Friday, August 7, 2020

8-7: it is what it is STILL

Voice of OC

     A wave of Orange County elementary schools are trying to reopen classrooms for the upcoming school year during the coronavirus pandemic, after state health officials announced a waiver process earlier this week.  

     Most of the schools looking to reopen are in South County, where the virus hasn’t hit residents as hard, compared to working class neighborhoods in Anaheim and Santa Ana. In addition, an overwhelming percentage of them are private or charter schools. 

     OC schools were thrust into the national spotlight last month, when the OC Board of Education voted to recommend schools reopen without requiring masks or physical distancing. But the board’s vote has no bearing on schools and their respective districts. 

     Bernadette Boden-Albala, founding dean of UC Irvine’s Public Health program, said if the virus trends continue to go down, then schools should start planning for reopening classrooms. She also said schools should give learning options to students and parents, stagger class days and implement a robust testing and contact tracing program.  

     “I think we’re in this place where we probably could start if our case numbers stay where they are or go down. Then we can start talking about what hybrid education really looks like. It does mean lower numbers, trying to do things outside. Staggering schools, giving a choice for some kids that can’t go … but they’re still engaging and having the proper education,” said Bernadette Boden-Albala, founding dean of UC Irvine’s Public Health program. 

     But, Boden-Albala said, the reopens could depend on how severely impacted the surrounding community is, like the hard-hit neighborhoods in Anaheim and Santa Ana. 

     “This is all about density. The densest communities are going to get hit the hardest” like Anaheim and Santa Ana, Boden-Albala said in a Tuesday phone interview. “You just have these populations in these cities like Anaheim and Santa Ana that are living more densely, as opposed to more of a suburban structure where there’s more space between households — where the transmission is less.” 

. . .

     Over 100 elementary schools have already filed paperwork seeking waivers according to a public records request answered by the county Health Care Agency….

 

‘Broken’ coronavirus tracking system leaves California in the dark: ‘We have no idea’ -- The breakdown in California’s coronavirus test reporting system is disrupting pandemic response efforts across the state, leaving local officials in the dark about the spread of COVID-19 and blocking the ability of counties to get restrictions lifted until the the system is fixed. Anita Chabria, Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ Fiona Kelliher in the San Jose Mercury$ Dustin Gardiner and Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/7/20

 

JUST IN:

State health department freezes coronavirus watch list, citing faulty data system that threw off crucial case metrics

OC Reg


Coronavirus impact: Chasm grows between whites, people of color, California poll finds -- The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its economic toll are hitting people of color in California especially hard, and a new poll illustrates just how alarming the disparity has grown among the state’s families. Emily DeRuy in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/7/20

 

California colleges in last-minute scramble to open without state guidance -- Just days before the fall semester is set to begin, California colleges and universities are scrambling to finalize reopening plans that affect thousands of students as top leaders say the state’s lack of guidance for weeks has frustrated efforts to bring back limited in-person learning and dorm living. Teresa Watanabe, Nina Agrawal, Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/7/20

Trump’s economic comeback is becoming a slowdown and likely a stall-out -- New jobless claims declined a bit last week after two weeks of increases but remain above 1 million per week.  Ben White Politico -- 8/7/20

 

More Than 400,000 Students Leave Their States for College. Here’s How They Could Carry Covid-19 With Them.

CHE

Today's numbers are highly suspect.
"In the dark" indeed

These guys turned out to be such assholes, that they had to break up.

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Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

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