Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Unprepared?: Technical Snafus Foul Opening Day For Many Schools
The New York Times: Website Crashes And Cyberattacks Welcome Students Back To School
A ransomware attack forced Hartford, Conn., to call off the first day of classes. A website crash left many of Houston’s 200,000 students staring at error messages. And a server problem in Virginia Beach disrupted the first hours back to school there.For millions of American schoolchildren, the Tuesday after Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer vacation and the start of the first day of classes. But this year, instead of boarding buses and lugging backpacks, many students opened their laptops for online instruction at home, only to encounter technical glitches. (Levin and Taylor, 9/8)
The Wall Street Journal: Millions Of Students Head Back To School For A Year Like No Other
Many students are heading back to school this week, virtually and in person, with some campuses reopening to students for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic hit about six months ago. For some students in grades K to 12 who returned to in-person instruction on Tuesday, the first day started with a temperature check and new rules, which require masks and social distancing. Some buildings look different inside, with hallway floors marked with arrows for traffic flow and signs on walls reminding students to keep apart and wash hands. Visitors are being kept out of many schools, denying parents the time-honored tradition of walking their children to class on the first day. (Hobbs, 9/8)
In other news —
CNN: What To Do If Your Kid Has Covid-19 Symptoms
Under two weeks after school started, Savannah Gardiner's 8-year-old son woke her up at 4 a.m. complaining of an upset stomach, nausea and a sore throat. By the next morning, her two youngest children, ages 3 and 6, had lost their voices. "They just feel miserable," said Gardiner, a full-time student and mother of four in Lehi, Utah. "Every family gets sick at the beginning of the school year, but this year is different. You have to second-guess every symptom." (Smith, 9/9)
MarketWatch: ‘Children With Poorer Parents Suffer More’: How Could School Closures Affect A Student’s Future Earnings Potential? Here’s One Theory
For parents wondering about the lasting consequences for kids hanging around the house while the coronavirus pandemic physically shut down their schools this spring, a new study has one guess — and it’s a troubling one.Six months of school closure could result in an average 1% less earned ever year over a worker’s lifetime, according to new projections on COVID-19’s potential shock to a student’s education and future earning power. (Keshner, 9/9)
The Washington Post: D.C. Plans To Pay The Internet Bills For 25,000 Low-Income Families For A Year
The D.C. government will cover the monthly Internet bills for about 25,000 low-income families who have students in the city’s traditional public and charter schools, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s (D) administration announced Tuesday.The $3.3 million program has been in the works for weeks and city officials said they recently finalized negotiations with two private Internet providers, Comcast and RCN, to provide Internet for families who receive food stamps or other public assistance. The Office of the Chief Technology Officer — the local office administering the program — will start contacting eligible families Tuesday afternoon to ask if they want Internet provided. (Stein, 9/8)
