Covid-19 Policy Update #553
Wednesday 8/10
Top Three
School Vaccine Mandates for Covid-19 Are Not Happening: Via Vox
"No state in the country is planning to require student vaccinations, a marked turnaround from where things seemed to be headed last winter, when multiple states and school districts suggested vaccine mandates were coming soon. Only Washington, DC, has announced a mandatory school vaccine policy this fall, for students 12 and older."
"A state lawmaker in California who had introduced a bill to require Covid-19 vaccines for K-12 students withdrew it in April, saying that focus needed to be on ensuring access to the vaccine. The same week, the California Department of Public Health announced it would no longer add the Covid-19 vaccine to its list of mandated childhood vaccines for public schools because they had not all yet received full FDA approval. The earliest the requirement would take effect, they said, was July 2023. Individual school districts like Los Angeles followed suit."
"The US Supreme Court has endorsed states’ authority to require student vaccines, but many policymakers were wary of testing that legal authority for Covid-19 shots that had only received emergency use authorization. (The Justice Department issued a memo last summer saying schools could legally do this, but the threat of defending those decisions in court was both real and unappealing.)"
"Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wrote in a letter to schools, “The #1 tool we have available right now to make sure our schools remain safe and open for all students is vaccination,” and encouraged schools to provide information and host clinics. But the department has stopped short of encouraging schools to require the shots. Elaine Quesinberry, a spokesperson for the Education Department, referred Vox’s questions about student Covid-19 vaccines to the CDC, and the CDC did not return a request for comment."
Related: Covid Vaccine Mandates Heighten School Inequity: Eliza Holland and Nikki Johnson in the WSJ.
"Most Covid restrictions in the U.S. have long since ended, but the school districts in New Orleans and the District of Columbia are mandating Covid vaccines for children to attend school in person this fall. In the capital, the mandate applies to students 12 and older and requires a booster in addition to the initial two-shot course, while in the Crescent City it kicks in at age 5 and requires only two shots. In neither city are exceptions made for kids who have immunity from prior infection, which provides good protection against severe illness."
"These mandates raise serious questions about racial inequity. In Washington, 36% of children 12 to 15 and 43% of 16- and 17-year-olds have received three shots of a Covid vaccine. For black children, those rates are only 23% and 31%, respectively. Roughly 60% of school enrollment is black. In New Orleans, 77% of public-school children are black and 52.5% of children 5 to 17 have completed their Covid vaccine series. (New Orleans doesn’t break the numbers down by race.)"
"If school began today and the mandates were strictly enforced, at least two-thirds of black adolescents in Washington and almost half of all children in New Orleans wouldn’t be allowed in the classroom."
COVID Grads Face College: Via the AP.
"Angel Hope looked at the math test and felt lost. He had just graduated near the top of his high school class, winning scholarships from prestigious colleges. But on this test — a University of Wisconsin exam that measures what new students learned in high school — all he could do was guess."
"Nearly a third of Hope’s high school career was spent at home, in virtual classes that were hard to follow and easy to brush aside. Some days he skipped school to work extra hours at his job. Some days he played games with his brother and sister. Other days he just stayed in bed."
"Colleges could see a surge in students unprepared for the demands of college-level work, education experts say. Starting a step behind can raise the risk of dropping out. And that can hurt everything from a person’s long-term earnings to the health of the country’s workforce."
Catching Up and Moving Forward: Accelerating Math Learning for Every Student: Using two years of pandemic-era data from more than 600,000 students, Zearn researchers found that Learning Acceleration helps kids learn more and struggle less in math. Researchers found:
“A student struggled 17% less in math when they experienced learning acceleration vs. when they were remediated.”
“A student that experienced consistent learning acceleration completed twice as many grade-level lessons over the course of the year when compared to a student who was frequently remediated.”
“A student enrolled in a majority Black, Latino or low-income school was more likely to be remediated when compared with their white and high-income peers – even when they already demonstrated the same level of success with grade-level work.”
“A student enrolled in a majority Black, Latino or low-income schools struggled 19% less in math when they experienced learning acceleration.”
Full disclosure: I’m on Zearn’s board.
Federal
FCC: An Update on Affordable Connectivity Program Enrollment via the Benton Institute.
USDA: USDA ReConnect Program is opening Round 4 Funding.
Covid-19 Research
Pfizer COVID Vaccine Efficacy Wanes 27 Days After Dose 2 in Teens: Study
"We found waning vaccine protection of BNT162b2 against symptomatic COVID-19 infection among adolescents in Brazil and Scotland from 27 days after the second dose.”
“However, protection against severe COVID-19 outcomes remained high at 98 days or more after the second dose in the omicron-dominant period. Booster doses for adolescents need to be considered."
Despite Awareness of Covid-19 Risks, Many Americans Say They’re Back to ‘Normal’: Via Annenberg.
Over half of Americans (54%) personally know at least one person who has died of Covid-19.
Nearly 1 in 3 (31%) know someone who has experienced long Covid.
A majority of Americans (54%) say they rarely or never wear a mask indoors when with people from outside their household – more than double the proportion in January.
4 in 10 (41%) say they have already returned to their “normal, pre-Covid-19 life” – up from 16% in January.
Most Parents Are Saying No to Covid-19 Vaccines for Toddlers: Via the WSJ
Impact of Lifting School Masking Requirements in Greater-Boston Area School Districts: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis
"We estimate that lifting of school masking requirements was associated with an additional 44.9 COVID-19 cases per 1,000 students and staff over the 15 weeks since the lifting of the statewide school masking requirement, representing nearly 30% of all cases observed in schools during that time."
"School districts that sustained masking requirements for longer periods tended to have older school buildings in poorer condition, more crowded classrooms, higher proportion of low income and English learning students and students with disabilities, and a higher proportion of Black and Latinx students and staff."
"Masking is a relatively low-cost but effective intervention that can protect students and staff from substantial illness and loss of in-person days in school."
A Plan for the Upcoming School Year: Via Katelyn Jetelina
"Unfortunately, student absences continue. As seen in London, students absences continue to be higher than before the pandemic. They were especially high at the end of this school year when BA.5 took hold. We know this is partially driven by reinfections, as children have the highest reinfection rate compared to any other age group."
"We need strong, universal vaccine campaigns at schools."
"Schools need to upgrade their ventilation and filtration systems. This is one of the most powerful tools we have to curb COVID-19 and other viruses because it happens in the background—it’s an institutional-level intervention that doesn’t require the teachers, parents, or students to do anything."
"Attending school far outweighs benefits of quarantining for a respiratory virus that is out of control in the community. It’s reasonable (and overdue) to remove quarantine requirements."
"Masks are effective to the wearer. They are even more effective if everyone is masking. If a school is in an area of high transmission, it’s certainly reasonable to mask to reduce transmission and, thus, reduce missing school. However, for that strategy to work, the wearer must mask everywhere else in the community. I don’t think it makes sense for a school to mandate masks if the larger community does not do so either. We shouldn’t ask students to hold down the fort if the larger community hasn’t also committed either."
A 'Staggering' Number of People Couldn't Get Care During the Pandemic: NPR on new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"Among U.S. households where anyone has been seriously ill in the past year, 24% of Black households, 18% of Latino households, 35% of Native American households, 10% of Asian households, and 18% of White households say they were unable to get medical care for serious illnesses when they needed it in the past year."
"Among households with children enrolled in K-12 last school year, 34% of Black adults, 22% of Latino adults, 15% of Asian adults, and 24% of White adults rated the quality of their children’s education as only fair or poor"
State
California: Nationwide bus driver shortage impacting school transportation in Santa Maria.
"A lot of people found other work during the covid shutdown or found other things that they would prefer to do to make a living. And being a bus driver is a big responsibility."
"The three to six-month process of becoming a licensed school bus driver has reduced the number of available drivers in their district."
Illinois: High school sports return without COVID-19 restrictions.
Iowa: The CIO released a Broadband Availability Map.
Kentucky: JCPS teachers union poll finds most against district's COVID-19 mask policy.
"Most of those who responded to the poll, 37.6%, are strongly opposed to the JCPS policy requiring masks when Jefferson County is at the highest category for COVID-19 transmission."
Illinois: Chicago Public Schools releases 2022-23 COVID Guidelines.
Unvaccinated individuals will have the following three options when they are deemed to be a “close contact” of a COVID case:
Submit proof of full vaccination
Learn/work from home for a period of five days, and then wear a mask in school for days 6-through-10
Participate in “Test-to-Stay” protocols.
Under those protocols, students and faculty must
Obtain two rapid tests from their school
Test negative on the Monday and Thursday after exposure and submit the results to CPS
Remain symptom-free throughout the following days.
Wear a mask and refrain from participating in sports and extracurricular activities for 10 days after exposure
Students and staff who are returning from isolation after a positive COVID test will be required to wear a mask until they have passed 10 days since the onset of their symptoms.
Individuals who are identified as “close contacts” of COVID patients will have to mask for 10 days following their exposure, regardless of their vaccination status.
If there are three or more cases of COVID within a single classroom, students and faculty will be required to wear a mask for at least 10 days after the last positive result is reported.
Maryland: Baltimore City schools expanding tutoring program.
Michigan: Lansing schools released COVID protocols for the fall 2022 school year.
"For situations involving quarantine or isolation, the Lansing School District said that anyone who receives a positive COVID test or start feeling an onset of symptoms, students and staff must stay home for at least 5 days and fever free for 24 hours."
"No quarantine is necessary if someone is exposed to anyone with COVID-19. The district recommends testing on days 3 and 5 following exposure and will provide testing in all schools."
Nevada: Clark County School District selects Paper for tutoring.
Ohio:
Columbus teachers' union votes to authorize 10-day strike notice.
Governor DeWine announces BroadbandOhio Community Accelerator Cohort.
Economic Recovery
Inflation: Consumer prices rose 8.5% in July, less than expected as inflation pressures ease a bit.
"On a monthly basis, prices were flat as energy prices broadly declined 4.6% and gasoline fell 7.7%. That offset a 1.1% monthly gain in food prices and a 0.5% increase in shelter costs."
Supply Chain Bottlenecks Are Clearing Up: The New York Fed's Global Supply Chain Pressure Index fell for the third straight month in July, hitting its lowest point since January 2021.
FT: "The average cost of taking the standard 40-foot metal box across the world’s oceans is down by about 45% from its peak in the autumn of last year, according to data from international freight company Freightos. The number of vessels queueing outside the port of Los Angeles has dropped 75% from the start of the year despite the port recording its busiest June in a century. Delivery times for air cargo, tracked by supply chain portal Flexport, are improving too."
Resources
Back-to-School Shopping Inflation Hits Home for Parents, Teachers: Joshua Bay in The 74.
What Works Cities: What Works Cities Certification releases updated criteria for cities to achieve recognition for excellence in using data to improve residents’ lives.
2022 Kids Count: Via the Annie E. Casey Foundation. More via Axios.
"In 2020, 11.8% of children experienced anxiety or depression, up from 9.4% from 2016."
"The increase of reported anxiety among youth was highest in South Dakota (102%), and California (70%)."
Illuminate Ed Pulled from ‘Student Privacy Pledge’ After Massive Data Breach: Via The 74:
"Embattled education technology vendor Illuminate Education has become the first-ever company to get booted from the Student Privacy Pledge, an unprecedented move that follows a massive data breach affecting millions of students and allegations the company misrepresented its security safeguards."
"The Future of Privacy Forum, which created the self-regulatory effort nearly a decade ago to promote ethical student data practices by education technology companies, announced on Monday it had stripped Illuminate of its pledge signatory designation and referred the company to the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general in New York and California, where the biggest breaches occurred, to “consider further appropriate action,” including sanctions."
A Three-Prong Strategy for a Better Education for All: Via Patricia Levesque in EdNext.
"First, fix the existing system. It’s important to improve today’s public systems, which serve the majority of students who are educated in traditional schools."
"Second, create alternatives to the current system to expand options for all families. Educational opportunity acknowledges every child’s uniqueness, rooted in the belief that all students are deserving of access to the option that best meets their needs."
"Third, reimagine the system. The future of education requires work today that can pave the way to new learning models, new education pathways and expanded student experiences for years to come."
Colleges, Parents Fight in Court Over Tuition Charged During Pandemic Closures: Via WSJ.
"Plaintiffs have argued that schools were contractually obligated to deliver an in-person education and unfairly kept all their money."
“People just didn’t get the experience they thought they were paying for,” she said"
"The judge said that although shutdown orders made it impossible for La Verne to honor its obligations, it would be unjust for the university “to retain the monetary benefits specific to in-person classes.”
Early Data: Outcomes from High-Impact Tutoring: New report from Amplify.
"Students in grades K-5 who scored well below benchmark at the beginning of year and received tutoring three times per week for 30 minutes per day were more likely to make outsized literacy gains and narrow their skills gap on a nationally normed reading assessment than their peers who did not attend tutoring or attended less frequently."
"The data comes from more than 160,000 students in more than 150 districts that Amplify supported over the last school year."
New Research: Summer Learning Boosts Math Performance, College Graduation: Via The 74.
Remembering David McCullough: Via the NYT. Statement from President Bush. President Obama included McCullough among a gathering of scholars who met at the White House soon after Obama was elected.
"Hey, You're Doing Just Great": Oklahoma little leaguer gets hit in the head and then comforts the pitcher who is shaken up afterward.
