Covid-19 Policy Update #630
Thursday 2/2
Top Three
End of Covid Emergency:
I realized the link to the Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) was broken in Monday's Update, so here it is.
KFF has the best list of what the end of the emergency will mean for policies.
Covid emergency’s end will mean new costs, hassles. Politico with a good list of the implications.
Many will have to pay for Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments. People without health insurance will have to pay out of pocket, while those with private plans could see more costs depending on the terms of their insurance.
Employers will no longer be able to offer telehealth access as a premium, tax-free benefit separate from other health plans.
Other administrative rules that helped people receive their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will also end.
A Biden administration official told the AP that ending the health emergencies will not change the legal argument for student loan debt cancellation, saying the COVID-19 pandemic affected millions of student borrowers who might have fallen behind on their loans during the emergency.
The end of the Covid health emergency won’t slow FDA clearance of shots and treatments.
More via the Washington Post / Reuters / NPR.
White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Jha with a helpful thread about what happens with the May 11 deadline.
How to Grade Schools Post-Pandemic?: Via Chalkbeat
“I do think the status quo is being questioned,” said Chris Domaleski, associate director of the Center for Assessment. “There’s an appetite for lasting changes to accountability.”
"One of the most common changes was to recalibrate growth measures, which track how much students improve on tests over time. Due to missing data, some states compared students’ test scores from last year to pre-pandemic, while other states simply scrapped that metric. In some cases, those arcane technical changes made a big difference in school ratings."
"Hyslop said states could have “supercharged” their accountability systems last year by funneling some of their federal pandemic aid to struggling schools. However, she saw little evidence of that happening."
Schools’ New Normal: Teacher Shortages, Repeat Meals, Late Buses, Canceled Classes: Via The 74.
"This is the new normal in schools across the country: Classes are back in person but day-to-day operations are a far cry from pre-pandemic norms, the lingering effects of the COVID crisis challenging everything from staffing and student mental health to school lunches."
"By 5 a.m., a high schooler in a small city between Orlando and Tampa, Florida is up — sleep deprived but with a sense of urgency: He has to reach the Wesley Chapel bus hub by 5:59 a.m, to get to class by 7:06 a.m. His school now starts earlier to make up for hurricane days and remote learning."
"At a Milwaukee Catholic high school, social studies teacher Mary Talsky has noticed lots of empty seats. For every email about a kid out sick, she gets three to four times more about absences because of mental health issues: My kid is struggling with anxiety and can’t come in today; I’m taking my child to an appointment with a psychiatrist."
Federal
White House: Brian Deese stepping down as NEC Director. Thanks for your service Brian!
IES:
Announced Award for AI-Augmented Learning for Individuals with Disabilities.
Mark Schneider: Innovation in the Education Sciences (the new IES)
Mark Schneider in K12 Dive: Will there be a ‘Big Bang’ in education research in 2023?
Covid Research
FDA Removes Requirement for Positive Test for Treatments: Via Meg Tirell, "FDA says it’s removed the positive test requirement for prescribing of Covid antiviral drugs bc “in rare instances,” people with recent exposure & symptoms may be diagnosed with Covid even with a negative test result."
Novavax: CBS reports that "The U.S. has now shut off distribution of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the expiration of all government-bought doses next month."
We Are Not Overcounting Covid Deaths in the United States: Debra Houry, the chief medical officer of the CDC, in the Washington Post.
State
Arizona: A for Arizona announced additional awardees of Arizona Transportation Modernization Grant Program, an initiative to modernize K-12 transportation options and improve access to reliable and safe transportation for students.
The final cycle of the Arizona Transportation Modernization Grant application is now live. Interested school, government, and community leaders can access additional grant information here. The application deadline is March 29, 2023
California:
California ends plans for kids’ Covid vaccine mandate: "The California Department of Public Health hasn’t made an announcement, but officials told EdSource that the end of the state’s Covid-19 state of emergency on Feb. 28 effectively ends its current plan to add Covid-19 vaccinations to the list of 10 vaccinations children are required to have to attend school in person."
LA death rates:
"Over the 30-day period ending Jan. 3, which covers the bulk of the post-Thanksgiving coronavirus surge, the death rate among unvaccinated Angelenos was 16.6 per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis by the county Department of Public Health. Among those who had received an updated bivalent booster, the comparable rate was significantly lower: 2.3 deaths per 100,000 residents."
"COVID-19 deaths are still relatively high compared with last summer. L.A. County has averaged 140 deaths per week for nearly a month, higher than last summer’s peak of 122, but lower than the prior winter’s peak of 513. The all-time pandemic peak was 1,625 deaths during a one-week period in mid-January 2021, a time when hospital morgues were overflowing with corpses."
“The mentality of most principals is to graduate them, prepare them for the real world and send them off,” Lane told The 74. “I started thinking, why am I sending them off when I’ve got all these vacancies? Let me start inviting them back and work with them so they can make a great career right here with me.”
"Today, 35 of the school’s 147 teachers are Haines City High School alumni, with graduates dating back to June 2018."
"In addition, eight alums are part-time substitutes, three are classroom aides and three are secretaries."
Indiana: IPS test scores have rebounded close to pre-pandemic levels, but remain far from 2025 goal.
New Jersey: Lawmaker wants to create a state "Learning Loss Czar."
North Carolina:
A report released by the Department of Public Instruction’s Office of Learning Recovery and Acceleration (OLR) found that students scored better on the state’s End-of-Grade and End-of-Course exams during the 2020-21 school year if their teachers had in past years shown strong student outcomes.
NCDPI Recognizes the 510 Educators Leading NC into the Future as Rethink Education Facilitators for Blended Learning.
Oklahoma: Edmond Public Schools sees 150 resignations in six months resulting in some classes not receiving grades.
Economic Recovery
Big-City Exodus: Via Axios: "A new report from the National Association of Realtors finds that many top metros — New York, San Francisco, Chicago — saw more people leaving than people moving in. Instead, people fled to cities in Florida, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina."
Long Covid Has An ‘Underappreciated’ Role in Labor Shortage: CNBC:
"About 18% of people with long Covid hadn’t returned to work for more than a year, according to a report by the New York State Insurance Fund, state’s largest workers’ compensation insurer."
"Another 40% returned to work within 60 days of infection but were still receiving medical treatment — presenting challenges such as reduced hours, lower productivity and other workplace accommodations."
"Job openings and the rate of voluntary departures by workers hit records following a broad economic reopening in early 2021, as Covid vaccines became widely available. Wages grew at the fastest pace in decades and the layoff rate hit record lows, as businesses competed for workers and then tried to retain them."
"Long Covid research suggests the illness played an under-the-radar role in these broad pandemic-era labor trends, which likely funneled into inflationary pressure in the U.S. economy."
One Company’s Trick to Getting 95,000 Hours Back? Canceling Meetings: WSJ:
"Executives at Shopify, Wayfair, and other firms say overstuffed calendars—partly a symptom of more remote work that crimped quick, serendipitous gatherings—waste thousands of hours and cut into productivity."
How many hours? Since announcing a temporary purge of some kinds of meetings in early January, Shopify has deleted 12,000 events from staffers’ calendars, freeing up some 95,000 hours."
Resources
Educators Try to Turn Around Pandemic-era Learning Loss: Via PBS.
The 'Guinea Pig' Generation: How the pandemic shaped this year's college freshmen.
Pandemic, Culture Wars Revive School Choice Policy Push: Via AP.
The Renewed Promise of P-20 Councils: Via ESG.
ChatGPT:
“ChatGPT is estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to a UBS study.”
OpenAI released a free web-based tool designed to help educators and others figure out if a particular chunk of text was written by a human or a machine.
Here are all the academic exams ChatGPT has passed (and failed).
Microsoft launches Teams Premium with features powered by OpenAI.
Groundhog Day:
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter.
Not sure what this predicts but Quebec’s groundhog Fred la Marmotte has died.
Have you heard of Passy Pete, the clairvoyant crustacean named after the Passagassawakeag River and pulled from the bay in Belfast, Maine each September to choose between more summer or early winter?
Grin and Bear It: Colorado wildlife camera accidentally captures hundreds of adorable ‘bear selfies’
Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks team set out to track animals that live in the area using motion-capture cameras — but they were surprised to find that of 580 images captured by one camera, around 400 were of the same bear.
February Is The Worst Month In The Year, But It's An Honest Month: It's a month that doesn't hold up life any better than it really is. The way people cross the street in February is different than in the summer, nobody is tap dancing or breaking into a Rodgers & Hammerstein song.
