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6.5 Million Students Chronically Absent After the Pandemic, New Study Shows
Students across the U.S. have been chronically absent in record-high numbers after the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study from Stanford Research shows.
More than 25% of students were classified as chronically absent in the 2021-22 school year because they had missed at least 10% of the school year. Comparatively, before the pandemic, only 15% of students had such high levels of absenteeism, the study noted.
Between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 academic years, the percentage of students classified as chronically absent increased by 13½ points. This increase, which equates to a 91% spike, suggests an estimated 6.5 million more students are now falling into the category of being chronically absent compared to before the pandemic.
“The substantial, negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple indicators of well-being and development among children in the United States are increasingly well-documented,” the author of the study, Thomas S. Dee, wrote.
The study, presented in an eight-page report, found that in the hardest-hit states, such as Alaska and New Mexico, nearly 50% of students are absent for a tenth of their classes. Nearly half of the students in Washington, DC, were also virtually AWOL.
Counterpoint: In Defense of Physicians Who Treated COVID With Alternative Approaches
The article “Doctors who threatened the public health still practicing” (a reprint from the Washington Post in the Star Tribune’s Science+Health section, Aug. 13) propagates the most egregious error in the handling of the COVID pandemic.
As a primary care physician, I continue to work daily to restore patients’ trust in medicine. When the government repeatedly stated as fact their latest recommendations, only to later change those “facts,” it undermined patient confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
When dealing with a new disease we should approach it with humility. Recommendations for isolation, mask-wearing, immunizations and treatment were often changed as the understanding of COVID evolved. Unfortunately, the certainty with which the original statements were made created animosity toward those who continued to question and investigate options.
Instead of perpetuating the idea of punishing providers who were trying alternative treatments, we must acknowledge that many patients today try alternative therapies rather than what is considered standard of care. A common example is those who choose holistic therapy for cancer rather than well-established medical protocols. As a physician, while I may disagree with their decision, I still feel obligated to provide other healthcare to these patients. But part of this patient autonomy also includes the freedom to choose your healthcare provider.
Who’s Got COVID? Dogs Can Quickly Tell
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Do you have COVID-19? With a little training, your dog might be more effective at figuring that out than even at-home antigen or sophisticated hospital tests. Dogs are so good at it, according to a new research review, that they may be ready for mainstream medical use if people didn’t consider this a curiosity rather than a real possibility.
Man’s best friend can be faster, more precise and less expensive at detecting COVID than standard tests, according to the review of a growing number of studies.
Over the past couple of years, “it went from four papers to 29 peer-reviewed studies — that includes more than 400 scientists from over 30 countries and 31,000 samples,” said co-author Tommy Dickey, an emeritus professor of geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
In detecting COVID, the studies found that trained dogs are as effective as the gold-standard RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) tests deployed in hospitals and clinics — if not more so.
Dogs can even identify COVID when it’s obscured by cold and flu viruses. They are able to do this because they have highly evolved noses, with both physical and nerve optimizations for smell.
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Researchers to Develop Nasal Spray COVID Vaccine
Researchers at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center are part of a team working to develop the first nasal spray COVID-19 vaccine on the market.
Dartmouth Health officials said the vaccine will not require refrigeration and won’t need to be administered by a medical professional, so it could be easily distributed in developing parts of the world.
Intranasal vaccines have been used to protect against other viruses, such as measles and rubella.
The work is being undertaken in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health and Exothera, a viral vector manufacturer based in Belgium. DHMC is the sole research and development site for the vaccine, and clinical trials are planned in the U.S. and Africa.
COVID Victims’ Families Sue EcoHealth Alliance for ‘Funding, Releasing’ Virus
The families of four people who died from COVID-19 are suing EcoHealth Alliance, the New York-based nonprofit that was conducting gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China, before COVID-19 broke out across town.
According to the Aug. 2 lawsuit filed before the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, EcoHealth and its president, Peter Daszak, knew the virus was “capable of causing a worldwide pandemic.”
Not only did EcoHealth help to create a ‘genetically manipulated virus,’ the lawsuit claims, it worked to cover up the origins of the outbreak.
“If we had known the source or origin of this virus and had not been misled that it was from a pangolin in a wet market, and rather we knew that it was a genetically manipulated virus and that the scientists involved were concealing that from our clients, the outcome could have been very different,” victims’ attorney Patricia Finn told the NY Post.
Finn is also suing EcoHealth and Daszak in Nassau and Rockland Counties on behalf of the families of other victims killed by the virus, as well as two who survived.
As the New Eris COVID Variant Spreads Across the World, Here’s What We Know so Far
The World Health Organization is monitoring a new strain of COVID-19 called EG.5, or “Eris,” that accounts for a growing share of cases in countries including China and the United States.
The WHO has designated it a “variant of interest,” meaning it will be monitored for mutations that could make it more severe.
Based on current evidence, the organization says it presents a low public health risk at a global level, in line with other variants currently in circulation. In May, the WHO more broadly said COVID-19 was now “an established and ongoing health issue which no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, EG.5 is now the dominant strain in the U.S., accounting for 17.3% of cases as of the week ended Aug. 5.
As COVID Vaccine Makers Gear Up to Launch Updated Shots in the Private Market, Can the New Vaccines Keep Up With the Virus?
After the recent cratering of COVID-19 vaccine demand, biopharma’s pandemic superstars are looking to bounce back with private-market launches this fall.
Meanwhile, the evolving nature of the virus presents a need for vaccines that can offer protection against new variants. And even as Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax wait for the FDA to sign off on their tweaked vaccines, a new virus variant has taken hold.
EG.5, nicknamed “Eris,” has taken over as the dominant variant in the U.S., causing 17.3% of COVID cases so far this month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC).
