Top Three
Online School Put US Kids Behind. Some Adults Have Regrets: Via The AP:
"Vivian Kargbo thought her daughter’s Boston school district was doing the right thing when officials kept classrooms closed for most students for more than a year."
"Kargbo, a caregiver for hospice patients, didn’t want to risk them getting COVID-19. And extending pandemic school closures through the spring of 2021 is what many in her community said was best to keep kids and adults safe."
"But her daughter became depressed and stopped doing school work or paying attention to online classes. The former honor-roll student failed nearly all of her eighth grade courses. "She’s behind,” said Kargbo, whose daughter is now in tenth grade. “It didn’t work at all. Knowing what I know now, I would say they should have put them in school.”
"There are fears for the futures of students who don’t catch up. They run the risk of never learning to read, long a precursor for dropping out of school. They might never master simple algebra, putting science and tech fields out of reach. The pandemic decline in college attendance could continue to accelerate, crippling the U.S. economy."
"But there’s another reason for asking what lessons have been learned: the kids who have fallen behind. Some third graders struggle to sound out words. Some ninth graders have given up on school because they feel so behind they can’t catch up. The future of American children hangs in the balance."
"From March 2020 to June 2021, the average student in Chicago lost 21 weeks of learning in reading and 20 weeks in math, equivalent to missing half a year of school, according to Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab, which analyzed data from a widely used test called MAP to estimate learning loss for every U.S. school district."
"Dallas Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde initially disagreed with the Texas governor’s push to reopen schools in the fall of 2020. “But it was absolutely the right thing to do,” she said."
"Adding school time for students is politically impossible in many cities. In Los Angeles, the teachers union filed a complaint after the district scheduled four optional school days for students to recoup learning. The school board in Richmond rejected a move to an all-year school calendar."
Cases of BQ.1, BQ.1.1 COVID Variants Double in U.S. as Europe Warns of Rise: Via Reuters.
"U.S. health regulators on Friday estimated that BQ.1 and closely related BQ.1.1 accounted for 16.6% of coronavirus variants in the country, nearly doubling from last week, while Europe expects them to become the dominant variants in a month."
"There is no evidence yet that BQ.1 is linked with increased severity compared with the circulating Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, European officials said, but warned it may evade some immune protection, citing laboratory studies in Asia."
"These variants (BQ.1 and BQ.1.1) can quite possibly lead to a very bad surge of illness this winter in the U.S. as it's already starting to happen in Europe and the UK," said Gregory Poland, a virologist and vaccine researcher at Mayo Clinic."
ACIP Meeting: Updated Info on COVID-19, Vaccine Safety for Kids and Pregnancy: Via Katelyn Jetelina:
"The biggest piece of news was that ACIP voted unanimously to add COVID-19 to the pediatric vaccine schedule. What does this mean? CDC adds the COVID-19 vaccine to the Vaccines for Children program. This means that when the federal government stops purchasing vaccines (funds are all but exhausted), kids without health insurance can still get them for free. This is incredibly important for health equity."
"No evidence of an increased risk for myocarditis following mRNA vaccination in children ages 6 months–5 years."
Risk of myocarditis is rare in adolescent and young adult males within the first week after receiving the mRNA vaccine. The risk of adverse cardiac outcomes were 1.8 – 5.6 times higher after SARS-CoV-2 infection than after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination among males ages 12 – 17 years. Interval of 8 weeks between vaccine doses may further lower myocarditis risk."
"For the first time (that I’ve seen), CDC presented the effectiveness of mothers’ vaccines on newborn hospitalizations. Overall, effectiveness of the mother’s vaccination in preventing hospitalization of the child after infection was 80-90% during the Delta wave and 60% during the Omicron waves."
"This is fantastic news, especially given infection among children aged 0-5 months is leading to much higher hospitalization rates than the flu (see graph below). Among those hospitalized, only 24% had an underlying health condition."
Federal
CFPB: Axios, "The latest threat to the CFPB is systemic."
"Three Trump-appointed judges in Texas declared the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure unconstitutional on Wednesday in a decision with the potential to reverberate throughout the financial industry."
"The reasoning behind the ruling, if upheld, could potentially invalidate all the rules enacted by the CFPB over its 11-year existence — including regulations underpinning the U.S. mortgage system."
"The CFPB will likely appeal, seeking either a hearing before the entire Fifth Circuit or at the Supreme Court, which has in the past sided against the agency."
Covid Research
Pfizer to Charge $110-$130 a Dose for COVID Vaccines: Via Axios.
"Pfizer plans to charge $110 to $130 per dose for its COVID-19 vaccine once government purchases end next year, the drugmaker's U.S. president said on an investor call Thursday."
"The government now pays about $30 a dose to Pfizer and its partner BioNTech."
"Next year, Americans will lose free access to government-funded COVID tests, treatments and vaccines. The cost will begin to be transferred to patients through premiums and out-of-pocket costs."
Vaccine Rollout for 5-11 Year Olds: The CDC's Ruth Link-Gelles lamented the "abysmal" uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations in children 5-11 years old. "I think at this point, is kind of a sad public health failure."
FDA’s Vaccines Chief Sees Possibility of More Covid Boosters: Via Stat.
"Chief among them is the fact that, given the rate at which SARS-CoV-2 viruses mutate, Marks thinks it’s conceivable that the booster shot people are getting now may not be the last some will need for the coming year."
“I would be lying to you if [I said] it doesn’t keep me up at night worrying that there is a certain chance that we may have to deploy another booster — at least for a portion of the population, perhaps older individuals — before next September, October,” Marks told STAT."
"But the duration of protection against contracting Covid is short-lived — which could lead to a vaccination cadence that is impractical to try to maintain. Marks acknowledged this worries him. “It does,” he said, noting this problem is leading to pressure on the mRNA manufacturers to see if they can improve the durability of their vaccines. “Because there are probably things that can be done to optimize sequences and optimize constructs that would hopefully lead to better mRNA vaccines.”
"When the FDA told Covid vaccine manufacturers what it wanted in updated vaccines, it did not follow the WHO advice to the letter, opting for a version of Omicron that matched the dominant version of the virus at the time the decision was made. (The virus’ rapid evolution means that strain is already being superseded by others.)"
What to Know About the New Booster Shots: Via the NYT.
What Europe’s COVID Wave Means for the U.S.: Via The Atlantic:
"No new variant has become dominant yet, but experts are monitoring a pair of potentially troubling viral offshoots called BQ.1 and XBB. “We have the seasonal rise that’s in motion already,” says Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Bern, in Switzerland. If one of these new variants comes in on top of that, Europe could end up with yet another double whammy."
"The U.S. may not be far behind. America’s COVID numbers are falling when aggregated across the country, but this isn’t true in every region. The decline is largely driven by trends in California, says Samuel Scarpino, the vice president of pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pandemic Prevention Initiative. In chillier New England, hospitalization numbers have already ticked up by as much as nearly 30 percent, and more virus is showing up in wastewater, too."
"Lab data tell us that both subvariants are capable of substantial immune evasion. XBB is already driving a surge in Singapore. BQ.1, and its closely related descendant BQ.1.1, are rising in Western European countries and now account for about 8 to 10 percent of cases, according to Hodcroft—but they are probably not widespread enough to explain why COVID rates were already going up. Several countries in the region may have already hit a peak for now, but as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 become more prevalent, they could jump-start another wave."
A Third of US Military Find Exercise Difficult 1 Month Post-COVID: New release.
Economic Recovery
Inflation Tracker: Halloween edition. With prices like these, you’ll need 100 Grand.
Resources
E-rate Survey Points to Early Signs of the Homework Gap Closing: Via K12 Dive.
"More than three-quarters (78%) of school and library E-rate applicants agree or strongly agree that insufficient internet access at home is a significant problem in their community, according to the 12th annual E-rate survey released by Funds For Learning."
"The decreasing concern over insufficient home internet access shows the homework gap might be starting to close thanks to FCC efforts like the Affordable Connectivity Program, Harrington said."
Low-Income Families Can Qualify for Free Internet, But Schools Should Explain How: Via EdWeek
"Tens of millions of students still don’t have internet access at home. And that is the case even though schools are still asking students to get a good chunk of their homework done online after school."
"The Affordable Connectivity Program was part of the Infrastructure [Investment] and Jobs Act. And it provides a $30 dollar discount on monthly internet bills for qualifying households. So, if you’re enrolled in Medicaid, you’re eligible, or if you have a child who receives free or reduced priced lunch at school, that is another qualifying program. Then there is also income-based qualification."
"The thing schools are really set up to do is to be the trusted messengers to their families and households about the ACP and pointing them to how they can apply for it. Awareness about the ACP is very low nationally. Only about 25 percent of eligible households are even aware that the program exists. Without being aware that the program exists, you’re never going to sign up for it."
These 7 Pandemic-era Lessons Can Inform School Emergency Planning: Via K12 Dive.
Create a district response team
Ensure continuity of learning
Safeguard the basics — from child nutrition to payroll
Reexamine IT failsafes
Run through practice scenarios
Communicate the plan
Build relationships with government and community agencies
Public Schools ‘Unable to Compete’ With Private Sector as Thousands of K-12 Staffers Quit During Back-to-School Season: Via MarketWatch
"In September, 21,700 school workers left their jobs, according to the latest government data. This includes everyone from teachers to janitors at public schools. The number of K-12 school workers fell to 7,755,400 in September from 7,777,100 in August."
"Nationwide, there is a shortage of 300,000 teachers and other school workers, according to the National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the country."
"In some cases, the share of lower-wage, in-person job postings advertising key benefits more than doubled from August 2019 to August 2022,” according to an analysis by Indeed Hiring Lab. Those improved benefits related to health insurance, paid time off and retirement plans, wrote AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab."
"A school district superintendent in North Carolina told MarketWatch in August that zero applicants applied for the six openings in his district, and that was two weeks before the school year started."
"A nationwide school bus-driver shortage is also affecting students’ ability to arrive at school on time: 88% of school transportation professionals and educational leaders surveyed said bus-driver shortages have constrained their transportation operations, according to a recent survey by HopSkipDrive, a school ride-service company."
This is Thomas: He's grumpy because he's been banished to the floating box. Has been here for a full 30 seconds, and he's about to make it everybody's problem.
Someone Caught Me On Video: Heading into the weekend...