P.S. 705 went above and beyond New York City school reopening guidance, with a particular reliance on the city’s surveillance testing program. This elementary school had a 55% enrollment by the end of the 2020-2021 school year, above the city’s average of about 40%, and made it through the year with just 11 total cases — and zero closures.
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A school-library partnership exemplifies the close-knit community of the two small, coastal towns making up the Port Orford-Langlois School District. This district built up community trust and used a cautious, step-by-step reopening strategy to make it through the 2020-2021 school year with zero cases identified in school buildings.
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Andrews Independent School District, in West Texas, prioritized personal responsibility, giving families information to make individual choices about their children’s safety. Partnerships with the local health department, outdoor classes, increased ventilation, and an intensive cleaning regimen also helped keep cases down — even though the district did not follow all CDC protocols, such as required quarantines and masks for the youngest students.
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Unlike other districts in Maryland, Garrett County Public Schools was able to bring the majority of its students back to classrooms during the spring 2021 semester. The district built trust with its community by utilizing local partnerships, providing families with crucial supplies, setting up task forces to plan reopening, and communicating extensively with parents.
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Scott County School District 1 is the subject of the first profile in the COVID-19 Data Dispatch’s “Opening” series. While Austin’s experience with HIV/AIDS is unique, the school district offers lessons for other communities. An open line of communication between Austin’s county public health agency, school administrators, and other local leaders fostered an environment of collaboration and trust. Plus, the administrators took advantage of teachers’ and parents’ knowledge of their students to make them an integral part of identifying COVID-19 cases and stopping outbreaks.
Read MoreFeatured sources for the week of September 12 include polling on school reopening, nursing homes, and case acceleration.
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On Thursday, President Joe Biden unveiled a major new plan to bring the U.S. out of the pandemic. One major topic is missing: data collecti
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The COVID-19 Data Dispatch has, clearly, been pretty focused on school reopening in recent weeks. But our “Opening” project is primarily retrospective, looking back at schools that were successful last school year. This fall, the Delta variant and additional political pressures have made reopening success even harder to achieve.
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Last week, I wrote that national U.S. COVID-19 cases were in a plateau. The pattern has continued this week: cases are down 13% from last week, new hospitalized patients are down 4%, and deaths are down 11%.
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In April 2020, FERN reporter Leah Douglas started tracking COVID-19 outbreaks at meatpacking plants, food processing facilities, and farms. On September 2, Douglas announced that the project is shutting down.
Read MoreSource updates for the week of September 5 include a new pediatric data page from the CDC, state reporting frequency, and new evidence that masks work.
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I went on vacation in California recently, driving around the state with my sister. Here are some precautious that we took to make our trip as safe as possible in light of the current COVID-19 surge.
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A couple of major news items on Delta: it’s still highly transmissible, it might lead to more severe disease, child hospitalization rates are tied to low community vaccination, and evidence for boosters is still questionab
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