is that enough?
"The notion of a “herd immunity” that could stop the virus has slipped away under the harsh reality of new variants, waning immunity, and the rejection of vaccines by some Americans."
“I am optimistic even if we have a surge in summer, cases will go up, but hospitalizations and deaths will not,” said Mokdad, who works on the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model, which calculated the 73% figure for The Associated Press.
"Researchers are trying to answer questions about the virus, the vaccine, and how our bodies respond: How fast is booster protection waning against omicron? How long does protection from infection last? How many mild infections were never reported? How many people got infected but had no symptoms?"
BioNTech: Unveiled module container labs to allow mRNA vaccine to be made in Africa. The bulk product would be made in the labs, and local companies would handle fill-and-finish steps.
State
Colorado: How Denver is trying to help students' mental health, 20 minutes at a time.
Georgia: Maureen Downey oped, "Hybrid schools could be America’s future."
Maryland: Anne Arundel County Board of Education votes 8-0 to end mask mandate.
New Hampshire: Middle schoolers launched a boat from New Hampshire in 2020. It was found in Norway 462 days later.
New Mexico:Will end its indoor mask mandate, including schools, effective immediately.
North Carolina: NC schools superintendent says parents should decide who wears masks in schools.
Washington:Will drop its mask mandates, including for schools, next month.
Economic Recovery
Work From Home: Via Pew: 59% of workers who say their jobs can mainly be done from home are working from home all or most of the time — much higher than the 23% who say they teleworked frequently before the pandemic.
83% of these workers say they were working from home even before the omicron variant started to spread. Today, more workers say they are doing this by choice rather than necessity.
Resources
Confronting the School Staffing Crisis With Creative, Community Solutions: Transcend's Jenee Henry Wood in Edsurge.
State by State Report Card on Mental Health: The Hopeful Futures Campaign assessed how well schools are supporting student mental health. Report with state-by-state data.
"Only Idaho and Washington, D.C., exceed the nationally recommended ratio of one school psychologist for every 500 students. In five states – West Virginia, Missouri, Texas, Alaska and Georgia – each school psychologist serves significantly more than 4,000 students."
Just a Whale: And her dolphin best friend playing together.