Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Fauci Backs A Vaccination Mandate For Teachers; Newsom May Order It
Los Angeles Times: Newsom Expected To Order Teacher Vaccinations Or COVID Tests
California school employees must either be vaccinated against COVID or submit to a regular test proving they are not infected with the coronavirus under a pending order from Gov. Gavin Newsom, sources told the Times Tuesday night. Representatives of the Newsom administration briefly discussed the basic outlines of the plan with educators, according to two sources who said Tuesday that they were not authorized to speak publicly in advance of Newsom’s formal announcement. (Myers and Bloom, 8/10)
NPR: Fauci Says Teachers Should Be Required To Be Vaccinated
Dr. Anthony Fauci says COVID-19 vaccines should be mandatory for schoolteachers, citing the need to protect children who are too young to be vaccinated during a pandemic that has grown worse with the spread of the delta variant. "I'm going to upset some people on this, but I think we should [require teacher vaccinations]," Fauci said Tuesday morning in an interview on MSNBC. "I mean, we are in a critical situation now," he said. "We've had 615,000-plus deaths, and we are in a major surge now as we're going into the fall, into the school season. This is very serious business." (Chappell, 8/10)
In other school news —
AP: Kentucky Governor Orders Masks In Schools As Virus Surges
Masking up in Kentucky schools was mandated by Gov. Andy Beshear on Tuesday as the fast-spreading delta variant causes waves of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. The new executive action requiring indoor mask wearing applies to K-12 Kentucky schools, regardless of vaccination status for COVID-19, the Democratic governor said. The requirement also applies to child care and pre-kindergarten programs across Kentucky, he said. (Schreiner and Blackburn, 8/11)
Salt Lake Tribune: Dr. Angela Dunn Will Issue Order For Children In Kindergarten Through Sixth Grade To Wear Masks In Salt Lake County Schools
It’s official: The Salt Lake County Health Department’s executive director, Dr. Angela Dunn, will be issuing an order Wednesday to require children in the county — from kindergarten to sixth grade — wear masks in schools, in an effort to halt the spread of COVID-19. Dunn sent a written notice of intent to Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson at 12:12 p.m. Tuesday — which, under the law passed this spring by the Utah Legislature, gives the mayor 24 hours to terminate the order. “It is in the best public health interest, and the interest of our students, for them to be in masks in the fall — to keep them in in-person learning with the least disruption possible, and the least health concerns possible,” Dunn said. (Means, 8/11)
Stateline: 10 States Have School Mask Mandates While 8 Forbid Them
By the end of this week, roughly half of the nation’s more than 50 million public school students will be back in class. But as parents stock up on notebooks and pencils, it’s still unclear in much of the country whether they’ll be sending their kids to school with masks. In reaction to delta-variant-fueled spikes in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in most states, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended in late July that all schools require students, teachers and visitors to wear masks. States’ responses to the new guidelines since then have remained in flux. (Vestal, 8/10)
CNBC: Fully Remote School Year Due To Covid ‘Possible’ Without Mitigation Tactics, Says Dr. Gottlieb
Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned that Covid-19 could, yet again, force schools to go fully remote, amid concerns about potential outbreaks in classrooms this fall. “Unfortunately, it’s possible, especially if you go into this school year without the kind of mitigation that we had in place last year,” Gottlieb, the former FDA chief in the Trump administration, said on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith.” (DeCiccio, 8/10)
