Covid-19 Policy Update #559
Top Three
FDA Authorizes Updated COVID Boosters From Moderna and Pfizer: FDA Statement.
The authorizations cover the Moderna bivalent vaccine in those ages 18 and older, and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine covers people ages 12 and older.
CIDRAP: "Also as part of today's announcement, the FDA pulled its authorization of monovalent boosters for most groups, except Pfizer for kids ages 5 through 11 years. However, the vaccines are still authorized for the primary series in those ages 6 months and older."
"Pfizer said it has some doses ready to ship immediately and can deliver up to 15 million doses by Sept 9. Moderna said it expects its new shot to be available in the coming days."
NYT: “The idea here is not just to increase the antibodies right now, but also to hopefully give us a longer duration of protection” that will hold up through the winter, Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine regulator at the FDA said at a news briefing."
"Only people who have received at least two shots will be eligible for the updated booster, and only those who have had two months or more after finishing their initial two-shot series or getting one of the previous boosters."
"Federal officials argue that because the coronavirus is evolving so quickly, human trials would be out of date before they can deliver results that could be used in the FDA’s authorization decision. Instead, they are relying on the results of mouse trials and earlier human trials by Pfizer and Moderna of reformulations aimed at previous versions of the virus."
HHS Outlines Timeline For Shifting Vaccines and Therapeutics Over to the Private Market: Via HHS. Officials expect the government purchased supplies of vaccines to run out as soon as January 2023, Evusheld as soon as early 2023, and Paxlovid in mid-2023.
A New Initiative to Tackle Education’s Big Problems: Rotherham over at The 74:
"When I first started doing policy work, a more heterodox and collaborative approach was often the norm. Behind the scenes, people worked together to find common ground, even when it wasn’t easy. It was not unusual to be in a room with people you disagreed with on a variety of issues but could find ways to get things done on particular ones. That’s rare in today’s culture, where toxic partisanship, pervasive fears of getting piled on social media or just quietly shunned by colleagues constrain intellectual life and keep the sector in a rut."
"Beta by Bellwether, launching today, is a new initiative bringing viewpoint- and background-diverse experts together to tackle big problems and develop blueprints, strategies and tools that can help communities address structural educational problems."
"We’re starting with an initiative called Assembly, examining how America can ensure that families and students have equitable access to an array of flexible learning options like tutoring and pods and extracurricular activities like sports."
"Three briefs we’re releasing today explain what Assembly is, as well as its potential benefits and pitfalls; recount how public schools came to serve so many student needs; and describe the existing landscape and emerging trends."
"In addition to Assembly, in the near term, Beta by Bellwether will focus on two other entrenched challenges in education. We plan to help find new, sustainable and politically realistic ways to address redlining and how the U.S. housing market inequitably drives the public school system. And we will investigate ways to equitably expand access to quality postsecondary college and career opportunities. Longer term, we are looking at additional projects and ideas."
Federal
White House: Biden administration partnering with job search companies to help fill teacher shortages.
"According to a White House memo provided exclusively to USA TODAY, the companies will set up ways school districts can recruit and hire prospective teachers and for teachers looking for jobs to find openings."
"ZipRecruiter is launching an online job portal specifically for K-12 schools. Indeed will set up virtual hiring fairs for educators and other staff across the country. And Handshake, which helps college students find jobs, is creating new ways of sharing job openings with undergraduate students in education, including a virtual event in October for college students interested in the field."
House GOP Control No Longer a Foregone Conclusion: The Cook Political Report downgraded its outlook for Republican gains in the House from 20 to 35 seats to 10 to 20 seats.
Covid-19 Research
U.S. Life Expectancy Drops Sharply: Stat on new CDC data. More via Axios.
"This year’s life expectancy figure is 0.9 years lower than last year’s. Covid-19 accounted for about half of the decline, and a category encompassing accidents and unintentional injuries is responsible for another 16%. That category includes overdoses; in fact, about half of the unintentional injury deaths in this analysis were due to overdoses."
NYT/Morning Consult Poll: Americans on the left end of the political spectrum have become less anxious about Covid.
State
California:
Parents file class-action lawsuit against San Diego County school districts over virtual learning. "Nearly two dozen parents are suing several San Diego County school districts for not providing an adequate education during the pandemic and for failing to offer any follow-up for those students who fell behind academically or psychologically due to virtual learning."
South Bay school district keeps indoor COVID masking mandate.
Kentucky: The Fayette County School Board voted to approve five days of COVID-19 leave, but only for vaccinated employees.
Mississippi: Flood prompts National Guard deployment, Jackson Public Schools said they would shift toward virtual learning on Aug. 30. The school system said it would announce an in-person return when it is safe to do so.
Pennsylvania: HEPA air filters now installed in all Erie County classrooms.
Economic Recovery
Boomerang College Kids: Unemployment, Job Mismatch and Coresidence: NBER paper.
"Labor market outcomes for young college graduates have deteriorated substantially in the last twenty five years, and more of them are residing with their parents."
"The unemployment rate at 23-27 year old for the 1996 college graduation cohort was 9%, whereas it rose to 12% for the 2013 graduation cohort."
"While only 25% of the 1996 cohort lived with their parents, 31% for the 2013 cohort chose this option."
"Our hypothesis is that the declining availability of ‘matched jobs’ that require a college degree is a key factor behind these developments. "
"Using a structurally estimated model of child-parent decisions, in which coresidence improves college graduates' quality of job matches, we find that lower matched job arrival rates explain two thirds of the rise in unemployment and coresidence between the 2013 and 1996 graduation cohorts."
Resources
Short-Staffed School Districts are Hiring Students to Serve Lunch and Answer Phones: Via NBC
"At Kershaw County School District in South Carolina, which includes the school where Boykin works and studies, about a third of the kitchen staff didn’t return to work for the 2021 school year, said Misha Lawyer, a district food-service coordinator. Many left their jobs because they needed to be home with their kids for virtual learning or feared contracting the virus, she said."
"Mark Catalana, chief human resources officer with Northwest School District, said administrators make sure to work around students’ schedules. He said he had employed 27 students at Northwest High School, in Cedar Hill, during the past school year and that at least 11 planned to return this year. They are paid anywhere from $12 to $14.25 an hour.
Student Absences May Spike Due to Low Vaccination Rates, Weaker Immunity: Via EdWeek.
"The unintended consequence of some of the social distancing and risk mitigation factors that we used for COVID is that kids weren’t being exposed to some of the common respiratory viruses of childhood,” Creech said. For an infant who delayed getting a respiratory virus like RSV, that meant reduced risk of being hospitalized or developing later asthma."
"By contrast, a child who turned 3 or 4 in 2020 may have been socially isolated during a window in which children typically get a dozen or more minor colds and other bugs every year. Those children, now starting kindergarten, Creech said, “may have more missed school days because they haven’t been primed with all these respiratory viruses of childhood that tend to give us the ability to stave them off when we’re in school.”
“If I were an administrator, I would not be surprised, and I would actually plan ahead for situations in which it feels like even the most unremarkable respiratory illness—that’s not flu, that’s not COVID—comes through and just annihilates a classroom,” Creech said."
Plunging Graduation Rates Signal Long Recovery: Via EdWeek.
"At least 31 states saw declining graduation rates for the class of 2021 overall, more than twice as many as in the previous year."
"Low-income students and those with disabilities have been the hardest hit, with year-to-year declines for low-income students in 33 states and for students with disabilities in 22 states—more than twice as many as for the class of 2020."
Masaka Kids Africana: Have some great dancing videos (Instagram / YouTube) including this Back to School video.