Thursday, August 12, 2021 | Kaiser Health News

Politico:
Cardona Calls For Mandating Covid-19 Vaccines For Educators 

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Wednesday said he supports mandating the Covid-19 vaccine for teachers and other school staff, as districts across the country prepare to begin another school year shaped by the pandemic.“ I would favor the vaccine being required,” Cardona said during a virtual National Press Foundation event, adding that he believes some reluctant adults will change their minds once the FDA fully approves the shots. (Calefati, 8/11)

In other updates on mask and vaccine mandates in K-12 schools —

Yahoo News:
‘We Will Find You’: Tennessee Parents Protest School Mask Mandate; People In Masks Heckled

Angry protests erupted in Franklin, Tennessee, after a school district reinstated a mask mandate for elementary school students, with some people yelling at and heckling those wearing masks in the parking lot at a meeting about the measure. The Williamson County Board of Education approved the mandate Tuesday night in a special session. It will begin Thursday and run until at least Sept. 12, according to the district. People opposed to the mandate gathered outside the meeting, chanting, “We will not comply.” (Madani, 8/11)

Louisville Courier Journal:
Kentucky Schools Could See Universal Masking Into 2022 Under Proposed Regulation

Kentucky’s public schools could see required universal masking for the better part of the 2021-22 school year under a proposed regulation. The Kentucky Board of Education will consider an emergency regulation mandating masks for the state’s 171 school districts during a specially called meeting Thursday, according to a meeting agenda posted online. If approved, the mandate would be good for up to 270 days — until around the start of May. The state board could end the mandate earlier, if warranted, according to the proposal. The news comes a day after Gov. Andy Beshear announced an executive order mandating masks in schools, pre-Kindergarten classes and child care settings. (Ramsey and Krauth, 8/11)

PBS NewsHour:
Tensions Over School Mask Mandates Roil This Mississippi Town

As millions of students prepare to enter the academic year, rates of COVID-19 infection are soaring due to the highly contagious delta variant, and hospitalizations and deaths are making a grim climb upward. That is especially true in parts of the United States with low vaccination rates, such as Mississippi, where 35 percent of residents are fully vaccinated. That state is close to the bottom of the list for COVID vaccinations — neighbor Alabama is currently the least vaccinated state in the nation. Public health experts have urged vaccination rates more than double those seen in much of the South to slow the virus’ spread. (Santhanam, 8/11)

Oklahoman:
Santa Fe South Schools First To Defy Oklahoma Mask Mandate Ban

Facing an excessive number of student absences and 21 teachers already under quarantine, Santa Fe South Schools Superintendent Chris Brewster is defying state law and invoking a district-wide mask mandate. The Oklahoma City charter district with nearly 3,500 students is the first of the public schools in the state to openly disregard Senate Bill 658, which prohibits school districts from requiring masks unless the governor issues an emergency declaration for their area. Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he has no plans to issue any emergency orders. (Martinez-Keel, 8/11)

AP:
School Starts In New Mexico With Many Masked, Few Vaccinated

The incoming and outgoing New Mexico education secretaries on Wednesday launched the fall semester with appearances at a high school pep rally packed with around 1,000 mask-wearing teenagers as top health officials issued another plea to residents to help limit the spread of COVID-19.Ahead of the rally, students talked and hugged. One friend jumped into another’s arms. (Attanasio and Bryan, 8/11)

Detroit Free Press:
Henry Ford Health Pediatrician Supports Masks For Schoolchildren

The interim chair of pediatrics for Henry Ford Health System is encouraging parents of children whose schools don’t have mask or social-distancing requirements to speak up and encourage those mandates be put in place for the upcoming school year. “I would encourage families to make a plan as they are going back to school. … Go to the school. Talk to the principal. Talk to the superintendent. Encourage them to have that mask and social-distancing mandate,” Dr. Tisa Johnson-Hooper said during a briefing Wednesday. (Hall, 8/11)

CNN:
Does Mask Wearing Harm Children’s Development? Experts Weigh In 

For young children, the pandemic comes at a crucial time for developing skills important for empathy, safety and more – a phase that some parents worry will be impaired by mask-wearing. “There are sensitive periods in early childhood development in which language development and emotional development are really rapidly developing for the first few years of life,” said Ashley Ruba, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Child Emotion Lab.Being able to use others’ verbal or facial cues to figure out how someone is feeling or pick up on safe or dangerous aspects of environments and people is a critical task for young kids, Ruba added. (Rogers, 8/11)

Also —

AP:
4 Georgia Districts Stop In-Person Classes Due To COVID

Four tiny Georgia public school districts have temporarily shut down in-person instruction within days of starting school, saying high COVID-19 case counts among students and staff makes it unsafe to continue. Other districts have closed individual schools or sent hundreds of students into quarantine after exposure to people with COVID-19. (Amy, 8/11)

AP:
Doctor: S Carolina Schools Facing More Virus Cases In Fall

South Carolina schools will undoubtedly face more COVID-19 outbreaks this fall as students return to classrooms amid the delta variant’s rapid spread, a top state health official forecasted Wednesday. Districts could try to keep students and staff safe by implementing widespread masking, social distancing and other public health measures proven to keep virus spread minimal, State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell told reporters. But school outbreaks are unavoidable “with the current track that we’re taking,” Bell said. (Liu, 8/11)

KHN:
Reading, ’Rithmetic And Resisting Covid: The New 3 R’s As Kids Head Back To School 

When kids head back to school this fall, for some it will be the first time they’ve been in a real classroom with other students since the pandemic began. Even if they attended classes in person last year, the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of covid-19 will require a new safety calculation, particularly for parents of kids younger than 12, who can’t yet get a vaccine. “You have a confluence of three unfortunate events,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “You have a group of children who are unlikely to have a vaccine available to them when they go back to school; you have the delta variant, which is far more contagious; and you have the winter months, with a cold, dry climate where the virus can spread more easily.” (Andrews, 8/12)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Stanford Among First Universities Requiring Weekly Coronavirus Testing – Even For Vaccinated Students

Stanford will test students for the coronavirus every week, regardless of vaccination status, the university announced Wednesday, making it one of only a few campuses in the country to do so. Citing the ongoing threat of the highly contagious delta variant, officials unveiled several new safety measures in an email to students ahead of the university’s planned return to campus beginning Aug. 15. (Vaziri and Asimov, 8/11)

In more news about colleges and universities —

AP:
Univ. Of Arkansas Board Votes To Require Masks On Campuses

The University of Arkansas’ governing board voted Wednesday to require masks on its campuses, as dozens of school districts imposed their own mandates following a judge’s decision to block the state’s mask mandate ban. Arkansas’ COVID-19 hospitalizations reached a new high point for the third day in a row, growing by 11 to 1,446 patients in the state’s hospitals. There are only 14 intensive care unit beds available in the state, according to the Department of Health. The state on Monday broke the record it set in January for the most virus hospitalizations since the pandemic began. (DeMillo, 8/11)

Arizona Republic:
Arizona State University, NAU, UA To Require Masks In All Classrooms

Arizona State University officials announced Wednesday that they will require face coverings in all classrooms and labs, as well as some other indoor settings, while Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona followed suit shortly after. The universities’ updated policies may contradict the state’s prohibition on requiring masks for unvaccinated people to receive in-person classroom instruction. That ban was introduced in an executive order from Gov. Doug Ducey in June and later placed into law with the passage of the state budget. (Latch, 8/11)

AP:
Tennessee State To Offer $100 To Vaccinated Students

Tennessee State University officials say enrolled students can receive $100 if they can show they’re fully vaccinated. University officials announced this week that students who get vaccinated through one of the campus vaccination sites will also receive a $100 gift card. In addition, vaccinated students living in on-campus housing will be eligible for an additional $50 gift card. The gift cards are available until Aug. 27. (8/12)

USA Today:
Fake COVID Vaccine Cards At Colleges: Students Warned Of Consequences

Students who use phony COVID-19 vaccine cards to skirt mandates at U.S. colleges and universities are risking disastrous consequences, according to school officials and other experts. Hundreds of colleges and universities now require proof of COVID-19 inoculations. The process to confirm vaccination at many schools can be as simple as uploading a picture of the vaccine card to the student’s portal. However, an easy click of the mouse could spell a hard road for students’ academic futures – if that card is a fake. (Segarra, 8/11)

AP:
Fake COVID-19 Vaccination Cards Worry College Officials

As the delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps across the United States, a growing number of colleges and universities are requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for students to attend in-person classes. But the new mandate has opened the door for those opposed to getting the vaccine to cheat the system, according to interviews with students, education and law enforcement officials. Both faculty and students at dozens of schools interviewed by The Associated Press say they are concerned about how easy it is to get fake vaccine cards. (Romero, 8/9)

In other news —

The Boston Globe:
Brown University Agrees To Stop Rejecting Students Who Take Mental Health Leave

Brown University is changing its policies on undergraduate student leaves of absence after settling a Justice Department finding that the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not allowing students who took medical leave for mental health reasons to return to school — even though they were ready to return to campus life. The settlement, which was made public Tuesday, protects the rights of students with mental health disabilities to have equal access to Brown’s educational programs, according to the US Attorney’s Office. It’s based on an investigation and compliance review that the Justice Department conducted in response to a student complaint regarding the university’s policies. (Gagosz, 8/11)

Houston Chronicle:
Gov. Abbott Moves To Strike Down Mask Mandates Enacted By Defiant Local Officials

Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday filed their first court action to strike down a mask mandate enacted by local officials in defiance of Abbott’s ban on them. Abbott and Paxton asked an appellate court to nullify Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ order requiring masks at businesses, schools and county facilities, which Jenkins issued a day after securing a temporary restraining order against Abbott. In a joint statement, the two Republican leaders argued that the sweeping Texas Disaster Act of 1975 “clearly states that the Governor has the power to guide the state through emergencies,” including the COVID-19 pandemic. (Scherer, 8/11)

CBS News:
Texas Governor Files Legal Challenge To End Dallas County Mask Mandate

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday filed a petition to halt a judge’s order requiring face masks inside schools and businesses in Dallas County. The order was signed despite Abbott previously banning government entities and officials from implementing mask mandates in Texas. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins on Wednesday signed an order requiring public schools, child care centers and businesses in Dallas County to develop health and safety plans that include, at minimum, face mask requirements for employees and visitors, CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reports. Jenkins cited rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations as the reasoning behind the mask mandate. (Freiman, 8/11)

AP:
Defiance Of Texas Ban On Mask Mandates Continues To Grow

Defiance of Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates continued Wednesday as more Texas school districts and communities announced plans to require students to wear face coverings and another county scored a legal victory in its efforts to issue such mandates amid a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations throughout the state. In the Houston suburb of Spring, the school district’s 33,000 students, along with faculty, staff and visitors will be required to wear masks starting Monday. (Lozano, 8/11)

Dallas Morning News:
U.S. Education Secretary Said He Raised Concerns With Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Over COVID Policies

Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education, said he’s spoken with Gov. Greg Abbott and shared his opinion on Texas’ COVID-19 policies. Cardona sat down for a virtual webinar with the National Press Foundation on Wednesday to discuss several topics related to the start of school. Cardona confirmed he had spoken to the governor and relayed his concerns about the state’s policies as schools resume classes and hospitalizations spike in Texas. (Garcia, 8/11)

In related news about the covid surge in Texas —

Houston Chronicle:
Texas Children’s Identifies 25 Cases Of Kids With Both RSV And COVID; Hospitalizations Rising

Texas Children’s Hospital is faced with an alarming problem: There are approximately 45 COVID-19 pediatric hospitalizations, an all-time high for the health system, and many of those patients also have respiratory syncytial virus. The hospital has identified “25 cases and counting” of children with both RSV and COVID-19 at all three of its campuses, said Dr. James Versalovic, interim pediatrician-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital. More than half of those children have been hospitalized. (Wu and Gill, 8/11)

The New York Times:
Texas Hospitals Are Already Overloaded. Doctors Are ‘Frightened By What Is Coming.’ 

At least two hospitals in Houston have been so overwhelmed with coronavirus patients this week that officials erected overflow tents outside. In Austin, hospitals were nearly out of beds in their intensive care units. And in San Antonio, a spike in virus cases reached alarming levels not seen in months, with children as young as 2 months old tethered to supplemental oxygen. Across Texas, health officials warned of overloaded, strained hospitals, a growing crisis not seen since early February, when a late winter wave deluged the state’s health care system. More than 10,000 Texans have been hospitalized this week and at least 53 hospitals were at maximum capacity in their intensive care units. (Sandoval and Heyward, 8/11)

AP:
Mississippi Opening Field Hospital Amid Surge Of COVID Cases

Mississippi will open a 50-bed field hospital and the federal government will send medical professionals to help treat patients as COVID-19 cases continue surging in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S., officials said Wednesday. Many Mississippi hospitals face a crunch for space and staffing. The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, expressed frustration Wednesday about people ignoring recommendations to get vaccinated and wear masks to slow the spread of the virus. Masks are required in some schools and optional in others, but some parents say mask mandates infringe on children’s freedom. (Pettus, 8/11)

Mississippi Clarion Ledger:
Mississippi Hospital System Facing ‘Failure’ If COVID-19 Cases Keep Going Up

“The rate of testing positive and rate of hospitalizations that we are seeing, if we continue that trajectory within the next 5 to 7 to 10 days I think we’re going to see failure of the hospital system of Mississippi,” said Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs and COVID-19 clinical response leader at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, on Wednesday. It’s not that there are no available beds in Mississippi, Jones said. There just aren’t enough health care workers to appropriately staff them, he said. (Haselhorst, 8/11)

In updates from Iowa, Louisiana, California and Florida —

Des Moines Register:
Iowa COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations Climb With August Surge

The number of COVID-19 patients in Iowa hospitals is surging, according to federal data. On Wednesday, 328 adults and three children were in Iowa’s hospitals with confirmed cases of the disease, an increase of more than 50% over the number of people hospitalized a week ago, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Another 80 adults and eight children were suspected to have the disease, but their infections weren’t confirmed, according to the data. (Coltrain and Leys, 8/11)

New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Inside Ochsner’s COVID Units, ‘Rows And Rows’ Of Coronavirus Patients Fight To Survive

The sixth floor of Ochsner Medical Center in Old Jefferson was once where patients awaited heart transplants and recovered from heart surgery. Now, in converted negative-pressure rooms that suck air in but don’t let aerosolized virus particles out, teams of six yellow-gowned workers flip the sickest coronavirus patients from back to stomach every 12 hours, hoping to relieve some pressure from their strained lungs. In between, monitors beep and nurses give the patients baths and administer medication. Often intubated, paralyzed and sedated, what looks to be a peaceful sleep is actually an eerily quiet struggle to survive. (Woodruff, 8/11)

MediaNews:
28 Coronavirus Deaths Is Los Angeles County’s Highest Daily Toll Since May 1

Coronavirus has claimed 28 more lives in Los Angeles County, officials reported on Wednesday, Aug. 11, the largest daily human toll in the region since May 1. Leaders continued to scramble for mandates that push the entire region and the state toward what has been a thus-far elusive herd immunity. Wednesday’s deaths raised the total lost lives from the virus in the county to 24,833; the 3,498 new daily confirmed cases — most since early February — lifted that total to 1,335,332. After a period of relative latency, the virus has flourished since early July, as the rapid scramble to be vaccinated died down and more people intermingled, experts say. (Carter, 8/11)

Fox News:
How Did CDC Botch Florida COVID Numbers? State Deputy Health Secretary Responds

Florida Deputy Health Secretary Dr. Shamarial Roberson reacted to the CDC’s inaccurate numbers regarding recent coronavirus cases rising in the state of Florida Wednesday on “Fox News Primetime.” On Sunday, Aug. 8, the CDC recorded 28,317 new cases of COVID-19 until Florida Department of Health noticed that was nearly double the actual number in their records, which was close to 15,000. The CDC agreed to meet the department in the middle and revise the number to 19,000, after reportedly rolling several days’ worth of numbers into one. Roberson told Fox News that getting the data right is of grave importance. (Stabile, 8/11)