Top Three
Moderna: Says its vaccine for ages under 6 will be ready for U.S. review in June.
"I think the FDA now have all of the core fundamental data they need to be able to begin an application review. So yes, we're very confident," Dr. Paul Burton, the company's chief medical officer, said in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation."
"The safety profile we've seen in this vaccine in these very youngest kids is very reassuring - actual rates of safety events even lower than we've seen in the 6-year-olds to 12-year-olds and that's great," Burton said."
A top FDA official pledged Friday not to delay the rollout of coronavirus vaccines for the youngest children and said at least one of the two shots under review could become available in June."
Related: "Burton said on Sunday the company is testing another booster shot that he believes will be superior to booster results the company announced on April 19. The booster shots are likely to target the Omicron variant plus the original coronavirus."
The American Camp Association (ACA) and the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) will create 10 new summer learning programs, in collaboration with 10 public school districts, for low-income students as they prepare for the next school year.
The National League of Cities is partnering with the Afterschool Alliance to produce an interactive map, highlighting how districts and municipalities are investing in afterschool and summer programming using various ARP funding streams.
$17 million investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for high-impact tutoring.
$14.4 million in grants from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation throughout 2022 to support afterschool across the country.
$10 million investment from the Raikes Foundation to support organizations aimed at accelerating learning and expanding access to mental health supports.
$9 million investment from the Stuart Foundation to support summer learning, learning recovery, educator workforce, and mental health initiatives.
$9 million investment from Overdeck Family Foundation to accelerate students’ academic recovery and address the teacher shortage.
$4.25 million investment from the William + Flora Hewlett Foundation to provide support and technical assistance to districts on how to effectively use ARP funds and sustain recovery efforts beyond the life of ARP.
$240,000 investment from the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation to support projects to address the impacts of the pandemic on children, students and educators, and address inequities made worse by the pandemic.
School Districts’ Post-Covid Strategies for Summer Learning: "Nearly 60% of the nation’s school districts and charter organizations expect to spend a portion of their federal American Rescue Plan funding on summer learning or on a combination of summer and afterschool programs, according to a FutureEd analysis of spending plans for more than 4,100 local education agencies compiled by the Burbio data services firm."
Federal
WHCA Dinner: A few interesting nuggets from this weekend's festivities.
WHCA used Bindle to verify attendee's vaccine status and negative test.
Nalticx had a volunteer place a CO2 monitor on a table which measured a very high number suggesting ventilation was poor.
One way to frame it: "Fauci thought it was too dangerous to come tonight. Pete Davidson thinks it's OK. And we all went with Pete."
A lot of discussion about the very poignant ending to Trevor Noah's speech. Watch the clip here.
"What you stand for. An additional check and balance that holds power to account and gives voice to those who otherwise wouldn’t have one. And I’m not just talking about CNN or Fox or any of the other major organizations. I’m talking about everyone..."
"Every single one of you, whether you like it or not is a bastion of democracy. And if you ever begin to doubt your responsibilities, if you ever begin to doubt how meaningful it is, look no further than what’s happening in Ukraine. Look at what’s happening there. Journalists are risking and even losing their lives to show the world what’s really happening. You realize how amazing it is. In America, you have the right to seek the truth and speak the truth even if it makes people in power uncomfortable. Even if it makes your viewers or your readers uncomfortable. You understand how amazing that is?"
"I stood here tonight and I made fun of the President of the United States and I’m going to be fine. I am going to be fine, right? Do you really understand what a blessing it is? Maybe it’s happened for so long that it might slip your mind. It’s a blessing."
"In fact, here, ask yourself this question. Honestly, ask yourself this question. If Russian journalists who are losing their livelihoods, as you were talking about Steve, and their freedom for daring to report on what their own government is doing. If they had the freedom to write any words, to show any stories or to ask any questions. If they had basically what you have, would they be using it in the same way that you do? Ask yourself that question every day because you have one of the most important roles in the world."
ED: $160 million available through the Education Innovation and Research Grant Program for expansion grants, mid-phase grants, and early-phase grants.
"Will focus this year’s Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program on projects that develop, implement, replicate, and scaleup strategies to support learning recovery and student well-being related to the impact of COVID-19, including projects that address accelerated learning."
Treasury: Released updated FAQs for the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds.
States that the fiscal recovery funds can pay for the “full salary and benefits of many school and child care staff,” as well as train potential workers to fill in-demand roles in child care and education, including as school bus drivers, school nutrition staff, paraprofessionals, and other staff.
Projects to improve school energy efficiency and air ventilation can also be financed with the funds.
"Recipients may use SLFRF funds to invest in broadband infrastructure that, where practicable, is designed to deliver service that reliably meets or exceeds symmetrical upload and download speeds of 100 Mbps to households or businesses with an identified need for additional broadband investment. “Businesses” in this context refers broadly to include non-residential users of broadband, including private businesses and institutions that serve the public, such as schools, libraries, healthcare facilities, and public safety organizations"
Recipients must obligate all funds by December 31, 2024 and spend down the money by December 31, 2026.
Covid Supplemental: Via Punchbowl:
“Key GOP lawmakers told us tonight that they’re willing to pass $33 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine – or more – but they don’t want that money tied to billions of dollars in new Covid preparedness funds.”
“Republicans are demanding a vote on Title 42, which limits migration during a public health crisis, as part of the Covid bill. Vulnerable Democrats and moderates would vote for such an amendment, which could derail the underlying package.”
Covid-19 Research
Moderna May Have Slight Edge Over Pfizer in Infections Only: "Relative to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the Moderna version confers slightly more protection against infection—but not hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, or death—90 days after the second dose, suggests a modeling study of more than 3.5 million fully vaccinated individuals."
Paxlovid: Via Stat, "Paxlovid’s failure as a preventative measure raises questions, but doctors still back it as a therapeutic."
"Pfizer released news late Friday that Paxlovid failed to prevent people living with Covid patients from catching the infection."
Related: "This is what it’s like to get Paxlovid (if you're lucky)."
Sensitivity of Home COVID Rapid Antigen Tests Peaks 4 Days After Illness Onset: "The sensitivity of home rapid antigen COVID-19 tests peaks 4 days after symptom onset, suggesting that a negative antigen test should be followed by a second test in 1 or 2 days, according to a prospective study published in JAMA Internal Medicine."
New Omicron Sub-lineages Can Dodge Immunity From Past Infection: "Two new sublineages of the Omicron coronavirus variant can dodge antibodies from earlier infection well enough to trigger a new wave, but are far less able to thrive in the blood of people vaccinated against COVID-19, South African scientists have found."
State
California: Some school districts that grew during the pandemic feel shortchanged.
“The decision to hold districts harmless for declining enrollment came from a well-intended solution,” said Peter Birdsall, president of lobbying firm Education Advocates. “Even at the time, the concern was raised that some districts were growing. ‘Hold harmless’ actually hurt them.”
"Education Advocates and the Small School Districts’ Association, an advocacy group representing these districts, estimate that 169 school districts, mostly small and rural, weren’t funded for all their students last school year."
"By the end of the 2019-20 school year, Wheatland Union High had about 900 students. The following school year, it grew to 932 students, a 4% increase. Meanwhile, public school enrollment statewide decreased by 3% that first year of the pandemic."
"San Benito High School District in Hollister, about 30 miles east of Monterey Bay, gained 160 students between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. It grew by an additional 142 students this year. Since the start of the pandemic, enrollment has increased by nearly 10%. Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum estimates the district should have received about $1.2 million more in funding for the 2020-21 school year."
Florida: Manny Díaz appointed next Education Commissioner, effective June 1.
Michigan: Without state leadership, Michigan's patchwork tutoring programs struggle to address learning loss.
Mississippi: Imagine Learning, Gale, Discovery Ed top list of new statewide Ed Tech expenditures by Mississippi ED.
Washington: "Pasco School District launches free mental health services to all students."
Wisconsin: Children born during COVID-19 are experiencing more developmental delays.
International
China: Ben Thompson on this interview with the President of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China
"For the past two years, the party leadership and government have spun the narrative that China has handled the pandemic much better than the decadent West. Now this narrative is blowing up in their faces. The population is genuinely afraid of the virus. Anyone who tests positive here is taken from home like a convict and forced into a camp with thousands of other people. Conditions there are sometimes deplorable, and it is often there that people fall really ill. I try to tell my contacts in the government that they could take an example from Singapore, where the government deals very pragmatically with the virus and society has learned to live with it."
"The political signalling is clear. The mayors, the regional politicians, they all have only one metric right now: Zero Covid. Imagine you’re a mayor of a medium-sized city and a truck comes with supplies for a local factory with parts from the Shanghai area. Do you let the truck pass and run the risk that the driver will bring Omicron and you will have local contagions? You won’t get kicked out of your job if the economy in your area is doing poorly on average – but you will lose your job if you have Covid in your city. The system’s focus on Zero Covid leads to many decision makers being in a kind of self-destruction mode. They don’t care about the economy in the short term. In current politics, the business people hardly get through anymore. The fear is too great, and time and again you get confirmation from above: If you have Covid in your city, you have a problem."
Economic Recovery
A Third of U.S. College Students Consider Withdrawing: Via Gallup.
Counterproductive Immigration Policy: "US immigration officials failed to issue 25% of available employment-based green cards last year despite about 1.4 million immigrants waiting for one."
China: Chinese regulators have held an emergency meeting with domestic and foreign banks to discuss how they could protect the country’s overseas assets from US-led sanctions similar to those imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to people familiar with the discussion. Officials are worried the same measures could be taken against Beijing in the event of a regional military conflict or other crisis.
Resources
Headcounts Are Down at Public Schools. Now Budgets Are Too: Via the AP.
"In Houston, the largest district in Texas, enrollment tumbled by more than 22,000 to around 183,000 in fall 2021 and only about half of those students have returned. The district was shielded from making cuts in the first two years of the pandemic by what are known as “hold harmless” provisions, but those protections are expected to end. Superintendent Millard House has asked departments to cut $60 million from next year’s budget."
"More districts will be making cuts in coming years, said Alex Spurrier, an associate partner at Bellwether Education Partners. "Once the federal funding dries up, it will put a lot more districts in a lot more difficult position if they’re kind of kicking the can down the road of making the adjustments that they’ll need if they are going to be serving smaller student populations in the years to come."
"In Minneapolis Public Schools, where a nearly three-week long teacher strike ended with a new contract, the district said it needed to make $27.1 million in budget cuts in the upcoming school year to pay for it. Federal relief money helped cover the $53.5 million price tag for the more lucrative contract for teachers and support staff for the current school year. Since the pandemic began, the district also has lost more than 4,000 students, along with the state funding they generate."
CDC NERD Academy Curriculum: For grades 6-12. An educational resource to teach your science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students about public health, epidemiology, and related careers!"
Mental Health and the Pandemic:Via the FT, the growing crisis facing UK children.
"Between 2017 and 2020 the number of young people referred to mental health services increased almost 60 per cent, to 539,000. But the following year referrals fell to just short of 500,000. The fall is not a result of reduced need: according to the Centre for Mental Health, an additional 1.5mn under-18s will need new or additional help as a result of the pandemic. Instead, a lack of contact with GPs, teachers and other essential services meant problems simply went unchecked."
It's Monday:
Or just the coolest kid at school.