GA retards will retard, but plandemic's over. Trump's out and we're back to Mar '20 levels w/a #BidenVaccine & #BidenTherapeutics. People will die but it's manageable now that we've got some sense among at least 50% of peeps. Until the BZ variant hits us that is.
Another COVID side effect: Many kids head to summer school https://www.wral.com/more-students-expected-to-spend-part-of-summer-in-school/19713195/ With her three teenagers vaccinated against COVID-19, Aja Purnell-Mitchell left it up to them to decide whether to go back to school during summer break. The decision was unanimous: summer school. "Getting them back into it, helping them socialize back with their friends, maybe meet some new people, and, of course, pick up the things that they lacked on Zoom,” the Durham County, North Carolina, mother said, ticking off her hopes for the session ahead, which will be the first time her children have been in the classroom since the outbreak took hold in the spring of 2020. Across the U.S., more children than ever before could be in classrooms for summer school this year to make up for lost learning during the outbreak, which caused monumental disruptions in education. School districts nationwide are expanding their summer programs and offering bonuses to get teachers to take part. Under the most recent federal pandemic relief package, the Biden administration is requiring states to devote some of the billions of dollars to summer programs. The U.S. Education Department said it is too early to know how many students will sign up. But the number is all but certain to exceed the estimated 3.3 million who went to mandatory or optional summer school in 2019, before the pandemic. In Montgomery, Alabama, for example, more than 12,000 of the school system's 28,000 students signed up before the June 1 deadline. Typically about 2,500 go to summer school. Philadelphia had enrolled 14,700 by Friday and was expecting more for the mostly in-person programs, up from the 9,300 students in last summer’s all-virtual sessions. “It’s an understatement to say the needs are greater this year,” said Kalman Hettleman, an education policy analyst in Maryland. Hettleman worries most about the reading skills of disadvantaged younger students who were falling behind even before COVID-19 closed schools and were likely to encounter technological hurdles afterward. “It’s not realistic to think that summer school, no matter how good and intense, will close all the gaps because many of these kids had gaps before the pandemic,” said Hettleman, who wants to see sessions mandatory for low-performing students in Baltimore. “But it will help, and it will at least give them a fighting chance if there are intense interventions during the regular school year.” Las Vegas high school freshman Taylor Dennington never thought she would be in summer school, but there she was starting this past week — along with plenty of friends — after a year of remote learning. “This year was such an unmotivating school year,” she said. “It got to the point where I wasn't doing ANY work, I was just going to class," Dennington, who is taking biology and math, said in a text exchange. “I learn better in school than online. Being in a classroom where a teacher is present is so much better than waiting hours for an email back from your teacher." In North Carolina, Purnell-Mitchell’s children will have access to five or six weeks of full-day programs that include academics and activities like sports or music. Districts also will provide transportation and meals, thanks to the influx of federal spending. Under a unanimously passed North Carolina law, the nearly 1 in 4 students deemed to be in danger of falling behind — about 200,000 students statewide — are being given priority for summer school, with extra slots open to others who want them. Some districts are inviting all of their students. School systems must devote some of the federal funding to deal with COVID-19's disproportionate effect on students from poor families, those whose first language is not English, members of minority groups and those who are homeless or in foster care. The expanded programs around the country have greatly increased the need not only for teachers but for bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria employees. Some North Carolina teachers will get a $1,200 bonus. There are also bonuses for teachers in certain grades whose students show improvement in reading and math. Elsewhere, a district in Anderson, South Carolina, has nearly doubled teachers' summer school pay to $60 an hour. Teachers and nurses in Spring Branch, Texas, are getting raises of up to 20%. In Mississippi, the Starkville Oktibbeha school system raised teachers' hourly pay by $10, to $35, for the summer. Connecticut is promising $4,500 stipends to 500 college students who work at K-12 summer programs. New York City, the nation's largest school district, with over 1 million youngsters, is offering summer school to all students, not just those falling behind. “Our kids have been through so much," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in announcing the plans, “and they need our support as we build a recovery for all of us.” Philadelphia and San Diego are among others to announce districtwide eligibility. Chicago plans to vastly expand its programs. Purnell-Mitchell said her children had different reasons for wanting to go to school this summer. Her older daughter, Kyra Mitchell, who has autism, missed the one-on-one interaction with teachers that helps her learn, while Kyla Mitchell did well remotely but wasn't able to make new friends and socialize. Her son, Cartier Mitchell, said he had had enough time off and was ready to go back. “I think it’s going to give them some of the milestone markers that they might have missed and give them a better outlook for going into the doors" in the fall, Purnell-MItchell said, ”instead of feeling like they’ve lost a year and a half of knowing what they’re doing."
Children are a central vector in the spread of COVID. Covid-19 cases fall, but unvaccinated children are a 'vulnerable host' for coronavirus, doctor says https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/06/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html
While workplaces are opening up, more people are getting vaccinated, employers are hiring, and restrictions are being eased --- schools still present a special case for COVID. The primary reason is that the majority of children in schools are unvaccinated and they are in close quarters in over-crowded classroom for over 7 hours per day with poor ventilation. While the spring semester is closing up across the U.S. and most schools are shortly out for summer (or out for summer already -- in N.C. Friday was the last day of school for traditional schools) -- the question becomes "what will the fall look like". Since children under 12 cannot still be vaccinated -- the elementary schools will have the greatest exposure. The expectation with low vaccination rates for students in late August is most schools will still require masks and use precautions as students go back to school 100% full-time. This is taking on increased importance as more information is coming out showing children are a primary vector in spreading COVID. Vaccines effective vs variants despite diminished antibodies; kids may be as contagious as adults https://www.reuters.com/business/he...diminished-antibodies-kids-may-be-2021-06-11/
Schools nationwide prepare for packed kindergartens this fall https://www.axios.com/schools-large...all-a0a90675-5d7d-4af3-b7d4-a81dc1ff9b68.html School districts across the United States expect one of the largest kindergarten classes to date this fall, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Associated Press reports. Why it matters: Last year, the number of four-year-olds enrolled in preschool fell from 71% to 54% during the pandemic. This fall, students who missed out on kindergarten because of pandemic-related disruptions are expected to return and do so less prepared than usual. “It is important that teachers realize that the routines are going to be different than perhaps what you may have expected of learners in the past,” Irene Parisi, Connecticut's chief academic officer, told AP. The superintendent of the Freeman School District in Rockford, Wash., said nearly one-third of the children did not attend preschool or kindergarten last school year. It remains unclear just how large the kindergarten classes may be.
Demonstrating the importance of getting children vaccinated as soon as possible -- is the harsh reality that that the delta and gamma COVID variants are killing large numbers of children. Young children dying in Brazil as Gamma variant surges https://www.9news.com.au/world/gamm...s-500000/933c9d58-8d15-4108-adec-7d478805cd27 Young children in Brazil are dying from coronavirus, as its national death toll ticked past 500,000 yesterday. On top of the rising number of child deaths, researchers in Sao Paulo believe the P1 variant, also known as the Gamma variant, is killing an unusually high number of pregnant women and unborn babies. The Brazilian health ministry states 1122 children under the age of 10 have died since the start of the pandemic, but one research group claims the number is closer to 3000. NGO Vital Strategies said more than 1000 children have lost their lives this year alone. Some experts believe Brazilian paediatricians are reluctant to conduct COVID-19 testing on young children, allowing the virus to cause sometimes fatal sickness. The tell-tale symptoms of the virus – runny nose, coughing and sore throats – are common among the young, which means doctors can miss a proper diagnosis. Brazil, where the highly transmissible Gamma variant is dominant, is currently averaging 2500 deaths a day. Current figures show 42 pregnant women are dying every week from COVID-19, up from 10 each week last year. Doctors fear that weekly number could rise to over 100. (More at above url)
This camp for teenagers highlights the challenges facing schools in the fall. It is important for those 12 and older to get vaccinated and for unvaccinated children to still wear masks in school. This is even more critical with the Delta variant being highly prevalent among younger people. 85 teens and staffers caught COVID-19 at an Illinois summer camp that didn't ask for people's vaccination status or require indoor masking https://www.businessinsider.com/85-catch-covid-19-summer-camp-didnt-check-vaccine-status-2021-6 85 people, mostly teens, tested positive for COVID-19 at a summer camp in Illinois, officials said. The Illinois Department of Public Health said attendees' vaccination status was not checked. It also said people weren't asked to wear masks indoors. Eighty-five people tested positive for COVID-19 at a summer camp in Illinois that didn't ask if people were vaccinated or ask people to wear masks indoors. The Illinois Department of Public Health said in a Monday statement that 85 teens and adult staff who were at the camp, which it did not name, had tested positive in mid-June. "Although all campers and staff were eligible for vaccination, IDPH is aware of only a handful of campers and staff receiving the vaccine," it said. "The camp was not checking vaccination status and masking was not required while indoors." Most of the cases recorded were in teenagers, the department said. "The perceived risk to children may seem small, but even a mild case of COVID-19 can cause long-term health issues," IDPH director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a statement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allowed children aged 12 and up to be vaccinated on May 12. Most teenagers aged 16 and over were able to get coronavirus vaccines in Illinois from April, and those aged 12 and over from mid-May.
Delta Variant plus no Variant Tracking in Florida plus low vaccinations in red areas plus no masks for unvaccinated == a future disastrous school start in Florida this fall. COVID spreading fastest among Florida’s younger children https://www.daytonatimes.com/news/c...cle_6b304a3c-e083-11eb-99c7-0b095a2e6483.html