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–THIS WEEK'S CONVERSATIONS–

with International School Leaders from Around the World

We are inviting schools from around the world to share the learnings and innovations that have helped them grow and thrive during the pandemic. On March 17th we are zooming into Beijing and will be joined by Beijing City International School (BCIS) and the Keystone Academy Beijing..

 

For Beijing City International School 

• Julie Lawton, Head of School
• Mark Sullivan, Secondary School Principal
• Ellie Flesher, IDEATE Coordinator 

BCIS will share with us how innovation has continued in the IDEATE program, their bespoke alternative pathway to the IBDP, as well as what they’ve learned from being online with teachers located all over the world. We will get an insight into how BCIS approach to project mentoring has changed as a result of remote learning and the difference in the types of work experience their students are finding. 

 

For Keystone Academy 

• Paulina Aguilera, Dean of Faculty
• Meredith Phinney, Assistant Head of Middle School
• Grace Wang, Assistant Head of Primary School

During the period of February 2020- August 2020, Keystone Academy, Beijing surveyed the students, teachers and leaders to get a general sense of the well-being of their community. The results of these surveys were used to generate a list of belief statements and a process was developed to engage the community in discussions to identify the top "Ideas Worth Preserving." This is now Keystone's guide of lessons learned and a compass that helps steer the school-wide strategic goals.

 

Hope many of you will join us and engage in a lively and inspiring professional conversation.

THIS WEEK FOR THE NEW SCHOOL PROJECT: 

 

We now have work groups in play, focusing on capturing the discussions, research and best practices to define pathways and implementation of strategies for each of the seven NEW SCHOOL PRINCIPLES.  Please join in with your ideas to bring value and to support how we are approaching implementation ideas for the Seven Principles.   Adding your voice is the means to support international school leaders (ledaers of learning) around the world. 

 

CLICK HERE to sign-up for a work group, and we again this coming Friday, using our weekly time to bring practical implementation strategies to each principle.   

It’s probably foolish to put this in writing, but, over the past few weeks, a post-covid future has started to seem visible in the distance. New case numbers are dropping. There are grownups in charge of vaccine distribution. The time will come, as we sift through the wreckage, to determine which pandemic-era conventions to throw in the trash and which ones to keep. Some calls are easier to make than others: Zoom meetings are clearly here to stay, as are sidewalk dining and mutual-aid groups. Masks will hopefully make the “out” column. But what about pandemic learning pods—the newly ubiquitous institution in which small groups of children gather for school in someone’s living room?

 

Learning pods have played a fraught role in the covid era. When the concept surfaced, a few weeks into the pandemic, it seemed to epitomize the worst elements of this crisis: the way it has cleaved the haves from the have-nots, and has set the have-lots adrift on luxury lifeboats of obscene privilege. There were reports of parents shelling out a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars a year to hire a tutor for their kids. But, as time and the virus have worn on, the concept of pod learning has expanded to include everything from home schools to babysitter shares and informal group Zoom sessions—the wide range of things that working parents are doing to occupy their children.

 

“This past year has been a huge jolt to the American education system,” Erin O’Connor, the director of N.Y.U.’s early-childhood-education program, said recently. “I think we’ll look back on it as a really influential time, for better and worse.”

 

For an institution that has suddenly become commonplace, learning pods are a bit of an informational black hole. There is no official data on how many exist or who is forming them, beyond a few Facebook groups. (One of the largest, Pandemic Pods, has more than thirty-nine thousand members.) O’Connor, who trains teachers, has been tracking New York City pods informally so that she can better understand the world that her students will soon be entering. She also studies early caregiving relationships and helps run a platform called Scientific Mommy, which makes academic research accessible to parents. By contacting parents she knows through those projects, and by posting on parenting Listservs and Facebook groups, she’s been able to form a rough picture of the pod situation.

Untethered from social and institutional constraints—and from the physical boundaries of the classroom—the parents and educators running learning pods have found themselves free to experiment. They can try new things without having to rally a cohort of parents behind the idea.

Pods appear to be prevalent across the New York City public-school system, in which high schools are set to reopen later this month, while elementary schools—and, as of two weeks ago, middle schools—are open for in-person learning. Despite being nominally open, many of these lower schools only hold in-person classes a few days a week, and they have continually been closing and reopening, owing to new outbreaks of the virus and possible exposures. Pods are less common in private schools, which have offered more in-person learning throughout the pandemic.

 

It’s true that the families who form pods tend to be wealthier than average. “Not super-wealthy—they’re using the public-school system—but they have enough resources that they can augment it,” O’Connor said. “There’s been some drama about good teachers being hired away from schools because a pod has offered them more,” she went on. But it’s not a common occurrence, she added, because most pods don’t offer long-term benefits such as tenure and health insurance. Instead, many parents have drafted retired teachers or teachers-in-training to run pods.

 

O’Connor said that, on average, these teachers are paid about a hundred and fifty dollars an hour. There are also tutors, nannies, grad students, retirees, teen-agers, and out-of-work performers who are being hired for tasks ranging from algebra instruction to tech support, often at a lower rate. O’Connor said, “I was talking to one working mom, and she was like, ‘We hired someone just to help the kids deal with Zoom. I don’t have the bandwidth to troubleshoot stuff like that.’ I was, like, ‘Trust me. I get it!’ ”

 

One of the benefits of school is that it forces kids (and their parents) to get along with people who are not like them. “That’s not happening this year,” O’Connor said. (From a viral Slate article published in October of 2020: “In the end, every single kid in the pod was white.”) But peeling off into cliques can have a certain usefulness. Untethered from social and institutional constraints—and from the physical boundaries of the classroom—the parents and educators running learning pods have found themselves free to experiment. They can try new things without having to rally a cohort of parents behind the idea or having to seek approval from the Department of Education.

 

O’Connor said that, initially, the pods she saw were fairly straightforward. Now, though, “I’m seeing pods tailored towards different children’s needs and the interests of the parents.” 

STAYING UP-TO-DATE ON CORONAVIRUS SCIENCE

Since the start of the pandemic, the most terrifying task in health care was thought to be when a doctor put a breathing tube down the trachea of a critically ill covid patient.

 

Those performing such “aerosol-generating” procedures, often in an intensive care unit, got the best protective gear even if there wasn’t enough to go around, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. And for anyone else working with covid patients, until a month ago, a surgical mask was considered sufficient.

 

A new wave of research now shows that several of those procedures were not the most hazardous. Recent studies have determined that a basic cough produces about 20 times more particles than intubation, a procedure one doctor likened to the risk of being next to a nuclear reactor.

In March 2020, as the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic was coming into view, Jen Nwankwo and colleagues turned a pair of artificial intelligence (AI) tools against SARS-CoV-2. One newly developed AI program, called SUEDE, digitally screens all known druglike compounds for likely activity against biomolecules thought to be involved in disease. The other, BAGEL, predicts how to build inhibitors to known targets. The two programs searched for compounds able to block human enzymes that play essential roles in enabling the virus to infect our cells.

 

While SUEDE sifted through 14 billion compounds in just hours and spit out a hit, BAGEL made equally fast work of designing a lead. Nwankwo, CEO of a Massachusetts biotech startup called 1910 Genetics, asked a chemical company partner to synthesize the compounds. A week or so later, her team received the orders, added each compound in turn to human cells, and learned that each blocked its target and prevented viral entry into cells. 1910 Genetics is now looking to partner with antiviral drug developers to pursue animal and human trials. “It shows that AI can massively accelerate drug design,” Nwankwo says.

12 March — A small piece of land yields bats with a trove of new coronaviruses

Bats in the province of Yunnan in southern China have yielded yet more coronaviruses closely related to the pandemic virus.

 

Weifeng Shi at the Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences in Taian, China, and his colleagues studied 302 samples of feces and urine and 109 mouth swabs taken from 342 live bats between May 2019 and November 2020. The researchers trapped and released all the bats, which represented nearly two dozen species, in an area covering roughly 1,100 hectares — less than one-tenth the size of San Francisco, California.

 

From the samples, the team sequenced 24 coronavirus genomes, of which 4 were new viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2. One of the viruses isolated from a Rhinolophus pusillus bat shared 94.5% of its genome with the pandemic virus, making it the second-closest known relative to SARS-CoV-2. The closest known relative is a coronavirus called RATG13, which shares 96% of its genome with SARS-CoV-2 and was isolated from a Rhinolophus affinis bat in Yunnan in 2013.

 

The results suggest that viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2 continue to circulate in bats and are highly prevalent in some regions, the researchers say. The findings have not yet been peer reviewed.

–THE NEWS of COVID-19–

120,109,683 Cases Worldwide (Johns Hopkins CSSE)

Germany Suspends AstraZeneca Vaccinations

Germany became the world’s largest country to suspend the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine on Monday, following reports of blood clots in people who were inoculated. Germany’s health ministry described the measure as “precautionary."

 

The decision followed the detection of seven cases of thrombosis among 1.6 million people who have received the jab in the country, Health Minister Jens Spahn said in a press conference.

 

Drugmaker AstraZeneca said late Sunday that there is no scientific evidence of any link between its coronavirus vaccine and recent deaths in Europe from blood clots. The rate of blood clots in people who have been inoculated with the vaccine is “much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population,” the company said in a statement.

 

“We are all aware of the far-reaching consequences of this decision,” Spahn said of the halt. German health authorities recommended that anyone who has not felt well for more than four days after receiving the jab to seek medical advice.

 

The vaccine, developed alongside Britain’s Oxford University, has yet to be approved in the United States and has struggled to build confidence around its product in Europe. It’s trial data was criticized, while several European countries did not initially approve it for use among people over 65.

 

The World Health Organization and European regulators have continued to express confidence in its safety. Spahn said that European regulators would now have to decide whether new information would impact the vaccine’s authorization. (Washington Post)

 

More About European Vaccinations from MIT

Europe’s difficult rollout of covid-19 shots took another blow over the weekend, as a number of countries halted deployment of the AstraZeneca vaccine amid worries it could cause blood clots.

On Monday Germany, Spain, Italy, and France were among those to suspend deployment of the AstraZeneca vaccine, following moves made last week by Denmark, Norway, Ireland, and others. Germany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, said it “was a purely precautionary measure” after some reports that a small number of people who had received the vaccine later developed blood clots in their brains.

The European Medicines Agency, meanwhile, said that although there have been reports of clotting—around 30 reports across 5 million vaccines—this was not higher than would normally be expected. In an announcement on Monday, it said that the vaccine can still be delivered while further investigations take place. And the healthcare regulator in Britain—where 11 million shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been given so far, much more than any other country—says there’s no evidence that this vaccine presents a heightened health risk.

So what’s happening? Conflicting messages about how serious these reports are—and therefore how risky the vaccine is—have left people worried and confused about what’s going on. Some experts say that it may damage wider efforts to get people inoculated against the coronavirus.

I spoke to Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton in the UK, who told me that he was concerned that governments were making these decisions without thinking through the consequences—or publishing the data to support their actions.

“We haven’t got much to go on, because governments are putting out statements but they are not really putting out data,” he said. “Germany seems to have seen a very slightly elevated risk of thrombosis… but I’m just not seeing any data that suggests we should pause rollout.”

Europe has pretty high levels of vaccine hesitancy, which could be playing into what’s happening (one study in France suggested only 40% of people were planning to get vaccinated against covid-19.) And the rollout of vaccines around the continent has been very chaotic.

“Countries are being overly cautious, and there will be consequences. Pausing vaccinations means doses aren’t going into people’s arms,” says Head. “Plus there’s public confidence: will this pause increase hesitancy? Will this stick in the public consciousness? It’s become a bit of a political football.”

 

COUNTERPOINT: AstraZeneca Vaccine Not Linked to Blood Clots, Says WHO

Countries should continue using Oxford/AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine, says WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no evidence that the Oxford/AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine causes blood clots and is urging countries to continue using it. “It’s very important to understand that, yes, we should continue to be using the AstraZeneca vaccine,” said Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson, at a briefing on 12 March.

 

The WHO’s global advisory committee on vaccine safety is reviewing reports of blood clots in some people who received the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. A number of countries, including Denmark, Norway and Iceland, have suspended its use as a precautionary measure, while Thailand has delayed its rollout of the vaccine, originally scheduled to begin on 12 March. There have been 30 cases of blood clots among the 5 million people in the European Union who have received the vaccine as of 11 March, according to the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

 

More than 11 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the UK so far, said Phil Bryan, MHRA vaccines safety lead, in a statement, adding: “Reports of blood clots received so far are not greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in then population.” The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said people in the UK should still go and get their covid-19 vaccine when asked to do so. “There is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions,” the EMA said.

 

Harris said WHO data shows that more than 268 million doses of covid-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide and no deaths have been found to have been caused by them. (New Scientist)

The European Third Wave

A third wave of the Covid pandemic is now advancing swiftly across much of Europe. As a result, many nations – bogged down by sluggish vaccination campaigns – are witnessing sharp rises in infection rates and numbers of cases. The infection rate in the EU is now at its highest level since the beginning of February, with the spread of new variants of the Covid-19 virus being blamed for much of the recent increase. Several countries are now set to impose strict new lockdown measures in the next few days – in contrast to the UK, which is beginning to emerge slowly from its current bout of shop and school closures and sports bans. (The Guardian)

 

Steep Decline of Infections in South Africa is a Mystery

Earlier this year, doctors and epidemiologists in South Africa’s economic capital were bracing for the worst. A new coronavirus strain was surging across the country, thousands of holiday-makers were due to return from Covid-19 hot spots, and one in three coronavirus tests was coming back positive. Then something unexpected happened: Covid-19 cases started dropping.

 

Since mid-January, confirmed Covid-19 infections in South Africa have fallen from a record of nearly 22,000 a day to around 1,000, without a large-scale vaccination campaign or stringent lockdown. Fewer than 5% of Covid-19 tests are finding traces of the virus, a sign that health agencies are missing fewer cases. The government has lifted most of its remaining virus restrictions for the country of 60 million people. The cause of this steep decline in cases remains somewhat of a mystery. (Wall Street Journal)

 

Italians Start a Widespread Lockdown.

Three-quarters of Italians entered a strict lockdown on Monday, as the government put in place restrictive measures to fight the rise in infections.

 

A more contagious variant first identified in Britain, combined with a slow vaccine rollout, led to a 15 percent increase in cases in Italy last week, a worrisome picture for the government run by Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

 

“I am aware that today’s measures will have an impact on children’s education, on the economy but also on the psychological state of us all,” Mr. Draghi said on Friday. “But they are necessary to avoid a worsening that will make inevitable even more stringent measures.”

 

Most regions in northern Italy, as well as Lazio and Marche in central Italy and Campania and Puglia in the south, have shut schools and barred residents from leaving their homes except for work, health or necessity. Among business activities, only supermarkets, pharmacies and a few other stores will stay open, but restaurants are closed.

 

In the rest of the country, residents are not be allowed to leave their municipality without reason involving work, health or other necessities, but schools and many stores will stay open.

 

“We believe that only with widespread vaccinations will we be able to avoid measures like these,” Mr. Draghi added.

 

Fewer than two million people in the country have been fully vaccinated so far, partly because of late deliveries from the pharmaceutical industries, but also because of logistical problems in some regions. Italy is one of the hardest-hit countries in the world: The coronavirus has killed more than 100,000 people there, and infected 3.2 million.

 

The entire country will be on lockdown for the Easter weekend in early April to prevent the usual large family reunions. As with restrictions in place over Christmas, people will still be allowed to leave their homes once a day. (New York Times)

 

China Finds First Cases of New Coronavirus Variant

in Guangdong Province

China has detected its first case of a highly infectious new variant of Covid-19 in the southern province of Guangdong.

 

The provincial center for disease control and prevention (CDC) found the variant known as B1525, which was first detected in Nigeria, in two people who had recently arrived from Britain, according to an announcement on Sunday. The two people were identified as asymptomatic carriers on February 21 and 22 while quarantined and have been put under observation in hospital. There is no information on whether the two travelled together.

 

The provincial CDC started genetic sequencing on their samples on March 5 and confirmed the variant last Friday.

 

“There is research that shows the Nigerian variant makes the coronavirus more infectious, and may more easily help the virus evade neutralizing antibodies and that recovered people can be infected again,” according to the Guangdong CDC statement. The mutation was first detected by genome sequence in mid-December last year in Nigeria but it soon reached 26 other countries, including Denmark.

 

Two other variants, first detected in Britain and South Africa respectively, have previously been found in travelers arriving in China.

 

Scientists are still studying the new strains, including the Nigerian one, to determine the likelihood of them becoming the dominant strain and whether the available vaccines are suitable.

On Saturday, China has recorded 20 imported coronavirus infections, with four found in Shanghai, two in Fujian province, and one each in Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shaanxi. As of Sunday, there were 183 confirmed coronavirus patients in China, 179 of whom had come from overseas, according to the latest numbers from the National Health Commission. (South China Morning Post)

 

Vaccine Appointments Drop in Hong Kong-

Related to Sinovac Vaccine

The government of Hong Kong said on Monday that vaccine eligibility would be expanded to include everyone age 30 and older regardless of occupation, as the Chinese territory tries to increase vaccine uptake. About 200,000 of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents have received a first dose of either the BioNTech or Sinovac vaccines since the inoculation drive began late last month.

 

But the proportion of people who show up for their appointments has fallen amid reports that six people have died after receiving the vaccine developed by Sinovac, a private Chinese company. Officials say that two of the deaths are not directly related to the vaccine and that the others are under investigation.

 

The vaccine announcement came as Hong Kong is trying to contain a cluster of cases that began at a gym and has grown to 122 people, with more than 850 close contacts sent to government quarantine facilities and multiple residential buildings locked down overnight for mandatory testing. Also on Monday, the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong said it was closing for deep cleaning after two employees tested positive for the virus. (New York Times)

Worldwide Vaccinations per 100 People:  As of MARCH 15, 2021

–FROM JOHNS HOPKINS CSSE–

The Cultures of Dignity Resources for Supporting

Social-Emotional Wellness 

A Final Note: The AAIE COVID-19 Briefing is provided to support your leadership for the school community you serve. We encourage you to use these resources in any way, shape or form that helps you, your communications and toward furthering close relationships across your community.  – The AAIE Board