Top Three
COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Among Children Under 5 Have Peaked: Via KFF.
“As of July 20, approximately 544,000 children under the age of 5 had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. This represents 2.8% of the approximately 19 million children in this age group. At a similar point in their vaccine roll-out, more than 5.3 million children ages 5-11 (18.5% of 5-11 year-olds) had received their first dose.”
“Vaccinations peaked among those under 5 about two-weeks into their eligibility, even before the July 4 holiday. After a quick rise in vaccinations soon after they became eligible, the rate of vaccination (as measured by the 7-day rolling average of new doses administered) peaked at just over 28,000 on July 1. It then began to decrease and was about 13,000 on July 20."
White House to Launch Effort to Develop Next Generation of Covid Vaccines: Via Stat:
"To kick off the effort, the White House is gathering key federal officials, top scientists, and pharmaceutical executives including representatives of Pfizer and Moderna for a Tuesday “summit” to discuss the new technologies and lay out a road map for developing them."
“These are vaccines that are going to be far more durable, that are going to provide far longer-lasting protection, no matter what the virus does or how it evolves,” Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said in an interview. “If we can drive down infections by 90% … Covid really begins to fade into the background, and becomes just one more respiratory illness that we have to deal with.”
"For all the initiative’s ambition, it is not without risk, both scientific and political. The Biden administration has struggled in recent months to execute a two-pronged messaging strategy: convincing Americans that the federal Covid response has been a success, while also stressing that the pandemic remains a clear and present danger. The vaccine initiative is likely to draw limited interest from the large segment of the public that would sooner act as if the virus threat is over. And it also risks wasting political capital on an initiative that would cost untold billions of dollars — and that lawmakers may be unwilling to fund."
"Variant chasing will never get us to where we need to be,” said Eric Topol, director and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. “Variant chasing is a losing strategy. It’s temporally flawed and unacceptable.”
"One strategy would focus on the development of nasal vaccines that could create antibodies at the mucosal surfaces in the nose and elsewhere where viruses enter the body, thereby preventing infection and transmission."
"A second strategy would aim to create vaccine antigens that would work against a broader array of coronavirus strains, thereby providing more durable immunity. It may or may not be possible to combine the two strategies."
California to Give ‘Baby Bonds’ to Children Who Lost Parent or Guardian to COVID: Via the AP:
"$100 million in total — will go into interest-bearing accounts for children from low-income families who have lost a parent to COVID and to kids who are in the state’s foster care system."
"State lawmakers haven’t decided how much money each child will get, but one early proposal would give younger kids $4,000 and older kids $8,000."
"That would be enough to provide funding for about 16,000 kids, who could spend the money once they become adults."
Federal
President Biden: "President Biden’s symptoms from Covid-19 “have now almost completely resolved” as he nears the end of his Paxlovid treatment, the NYT reports."
Covid-19 Research
Second Booster Shot Push on Hold: “Second booster shots of the coronavirus vaccine for people younger than 50 are on hold as the Biden administration tries to accelerate a fall vaccination campaign using reformulated shots that target the now-dominant omicron subvariants,” the Washington Post reports.
COVID-19 Antivirals May Cut Risk of Hospitalization, Death: Study suggests that molnupiravir and Paxlovid used in patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 lowered the risk of hospitalization and death without raising the risk of adverse events.
Covid Disruptions: Via Axios.
"Between June 29 and July 11, 3.9 million people said they didn't work either because they were sick with COVID symptoms or were caring for a sick loved one, according to Census Bureau data."
"By comparison, 1.8 million people said they missed work for those reasons around the same time last year."
"4.8 million people took time off during the week that the Census Bureau did its June household survey. During the same period in 2021, around 3.7 million were taking time off."
Covid State of Affairs: Via Katelyn Jetelina
"Hospitalizations have doubled in Europe and no peaks have been seen yet for countries like France, U.K., Greece, or Italy, although hospitalizations do look to be slowing down."
"Although hospitalizations are increasing, we are clearly in a different phase of the pandemic in regards to severe disease:"
"Case hospitalization rate continues to decrease over time, especially given dramatic underreporting."
"ICU admissions—one proxy of severe COVID-19—remains relatively steady, regardless of an increase in hospitalizations overall and a highly transmissible virus sweeping the community."
"For” COVID-19: We do not have a great picture of hospitalizations “with” vs. “for” COVID-19, but some jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, have been tracking this since January 2022. Today, of all COVID-related hospitalizations, about 30% are “for” COVID, and the percentage has steadily declined since January 2022 (when they started tracking this)."
"On the other side of the spectrum, pediatric hospitalizations remain relatively low compared to adults. But their hospitalization rate just passed the Delta peak, while other age groups are still far below it. This is likely explained by low vaccination rates among children."
Most States Formally Say That Covid Is No Longer a Health Emergency: Via the NYT.
"Fewer than a dozen states will have emergency declarations in place, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy."
"States have let the declarations expire even though the Omicron subvariant known as BA.5, perhaps the most transmissible coronavirus subvariant yet, is pushing up positive tests, hospitalizations and intensive care admissions across the country."
"Legislatures have amended the process for declaring an emergency, shortened the maximum length of each emergency and reduced the number of times that a governor can renew an emergency declaration. In Arizona, beginning next January, the governor cannot declare a public health emergency without the legislature’s approval."
CDC Director Interview: A Washington Post reporter asks the CDC Director about some of the differences between President Biden's treatment and CDC guidance.
"I think we can all agree that the President's protocols likely go above and beyond...what every American is able and has the capacity to do. As we put forward our CDC guidance we have to do so, so that they are relevant, feasible, followable by Americans."
And a bit of a confusing answer to the question of if she would want to be around family members if she tested positive.
State
Georgia: GeorgiaCAN launched a Back-to-School Toolkit for parents, offering resources, tips for relationship building with teachers and other school staff and more.
Illinois: New law allows students to take up to 5 mental health days.
Kentucky: Kentucky’s largest school district will require universal masking on school property as Jefferson County moves into the highest level of COVID-19 community spread.
Michigan:
Detroit superintendent’s wife leaves literacy nonprofit following backlash over contract.
"The district’s 2021 contract with Beyond Basics — costing between $9.9 million and $12.62 million — covered small-group and one-on-one tutoring to K-8 students and high schoolers who were two years or more behind grade level. Under federal rules, some of the contracted amount — $2.1 million — will go toward serving private school students in the city. The money left over from the contract will go toward funding the tutoring program in this coming school year."
International
China: Has roughly a fifth of its population under full or partial lockdowns, according to one count.
Singapore: "The Ministry of Health (MOH) said it aims to have COVID-19 vaccines ready for children aged between six months and four years old towards the fourth quarter of the year."
Economic Recovery
Pandemic Takes a Toll on Workers Without College Degrees: Via SHRM. "Times are hard for workers without college degrees, but a shrinking labor market means employers will need to reconsider this under-tapped source of talent."
Resources
Auditing Federal Funds: Interesting piece via The 74.
Inflation Is Putting the Squeeze on Schools. How Are They Coping?: Via EdWeek (and a separate EdWeek story).
"With fixed budgets complicated by local, state, and federal funding that rolls out on different schedules, school districts often struggle to adjust to unexpected costs. Some can shift funds around or tap into savings without much issue, but others find themselves experiencing a deficit, laying off staff, or canceling vital investments in teaching and learning to stay afloat."
Gas Money and Virtual Classes: Politico on how colleges are helping students amid inflation.
New K-12 Pandemic Recovery Practices Released on EduRecoveryHub: The Collaborative for Student Success added 18 new promising educational practices to EduRecoveryHub.org (Press Release).
Backlash: New deck from Bruce Mehlman: The Counter-Revolutions Driving Politics & Policy
Just Because You're Vaccinated: Doesn't mean you're protected from this bad decision.
It's Monday: Make good choices this week.
Wrong-way Walensky never misses a chance to blow it.
And Jha is talking about reducing infections by 90% with a vax. Mighty big talk.