COVID-19 Data Dispatch

Category: Uncategorized

  • Opening profile: Personal responsibility in Andrews, Texas

    Opening profile: Personal responsibility in Andrews, Texas

    By Betsy Ladyzhets

    Andrews County students gather at a football game in August 2021. Photo via the district’s Facebook page.

    On July 28, 2020, before the start of fall extracurriculars, Andrews Independent School District held a town hall in the high school auditorium. Parents and community members came from across the county to grill the district administrators on their reopening plans. While some parents wanted the details on safety measures, others were more concerned about their individual freedoms.

    Bobby Azam, the district superintendent, recalls parents asking questions like, “Are you going to force my child to sit still all day?” or “Are you going to penalize my child if their mask slips off?”

    Ultimately, when schools reopened for in-person classes, students in this West Texas district were not penalized for letting a mask slip. The school district 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocols, such as required quarantines and masks for the youngest students.

    Andrews County’s school district is the subject of the third profile in the COVID-19 Data Dispatch’s “Opening” series. Alongside four other school communities, we selected it because the majority of the district’s students returned to in-person learning during the 2020-2021 school year — and officials identified COVID-19 cases in under 5% of the student population. (According to the CDC, about 5% of school-aged children in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.)

    Though this district did not adhere to the full extent of COVID-19 prevention guidance, it offers valuable lessons in addressing community politics while still maintaining safety measures — reflecting the challenges that many Sun Belt districts face this fall.

    Demographics for Andrews County, Texas
    Census population estimates, July 2019

    • Population: 19,000
    • Race: 56.6% Hispanic/Latino, 39.9% white, 2.0% Black, 1.5% Native American, 1.5% two or more races, 0.7% Asian
    • Education: 72.3% have high school degree, 12.2% have bachelor’s degree
    • Income: $76,200 is median household income, 10.2% in poverty
    • Computer: 91.6% have a computer, 86.2% have broadband internet
    • Free lunch: 47.9% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch1

    COVID-19 stats for Andrews Independent School District
    Texas Department of State Health Services, Public Schools COVID-19 data

    • Total enrollment: 4,000
    • In-person enrollment: 82% in late September, 2020; 100%, January through June, 2021
    • Total cases, 2020-2021 school year: 167 cases in students, 76 in staff
      • Clearfork Elementary School: 6 students, 0 staff
      • Underwood Elementary School: 9 students, 0 staff
      • Devonian Elementary School: 10 students, 0 staff
      • Andrews Education Center: 12 students, 1 staff
      • Andrews Middle School: 48 students, 0 staff
      • Andrews High School: 68 students, 0 staff
      • Unspecified campus: 14 students, 75 staff

    1Source: National Center for Education Statistics

    Preparing for reopening

    When the schools shut down in March 2020, Andrews County was prepared to provide computers for all students. Still, remote learning proved challenging. Many Andrews parents work in the oil industry, which is a major employer in the region, and were unable to work from home — which left many students at home alone.

    As a result, when Gov. Greg Abbott announced a plan for fall reopening in June 2020, Andrews district administrators went full speed ahead. Planning for reopening relied on constant communication with the school board and the late July town hall, along with other opportunities for parents to provide feedback.

    Administrators also prepared for reopening by intensifying cleaning efforts at Andrews school buildings. The district hired an outside cleaning service to deep clean all buildings, both before the semester began and at regular intervals during the first couple weeks of classes.

    All teachers and students in Andrews County had to choose between an all-in-person or all-virtual experience. Unlike other Texas districts, teachers were organized to lead either an entirely virtual or entirely in-person class — no need to teach hybrid classes and split focus between the students in a classroom and the students on Zoom. Meanwhile, students had to commit to in-person class in order to participate in sports or other extracurriculars. In late September, about 82% of students were attending class in person, according to Texas state health department data.

    Students who opted for those in-person classes had more outside time than in previous years. Andrews has a warm climate, with temperatures rarely falling below freezing; district staff took advantage by opening windows and doors to outside air, as well as holding class in the playground. Research suggests that outdoor coronavirus transmission is incredibly rare, and ventilation is more effective than cleaning in preventing the spread of aerosols — those tiny virus particles that travel through the air.

    “Anytime we could be outside, we did,” Azam said. He found that many students — who were stuck learning from home in spring 2020, while their parents were at work — were especially appreciative of the extra playtime.

    Parents’ choice — and parents’ responsibility

    Like other districts profiled in this series, the Andrews County school district partnered with the local public health department during its fall reopening. During the fall semester, the public health department shared information about new COVID-19 cases directly with school administrators — notifying the district about a new student case at the same time as the student’s parents. This method went above and beyond guidance from the state of Texas, which stipulated that parents should inform their school district of a case, then the district should inform the public health department. The rapid communication helped the district identify cases quickly and ensure that no cases were missed due to a parent’s reporting hesitancy.

    Once a case was identified, the classroom would be immediately cleared and custodians wiped down every surface that the student may have touched. The student’s parents would get a call to pick up their child, and notifications went out to families sharing a classroom with the infected child via ParentSquare, the school’s parent communication service. Those families were all able to access free, drive-through testing right at the local health department — with results in under 24 hours, according to Suzanne Mata, assistant superintendent of student services at the district.

    This health department partnership was challenged, however, by “differences of opinion” between district leadership and health workers, as Mata described the relationship. The Andrews school district opted not to require masks beyond the state guidance — which said children under 10 were exempt — and made quarantines optional when a case was identified. The department urged the district to follow CDC guidance: quarantine all exposed students and require masks for all children, including those under age ten.

    Rather than relying on strict restrictions, the district “utilized parents,” as Superintendent Azam put it. Parents were able to choose whether a child under age 10 required a mask, while also taking responsibility for other safety measures.

    “We said, ‘Mom, Dad, you know your kid better than us,’” Azam said. The district’s quarantine policy reflected this philosophy. While the district required any student with COVID-19 symptoms or a positive test result stay home from school, children who shared a classroom with an infected student had the choice to quarantine or continue coming to class as usual.

    “We just said, an individual has been in your student’s classroom… that has actually tested positive — please be aware to look for these symptoms,” Mata said, describing the notification that parents received after a positive case. The notice also reminded parents that any child with symptoms had to stay home.

    Gordon Mattimoe, director of the Andrews County Health Department, called the district’s policy “not ideal for mitigation.” After the fall 2020 semester and deterioration of the relationship between district and health department, as Mata described the situation, the health department stopped sharing case information directly with the school district. Instead, parents were asked to report any student cases, further placing the responsibility for COVID-19 mitigation on parents. Administrators felt that parents had sufficient understanding and trust in the district’s protocol to report cases responsibly.

    Transitioning to 100% in person

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    The fall 2020 semester started off smoothly, except for a small outbreak in a sports team. As parents saw the district keep case numbers low — while remaining flexible on safety measures — in-person enrollment grew.

    “Every week, we had more and more kids… coming back face to face,” Superintendent Azam said. The students who had opted for the district’s virtual learning option struggled, both with getting assignments turned in and with mental health while home alone.

    As a result, the district decided to end the virtual option halfway through the fall semester, phasing students back in throughout October and November. During this transition, some families chose to drop out of the public school district entirely and switch to homeschooling or another option. According to data from the Texas public health department, the district’s total enrollment dropped by 157 students — from 4,149 in October 2020 to 3,992 in January 2021.

    In total, the Texas health department reported 167 cases among Andrews students over the course of the school year, representing about 4% of the total student body. They reported 76 cases among staff. The district saw its highest case spikes in November, December, and January, when the country was undergoing its highest surge, followed by almost zero cases between March and the end of the school year in late May. This may be an undercount, however, as the public health department was no longer sharing case data with the district during the spring.

    Superintendent Azam acknowledged that luck may have been a factor in Andrews’ low case counts; this rural district was not hit hard by COVID-19 like El Paso and other parts of Texas. The district also likely benefited from improved ventilation, via outdoor classes and open windows. Finally, while parents were expected to report cases to the school and take responsibility for quarantines, administrators say that trust built up throughout the fall semester enabled district parents and staff to become unified around the goal of keeping kids in classrooms and COVID-19 out of classrooms — making this individual responsibility system effective.

    The Andrews district has taken away key lessons from the 2020-2021 school year. These include: a continued focus on cleaning when COVID-19 or any other illness is identified in a school building; telling teachers and students to stay home if they feel sick; and holding class outside whenever possible.

    As the Delta variant now sweeps through Texas and Governor Abbott blocks school mask mandates, Mattimoe, from the county health department, is concerned that Andrews’ flexible safety strategy may be harder to maintain this year. The public health department typically partners with the district on fall childhood vaccination events, he said, but opted not to hold events at the middle school this year due to COVID-19 vaccine polarization in the community. About 42% of the county’s eligible population is fully vaccinated as of August 28, according to Texas state data; the state average is 57%.

    “With the governor’s orders, the school is going back to business as usual,” Mattimoe said.

    Mata, the assistant superintendent, said that the district is “staying very vigilant” and aiming to “do what’s right for our students and our staff.” As of August 22, the district has yet to report any cases in the fall 2021 semester.

    The COVID-19 Data Dispatch’s “Opening” series is available for other publications to republish, free of charge. If you or your outlet is interested in publishing any part of this series, please contact betsy@coviddatadispatch.com.

    More from the Opening series

  • National numbers, August 29

    National numbers, August 29

    Delta is causing 99% or a higher share of new cases in every region of the U.S., according to CDC estimates.

    In the past week (August 21 through 27), the U.S. reported about one million new cases, according to the CDC. This amounts to:

    • An average of 142,000 new cases each day
    • 303 total new cases for every 100,000 Americans
    • 3% more new cases than last week (August 14-20)

    Last week, America also saw:

    • 86,000 new COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals (26 for every 100,000 people)
    • 6,000 new COVID-19 deaths (1.8 for every 100,000 people)
    • 99% of new cases now Delta-caused (as of August 21)
    • An average of 900,000 vaccinations per day (per Bloomberg)

    COVID-19 cases in the U.S. just keep rising, approaching 150,000 new cases a day. Case numbers have not been this high since January, during the winter surge. The case rise does seem to be decelerating, however: cases are only up 3% this week compared to last week, after much higher jumps in late July and early August.

    It’s worth emphasizing here that, per the CDC’s latest estimates, a full 99% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are driven by Delta. Alpha, the variant we were all so worried about back in the spring, is down to just 0.2% of cases. On a practical level, that means anywhere you may encounter the coronavirus—at a restaurant, on the train, at an elementary school—this virus is highly transmissible, capable of spreading between unvaccinated people in just a few seconds.

    Florida and Louisiana continue to be major COVID-19 hotspots, but Mississippi is now seeing the country’s highest case numbers—753 cases per 100,000 residents in the past week, per Friday’s Community Profile Report. Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas all recorded over 500 cases per 100,000 last week as well. Hurricane Ida, now on track to hit New Orleans, is sure to complicate COVID-19 prevention efforts in Louisiana and other coastal states.

    While the South lights up with record cases and hospitalizations, every single state is currently seeing high coronavirus transmission, according to the CDC’s categories (over 100 new cases per 100,000 in the past week and/or test positivity over 10%). Almost every county is in the red as well.

    Almost 90,000 Americans are in the hospital with COVID-19 right now, about three-quarters of the way to last winter’s peak. While vaccinations continue to increase, we’ll need more mitigation than just shots in arms to control this current surge.

    more national numbers

  • Featured sources, August 22

    • State Guidance on School Reopenings, CRPE: The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) is an education research organization focused on improving student outcomes. The organization has compiled and analyzed state guidance for school reopening in fall 2020, focusing on mask mandates and vaccination requirements. Read about their findings here.
    • Will Students Come Back?: July 2021 Parent Survey: The RAND Corporation, a survey company, has a new report out this week displaying parent attitudes towards fall reopening. According to the survey, as of July 2021, 89% of U.S. parents are planning to send their kids back to school in person. This number is higher for white (94%) and Asian (88%) parents than Black (82%) and Hispanic (83%) parents.
    • COVID Stimulus Watch: The policy resource center Good Jobs First has put together this extensive database of CARES Act funding recipients. You can search the database by federal agency, CARES Act program, business sector, company type, location, amount received, and whether the money has been refunded.
    • Body Politic’s Comprehensive Guide to Covering Long COVID: Writer and long COVID advocate Fiona Lowenstein has written this guide to covering the prolonged condition. The guide includes long COVID’s history, key terms, finding experts, telling patient stories, and more. Lowenstein shares key insights from the guide in this Center for Health Journalism article.
    • Update on Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker: After nine months of manual data updates, the team behind Bloomberg’s COVID-19 vaccine tracker is switching to automated data capture from the World Health Organization, Johns Hopkins, and other sources. Or, as health editor Drew Armstrong put it on Twitter: “We’re finally ready to let the robots take over.” Thank you, Bloomberg team, for your months of hard work!

    All featured sources
  • Opening profile: Community over wifi in Garrett County, Maryland

    Opening profile: Community over wifi in Garrett County, Maryland

    By Betsy Ladyzhets

    Staff at Broad Ford Elementary School in Garrett County, Maryland. Photo via the district’s website.

    It’s difficult to get good internet access in Garrett County, Maryland. The county lies in the Appalachian Mountains, full of peaks and ridges, trees and rivers. This geography blocks signals and slows internet speeds, even for Garrett County residents who do have a router at home. And the county’s southern edge meets the National Radio Quiet Zone, where cell and internet service is restricted in order to preserve data collection for West Virginia’s Green Bank Telescope.

    Even Barbara Baker, superintendent of Garrett County Public Schools, has a hard time getting service: During her interview with the COVID-19 Data Dispatch, poor Zoom quality forced the conversation onto a phone call.

    “Working from home, teaching from home, and learning from home was a huge hurdle for us to overcome,” Baker said.

    Of course, such a wifi-challenged district is not cut out for virtual classes, making in-person school a priority. 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.

    Garrett County’s school district is the subject of the second profile in the COVID-19 Data Dispatch’s “Opening” series. Alongside four other school communities, we selected it because the majority of the district’s students returned to in-person learning during the 2020-2021 school year — and officials identified COVID-19 cases in under 5% of the student population. (According to the CDC, about 5% of school-aged children in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.)

    Demographics for Garrett County, Maryland
    Census population estimates, July 2019

    • Population: 29,000
    • Race: 96.2% white, 1.2% Hispanic/Latino, 1.1% Black, 1.0% two or more races, 0.4% Asian
    • Education: 89.8% have high school degree, 20.9% have bachelor’s degree
    • Income: $52,600 is median household income, 12.8% in poverty
    • Computer: 84.6% have a computer, 76.9% have broadband internet
    • Free lunch: 47.8% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch1

    COVID-19 stats for Garrett County Public Schools

    • Total enrollment: 3,600 students2
    • In-person enrollment: 86% after reopening for a four-day week in March2
    • Total cases, 2020-2021 school year:
      • 5 cases in the fall (identified by the state in two elementary school outbreaks)3
      • 17 cases in the spring (15 rapid test positives, 2 PCR test positives); none identified by the state as outbreaks4

    1Source: National Center for Education Statistics
    2Source: Interview with Superintendent Barbara Baker
    3Source: Maryland COVID-19 School Outbreaks dataset
    4Source: Data from School Health Services Manager Rebecca Aiken

    Spring 2020: Combatting remote challenges, in-person preparation

    Due to wifi issues and a learning curve with the district’s online platform, in spring 2020, Garrett County families and educators struggled to access remote classes. But the district used this time to prepare for its eventual return by providing computers, tablets, and wifi hotspots resources to students and building trust for the next year.

    The district used a federal grant to purchase about 1,000 wifi hotspots, which were both distributed to students and set up in central locations to which families could easily drive. At a total of 650 square miles, Garrett County is relatively large, and with under 50 people per square mile, its residents are fairly spaced out. Administrators aimed to set up hotspots in enough locations that nobody would need to drive more than ten miles to access wifi.

    At the same time, district staff delivered meals to families. About half of Garrett County students are eligible for free lunch, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Scott Germain, the district’s food services supervisor, quickly pivoted from cafeteria meals to meals on the road. His team brought food from the district’s twelve schools to churches, community centers, and other central locations so that families could avoid traveling more than a few miles.

    Like many other districts, Garrett County took advantage of federal grant money to improve ventilation and cleaning at school buildings. But unlike others, this district stands out for a unique, collaborative strategy used to plan its return to classrooms in fall 2020. 

    The district brought stakeholders together through “TIGER teams”, or “Targeted Immediate Group Execution and Response” teams. Each team was composed of people from varied backgrounds, all unified around a singular reopening-related goal, such as COVID-19 testing and learning connectivity. Teams typically included at least one parent, one community member, and one doctor, health department officer, or other relevant expert.

    Similarly to Austin, Indiana, partnerships between the school district and the local public health department proved crucial in reopening. While school buildings were closed in spring 2020, the district’s nursing staff worked with the Garrett County public health department to run testing sites.

    “We just became one agency, almost, for a while,” said School Health Services Manager Rebecca Aiken of the school’s nursing staff and the local health department. School nurses were able to expertly swab students who came to class with COVID-19 symptoms when classrooms opened up in the fall.

    Fall 2020: Hybrid, then back to virtual

    The fall 2020 semester started with a hybrid model, due to concerns about maintaining six-foot spacing between students in every classroom. Most students were coming in for two days in person, while Wednesday was reserved as a day where children worked remotely on their own, giving teachers extra prep time. A small number of students opted to stay all-remote and another small number, identified by the district as most likely to fall behind during remote learning, came in all four days. (Precise numbers are not available, but administrators estimate that 10% to 15% were in all four days during this time.)

    During the hybrid period, the state of Maryland identified two small outbreaks at Garrett County schools. The state defines a classroom outbreak as at least two confirmed COVID-19 cases among teachers, students, and staff within a two-week period; cases must be epidemiologically linked but not within the same household. Maryland data reveal two cases at Route 40 Elementary School and three at Yough Glades Elementary School, from October to December.

    Despite these relatively low case numbers, the hybrid model was short-lived: Rising cases in Maryland forced the district to return to virtual-only learning in November. Still, the district was better prepared this time. More students had computers and wifi, and teachers and families were familiar with the district’s online platform.

    That return to remote made administrators even more determined to bring students back in the spring. In January, Maryland governor Larry Hogan ordered all school systems to bring kids back to at least hybrid instruction by March 1; this order “gave a little bit of teeth” to Garrett County school leadership, Superintendent Baker said.

    Spring 2021: Communication and trust

    By March 1, Garrett County students were back in classrooms four days a week. Wednesday remained an asynchronous preparation day for teachers, most of whom still had a small number of remote-only students in their classes.

    Feedback from teachers informed that schedule, but the district also actively solicited — and responded to — feedback from parents. Administrators collected feedback through surveys, and principals made personal phone calls to check in on parents. Questions from parents were funneled into a detailed FAQ document on the district’s website; the document currently stands at 22 pages long and was, at times, updated multiple times a day.

    “[Parents knew] we were listening, that we knew that they had questions and that we were trying to answer them to the best of our ability,” Baker said.

    Garrett County Public Schools FAQ document. Screenshot retrieved on August 22.

    This detailed attention to parent feedback — combined with the trust built up by providing technology, food, and other services — may be one reason why Garrett County bucks Maryland’s overall trend in bringing students back to classrooms. According to a study published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, over three-quarters of Maryland K-12 students only had access to fully remote learning during the 2020-2021 school year. In Garrett County, though one day remained remote, 86% of students returned to almost-full-time in-person learning by the end of the spring semester.

    “I think it was a real testament to the fact that the families trusted that we would keep their children safe, that we would put the safety protocols into place,” Baker said.

    Indeed, between late March and early May this year, only 17 students and staffers tested positive for COVID-19 in the schools, well under one percent of the district population. These numbers do not reflect all cases in the district, according to Aiken, head of school health services, because some students were not tested through the school. She said that all of these students were infected outside the school setting — at part-time jobs, social gatherings, and other community functions — and quick contact tracing through the local health department helped prevent spread at schools themselves.

    On Sept. 7 this year, all Garrett County students will be back in the classroom, all five days a week. As the fall safety plan currently stands, masks are strongly recommended (though not required), but enhanced ventilation, three feet distancing, testing, and other protocols will continue. Additional precautions may be added before the school year starts, Chief Academic Officer Nicole Miller said in an email on August 18.

    Principals prepared for the transition by once again calling parents to have one-on-one conversations about their concerns, with a focus on the families who chose remote learning last spring. The health services team prepared with vaccination clinics for students and staff; the vast majority of school staff (92% as of late July) are vaccinated already, thanks in part to similar clinics in the spring. Administrators also continue to update their FAQ document, solicit feedback, and build trust with their community — building connections where wireless internet networks have failed.

    “We had the collaboration, and we had the connections, and we had the framework built before this happened,” Aiken said. “I think that’s what made [reopening] so successful.”

    The COVID-19 Data Dispatch’s “Opening” series is available for other publications to republish, free of charge. If you or your outlet is interested in publishing any part of this series, please contact betsy@coviddatadispatch.com.

    More from the Opening series

  • National numbers, August 22

    National numbers, August 22

    Every state in the country has high community transmission except for Maine and Vermont, which have substantial transmission. Chart from the CDC.

    In the past week (August 14 through 20), the U.S. reported about 930,000 new cases, according to the CDC. This amounts to:

    • An average of 133,000 new cases each day
    • 284 total new cases for every 100,000 Americans
    • 14% more new cases than last week (August 7-13)

    Last week, America also saw:

    • 81,000 new COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals (25 for every 100,000 people)
    • 4,500 new COVID-19 deaths (1.4 for every 100,000 people)
    • 99% of new cases now Delta-caused (as of August 14)
    • An average of 840,000 vaccinations per day (per Bloomberg)

    COVID-19 cases continue to rise, with the U.S. seeing almost one million new cases this week (or more than one million, according to some non-CDC trackers). Deaths are also increasing, up 11% from last week and up almost 200% from late July. The vast majority of these deaths continue to occur in unvaccinated Americans.

    In the South, hospitals are becoming overwhelmed—to a degree reminiscent of March 2020 in New York City. Seven states have seen more than 20 new COVID-19 patients entering the hospital for every 100,000 residents in the past week: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Texas. In Florida, that number is over 30 new patients for every 100,000.

    Children are accounting for a higher share of COVID-19 hospitalizations than at any previous point in the pandemic. Overall, last week, the U.S. saw four new COVID-19 patients under age 17 enter the hospital for every million children. In Florida, that number is about 12 for every million.

    Still, even parts of the country without overflowing hospitals are seeing concerning case rises. The CDC now designates almost every state as “high transmission,” with over 100 new cases for every 100,000 residents and/or over a 10% test positivity rate. The only two states that don’t fit this category, Maine and Vermont, both have “substantial transmission.”

    Vaccinations continue to slowly tick up: more than one million Americans were vaccinated for three days in a row this week, and 60% of the eligible population is now fully vaccinated. But we would still have a long way to go at this current pace to be fully protected against Delta—which now comprises 99% of U.S. cases, per the CDC.

    more national numbers

  • Featured sources, August 15

    • CDC Variant Proportions: The CDC has adjusted the update schedule of its variant proportions estimates, from every two weeks to once a week. Variant numbers are still somewhat delayed (the most recent estimates are now from August 7, about a week ago), but this is a big improvement. The agency has also expanded its estimates to include Delta sub-lineages, called AY.1, AY.2, and AY.3.
    • COVID-19 Vaccination among People with Disabilities: Another recent change to the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker is this new page, reflecting vaccination coverage among Americans with disabilities. Data come from the Census’ Household Pulse Survey, which began asking respondents about their disability and vaccine status in April 2021.
    • Breakthrough cases by state, NYT: The New York Times has compiled and analyzed state data from on breakthrough (post-full-vaccination) COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. This information is available for 40 states and Washington, D.C.; the remaining 10 states failed to share their data with the NYT. Raw data underlying this analysis have yet to be made public on the NYT GitHub repository.
    • Education Stabilization Fund: The U.S. Department of Education has distributed a lot of money to school districts in the past year and a half—funding technology for remote learning, ventilation updates to buildings, COVID-19 tests, and more. This DOE database provides detailed records on which schools received funding and how much of the money has been spent.

    All featured sources
  • Opening profile: Public health collaboration in Austin, Indiana

    Opening profile: Public health collaboration in Austin, Indiana

    By Betsy Ladyzhets

    The middle and high school campus in Austin, Indiana. Photo from the Scott County School District 1 Facebook page.

    In 2015, Austin, Indiana was hit with a deadly epidemic: HIV/AIDS. This city, then over 4,000 people, saw over 200 HIV cases in about a year during its outbreak, which one health reporter called “the worst drug-fueled HIV outbreak ever to hit rural America.”

    So when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the small city was prepared to respond. The school district and public health department took advantage of their existing relationship and community trust to plan for a safe school reopening that stands out as one of the most successful in the state, according to a COVID-19 Data Dispatch analysis.

    “The HIV outbreak actually brought a lot of people together,” said Brittany Combs, a Scott County public health nurse who worked with the district. “We all came to the same table and figured out what we needed to do to tackle the HIV outbreak. And so, for the pandemic, we all were already at the table.”

    This school district, Scott County School District 1, is the subject of the first profile in the COVID-19 Data Dispatch’s “Opening” series. Alongside four other school communities, it was selected because the majority of the district’s students returned to in-person learning during the 2020-2021 school year — and under 5% of the student population was identified as a COVID-19 case. (According to the CDC, about 5% of school-aged children in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.)

    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.

    Demographics for Austin, Indiana
    American Community Survey 2019 5-year estimates

    • Population: 3,700
    • Race: 97.8% white, 0.7% Native American, 0.8% other, 0.8% two or more races
    • Education: 75.8% have high school degree, 4.7% have associate’s degree, 2.0% have bachelor’s degree
    • Income: $34,200 is median household income, 27.4% in poverty
    • Computer: 80.6% have a computer, 65.9% have broadband internet1
    • Free lunch: 64.7% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch2

    COVID-19 stats for Scott County School District 1, 2020-2021

    • Total enrollment: 1,200 students2
    • In-person enrollment: About 80% at the start of the year, 85% at the end3
    • Total cases, 2020-2021 school year: 47 in students, 25 in staff4
      • 13 elementary school students (Austin Elementary School)
      • 19 middle school students (Austin Middle School)
      • 15 high school students (Austin High School)

    1Source: County-level statistic
    2Source: National Center for Education Statistics
    3Source: Interview with Superintendent Trevor Jones
    4Source: Data from Head School Nurse Deana Broadus. Numbers include students who did not attend in-person classes while sick, but whose cases were reported to the district.

    Public health collaboration

    In planning for reopening the school district after spring 2020 closures, the public health department had “constant meetings with the school,” Combs said. The existing relationship between the school and public health experts streamlined these meetings. And thanks to past outreach efforts around HIV and opioids, the public health department already had relationships with Austin families.

    “I like to think that the health department already has a lot of trust because we were in the news a lot, we were forefront a lot, so they kinda know who we are,” Combs said. “Hopefully, the majority of the county really trusted in what we said.”

    Families were also likely to collaborate with the school district because they wanted their kids back in classrooms, according to Superintendent Trevor Jones. He referenced Austin’s high poverty level (27.4%, compared to a national average of 10.5%) and explained that the majority of students get free breakfast and lunch. Combined with the community’s past drug abuse issues, he said, there was ample motivation among parents and teachers alike to protect students from the isolation of remote learning.

    “The safest place our kids can be is here at school,” Jones said.

    While the schools had some basic safety measures in place, such as six-foot spacing, masks required everywhere except at spaced-out desks, and regular handwashing, this community trust paid off most in identifying students with COVID-19 symptoms. Deana Broadus, head school nurse at the district, said that teachers and parents acted as a first line of defense in identifying symptoms. At the beginning of the school day, teachers took students’ temperatures and asked them about other symptoms.

    “As the school year went on, teachers [get to] know their kids,” Broadus said. “They can kind of tell, oh, she doesn’t look that well today, go see the nurse.”

    Broadus and the other school nurses also got to know their students by following up on symptom questionnaires and developing medical histories. Some students would erroneously mark every symptom on the checklist, she said: “You get to know who’s trying to go home.” In other cases, the symptom checks inspired the nurses to keep better track of seasonal allergies, recurring stomach aches, and other chronic conditions that were previously reported by parents but not thoroughly documented by the school.

    Parents took part in the informal COVID-19 surveillance, too. “Parents would call in and report certain symptoms,” Broadus said. “[Students] either needed a doctor’s note or a negative COVID test to return to school.”

    The procedure was similar if a student was sent home. While the district initially quarantined full classes following a positive case, the strategy shifted to close-contact identification: figuring out which students had sat next to an infected child. Broadus said that the chief concern she heard from parents calling in to report a case was often ensuring that no more children than necessary would need to miss in-person class, though students who missed class could still follow along online.

    Keep sick students home

    Through collaboration with the public health department — which took charge of contact tracing for parents, staff and other non-students — Broadus found that the vast majority of school cases came from outside the buildings. 

    “Usually what we found was that a parent or someone else that the child lived with was sick, and then subsequently the student got sick,” she said. And among those students, cases were typically identified quickly enough that the virus didn’t spread to others.

    One of the Austin district’s major lessons from the past school year was the importance of telling families to keep their kids home if they were sick. In the past, students and staff alike tended to “push through it” and still come in if they didn’t feel well, Broadus said. Now, the policy is to stay home from school or work if you have any symptoms, not just those matching COVID-19. To reinforce this, Jones said, the district is removing rewards for perfect attendance and similar bonuses for staff. The schools are also continuing to emphasize handwashing and other good hygiene habits.

    Still, the district did not avoid cases entirely. A total of 47 students contracted COVID-19 over the course of the school year, including 13 students at Austin Elementary School, 19 at Austin Middle School, and 15 at Austin High School — or about 4% of the district’s total enrollment. According to Broadus, the district identified the most cases (17 total) during November and December 2020, at the peak of the fall COVID-19 surge. The district added additional COVID-19 safety precautions at this time, such as limiting spectators at sporting events.

    Delta poses new challenges

    This fall, Austin’s school district is facing further challenges amplified by the country’s Delta surge. School started in-person on August 3; unlike the previous year, masks were optional. Several student cases in the first week of school led the district to switch to all-virtual classes for two weeks, Superintendent Jones said in an email on August 10.

    When students return after this virtual period, COVID-19 symptom monitoring will continue — though the district is phasing out formal checklists that proved to be less helpful than parent and teacher intuition. The six-feet distancing rule has shrunk to three feet. Ventilation has also improved, thanks to grant money from the federal government for which many districts were able to apply.

    Austin will continue to rely on its community to identify cases and stay safe in the new school year. “I feel like it wasn’t just one thing that we were doing,” Broadus said. “Everyone was working together.”

    The COVID-19 Data Dispatch’s “Opening” series is available for other publications to republish, free of charge. If you or your outlet is interested in publishing any part of this series, please contact betsy@coviddatadispatch.com.

    Update, Sept. 7, 2021: After two weeks of all-virtual classes in August 2021 prompted by high case numbers, the Austin school district returned to the COVID-19 safety protocols followed in the previous school year. Masks are once again required whenever students are not stationary at distanced desks, and desk spacing is back at six feet where possible. “We made some adjustments to our COVID procedures that have minimized the number of students in quarantine,” Superintendent Jones said in an email on Sept. 7.

    More K-12 schools reporting

  • National numbers, August 15

    National numbers, August 15

    County-level community transmission map from the August 12 Community Profile Report. The vast majority of the country is in the red zone.

    In the past week (August 7 through 13), the U.S. reported about 800,000 new cases, according to the CDC. This amounts to:

    • An average of 114,000 new cases each day
    • 244 total new cases for every 100,000 Americans
    • 18% more new cases than last week (July 31-August 6)

    Last week, America also saw:

    • 71,000 new COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals (21.5 for every 100,000 people)
    • 3,400 new COVID-19 deaths (1.1 for every 100,000 people)
    • 97% of new cases now Delta-caused (as of August 7)
    • An average of 740,000 vaccinations per day (per Bloomberg)

    COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are now solidly over 100,000 new cases a day, a benchmark not hit since early February. And, per the latest CDC estimates, 97% of those cases are Delta.

    It cannot be overstated how dire the COVID-19 situation has become in southern hotspots. If one is to calculate the cases per capita in all U.S. states and countries of the world, three states make the top five: Louisiana, Florida, and Mississippi.

    In these states, hospitals are filling to a degree not seen since New York City at the beginning of the pandemic. For example, in Brevard County, Florida, local officials are asking residents to avoid calling 911 unless the situation is truly dire. “Leave emergency room and ambulance trips for those with life-threatening or serious emergencies,” the county’s fire chief told CBS News.

    Florida as a whole now has about 14,000 patients in state hospitals, per HHS data. During the winter surge, the state peaked at under 8,000. And more than half of patients in state ICUs are sick with COVID-19. Florida and Texas combined account for over 40% of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the country.

    As this Delta surge progresses, one major challenge may be that not enough Americans are getting tested—especially those who are vaccinated. While the vaccines are very good at protecting against severe disease and death, including from Delta, breakthrough infections have become more common; if these cases are not caught, they can fuel coronavirus spread among the unvaccinated. Overall test positivity in the U.S. has been about 10% for the past two weeks, per HHS data, indicating that we’re missing a lot of those infections. In some southern counties, it’s well above 20%.

    This surge’s silver lining continues: vaccinations are still going up. Almost one million new doses were reported in a single day on Saturday. But vaccination alone is not enough to completely stop COVID-19’s spread, especially when a variant as contagious as Delta has taken the reins.

    more national numbers

  • Featured sources, August 8

    • School enrollment data from Big Local News: Stanford’s Big Local News program released a major dataset this week, allowing reporters to investigate the pandemic’s impact on school enrollment in their communities. The dataset includes enrollment data at the state, district, and school level for 33 states; it was compiled through a collaboration with OpenNews, the New York Times, and EdSource. To access the data, make an account on the Big Local News platform and search for “Stanford School Enrollment Project.” See this tutorial for more information on using the dataset.
    • State-by-state hospitalization trends from the CDC: Last week, the CDC updated its COVID Data Tracker to include vaccination trends for every state. This week, the agency added hospitalization trends for every state, reflecting new COVID-19 admissions both overall and by age group. See the “Select a Jurisdiction” and “Select an Age Group” dropdown menus to explore the data.
    • American Time Use Survey: This is a new survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS asked Americans how they spent their time during the COVID-19 pandemic; the resulting data demonstrate trends in remote work, commuting, childcare, and more. See the links at the bottom of this press release for comprehensive stats.
    • Mirror, Mirror 2021 from the Commonwealth Fund: The Commonwealth Fund, a philanthropy foundation supporting healthcare research, published this new report comparing the U.S. healthcare system to those of ten other high-income nations. The report found, unsurprisingly, that the U.S. “ranks last overall, despite spending far more of its gross domestic product on health care.”

    All featured sources
  • National numbers, August 8

    National numbers, August 8

    Daily vaccinations in Florida are rising as the state’s hospitals become overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. Source: CDC Vaccination Trends.

    In the past week (July 31 through August 6), the U.S. reported about 630,000 new cases, according to the CDC. This amounts to:

    • An average of 90,000 new cases each day
    • 192 total new cases for every 100,000 Americans
    • 34% more new cases than last week (July 24-30)

    Last week, America also saw:

    • 54,000 new COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals (16.4 for every 100,000 people)
    • 2,600 new COVID-19 deaths (0.8 for every 100,000 people)
    • 93% of new cases now Delta-caused (as of July 31)
    • An average of 700,000 vaccinations per day (per Bloomberg)

    Delta continues to dominate COVID-19 cases in the U.S. The CDC updated its variant estimates this week, reporting that Delta made up 93% of U.S. cases at the end of July.

    This variant has now solidly beat out pretty much every other COVID-19 strain—even the Gamma (or P.1) variant is now down to just 1.3%—reflecting its highly contagious properties. If you missed it, I highly recommend checking out last week’s CDD rundown of key Delta facts and figures.

    COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are taking a serious toll on under-vaccinated hotspots in the south. Seven states—Florida, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi—make up about half of recent U.S. cases and hospitalizations, even though they reflect less than a quarter of the country’s total population, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said at a briefing on Thursday. Many hospitals in these states are turning away patients and canceling elective surgeries, as though we’re back in spring 2020.

    Still, there’s some good news in this crisis. As we noted last week, vaccination numbers are rising again, with the states hardest hit by Delta leading the pack. In Florida, for example, average daily vaccinations are up from 40,000 on July 7 to 70,000 on August 7. CVS and Walgreens are reporting vaccination upticks as well. And, as of Friday, over half of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated.

    According to new polling data from KFF’s COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor, Delta is indeed a vaccination motivator. About one in five unvaccinated adults surveyed in KFF’s July poll said that COVID-19 variant news “has made them more likely to get vaccinated for COVID-19.” Still, many more people need convincing: the poll found that over half of vaccinated adults erroneously believe a COVID-19 vaccine poses a higher health risk than the virus itself.

    It’s tragic that thousands more would need to die for many Americans to finally get their shots. But every vaccination may potentially be a life saved.

    more national numbers