Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Fauci: Trying To Keep Kids In School Is Best Thing To Do
Fox News: As Coronavirus Numbers Spike, US Should 'Try To Keep Schools Open,' Fauci Says
The nation’s leading infectious disease expert said that the U.S. should try to keep children in schools “as best we possibly can” while the country sees a spike in coronavirus cases rivaling numbers that previously saw the nation shut down. Dr. Anthony Fauci, during a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health forum, said the data does not show widespread transmission of the virus in schools. “Our default position – there will always be exceptions ... there is never one-size-fits-all – our default position should be to try to keep the schools open and get children who are not in school back in school as best as we possibly can,” Fauci told Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who moderated Wednesday’s discussion. (Hein, 12/9)
AP: Alabama School System Issuing $1K COVID-19 Bonuses
Full-time employees of an Alabama school system are getting a $1,000 bonus except for its superintendent. The funds will be issued to employees of Baldwin County Schools on Dec, 18, WKRG-TV reported. The money is coming from local funding, primarily sales tax dollars, a spokesman for the school system said. (12/9)
The Baltimore Sun: Carroll County Special Education Teachers Concerned About Risks Associated With In-Person Learning
County Commissioner Dennis Frazier, R-District 3, posed a question to Nick Shockney, director of special education for Carroll County Public Schools, during the Dec. 2 board of education meeting. “You’re still satisfied that it’s safe for everyone involved in those programs?” Frazier asked, referring to special education programs that have continued with in-person learning in small groups amid the recent spike of COVID-19 cases. (Griffith, 12/10)
In higher-education news —
Houston Chronicle: Texas Southern To Become COVID-19 Testing Hub For HBCUs Throughout Texas
Texas Southern University will be one of eight historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, in the country to become a COVID-19 testing hub for other Black higher education institutions thanks to a $25 million gift, according to a university release. Thermo Fisher Scientific gave the multimillion-dollar donation of supplies, test kits, and technical assistance to launch The Just Project. It will enable HBCUs to expand their laboratories and provide assistance during the pandemic by processing thousands of COVID-19 samples from other historically black institutions. (Britto, 12/9)
The Washington Post: Colleges Share Lessons Learned About The Coronavirus Pandemic During The Fall Semester
Colleges and universities that taught students in person this fall found no evidence that the novel coronavirus spread in any significant way in classrooms, laboratories and lecture halls, according to numerous school leaders, easing what had been one of their greatest fears during a deadly pandemic. A far larger public health problem for higher education, these leaders and other experts say, arose in the off-campus student housing and social scene. Trouble emerged wherever students mingled without protective distance and masks, and faced less peer pressure to curb unsafe behavior. (Anderson and Svrluga, 12/9)
