Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Teachers Fight Back-To-School Orders
The Hill: Battle Over COVID-19 School Openings Goes To The Courts
Teachers unions are waging court fights across the country aimed at unwinding what they say are unsafe and politically motivated timetables for reopening schools that risk exposing personnel to the coronavirus pandemic. State officials eager to ramp up brick-and-mortar operations are facing lawsuits from Florida to Texas to Iowa over reopening plans as well as access to the COVID-19 infection data needed to monitor the rate of spread within school communities. (Kruzel, 8/30)
NPR: As Schools Reopen, A New Tool Tracks Coronavirus Cases As They Emerge
Looking for a snapshot of coronavirus outbreaks in U.S. schools? The National Education Association has just launched a tracker of cases in public K-12 schools. The tracker is broken down by state and shows schools and counties with known cases and suspected cases and deaths, as well as whether those infected were students or staff. It also includes links to the local news reports so users know where the virus data comes from. (Popperl, Hamby and Inskeep, 8/28)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: New Orleans Public Schools To Start In-Person Class As Local Coronavirus Health Trends Improve
As long as the trend of slowing coronavirus cases continues in New Orleans, in-person classes at some of the city's public schools will start as soon as Sept. 14, NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. announced Friday. The announcement comes as local coronavirus trends are showing a dramatic improvement, Lewis said. Since the school year began in early August, all Orleans Parish public schools have been teaching students online or with other remote instruction. (Hasselle, 8/28)
Kaiser Health News: For Kids With Special Needs, Online Schooling Divides Haves And Have-Nots
It’s Tuesday morning, and teacher Tamya Daly has her online class playing an alphabet game. The students are writing quickly and intently, with occasional whoops of excitement, on the little whiteboards she dropped off at their homes the day before along with coloring books, markers, Silly Putty and other learning props — all of which she created or paid for with her own money. Two of the seven children in her combined third and fifth grade class weren’t home when Daly came by with the gift bags. One of the two managed to find her own writing tablet, thanks to an older brother, but the other can’t find a piece of paper in her dad’s house. She sits quietly watching her classmates on Zoom for half an hour while Daly tries futilely to get the father’s attention. Maybe the student is wearing earphones; maybe the father is out of the room. (Almendrala, 8/31)
In higher-education news —
Politico: Colleges Crack Down On Student Behavior As Virus Threatens More Closures
The biggest threat to universities' carefully drawn reopening plans? Their students. School leaders are dishing out suspensions, kicking students out of dorms and sanctioning Greek organizations over large gatherings during a budding semester that already has seen colleges close amid thousands of confirmed Covid-19 cases and dozens of deaths. In some cases students face the ultimate penalty of expulsion for disobeying mask rules while their schools set up tip lines and scour social media for any hint of parties or social distancing violations, both on and off campus. (Niedzwiadek and Atterbury, 8/30)
ABC News: More Than 1,200 Students Test Positive For COVID-19 At Major University
As of Saturday, more than 1,200 students and 166 employees and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 at the University of Alabama. Positive tests among students have more than doubled since the university unveiled its COVID-19 tracking dashboard early this week. The dashboard, which includes case counts, positivity rates, isolation and space occupancy, is similar to what many state health departments use to report coronavirus data to the public. (Schumaker, 8/29)
AP: COVID-19 Hits Fraternities, Sororities Hard In Kansas
The coronavirus is hitting fraternities and sororities in Kansas particularly hard, with 10% testing positive at the University of Kansas and outbreaks linked to four sororities at Kansas State University. The University of Kansas said Friday in a news release that it has conducted 21,719 tests and 474 have been positive, for a positive rate of 2.18%. But among sororities and fraternities, there have been 270 positives among 2,698 members tested. (8/29)
AP: Utah State University To Test 300 Students
Utah State University plans to test nearly 300 students for COVID-19 after wastewater samples from four dormitories showed elevated levels of the coronavirus, school officials said Sunday. The 287 students who will be tested Sunday and Monday live in the Rich, Jones, Morgan and Davis dorms on the campus in Logan. (8/30)
Also —
NBC News: College Students Brace For The 'Second Curve' Of COVID-19 — Its Mental Health Impact
After five months of being home, Danielle Cahue was looking forward to returning to campus — that is, until she got there. When the 19-year-old sophomore arrived at Illinois State University, she saw her peers gathering in large groups without masks, disregarding the university’s COVID-19 guidelines. (Ciechalski, Walters and Kaufman, 8/30)
Kaiser Health News: Med Students ‘Feel Very Behind’ Because Of COVID-Induced Disruptions In Training
COVID-19 is disrupting just about every student’s 2020 education, but medical students have it particularly hard right now. “It’s a nightmare scenario for the class of 2021,” said Jake Berg, a fourth-year student at the Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine in Pikeville. In March, students were abruptly pulled out of hospitals and medical offices, where they normally work with professionals to learn about treating patients. Over the space of less than two weeks, he said, medical students in “pretty much the entire country” transitioned from seeing patients in person to learning online. (Rovner, 8/31)
