Top Three
Heart Risks, Data Gaps Fuel Debate Over COVID-19 Boosters for Young People: Via Science.
"Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo ignited a furor this month when, based on a state analysis purporting to show COVID-19 vaccines were linked to cardiac deaths in young men, he advised men ages 18 to 39 to steer clear of the shots. Scientists slammed his warning and decried the eight-page analysis, which was anonymous and not peer reviewed, for its lack of transparency and flawed statistics."
"Still, COVID-19 vaccines do have a rare but worrisome cardiac side effect. Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that can cause chest pain and shortness of breath, has disproportionately struck older boys and young men who received the shots. Only one out of several thousand in those age groups is affected, and most quickly feel better."
"As they parse emerging data and fret over knowledge gaps, scientists and doctors are divided over whether such concerns should influence vaccine recommendations, especially now that a new COVID-19 wave is looming and revamped boosters are hitting the scene. Nearly all urge vaccinating young people with the first two vaccine doses, but the case for boosters is more complicated. A key problem is that their benefits are unknown for the age group at highest risk of myocarditis, who are at lower risk of severe COVID-19 and other complications than older adults."
"Many scientists suspect vaccine-driven myocarditis is somehow triggered by an immune reaction following the COVID-19 shot. A study from Germany published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine suggested it may be driven by an inflammatory response associated with SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein, which the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines coax the body to produce."
"FDA is requiring six myocarditis studies each from Pfizer and Moderna, the makers of the two mRNA vaccines."
"The big question is whether any risk, however minimal, to the heart is outweighed by the benefits of a booster. Young people are rarely hospitalized for COVID-19, but the virus is not risk-free for them either. Last year, a study of nearly 1600 college athletes prior to vaccination found 2.3% had either clinical or subclinical myocarditis after a bout of COVID-19. Other lasting effects of infection include MIS-C and Long Covid. Studies in adults suggest vaccination reduces the risk of Long Covid by anywhere from 15% to 80%. “Because of that, I really think vaccination is worth it,” Liu says."
"Complicating the risk-benefit analysis are the pandemic’s ever-changing currents. Omicron, now the dominant variant, “seems a whole lot milder” than its predecessors, Newburger says. CDC reports that as of August, at least 86% of children in the United States have been infected by SARS-CoV-2, which may reduce their risk of future infections. At the same time, “We’re seeing so much less vaccine myocarditis now” than last year, Newburger says. She doesn’t know why, but the trend might alleviate concerns about the side effect. “Everything is a moving target."
COVID-19 State of Affairs: Via Katelyn Jetelina:
"All eyes are still on Germany, as hospitalizations “for COVID-19” are the highest they have ever been. (Take this with a grain of salt, though, as hospitalizations in Germany have historically been low. So admissions are high, but not outrageous compared to other countries.)"
"Also concerning is the quickly rising number of ICU patients in Germany and the fact that 30% of ICU patients are on a ventilator, which is high. In addition, some German hospitals have called for help as a majority of their staff are out sick. In all, excess deaths in Germany are high and increasing."
"Moving to Southeast Asia, an Omicron subvariant—XBB—is causing a substantial infection wave (as opposed to behavior). Specifically, Singapore is getting hit hard with a high rate of reinfections due to waning immunity. However, only 15 people total are in the ICU (out of 6 million people). This amazing progress is attributed to:
A highly vaccinated and boosted population, and
A massive BA.2 wave (as opposed to a BA.1 wave, like in the U.S.). This may help as BA.2 is more closely related to XBB than BA.1."
"New York, specifically, has the highest proportion of BQ.1.1—an estimated 25% of cases—in the country. Perhaps more concerning is that it is causing an uptick in hospitalizations."
California Assessment Results: Preliminary glimpse at test scores shows steep declines in reading, math.
"The California Department of Education has delayed releasing the full statewide results from the 2022 Smarter Balanced assessments... Under pressure from EdSource and other media outlets, the department recently agreed to release the scores by the end of October."
"Meanwhile, EdSource has collected individual results from 10 large districts, including Los Angeles Unified, San Diego Unified, Fresno Unified, Lodi Unified, Long Beach Unified, Sacramento City Unified, Sweetwater Union High School District, San Ramon Valley Unified, Bakersfield City School District and Mt. Diablo Unified."
"Only 13% of students in Bakersfield met the state standard for math."
"Reading scores in Los Angeles Unified only dipped slightly from 2019 to 2022. Still, only 41% of students in 2022 were proficient in reading."
"Math scores in Fresno dropped by a third. In 2022, only 21% of students met the math standard."
"Reading scores in Long Beach dropped 11 points, but declines were less steep in math. Math scores fell only 4 points."
"In Mt. Diablo Unified, one of the few districts to break down the results by subgroup, Black, Latino, English learner, foster and homeless students had far lower scores compared with 2019 than their white and Asian peers. For example, among English learners, 96% did not meet the math or reading standards."
Federal
ED: Getting schools back to pre-COVID levels misses point, Cardona urges.
“One of my greatest fears is that we go back to how education was in 2020,” said Cardona, specifically a system “that didn’t work for too many students who look like me. Returning to the same system would be failing our students.”
"Topping that list, he said, are mental health services for both students and educators. Mental health support, he said, “has to be pervasive, not just ‘one more social worker."
"Next, he said, we need to better connect our educational systems to each other and to the community: linking K–12 schools to two- and four-year colleges, as well as to businesses that can provide further training and employment."
Biden Administration Pares Back Covid Fight as Funding Push Falls Short: Via WSJ.
"The shift means that health insurers and employers will likely pay for Covid-19 vaccines, drugs and tests, as they do for most medical products and services."
"The administration had sought $22.4 billion for the Covid-19 response from Congress, and it recently extended the pandemic’s status as a public-health emergency. The White House said the money was needed to pay for more tests, vaccines—including development of new, next-generation vaccines—and treatments. The money wasn’t included in a must-pass government-funding bill last month."
"Republicans, who opposed including the Covid funds in the spending bill, said there had not been a thorough accounting of how pandemic-relief funds had been spent. Congress had allocated about $4.6 trillion as of August, according to USASpending.gov, which tracks federal-spending information."
Covid Research
COVID Vaccine Side Effects Similar to Non-COVID Vaccines in Preschoolers: The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has a similar safety profile as non-COVID vaccines in children younger than 5 years, according to a study published today in JAMA Network Open.
XBB Variant Wave in Singapore: Via Eric Topol, "This wave will soon be their 2nd worst for the pandemic. The reinfection rate prior to the wave was 5% and now up to 17%."
Biden Officials Search for Backup for Key Covid Therapy for Immunocompromised People: Via Stat.
"Complicating the matter, the next potential monoclonal antibody — an Eli Lilly treatment dubbed bebtelovimab — could be ready within two months, but it has already been shown ineffective against the other fast-rising variant, BQ.1. The federal government has purchased 60,000 bebtelovimab doses for uninsured and under-insured patients, according to two people familiar with the HHS monoclonal antibody planning."
"In the HHS meeting, officials discussed the prospect that BA.4.6’s rise could render Evusheld ineffective within two months. They laid out the timelines for as many as six potential alternates in the pipeline, according to two people familiar with the discussion."
The COVID Data That Are Actually Useful Now: Betsy Ladyzhets in The Atlantic.
"Since the Omicron surge last winter, case counts from public-health agencies have become less reliable. PCR tests have become harder to access and at-home tests are typically not counted."
"Official case numbers now represent “the tip of the iceberg” of actual infections, Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York, told me. Although case rates may seem low now, true infections may be up to 20 times higher. And even those case numbers are no longer available on a daily basis in many places, as the CDC and most state agencies have switched to updating their data once a week instead of every day."
"Since the Pandemic Prevention Initiative and the Pandemic Tracking Collective started publishing a state-by-state scorecard of breakthrough-case reporting in December 2021, the number of states with a failing grade has doubled. Scarpino considers this trend a “harbinger of what’s coming” as departments continue to shift resources away from COVID-19 reporting."
"Nash and his team at CUNY have conducted population surveys in New York City and at the national level. The team’s most recent survey (which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed), conducted from late June to early July, included questions about at-home test results and COVID-like symptoms. From a nationally representative survey of about 3,000 people, Nash and his team found that more than 17 percent of U.S. adults had COVID-19 during the two-week period—about 24 times higher than the CDC’s case counts at that time."
U.S. Lags Behind Europe in Return to Pre-Covid Life Expectancy: New study in Nature.
"While countries in western Europe experienced bounce backs from life expectancy losses of 2020, eastern Europe and the United States witnessed sustained and substantial life expectancy deficits. Life expectancy deficits during fall/winter 2021 among people ages 60+ and <60 were negatively correlated with measures of vaccination uptake across countries"
State
California: Via the 74: "Leaving Los Angeles: These 10 LAUSD Schools Lost the Most Students During COVID."
Michigan: Students making slow progress after pandemic disruptions.
"Students who learned remotely in 2020-21 because of the pandemic continued to learn more slowly than their peers in 2021-22 even after they were back in classrooms. And the school districts where students improved the most last year were the ones that provided students with highly individualized instruction."
"The good news, Strunk said, is that researchers were able to identify strategies that make a difference. One thing they had in common was individualized support for students, including after-school tutoring and individualized learning plans based on specific academic needs identified on diagnostic tests... The districts also set aside time during the school day for students working on the same learning standard to receive small-group instruction."
Economic Recovery
With Grocery Inflation Showing No Signs of Slowing, More Consumers Are Buying Less: Via Morning Consult.
Resources
The COVID-19 Learning Loss: Fact or Stigma? Article:
"As reform ensues to address learning loss, social workers must help mitigate the harm caused by the deficit-based portrayals of youth."
"Three factors illuminate concern regarding the deficit-based depictions of student learning during the pandemic: (1) enduring educational inequities, (2) stigma of learning loss, and (3) overshadowing of student growth."
"During the pandemic, students developed skills—in out-of-school time spaces—that are not measurable by standardized tests and curricular standards."
"The learning loss discourse contributes negatively to the stigma children already experience and may further shape educator biases."
Public School Enrollment Losses Are a Big Problem, but Fundamental Changes Can Turn the Tide: Via Hechinger.
Broadband:
Our friend Kate Black announced that she is leaving her role as Chief Policy Advisor to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to start a new consulting firm. Congrats Kate!
California breaks ground on 10,000-mile Middle Mile Broadband Initiative
City of Oakland, CA issues digital divide RFI
$70 is the magic number for internet pricing, J.D. Power says.
In terms of overall satisfaction, fiber performs 36 points better than cable. Cable, in turn, performs 9 points better than DSL.
Verizon ranks highest in the East region for a 10th consecutive year with a score of 758.
Midco ranks highest in the North Central region with a score of 734, followed by AT&T (724) and CenturyLink (717).
AT&T ranks highest in the South region for a fifth consecutive year, with a score of 761. Xfinity (736) ranks second.
AT&T ranks highest in the West region with a score of 729, followed by Xfinity (709).
Does Tutoring Work? An education economist examines the evidence on whether it’s effective.
What if Innovation, Not More Teachers, Is the Solution to the Teacher Shortage?: Brian Greenberg in The 74.
"For example, the National Summer School Initiative, a fund grantee, built a partnership where teachers from across the country work virtually with expert mentor educators to deliver high-quality summer school courses."
"In addition, ed tech products have shown they can truly improve classrooms by increasing student learning and lightening the load on teachers. Math software like ST Math and Zearn, science software like Amplify and language arts software like ReadWorks (to name a few) have demonstrated real impact — allowing students to focus their time each day by working on exactly what they need, exactly when they need it."
Domesticated Wolves: Frightening scene...