Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Researchers Eye Florida After Schools Open Without Resulting COVID Surge
USA Today: Florida Schools Reopened En Masse; Feared COVID Surge Hasn't Followed
Many teachers and families feared a spike in COVID-19 cases when Florida made the controversial push to reopen schools in August with in-person instruction. A USA TODAY analysis shows the state’s positive case count among kids ages 5 to 17 declined through late September after a peak in July. Among the counties seeing surges in overall cases, it’s college-age adults – not schoolchildren – driving the trend, the analysis found. The early results in Florida show the success of rigorous mask wearing, social distancing, isolating contacts and quick contact tracing when necessary, health experts said. (Fraser, Stucka, Bloch, Fradette and Brugal, 9/28)
The Washington Post: Maryland Students Go Back To School
Most students in Maryland logged onto computers from home this fall as they started an unprecedented school year virtually. But at Greensboro Elementary, on the state’s Eastern Shore, children with backpacks and lunchboxes showed up on the first day. Since then, their numbers have been growing. They include children with disabilities, some of whom one recent day were in a small classroom with bright bins of supplies and a colorful garland. A young boy sorted cups with a teacher. Another child called out sight words. It was hands-on and one-to-one — a flicker of the old normal but with masks and social distancing. (St. George, 9/28)
Detroit Free Press: Back To School Puts Financial Strain On Families
As the new school year ramps up and the economic downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, parents are having to make tough financial decisions. Nonprofits and social service agencies say they see families struggling to purchase materials for school, access child care and put food on the table. Experts worry that, without government intervention, long-term financial strain may widen opportunity gaps for children, and challenges to learning in the pandemic can exacerbate inequalities into the future. (Rahman, 9/29)
Politico: Campus Life Sans Covid: A Few Colleges Write The Playbook For Pandemic Success
Colleges finding early success are deploying methods health experts have long recommended the whole country use to keep the virus under control. But a patchwork of state approaches, ongoing testing shortages — or outright rejection of recommendations about testing, masks and social distancing — have combined to keep the virus spreading. Certain state colleges and smaller schools might have a distinct advantage, especially those based in more geographically isolated areas that cater to students from places where the virus is less severe. Still, initial victories include rigid protocols for frequent testing, contact tracing, social distancing and mask-wearing. (Perez Jr. 9/28)
In related news —
ABC News: Mother Of A Teacher Who Died From COVID-19 Also Dies From Virus Weeks Later, Family Says
Just weeks after losing her daughter to complications of COVID-19, Shirley Bannister has also died from the virus, her family said. “[It has been] very traumatic. This is our family [and] definitely will not be the same without them. It definitely leaves a void,” said Shayla Jones, Shirley Bannister’s niece. (Carroll, 9/28)
Detroit Free Press: Health Survey: 1 In 3 Kids Won't Get Flu Shot, Boosting Pandemic Risks
Public health experts fear winter will bring the seasonal flu on top of the coronavirus pandemic, and many parents, at least one survey suggests, aren't going to protect their children from it. One in three parents doesn't plan on having their children get a flu shot this year, according to a national health poll released Monday by Michigan Medicine's C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. (Witsil, 9/28)
Chicago Tribune: Youth Hockey In Illinois Is Frozen. Parents Say Time To Play.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker often says he is “listening to the experts” about which youth sports are safe to play during the COVID-19 pandemic, but when some hockey parents filed a public records request to learn what those experts were telling him, they received a pile of emails in which almost everything was blacked out. The opaque response infuriated the parents, whose favored sport cannot be played in Illinois under current rules. They say Pritzker and his staff don’t understand the attributes that make hockey safer than other sports classified as high risk, and show no interest in learning. (Keilman, 9/26)
