Covid-19 Policy Update #629
Covid-19 Policy Update #629
Monday 1/30
Top Three
White House To End Covid Public Health Emergency on May 11: Punchbowl: "The White House announced this evening that it plans to end the public health emergency for Covid-19 on May 11, according to multiple Democratic sources on Capitol Hill and at the White House."
NYT: "The White House wants to keep the emergency in place for several more months so hospitals, health providers and health officials can prepare for a host of changes that will come when it ends."
Students Lost One-Third of a School Year to Pandemic: NYT on a new study.
"Children experienced learning deficits during the Covid pandemic that amounted to about one-third of a school year’s worth of knowledge and skills, according to a new global analysis, and had not recovered from those losses more than two years later."
"Thomas Kane, the faculty director of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard, who has studied school interruptions in the United States, reviewed the global analysis. Without immediate and aggressive intervention, he said, “learning loss will be the longest-lasting and most inequitable legacy of the pandemic.”
"A separate review of test scores from 2.1 million students in the United States highlighted the impacts of economic disparity. Students at schools in communities with high poverty levels spent more of the 2020-2021 school year learning remotely than those at schools in wealthier communities did, and students in poorer schools experienced steeper declines in performance when they were remote."
“A kid’s ability to learn and a teacher’s ability to teach are shaped by so many factors beyond just whether they’re physically in the building,” Mr. Reardon said. “If everyone had fallen behind equally, all at once, it presumably wouldn’t affect your chance of getting into college. But when the effect is differential, that could exacerbate inequality into adulthood for the whole generation. That’s worrisome on a global level.”
At $611 A Day Per Student, Some Question If L.A. Schools’ Extra Learning Days Are Worth It: Via the LA Times
"This education booster shot came at considerable expense — about $611 per day per student for up to two added “acceleration days.” That same cost, multiplied over a 180-day school year, would total about $110,000 per student. By comparison, next year’s record state education funding will provide $23,723 per public school student."
"The bonus schooling on Dec. 19 and 20 cost $36 million. After a heavy promotional push, about 17% of the district’s 422,276 students signed up; however, less than 9%, or 36,486 showed up, according to newly released data."
"Other problems emerged. Some teachers complained they were unable to plan effectively because they did not have advance access to rosters and student data. Under the plan, students were divided by groups into those who needed to catch up and those who would receive enrichment."
Covid Research
Annual COVID-19 Booster? FDA Cliff Notes: Via Katelyn Jetelina
"The CDC presented data that is not surprising: most hospitalizations and deaths occur among older adults. Interestingly, children under 6 months are being hospitalized at about the same rates as those aged 50-64 years. This highlights the importance of maternal vaccination during pregnancy."
"The bivalent vaccines are working well. Adults who received a bivalent booster had 3 times lower risk of hospitalization and 2 times lower risk of dying compared to those who were vaccinated but did not get the bivalent booster. Both were more effective than no vaccination."
"Moderna surprised us today with new data, though: a randomized trial in the U.K. They randomly gave people the original vaccine or the bivalent vaccine (BA.1 formula) as a booster. The bivalent vaccine did better. This really put the debate to rest."
"I was excited to see Novavax data. It’s clear this is a solid vaccine. And their presentation was much more useful than Moderna’s or Pfizer’s. To demonstrate, they included data on mixing Novavax with mRNA vaccines. It looks like no matter how you mix the two, the combinations work about the same way."
"FDA proposes scientists meet in June for strain selection for a annual September vaccine roll-out. This timeline is possible for mRNA vaccines; not for Novavax. So I’m not sure what FDA is going to do about that."
"A common theme throughout the pandemic FDA meetings is that “it’s too hard to measure anything other than antibodies” and “we don’t have the data needed to make a decision.” The FDA could require sponsors to do detailed investigations, e.g. assessing lymph nodes, bone marrow, and breakthroughs. This would help us understand immunity better, so we can make better recommendations. It’s not clear why they aren’t pushing for this."
Federal Panel Approves Plans to Safeguard Lab-Made Virus Research: Via Stat.
"A panel of federal advisers voted unanimously Friday to advance a set of proposals to bolster government oversight of pathogen research that could make viruses more transmissible."
"The panel’s draft report, which recommends safeguards including “federal department-level review” of gain-of-function studies and implementing a broader definition of pathogens that could potentially cause pandemics, will be finalized, then sent to top National Institutes of Health officials, which currently do not include a permanent NIH director or a replacement for National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci."
Facing the New Covid-19 Reality: Via NEJM perspective:
"Covid-19 has, for many people, become no more than an occasional inconvenience, involving a few days of symptoms and a short isolation period."
"The reality, however, would starkly contradict such a belief. Covid-19 currently results in about 300 to 500 deaths per day in the United States — equivalent to an annual mortality burden higher than that associated with a bad influenza season."
"In addition, many people continue to face severe short- or long-term Covid-19 illness, including people who lack access to vaccines or treatment and those with underlying conditions that impair their immune response to vaccines or render them especially vulnerable to Covid-associated complications."
"The ever-looming threat of the evolution of a new variant, one that can evade our vaccines and antivirals, remains very real."
"One of the key challenges that the public health community faces as the pandemic evolves is the need to move away from universal recommendations, or population-wide prevention policy, toward a more differentiated or tailored approach — one that takes into account the characteristics of various communities and the pathogen."
"Most important, attention to the engagement of trusted community leaders and spokespeople is required, as is listening authentically to communities from the start. Rather than focusing solely on what is being recommended, it’s equally important for public health leaders to focus on how recommendations are communicated and disseminated."
Counting COVID-19 Deaths: Blog post from CDC describing how they track patient deaths from Covid and with Covid.
Studies Estimate COVID and All-Cause Deaths in Youth: CIDRAP on new study.
"University of Oxford researchers led the first study, using data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to identify the leading causes of death in youth aged 0 to 19 years from August 2021 to July 2022. The team compared COVID-19 deaths from April 2020 to August 2022 with non-COVID deaths in 2019 to 2021."
"A total of 821 US youth died from August 2021 to July 2022, for a crude death rate of 1.0 per 100,000 people. By age-group, death rates were highest among infants younger than 1 year (4.3 per 100,000), falling to 0.6 for those 1 to 4 years, 0.4 for those 5 to 9, 0.5 for those 10 to 14; and 1.8 for those 15 to 19."
"COVID-19 was the eighth-leading cause of death among all causes, fifth among disease-related deaths, and first in infectious or respiratory diseases compared with 2019. By age-group, COVID-19 was the seventh leading cause of death for both infants and 1- to 4-year-olds, sixth for those aged 5 to 9 and 10 to 14, and fifth for those 15 to 19."
Covid Vaccine Boosters Lower Risk of Death in Adults, ED Visits in Kids: CIDRAP on two new studies.
"COVID-19 vaccine boosters lower the risk of death among adults with multiple chronic conditions by more than 90% and increase protection against emergency department (ED) or urgent care (UC) visits among children aged 5 to 11 years by 77%, two new Omicron variant studies find."
FDA Announces Evusheld Is Not Currently Authorized for Emergency Use in the U.S: FDA
"Data show Evusheld is unlikely to be active against certain SARS-CoV-2 variants. According to the most recent CDC Nowcast data, these variants are projected to be responsible for more than 90% of current infections in the U.S. This means that Evusheld is not expected to provide protection against developing COVID-19 if exposed to those variants."
State
Florida: "Florida’s Polk County Public Schools is hoping to elevate students’ academic progress through a tutoring program that allows classroom teachers to schedule personalized and synchronous support for students during class time."
Michigan: "Students in Lansing and Saginaw lost the equivalent of a year's worth of math and reading lessons, while students in Birmingham lost about a fifth of a school year, new data shows, according to a report from The Education Trust - Midwest."
New Jersey: The New Jersey Department of Education announced the state has been awarded a five-year $14 million federal grant to expand school-based mental health services for students.
Economic Recovery
See Workers as Workers, Not as a College Credential: NYT Editorial.
"Making college more affordable is important, but there are other keys to the doors of opportunity as well. With an executive order issued on Jan. 18, his first full day as governor, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania used one of them: He eliminated the requirement of a four-year college degree for the vast majority of jobs in the state government, a change similar to one that Maryland and Utah made last year."
"This demonstrates both good policy and good leadership, representing a concrete change in hiring philosophy that stops reducing people to a credential and conveys that everyone — college-educated or not — has experience and worth that employers should consider. It is a step — and a mind-set — that other leaders should consider as well."
"If the United States can’t find ways to tap into all of this talent, we will not be able to solve our most urgent problems, like climate change and pandemic preparedness, or build a stronger and fairer country."
"Too many Americans see our society and economy as profoundly unfair, set up to serve the needs of well-connected elites and providing more benefits to people who went to college or know how to work the system."
"Over the last few years, this degree inflation has begun to recede. If this “degree reset” continues, an additional 1.4 million jobs would be opened to workers without college degrees over the next five years."
Inflation: Axios on grocery woes: "The meteoric rise in food prices slowed slightly in December but prices were still up more than 10% year-over-year, as groceries and restaurants gobbled up a larger-than-usual amount of Americans' spending.”
Resources
What Can We Expect in the 2023 Legislative Sessions?: Great list from ECS.
How Parenting Today Is Different, and Harder: The NYT on the recent Pew survey.
"Today’s parents spend more time and money on their children than previous generations — working mothers spend as much time with their children as stay-at-home mothers of the 1970s — and feel more pressure to be hands-on. Especially for college-educated mothers with careers, the demands have caught them off guard, economists have found."
"At the same time, many jobs have become all-consuming, paying people disproportionately more per hour for working long hours and being available anytime — but at a cost."
"Also, research has found, today’s parents feel intense pressure to constantly teach and interact with their children, whereas previous generations spent more time doing adult activities when their children were around. While this increased attention used to be an upper-middle-class goal, more recent research shows that people across class divides believe it’s the best way to parent."
"Often, Pew found, this means more emotional engagement. Nearly half said they were raising their children differently than they had been raised by their own parents, and the largest share said the main difference was in how they showed love and built relationships with their children."
We Know What Works for Kids – Let’s Do It: Via Holly Kuzmich
"For large swaths of kids, we know what generally works best. That includes high-intensity tutoring, more time on task, putting our best teachers in front of our neediest students, and using research-based instruction. It also means using the data to improve."
"The bad news is that we don’t always implement the research. You’d be surprised at how often we spend years and tens of millions of dollars researching what works, have a clear picture from that research, and then ignore it."
"I’d suggest it’s time for the next governors’ summit. We’re at a point where every state, and every school district, can’t just keep moving along with a status quo approach. And too frequently, when governors have weighed in lately on education, it’s been about cultural issues in schools and not enough about student outcomes."
Educational Institutions Among Three Most Common Mass Shooting Sites: Via K12 Dive.
"Educational institutions were the third most likely site of a targeted mass attack between 2016 and 2020, according to a five year study of 173 mass attacks published Wednesday by the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center."
Broadband:
"The FCC is encouraging state and local governments and broadband providers to file bulk challenges to the commission’s broadband serviceable location database by March 15. Bulk challenges received by that date are most likely to be addressed in time to be reflected in the next update to the broadband serviceable location database, also known as the “fabric.”
CISA Releases K12 Guidance and Resources to Address Cybersecurity Threats: Press Release / Toolkit.
Can We Please Stop Talking about So-Called Learning Loss?: Writes Jo Boaler in Hechinger.
Tyre Nichols:
Video footage of the fatal encounter included critical moments in which police officers kicked, punched and pepper-sprayed Mr. Nichols, 29, while he screamed.
What We Know About Tyre Nichols’s Lethal Encounter With Memphis Police
71 Commands in 13 Minutes: Officers Gave Tyre Nichols Impossible Orders
Ndlovu Youth Choir: Was back with an original song.
"It's a Lovely, Warm Feeling. I Belong." Peter Davies is a 100-year old who volunteers his time to teach elementary schoolchildren to read.
