Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Michigan Joins Other Colleges Canceling Spring Break
ABC News: Colleges Scrapping Spring Break Amid Travel Concerns During Coronavirus Pandemic
An increasing number of colleges and universities are canceling spring break six months ahead of time amid concerns about travel during the coronavirus pandemic. The University of Michigan became one of the latest schools to amend its calendar and scrap the traditional spring break. On Thursday, its Board of Regents approved updated academic calendars across its three campuses that eliminated the spring recess. (Deliso, 9/20)
The Washington Post: Why Some Colleges And Universities Do Better Than Others In Keeping Campuses Open
When the school year began, Gettysburg College looked well-positioned to weather the tumult of the coronavirus pandemic and Arizona State University seemed vulnerable. The private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania planned meticulously for the arrival of more than 2,200 students to its small-town campus in August, pledging to test them all for the novel coronavirus and do its utmost to safeguard public health while teaching as much as possible in person. (Anderson, Svrluga, Lumpkin, Douglas-Gabriel and Heim, 9/20)
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Some Schools Withhold COVID-19 Infection Information From Parents, Teachers
Around Georgia, groups of parents and teachers are criticizing what they see as a dangerous trend. Although some school districts publish detailed data about coronavirus case counts, others reveal little or no information. (Tagami, 9/21)
Boston Globe: At Mass. Schools, Officials Face Challenges Brought On By COVID-19 Early In Year
Two Massachusetts regional high schools struggled with challenges brought on by the pandemic Sunday, as more than 80 students and staff were quarantined following a COVID-19 case on Cape Cod, while police in Sudbury considered charges in connection with a large party that delayed in-person education there. (Hilliard, 9/20)
San Francisco Chronicle: Outbreak In Sonoma County: Virus Hits 13 Child Care Centers, Schools
Thirteen schools and child care facilities in Sonoma County reported coronavirus outbreaks that infected 62 people, including 25 children, health officials said this week.Most of the children who were infected were 6 years old and younger. Ten members of school staff and 27 family members were also infected, according to Sonoma County Public Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase. Exposure to the virus occurred at the child care centers.Officials did not name the schools and child care facilities that suffered the outbreaks. (Arredondo, 9/18)
AP: For Most NYC Students, Back To School, But Not The Classroom
Monday’s return to New York City schools won’t be the return anyone planned for. For most, it won’t be a return at all.Only pre-kindergarten and some special education students are scheduled to end a six-month absence from school buildings after a last-minute decision to postpone, for the second time, plans to be among the first big districts to resume in-person instruction after the coronavirus forced students and staff home. Schoolchildren in kindergarten through 12th grade are still starting the new school year Monday, but fully remotely, the same way students in Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and many of New York’s other urban districts have. (Thompson and Peltz, 9/21)
The Washington Post: The District's Infection Rate Is Low. Some Parents Wonder Why Schools Are Not Open.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said she wants to bring small groups of students back into schools by the end of September, but with less than two weeks to go, her administration has no plan and has not reached an agreement with teachers to return to classrooms. The mayor on Thursday referred questions about reopening buildings to the school system’s chancellor, but he had almost no details. The school system, he said in a statement, is “actively considering options” for a return to in-person school and would prioritize serving students “furthest from opportunity.” (Stein, 9/20)
The New York Times: How One District Got Its Students Back Into Classrooms
When schools shuttered in March, David Miyashiro, the superintendent of the Cajon Valley Union School District, immediately started connecting with families and teachers. During hundreds of calls, Zoom meetings and socially distanced in-person gatherings, he heard desperate pleas from poor parents torn between work and home instruction, or who needed support for high-needs students. Mr. Miyashiro vowed to reopen schools in the fall, and over the coming months, he took steps to pave the way. The district near San Diego offered free emergency child care for essential workers in April. It ran an in-person summer enrichment program for more than a third of its 17,000 mostly low-income students, road-testing safety measures. One cohort of students had to quarantine for 14 days after a parent informed the school she had tested positive for the coronavirus, but no student or teacher cases materialized. (Anderson, 9/20)
Politico: Where Are All The Kindergartners? Pandemic Creates Rare Gap Year
Amy Neier carefully wrote “first day of kindergarten” on a whiteboard and posed her 5-year-old son Hunter with the sign to capture the milestone she had long waited for. Then Hunter headed off for another year of preschool instead. Neier and parents across the nation are skipping kindergarten in droves during the most tumultuous school year in generations. Frustrated by the thought of sticking their 5-year-olds in front of screens during the pivotal first year of school, they are sending their children to extended preschool, forming learning pods or foregoing formal instruction altogether. (Mays, 9/18)
CBS News: Pandemic Leaves Domestic Workers Facing Tough Choices, Often Without A Safety Net
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Alicia Cleveland worked as a nanny for three families in the Atlanta area. But as the outbreak spread this spring, she had to give up the work to look after her three children, who were at home after schools closed and all of whom have pre-existing medical conditions. The sudden loss of income and additional demands on her time as a mother were jarring. "To say my experience during the pandemic has been difficult would be an understatement," Cleveland said this week in a media call organized by the National Domestic Workers Alliance. (Gibson, 9/18)
