Top Three
1,000,000 Deaths: U.S. coronavirus death toll surpasses 1 million.
Most Parents with Under 5s Will Wait and See: Via KFF Covid Vaccine Monitor
Only 18% of parents are eager to get their child vaccinated right away
38% say they plan to wait a while to see how the vaccine is working for others.
4 in 10 in ten are more reluctant to get their child vaccinated with 27% saying they will “definitely not” get their child vaccinated and 11% saying they will only do so if they are required.
Among parents of 5 to 11 year-olds, who have been eligible for vaccination since October, about four in ten (39%) say their child has gotten vaccinated while a large share say they will either only get their child vaccinated if they are required for school (12%) or say their child will definitely not get the COVID-19 vaccine (32%).
Covid Hospitalization May Affect Thinking Similar to 20 Years of Aging: Study / Press Release. More via the Guardian and Bloomberg.
"Experts have revealed that some patients were left with, on average, a lingering cognitive decline."
“[Covid] does cause problems with a variety of organs in the body, including the brain and our cognitive function and our psychological health,” David Menon, a professor at Cambridge University and senior author of the study said. “If you can have a vaccine, and all your doses, you will have less severe illness. So all of these problems are going to be less.”
"The results suggest those who were hospitalized with Covid had particular cognitive impairments, including slower processing speed."
“The thing they struggle with most is verbal reasoning,” said Menon, noting that included completing analogies such as laces are to shoes what buttons are to coat."
"The study suggests that while the cognitive impairments were distinct, the magnitude of the change was, on average, on a par with the cognitive decline seen as people age from 50 to 70 years old."
Covid-19 Research
Moderna: Moderna CEO says he expects an Omicron + original virus bivalent booster to be approved in late summer for fall rollout.
Though FDA meets late June to discuss strain selection, he says that wouldn't be enough time for any manufacturer to pivot by early fall.
But he doesn't believe that Moderna (or anyone else) could pivot to BA.2, or BA.2.12.1, for this fall if the FDA recommends those over Omicron + original vaccine in a bivalent booster.
Booster After Infection Not As Beneficial vs Omicron: Among people who were previously infected with the coronavirus, a third dose of an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna may not boost their protection against the Omicron variant of the virus, according to new data (article).
Researchers studied nearly 130,000 people tested for COVID in Connecticut from November 2021 through January 2022, including 10,676 with Omicron infections.
Roughly 6% to 8% had been infected with previous versions of the coronavirus. Two doses of an mRNA vaccine did help protect against Omicron among people with prior infections, but "we did not detect an additional benefit of receiving a third booster dose among this population," said Margaret Lind of Yale University.
COVID-19 Tied to Adverse Maternal Outcomes, Preterm Birth: A study of more than 6,000 women who gave birth in Canada during the pandemic suggests that those infected with COVID-19 were at higher risk for hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) admission than those of nonpregnant women of childbearing age. More via CIDRAP.
"Infection, even if mild, was tied to a significantly higher risk of preterm birth (less than 37 weeks' gestation) than no infection. Of 175 preterm births with detailed delivery data, 46% were spontaneous, and 54% were induced."
Study Finds COVID Vaccine Materials Written at Too-high Reading Level: Mayo study.
COVID-19 vaccine informational material is written at more than a 10th-grade reading level and thus is far too difficult to understand for the average American.
At least 25% of the US population currently has very low-level reading skills and is unable to comprehend a bus schedule or medication and cleaning-product labels, the authors said.
"Our study demonstrates that a significant portion of the U.S. general public is unable to comprehend the available vaccine information in the documents we studied," the authors concluded. "Given the importance of these documents to inform and build trust within the community regarding COVID-19 vaccines, greater effort must be applied to improve the readability of these information documents."
Why is U.S. National Data So Terrible?: Katelyn Jetelina interviews the CDC's Caitlin Rivers.
State
Connecticut: The legislature gave final passage Tuesday to three wide ranging measures that would expand access to and boost resources for children’s mental health, with some lawmakers calling it the defining issue of Connecticut’s 2022 legislative session.
The Senate approved House Bill 5001, a proposal that focuses on services in the medical sector and in the community.
The House passed Senate Bill 1, which features resources for schools
Senate Bill 2, which concentrates on early childhood interventions. All three now head to the governor’s desk for his signature.
Kansas: A Kansas City school adopts year-round learning to help combat COVID learning loss.
International
China: Beijing shuts 10% of subway stations to stem COVID-19 spread.
New Wave in Africa:
New COVID-19 cases have risen 259% in just two weeks. COVID-19-related deaths increased by 18%.
Last week, the country's health officials said the country was experiencing rising proportions of BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, and they warned that a fifth surge could be under way.
Early signals from South Africa don't show an increased risk of hospitalization from BA.4 and BA.5 when compared to the original Omicron virus, but because of short follow-up of cases, it's too soon tell if infections involving them are more severe, the WHO said.
Economic Recovery
Labor Market: A record 4.5 million workers quit the labor force in March, while the number of job openings hit a new high of 11.5 million.
SHRM Backs Alternative Credentials: In new report and article.
"Training certificates, course completion certificates, industry or professional certifications and other types of “alternative credentials” can help employers further their hiring diversity, equity and inclusion goals as well as bolster career development."
"Alternative credentials can be defined as any microcredential, industry or professional certification, acknowledgment of apprenticeship (registered or nonregistered), or badging that indicates one’s competencies and skills within a particular field. Alternative credentials do not include traditional academic degrees or required occupational licensures."
Biggest Barriers to Chip Manufacturing: TSMC founder Morris Chang (who is now retired) appeared on a Brookings Institute podcast and had this to say about the U.S.’s efforts to bring chip production back onshore:
"There’s a lack of manufacturing talent to begin with. I don’t really think it’s a bad thing for the United States actually, but it’s a bad thing for trying to do semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S."
"We have actually had a manufacturing plant in Oregon for 25 years, and 25 years, that’s a long time. We sent all kinds of people, we changed the managers, changed the engineers, we used both American local engineers and we also send engineers from Taiwan to Oregon to try to improve the performance. Improvement in its performance has happened, however the cost difference between Taiwan manufacturing and Oregon manufacturing has remained about the same. The same product, the Oregon cost is about 50% more than the Taiwan cost. Well of course for us the Oregon product is still profitable — although not nearly as profitable as the Taiwan product — so still we have maintained it."
"The U.S. will increase onshore manufacturing of semiconductors somewhat, but all that will be very high unit cost, it’ll be non-competitive in the world market, when you compete with factories like TSMC."
Resources
Gates Foundation CEO Has ‘Zero Expectation’ that Melinda French Gates Will Step Down: Interview in Stat.
"In the most extensive public comments about the stewardship of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since the founders announced their divorce a year ago, the philanthropy’s chief executive said there was now “zero expectation” for Melinda French Gates to step down as co-chair after two years, as they both had agreed if the partnership was not working out."
"CEO Mark Suzman told STAT’s Rick Berke that even as they work through “the personal stuff,” Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates remain “deeply, passionately committed” to the foundation."
Parent Perception Barometer: Via Bellwether.
A majority of parents want to see schools change to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parents’ concern for their children’s academic progress remains high in 2022.
Two years after the pandemic began, a majority of parents remain worried about their children’s mental health.
Worry about sending kids to in-person schooling is down, but some parents remain concerned.
In most states, public school enrollment has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels.
Kindness: Full story here: "The $100 bill she gave two sisters on a plane 23 years ago changed their lives. Now finding them has changed hers."
“She remembered sitting next to two sisters fleeing the former Yugoslavia. She remembered how young and frightened the refugees seemed, how they reminded her of her own daughters and how their experience fleeing war was heartbreaking and unlike anything she'd ever dealt with.”
“She remembered reaching into her purse before they got off the flight, pulling out an envelope, writing them a note and placing her dangly earrings and a $100 bill inside.”
“Peck had no idea then how much that envelope would come to mean to both girls. And until she read the CNN story Saturday, Peck says she had no idea that one of the sisters, Ayda Zugay, had been searching for her for nearly a decade.”