Top Three
Poor Vaccine Protection in Kids 5 to 11: New data published on the preprint server medRxiv:
"The research, conducted during the Omicron surge, is based on New York State Department of Health data and shows that protection against infection for 5 to 11 year olds dropped from 68% to 12% within 1 month of full vaccination."
"In the Omicron era, the effectiveness against cases of BNT162b2 declined rapidly for children, particularly those 5-11 years. However, vaccination of children 5-11 years was protective against severe disease and is recommended"
"The finding of markedly-lower VE [vaccine effectiveness] against infection for children 11 years compared to those 12 and 13 years, despite overlapping physiology, suggests lower vaccine dose may explain lower 5-11 years VE," the authors wrote.
Via Stat: "The data come on the heels of disappointing results from Pfizer trials of an even lower vaccine dose in children under the age of 5. And they will raise questions about whether, in trying to find doses that were both protective and tolerable in children, the companies failed to hit the mark for both age groups."
Classroom Disruptions: NYT poll of 150,000 parents.
"In January, more than half of American children missed at least three days of school. About 25 percent missed more than a week, while 14 percent of students missed nine or more days."
Reactions to New Masking Guidance:
Important change that isn't getting enough attention: "Effective February 25, 2022, CDC does not require wearing of masks on buses or vans operated by public or private school systems, including early care and education/child care programs."
“The White House is relaxing its mask mandate in time for President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday,” the NYT reports.
"Making -- and muddling -- the case for mask and vaccine mandates," writes former CDC Director Tom Frieden on CNN.
"Omicron has muddled the case for Covid mandates. If vaccination essentially eliminates the risk of spreading disease -- as with two doses of the measles vaccine -- the case for a mandate is clear. If the burden of a mandate, such as handwashing for restaurant workers, is minimal, then controversy is minimal. And if the risk to others is substantial, as from a person with infectious multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, then compulsory isolation is generally accepted. Omicron is a middle case"
"It is far less likely to cause hospitalization and death than prior variants, and breakthrough infections among those vaccinated are far more common. But Omicron is so highly infectious that even a lower risk of severe illness still means that hospitalizations and deaths increased. A disease that is both less severe and kills more people complicates policy-making and public understanding."
Katelyn Jetelina mostly likes what she sees in the new guidance.
Some Americans welcome new CDC mask guidance, others wary, reports the AP.
California, Oregon, Washington to end school mask mandates on March 12
Via Burbio, "For the first time the number of Top 500 districts that are mask-optional exceeds the number that are mask-required, and we expect that trend to accelerate this week and for the balance of the month."
COVID-19 Research
CDC Updates Contact Tracing Guidance: "Universal case investigation and contact tracing are not recommended for COVID-19."
"Health department jurisdictions should prioritize specific settings and groups at increased risk."
"Case investigation and contact tracing are separate processes with distinct benefits and goals; decisions to initiate either should be made separately"
Two More Studies Point to Chinese Market, Not Lab, as COVID's Origin:
Via Nature: "Scientists have released three studies that reveal intriguing new clues about how the COVID-19 pandemic started. Two of the reports trace the outbreak back to a massive market that sold live animals, among other goods, in Wuhan, China, and a third suggests that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spilled over from animals — possibly those sold at the market — to humans at least twice in November or December 2019."
"The preprints contain genetic analyses of coronavirus samples collected from the market and from people infected in December 2019 and January 2020, as well as geolocation analyses connecting many of the samples to a section of the market where live animals were sold. Taken together, these lines of evidence point towards the market as the source of the outbreak — a situation akin to that seen in the epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002–04, for which animal markets were found to be ground zero — says Kristian Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla,"
"One major finding reported by Andersen and colleagues is the mapping of five positive samples from the market to a single stall that sold live animals, and, more specifically, to a metal cage, to carts used to move animals and to a machine used to remove birds’ feathers."
"When you look at all of the evidence together, it's an extraordinarily clear picture that the pandemic started at the Huanan market," Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona and a co-author of both studies, told the NYT"
"Worobey is the same guy who wrote a column last spring calling for scientists to keep an open mind to the COVID origin question, pointed out Nature's Amy Maxman."
More via the NYT (along with maps and visualizations)
Studies:
The Hard Lessons We Learned — and Didn’t — From Two Years in Pandemic School: Via Joel Achenbach in the Washington Post.
Past performance does not predict future results
Evolution is real, nature is inventive, and we live at the indulgence of things we cannot see
Don’t be paralyzed by the uncertainties. Act fast.
Follow the science, but don’t expect it to tell you what to do
Pandemics are political events
We are living in the Misinformation Age
Pandemics end psychologically before they do biologically
The pandemic exposed us — including our chronic inequities
We need to reinvest in this thing people call ‘public health’
We are all in this together
Highly Divergent White-Tailed Deer SARS-CoV-2 With Potential Deer-to-Human Transmission: New preprint study.
"Phylogenetic analysis revealed an epidemiologically linked human case from the same geographic region and sampling period. Together, our findings represent the first evidence of a highly divergent lineage of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer and of deer-to-human transmission."
#VaxAmbassador Training: Best Practices for Online Community Outreach: Made to Save event on March 3 at 7pm ET. Register here.
Nearly Half of 500M Free COVID Tests Still Unclaimed: Reports the AP.
State
Connecticut: A district-by-district look at lifting the school mask mandate.
New York:
Gov. Hochul announced that beginning March 2, masks will no longer be required in New York schools
NYC will end school mask and indoor proof-of-vaccination mandates.
Pennsylvania: New CDC mask guidelines won't change Philadelphia's mandate for now.
Tennessee: Memphis-Shelby County Schools makes masks optional.
Economic Recovery
New Database Ranks 4,500 Colleges and Universities by Return on Investment: Yahoo News on a new database released by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.
“At 1,233 postsecondary institutions (30% of all colleges), more than half of students 10 years after enrollment earn less than a high school graduate."
Impact of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine On Business, Politics & Policy: Good analysis from Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas.
Scenarios for Economic Impact of Ukraine Crisis: Via Bloomberg.
Resources
NAESP Releases Policy Recommendations to Address New Demands on Schools: Report identified five policy priorities based on the data and feedback from principals in the focus groups:
Improve Principal Pipelines and Workforce Incentives
Rethink Testing and Accountability
Consult Administrators on Principal and Teacher Preparation and Professional Development
Honor, Recognize, and Listen to Principals
Boost Funding and Resources
School Districts Are Wasting COVID Relief Funds: Ryan Lanier in The Hill
Ukrainian Footballer Roman Yaremchuk: Comes on as a substitute for Benfica in Lisbon. Watch what happens.
“Prayer for Ukraine": Performed by Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York.
Ukrainian Soldiers Rescued an Abandoned Puppy: Rambo now guards the post with the soldiers.