Top Three
Impact of COVID-19 on Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Education: IES released the results of the 2020–21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS):
63% percent of private school teachers, during the spring of 2020, reported using scheduled real-time lessons that allowed students to ask questions through a video or audio call compared to only 47% of public school teachers
Teachers in public charter schools reported using four types of interactions at higher rates than traditional public school teachers.
Public charter school teachers also held scheduled sessions with groups of students to provide support, held scheduled one-on-one sessions with individual students, and held scheduled office hours with students at higher rates than their traditional public school counterparts.
61% of private school teachers reported that they had real-time interactions with over three-quarters of their students during the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. This was about twice the rate of public school teachers (32%)
We May Not Need Another Booster Shot For A While: Via the NYT.
"A flurry of new studies finds that people who have received a booster shot of Covid vaccine may not need another “for many months, and perhaps not for years."
“Three doses of a Covid vaccine — or even just two — are enough to protect most people from serious illness and death for a long time, the studies suggest.”
“We’re starting to see now diminishing returns on the number of additional doses,” said John Wherry, director of the Institute for immunology at the University of Pennsylvania. Although people over 65 or at high risk of illness may benefit from a fourth vaccine dose, it may be unnecessary for most people, he added."
"The Omicron variant can dodge antibodies — immune molecules that prevent the virus from infecting cells — produced after two doses of a Covid vaccine. But a third shot of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech or by Moderna prompts the body to make a much wider variety of antibodies, which would be difficult for any variant of the virus to evade, according to the most recent study, posted online on Tuesday."
"Specialized immune cells called T cells produced after immunization by four brands of Covid vaccine — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax — are about 80 percent as powerful against Omicron as other variants."
"Memory responses can last for ages,” said Wendy Burgers, an immunologist at the University of Cape Town who led one of the studies, published in the journal Nature. “Potentially, the T-cell response is extremely long lived.”
"Antibodies recognize two or three key parts of the spike protein, a protrusion on the outside of the coronavirus that allows it to latch on to human cells. But T cells detect many more parts of the spike, and so are less likely to fail when the virus gains mutations in some of them."
"Vaccines also encode a memory of the virus in B cells, which can churn out fresh batches of antibodies within four or five days after a new exposure to the virus."
"This dual punch of T and B cells help explain why many people who received two or even three doses of vaccine could still be infected with the Omicron variant, but only a small percentage became seriously ill."
Kids-Last COVID Policy Makes No Sense: Emily Oster in The Atlantic
"First, one could argue that ongoing child-specific restrictions are warranted because children need more protection. This is a hard case to make."
"A second possible argument in favor of a kids-last policy is that COVID mitigations work better in child settings than in others. The data don’t support this argument, either."
"A final argument is that, because vaccination rates among children are low, and children under 5 are still not eligible for vaccines, they may have higher case rates, and lowering case rates in this group is important to protect the vulnerable, especially the unvaccinated. Over the past several weeks, however, case rates have been fairly similar across all age groups."
"As mask-optional policies gain currency, I receive more and more anguished messages from parents about how to keep their kids safe in this new environment. This fear is a result, at least in part, of alarmist messaging. The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics have chosen to emphasize risks to children in a way that is at odds with the choices made by their European counterparts. We could debate whether this was the right choice, but the result is a fear of removing pandemic restrictions for children, even among adults who are not worried about their own health."
"Kids should face fewer restrictions than their parents, not more. But after two years of telling parents to be afraid for their children, policy makers can’t simply turn around and tell them that kids are low risk and everything’s fine."
Federal
ED: Released final guidance for states, school districts, and schools in implementing accountability and school improvement requirements under ESEA.
COVID-19 Research
Omicron Accounts for More Deaths Than Delta: NYT analysis:
Between the end of November and last week, the U.S. reported over 30 million new COVID-19 cases and over 154,000 new deaths compared to 11 million cases and 132,000 deaths from August 1 through October 31.
Related: Four times as many children hospitalized during Omicron compared to Delta
Covid Spread Among Children is More Likely at Home Than School: A National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (Australia) study of children infected by Covid in New South Wales (NSW) between October 18 and December 17 "produced “reassuring data” that suggests the majority of cases in children were contracted at home"
"The transmission rate was modestly higher in schools with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant introductions (3.7%) than in those with SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant introductions (2.4%), but not higher than in early 2021 (3.7%) before high COVID-19 vaccine uptake in adults and children."
"All adults were required to be fully vaccinated by 1 November 2021. Adolescents aged ≥12 years were encouraged to be vaccinated. Mask use was mandatory for all adults and high-school students and encouraged for primary school students"
The Science Behind Why Children Fare Better With Covid-19: Via the WSJ:
"Unlike other respiratory viruses such as the flu or respiratory syncytial virus, SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t hit children nearly as hard as it does adults or the elderly."
"To understand why children fare better than adults against Covid-19, said Kevan Herold, a professor of immunobiology and internal medicine at Yale University, imagine the immune system as a medieval fortress."
"The innate response, which includes mucus in the nose and throat that helps trap harmful microbes, is like the moat, keeping assailants out. Innate immunity also includes proteins and cells that trigger the body’s initial immune response. Dr. Herold likens them to cannonballs launched as the enemy is beginning an invasion."
"A second line of defense, the adaptive immune system, includes T cells and B cells. The adaptive immune system takes longer to initiate a response, but can remember specific weaknesses of past invaders. Think of them as soldiers preparing for battle inside the fortress."
"Innate immunity doesn’t have the same kind of memory. It relies on patterns associated with harmful microbes more generally. Immunologists have found that children’s immune systems have higher levels of some innate molecules and increased innate responses compared with adults."
"The Herolds’ study comparing 65 young patients and 60 adults with Covid-19 in New York City found that children were less reliant on the adaptive immune system than adults, likely because they had a stronger innate response."
Three Vaccine Doses 99% Effective Against Omicron, Delta Hospitalization: New study which finds three doses of the Moderna vaccine were more effective against infection with the Delta variant than against Omicron but were highly protective against hospitalization with either subtype.
One dose was 56.7% effective against Delta infection and 20.4% effective against Omicron.
Two doses were 44.0% effective against Omicron at 14 to 90 days but fell quickly.
Three doses showed a 93.7% effectiveness against Delta at 14 to 60 days and 86.0% (after 60 days).
"Our findings demonstrate high, durable 3-dose VE against Delta infection but lower effectiveness against Omicron infection, particularly among immunocompromised people. However, 3-dose VE of mRNA-1273 was high against hospitalization with Delta and Omicron variants."
The Effectiveness Of Government Masking Mandates On COVID-19 County-Level Case Incidence Across The US: New study in Health Affairs.
"In this observational study of matched cohorts from 394 US counties between March 21 and October 20, 2020, we estimated the association between county-level public masking mandates and daily COVID-19 case incidence."
"On average, the daily case incidence per 100,000 people in masked counties compared with unmasked counties declined by 23% at four weeks, 33% at six weeks, and 16% across six weeks postintervention."
"The beneficial effect varied across regions of different population densities and political leanings."
The CDC Isn’t Publishing Large Portions of the Covid Data It Collects: Via the NYT.
"For more than a year, the CDC has collected data on hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the United States and broken it down by age, race and vaccination status. But it has not made most of the information public."
"Much of the withheld information could help state and local health officials better target their efforts to bring the virus under control. Detailed, timely data on hospitalizations by age and race would help health officials identify and help the populations at highest risk."
Commit to Transparent Pandemic Data — Not Fancy Dashboards: Edouard Mathieu in Nature.
"Over and over, I’ve seen governments emphasize making dashboards look good when the priority should be making data available."
"There are many good examples of governments making their data available for others to make visible. The open-access GitHub repositories of the Malaysian and Chilean governments are prime examples of how to do this."
Fewer Kids' Emergency Department Visits Amid COVID, but More Mental Healthcare in Teen Girls: CIDRAP on two studies in the latest CDC MMWR report.
“The first study found that, relative to 2019, overall ED visits by children 17 years and younger in 2020, 2021, and January 2022 fell by 51%, 22%, and 23%, respectively.”
“The second study found that, compared with 2019, weekly ED visits among girls 12 to 17 years old rose for eating and tic disorders in 2020; depression, eating, tic, and obsessive-compulsive disorders in 2021; and anxiety, trauma- and stress-related, eating, tic, and obsessive-compulsive disorders in 2022. Over the same period, mental health–related ED visits declined for adolescent boys.”
Why I'm Scared About Mask Mandate Rollbacks: Kara Alaimo at CNN.
CDC’s Sequencing Efforts Analyze Genetic Makeup of the Virus, Not of People: Reuters Fact Check.
Overwhelmed by Chaos and Uncertainty, Families With Kids Under 5 Are On a Vaccine Roller Coaster: Via Washington Post
"They’ve wrestled with child-care crises. They’ve missed work and paychecks. Some have even changed careers when day-care closures forced them to work remotely."
"Parents of children younger than 5 say they feel forgotten and left behind, watching others reclaim normalcy while they stay home with kids who are too young to be vaccinated and have to quarantine when there is an exposure to the coronavirus at day care or school."
Fox News/Business Host Neil Cavuto: Explains on air that he was out for a while because he was hospitalized with Covid, adding, "Doctors say that had I not been vaccinated at all, I wouldn't be here. Some defense is better than no defense."
State
Colorado: Aurora Public Schools introduces new partnership to combat a growing "mental health crisis”
"APS introduced a new tool in January this year that will allow all 38,000-plus students to receive free mental health care. Hazel Health is an online resource that provides one intake session and then up to six free sessions–all virtually, allowing for students to get quick, responsive care to this “mental health crisis."
“We knew that our community partners that include Aurora Mental Health and HealthOne who have school-based therapists staffed in our buildings that their caseloads were filling up within months where it had taken, you know, half a year, almost the whole year for their caseloads to fill up,” said Kim Kaspar, APS mental health and counseling coordinator."
Connecticut: Surging behavioral health care needs for children put strain on school social workers.
Georgia: More than 30 tutoring services will begin working with thousands of Gwinnett students who need help getting on track.
Maryland: State Board of Education votes 12 to 2 to lift mask mandate, but still needs legislative approval.
Pennsylvania: Masks will be recommended not required for the Upper Darby School District beginning on March 7.
International
Australia: Panel of experts will convene to address Australia’s lagging Covid vaccination rates in children 5-11
Hong Kong: Only 24% of parents will allow their children to be vaccinated, according to a study conducted by the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong.
UK:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled game plan for 'living with COVID'
"In an open letter to the country's chief medical advisor and its chief scientific adviser, who appeared with Johnson at today's briefing, a group of doctors and scientists aired concerns about the government's plans to end testing, surveillance surveys, and the legal requirement for isolation. "We do not believe there is a solid scientific basis for the policy. It is almost certain to increase the circulation of the virus and remove the visibility of emerging variants of concern."
Economic Recovery
An Unequal Return to the Office: Via Axios:
"A hybrid workplace has the potential to become an inequitable workplace, as in-office workers have more contact with managers and executives — while those who stay home fall out of sight and out of mind."
"52% of women say they enjoy working remotely and would like to do so in the long term, compared with 41% of men."
"52% of Black workers and 50% of women say working from home is better than working in the office when it comes to advancing in their careers, compared with 42% of men."
For Low-Income Parents, No Day Care Often Means No Pay: Via Washington Post:
"An analysis of census survey data shows low-income parents lost both child care and income at much higher rates than their wealthier counterparts during this winter’s covid surge."
"In the first two weeks of January, 30 percent of households with children under 11 reported child-care disruptions in the past four weeks, up from 22 percent in December — as children got sick or quarantined after coronavirus exposure, or child-care centers shut down over outbreaks or lack of staff."
Resources
New Twist in Pandemic’s Impact on Schools: Substitutes in Camouflage: Via NYT,
"For the last month, dozens of soldiers and airmen and women in the New Mexico National Guard have been deployed to classrooms throughout the state to help with crippling pandemic-related staff shortages. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has also enlisted civilian state employees — herself included — to volunteer as substitute teachers."
"When the call came from the governor, the New Mexico National Guard’s commander in chief, Brig. Gen. Jamison Herrera, knew he would have no trouble recruiting volunteers for Operation Supporting Teachers and Families (S.T.A.F.)"
"The Guard estimated that 50 of its members would volunteer; by this week, the state education department had issued licenses to 96."
"Above all else, he told them, stay “Semper Gumby".. the unofficial military motto, meaning “Always Flexible"
Truck Convoy Aims to Shut Capital Beltway: “An organizer of one of the truck convoys headed to D.C. later this week says there are plans to shut down the Capital Beltway,” Fox 5 reports. Route and stops here.
Broadband Playbooks: From America Achieves:
A Scan of State Policies to Support Equitable Social, Emotional, and Academic Development: Via CASEL and EdTrust.
Code.org + Coldplay: Are teaming up to inspire students to code & dance.
Note to Self: Need to hire a bush baby to help produce the Update.