Since the start of the school year, at least 1,000 schools in thirty five of the U.S states have halted in-person learning due to COVID-19, as per Burbio, a data firm from New York that tracks K-12 school closing patterns.
Schools on the company’s tracker have been shuttered for periods ranging from a single day to many weeks. The majority have temporarily shifted to remote learning. Others were abruptly shuttered without warning. And, according to Burbio, a tiny percentage of students postponed the start of school or switched to hybrid learning.
The increasing number of closures coincides with a fight over school-based mask requirements and an increase in paediatric COVID-19 infections, mostly due to the highly infectious delta form.
President Joe Biden’s administration said late last month that it is investigating 5 U.S states that prohibit districts from requiring masks, claiming that such rules violate the civil rights of students with disabilities and underlying health problems.
“The department will fight to preserve every student’s right to safe in-person learning and local educators’ rights to implement rules that enable all kids to come to their classroom in-person full-time this fall,” the Education Secretary said in a statement.
Latest News Related to Covid
- According to the Tampa Bay Times, Tom Brady acquired COVID-19 in early February.
- On Saturday, New Zealand announced its first COVID fatality in over six months — a lady in her 90s who had health problems. New Zealand remains under lockdown after one positive case last month.
- A German man assaulted health care staff at a vaccination facility when he requested a vaccination certificate without getting an injection and they refused. According to police, he got aggressive and harmed two employees, who were treated and subsequently discharged from the hospital.
- Michigan schools are still obliged to publicly post information regarding reported COVID-19 cases on their websites this year, under a state health department directive last October. However, several of those dashboards are difficult to locate or browse.
- Today’s numbers: According to Johns Hopkins University statistics, the United States has confirmed over 39.9 million COVID-19 infections and over 648,100 fatalities. Globally, above 220.4 million Covid-19 cases and 4.5 million fatalities have been reported. According to the CDC, above 175.8 million U.S people or 52% of the population – have received all recommended vaccines.
Experts Warn that Booster Shots Might be Premature
The Biden administration has said that from Sept. 20, anybody who wishes to get a third dosage of COVID-19 vaccination will be allowed to do so if they are at least 8 months post their last injection. However, doing that may be difficult, and experts have questioned whether it is really a good idea.
According to some experts, the administration has jumped ahead of the research, which demonstrates that although protection against any illness does diminish with time, vaccinations remain highly effective at doing what they were intended to do: keep the people out of the morgue and the hospital.
Is the White House Preparing for Pandemics in Future
The Biden administration announced a proposal Friday to strengthen the country’s capacity to react to biological threats, drawing comparisons to the Apollo Program launched for moon landing by man.
“We need enhanced capabilities because there is a fair probability that another severe pandemic, perhaps worse than COVID-19, could emerge within the next ten years,” said Eric Lander.
The estimated cost over the next decade is $65.3 billion. According to the White House, a significant portion of the money will go toward vaccine research and delivery. Administration officials are hopeful that an initial $15 billion in funding would be approved by Congress as part of the huge $3.5 trillion fiscal stimulus plan scheduled for this autumn.
The strategy comprises the following:
- Increasing the arsenal of vaccinations, treatments, and diagnostics significantly.
- Strengthening public health systems in the United States and elsewhere.
- Enhancing the US’s capacity to manufacture personal protection equipment and other critical supplies.
- Increasing the likelihood of early identification of pandemic risks.
- Establishing a centralised “mission control” to oversee an operation involving numerous government departments.
Delta surge makes Hawaii struggle
Hawaii has already recorded more than double the number of coronavirus infections this year as it was in the whole 2020, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University.
Hawaii reported 66,778 COVID-19 instances through Saturday afternoon, according to the statistics. It recorded 22,007 instances throughout the whole year of 2020.
Annual comparisons are insufficient to convey the extent to which Hawaii battled with a surge of cases triggered by the delta variety. Hawaii has recorded more instances in the past month than it did the whole last year.
Hawaii’s governor has pleaded with visitors to avoid the islands until October.
