Thanks for all the kind birthday wishes! I had a great time celebrating with friends and your notes made my day even more special.
For those who are lighting the menorah, I hope that you have a happy Hanukkah filled with joy, light, and love. May this holiday season bring you peace and happiness.
Top Three
Schools on Track to Meet COVID Spending Deadlines: Via Chalkbeat.
“They had to increase their pace — and they did,” said Marguerite Roza, the lab’s director, who previously questioned whether schools would meet the September 2024 deadline to exhaust the funds. Her new forecast: “I don’t think there will be any money left over.”
“You don’t snap a finger and do that in a week,” said Dennis Roche, co-founder of Burbio, a data service that tracks school spending. “It takes time.”
Opposition to School Vaccine Mandates Rose During Pandemic: Via KFF
"71% of adults say healthy children should be required to get vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) in order to attend public schools, down from 82% who said the same in an October 2019."
"Almost three in ten (28%) now say that parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their school-age children, even if this creates health risks for others, up from 16% in 2019. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, there has been a 24 percentage-point increase in the share who hold this view (from 20% to 44%)."
"Democrats (38%) and adults ages 65 and older (39%) have been more eager, with about four in ten saying have already gotten the updated COVID-19 booster which has been available since September. Fewer young adults under the age of 30 (11%) and Republicans (12%) report having gotten an updated booster dose."
Bivalent COVID-19 Boosters May Cut Risk Of Severe Disease By More Than Half: Updated bivalent (two-strain) mRNA booster shots, which target the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 sublineages of COVID-19 and the original strain, cut the risk of contracting severe COVID-19 by up to 57%, according to a CDC study. A second study showed the bivalent boosters are particularly effective at preventing hospitalizations in elderly Americans. More via Eric Topol and Katelyn Jetelina.
Federal
FCC: To date, the Emergency Connectivity Funding program has provided support to approximately 10,000 schools, 1,000 libraries, and 100 consortia, and provided over 12 million connected devices and over 8 million broadband connections.
Breaking Down an $80 Billion Surge in Place-Based Industrial Policy: Via Brookings.
Trump Intelligence Warnings on Covid: According to a report issued by the Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.
"Beginning in late January 2020, U.S. intelligence agencies reported to senior Trump administration officials that the coronavirus spreading in China threatened to become a pandemic and spark a global health crisis."
"But then-President Trump’s public statements over the next two months “did not reflect the increasingly stark warnings coursing through intelligence channels,” including the president’s daily brief, available to Trump and senior members of his administration."
Jan. 6 Panel Refers Trump on Criminal Charges: Via Axios:
"The Jan. 6 panel voted Monday to refer former President Trump to the Department of Justice on at least four criminal charges, including insurrection and obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress."
Introductory Material to the Final Report of the Select Committee
Covid Research
Study Challenges Notion that Omicron is Always Mild: CIDRAP on a new study.
"Vaccinated or previously infected COVID-19 hospital patients had lower rates of severe illness and death than their unvaccinated, COVID-naive peers during both Omicron and Delta variant predominance."
"And while the unvaccinated had fewer poor outcomes during Omicron than in Delta, their risk was similar to that seen with previous SARS-CoV-2 strains."
COVID Vaccine More Effective Than Infection Against Death, Hospital Care: Study(Press Release):
"The all-cause death and hospital admission rates for vaccinated individuals were 37% lower than the rates for those with natural immunity acquired from previous COVID infection. The rate of ED visits for all causes was 24% lower for vaccinated individuals than for the previously infected.
"Vaccinated children, especially, saw more infections at the 6-month follow-up than those with infections. But rates of ED visits, hospitalizations, and deaths were significantly lower for vaccinated children."
Moderna: European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recommended label expansion for mRNA-1273.214, its mRNA-based bivalent BA.1 Omicron-targeting COVID-19 vaccine, for use in children aged six through 11 years.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson Challenges DeSantis on Vaccines: On Sunday, Hutchinson challenged a call from Florida’s GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis to investigate COVID-19 vaccines, arguing Republicans should not “undermine science” and medical experts."
“We shouldn’t undermine science. We shouldn’t undermine the medical community that’s very important to our public health,” he said. “We are not good as a society, it’s not the right direction, if we diminish the facts, we diminish all the best information that we have from science at the time.”
Related: “Early in the pandemic, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly praised President Donald Trump for the expedited development and rollout of a coronavirus vaccine. The governor’s office pushed for $480 million in pandemic resources, including media campaigns promoting the shots, according to state budget documents. And DeSantis, a Republican, even lauded the Biden administration for helping to expand access to vaccines,” the Washington Post reports.
Study Links COVID-Related Hardships to More Traumatic Stress Among Moms: A study of nearly 11,500 mothers finds a link between more COVID-19 pandemic-related hardships, coping mechanisms, and behavior changes and greater traumatic stress.
"The mothers were characterized as having either more life disruptions (eg, in work, healthcare), more social isolation, coping behaviors, and changes to health behavior routines (high-change group, 8,412 mothers) or fewer disruptions and changes (low-change group, 3,061 mothers)."
"The study authors noted that mothers—especially those of racial minority backgrounds—may be particularly vulnerable to pandemic stress such as school closures, loss of income and free school lunches, unexpected childcare expenses, and lack of adequate technology and a quiet space for remote instruction."
"The "associations between socioeconomic factors, stressful life events, and mental health sequelae were complex," they wrote. "Accordingly, programs, policies, and practices targeting mental health during public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic should consider the range and configuration of hardships in designing the most effective interventions to mitigate long-term outcomes."
State
Illinois: One in three students missed at least a month’s worth of school last year.
New Mexico: NMKidsCAN releases an interactive map to look up the proficiency rates of schools and districts.
Pennsylvania:
"An analysis of student assessment data from the 19 Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Scranton, however, shows that despite the many challenges and obstacles posed by the pandemic, there has been no significant “learning loss” in the Diocesan School System"
Philadelphia schools will require masks as COVID cases spike
Virginia: Va. students with disabilities win legal right to request masking in class.
Economic Recovery
The Missing Workers: "Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell struck a particularly somber note at his press conference earlier this week when he mentioned that one reason the labor market is so tight right now is that many workers died from COVID-19," Axios reports.
The Tragic Rise of Fentanyl, Mapped: Via the WSJ:
Resources
How to Make Online Tutoring Work For Your School: 5 best practices via EdWeek.
Be strategic about who receives tutoring
Develop relationships with consistent tutors
Ensure tutoring is high-dosage and done during the school day
Involve teachers
Evaluate throughout the school year
9 Essential Mental Health Supports for School-based Programs: Via K12 Dive.
"The Child Mind Institute also uses videos to offer a free skills-building curriculum that caregivers and educators can use to teach children about mental health and coping skills, a project developed in partnership with the state of California."
Remembering Our Friend Juanita Duggan: Who passed away last week. Via Politico: “Juanita Duggan, a longtime fixture of Washington’s influence scene who broke barriers as a trade group executive, died this week at her home…. Duggan was the first woman to lead numerous Washington trade associations, including the National Federation of Independent Business.”
It Was An Amazing Weekend In Sports:
Argentina beat France on penalty kicks to win the World Cup. Another view.
Witness Andres Cantor, Buenos Aries born Argentinan-American Broadcast legend calling the penalty.
The Bills clearing the snow out for their kicker is so Buffalo. For the win and the greatest comeback in NFL history.
Related: Stefon Diggs gave 5-year old Buffalo Bills fan Aydin a very special early Christmas gift: custom sneakers in memory of Aydin's late father.
The Eagles' lineman released a Christmas song on Spotify.
Surprise: Wait for it.