![]() –Wednesday–
AAIE's COVID-19 BRIEFING #103
August 26, 2020
Highlights
Nueva School (thanks Lee)and IS Hannover Region (thanks Rachel) Plans Added
TOMORROW'S LEADERSHIP CONVERSATIONS with International School Leaders Around the World:
THURSDAY August 27 08:00AM EDT SCHOOL HEADS AND SENIOR LEADERS AROUND THE WORLD #26 Our Weekly Conversation – hosted by Will Richardson All international school senior leaders are welcome. A Weekly CONVERSATION between School Heads and Senior Leaders– #26. Our discussions continue to be contemporary, important and a time we teach each other.
With thanks to Will Richardson who has facilitated our Thursday CONVERSATIONS since the very beginning.
THURSDAY August 27 10:00AM EDT LATIN AMERICAN SCHOOL LEADERS– Our Weekly Conversation #16 – hosted by Sonia Keller (Tri-Association) and Dereck Rhoads (AASSA) The weekly Thursday CONVERSATIONS between Latin America school heads and senior leaders resumes in collaboration with Tri-Association and AASSA. All are welcome to join the discussion and we will also include guest speakers, specific to the Latin America circumstance and needs. Our sessions, as before, are hosted by Sonia Keller and Dereck Rhoads.
A PRIMER FOR COACHING YOUR COMMUNITY THROUGH ANXIETY, FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY A Four-Step Coaching Model from Stephanie Rogen of GLP ![]() Stephanie Rogen, Greenwich Leadership Partners
Editor's Note: Today's online CONVERSATION featured a leadership coaching session by Stephanie Rogen of Greenwich Leadership Partners. She shared four steps to bring down the temperature across a senior leadership team or other stakeholders in a time of fear, anxiety and uncertainty. She talked us through one of the most mentioned leadership conundrums within our school communities. Maybe what we need most are models or constructs or scaffolding upon which to hang the process and to bring action to our dilemmas. Stephanie will continue to provide the AAIE community leadership coaching, and please note the access below to today's VIDEO and CHAT SCRIPT with helpful links.
![]() First take the team's temperature ![]() Four components and key questions to the coaching model
–Stephanie Rogen's Summary of Today's CONVERSATION
Today’s conversation was a gentle reminder that wherever we are in the world, the dilemmas forced upon us by the pandemic have sparked all kinds of anxieties, fears, behaviors, and challenging dynamics in ourselves, our teams, and our school communities. We also learned that in a given day, or even over a matter of hours, the range of emotions adults and students experience can vary widely in response to complexity, loss, limited information, and pace of change.
As a leader, you are a "Chief Dilemma Officer". A structured and timed coaching framework for navigating these dilemmas - and the emotions they trigger - can be helpful in supporting conscious and effective leadership.
We talked through the “Four C’s” of a coaching conversation
Moreover, we explored how a coaching conversation helps you prepare for decision making with exploratory dialogue -- improving the conditions for making good choices - together!
Times are hard, and people are working on “surge power”. Kindness, patience, and a resistance to judgment will go a long ways towards building the collaborative leadership and sense of purpose that brings your community through this sustained period of complexity. So, take a deep breath and hang in there! ![]() Taking context, content and choice and putting decisions into action ![]() And as we look across geography within the AAIE community, CONTEXT is everything and the place to start when coaching the team beyond anxiety and into action.
THE COURAGE TO CONTINUE –with thanks to Jessica Gilway, School Director, Santa Cruz Cooperative School A No-Cost WEBINAR for the AAIE Community that Dares to Ask the Question: Is this the moment "school" changes forever? ![]() ![]()
Simply, it means "grasping at the root." Being radical means relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough, as in "a radical overhaul of the existing framework". And that is exactly what is happening in education
–by Homa Tavangar and Will Richardson
Is this the moment that the idea of "school" changes forever?
But what is the real meaning of "radical"?
Simply, it means "grasping at the root." Being radical means relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough, as in "a radical overhaul of the existing framework". And that is exactly what is happening in education in this incredibly complex moment.
Let's be honest: "education" and school" will forever be changed by this moment. We're not going back to an "old normal." Narratives are breaking. Norms are changing. Our mental models of the whole experience are being challenged in powerful ways. And in that respect, there's never been a better time to think differently about being "radical" when it comes to education.
Imagine a school practicing "radical inclusion," or "radical empathy," or "radical inquiry." How might that disrupt our practice? How might that change the experience of school for students and teachers, virtual or face to face?
Join internationally recognized authors and speakers Homa Tavangar and Will Richardson for this free 45-minute webinar as they identify some important ways that we need to bring a "radical" lens to our work in schools right now. Published Today From Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Practical Scenarios for Talking About the Interpersonal and Scientific Side of Staying Safe ![]()
Physical distancing runs counter to many of our social norms and complicates the ways we work, celebrate milestones, and generally interact with other humans. Things can get even knottier when people’s boundaries and perceived levels of safety are in conflict.
–By Lindsay Smith Rogers and Nick Moran
For the most part, physical distancing guidelines for interacting with others during the COVID-19 pandemic haven’t changed: Remain six feet or more apart, wear a mask, practice good hand hygiene, and avoid prolonged interactions indoors.
But navigating the interpersonal side of these recommendations can be trickier. Physical distancing runs counter to many of our social norms and complicates the ways we work, celebrate milestones, and generally interact with other humans. Things can get even knottier when people’s boundaries and perceived levels of safety are in conflict.
So, what do you say to a friend who insists that COVID-19 is no worse than the flu? How do you talk to your parents who keep going to restaurants to eat indoors? What if a beloved family member wants you to come to their wedding or birthday party and you don’t feel safe attending? How do you talk to your kids about safety without scaring them too much?
This guide lays out scenarios like these, and Laura Murray, PhD, clinical psychologist and senior scientist in the Department of Mental Health, weighs in on the interpersonal side of pandemic precautions. Crystal Watson, DrPH, a senior scholar at the Center for Health Security, provides practical underpinnings based on current research, data, and public health guidance. –The Safety Scenarios to Talk About–
–THE NEWS of COVID-19– 24,007,049 Cases Worldwide (Johns Hopkins CSSE)
–A Quote in the Time of COVID– "We are learning new things about this virus every day and journalists are critical to helping us communicate that information to the public in a way that saves lives.
–Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu
India Is in Denial about the COVID-19 Crisis India is now ahead of all other countries in terms of the number of new recorded COVID-19 cases per day—close to 70,000 in mid-August. That’s about one fourth of world-wide new cases. Only two countries are anywhere close: Brazil and the United States; and India has lagged behind those two countries in achieving a reduction in daily cases. Further, recorded cases in India are likely to be a small fraction of all COVID-19 infections. That could be true in many countries, but the ratio of infections to recorded cases seems particularly large in India—at least 20:1, judging from two recent serological surveys, in Delhi and Mumbai respectively. This would mean that India already had more than 50 million COVID-19 infections, compared with a recorded figure of 2.5 million.
The silver lining is that, for reasons that are as yet unclear, COVID-19 mortality in India seems relatively low. The same surveys suggest that the infection-fatality rate (IFR) may be as low as one per thousand. If so, India may not be heading towards a major mortality crisis, or rather a major crisis of COVID-19 mortality, at least relative to normal levels of mortality. COVID-19 deaths so far add up to less than 1 percent of annual deaths from all causes in India. Per million population, there have been just 38 so far, compared with more than 500 in the US.
Overall mortality may spike, however, for two reasons. First, routine health services have been massively displaced by COVID-19. So far, COVID-19 infections were heavily concentrated in large cities located in India’s more prosperous states: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, among others. The preparedness of the health system is much higher there than elsewhere. But recorded cases are now rising fast in India’s poorer states, where health services are very fragile. As the COVID-19 crisis absorbs their meager resources, many public health centers have stopped providing routine services. Even child immunization has been discontinued for months in many states. (Scientific American)
Covid-19 Mortality May Relate to Presence of "Germinal Centers" At the top of the long list of uncertainties about COVID-19 is whether people who recover will develop durable immune responses to the coronavirus that causes it. A research team that has autopsied people who died from COVID-19 has now discovered they lack so-called germinal centers, classrooms in the spleen and lymph nodes in which immune cells learn to mount a long-lasting antibody response to a pathogen. Although the finding may not apply to people who have mild or asymptomatic coronavirus infections, it may help explain COVID-19 progression in the sickest cases and provide important insights to vaccine developers. The study, led by immunologist Shiv Pillai of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard and published last week in Cell, may take on increased importance as a report out yesterday provided the first compelling evidence that a person can become reinfected with SARS-CoV-2, suggesting antibody protection could be fleeting in some people. (sciencemag.org)
Covid-19 Tactics, Discipline and World Economies In response to the new coronavirus, many governments deployed draconian tactics never used in modern times: severe and broad restrictions on daily activity that helped send the world into its deepest peacetime slump since the Great Depression. The equivalent of 400 million jobs have been lost world-wide, 13 million in the U.S. alone. Global output is on track to fall 5% this year, far worse than during the financial crisis, according to the International Monetary Fund. Five months later, the evidence suggests lockdowns were an overly blunt and economically costly tool. As cases flare up throughout the U.S., some experts are urging policy makers to pursue more targeted restrictions and interventions rather than another crippling round of lockdowns. “We’re on the cusp of an economic catastrophe,” said James Stock, a Harvard University economist who, with Harvard epidemiologist Michael Mina and others, is modeling how to avoid a surge in deaths without a deeply damaging lockdown. “We can avoid the worst of that catastrophe by being disciplined,” Mr. Stock said. (The Wall Street Journal)
The Pandemic is Still Expanding: WHO The COVID-19 pandemic is still expanding, but the rise in cases and deaths has slowed globally, except for southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. In its latest epidemiological update, issued last night, it said that the Americas remain the hardest-hit region, accounting for half of newly reported cases and 62% of the 39,240 deaths worldwide in the past week. More than 23.65 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and 811,895 have died, according to a Reuters tally on Tuesday. (Reuters)
Second Wave in Italy? Cases of the coronavirus have surged in Italy, topping 1,000 on both days of the weekend and raising fears that the country may be facing a devastating second wave. The new clusters are scattered around the country and are being blamed on young holiday-makers who ignore government guidelines as they drink and socialize. Yesterday there were 953 new cases and four deaths. Several German states said that they were preparing to restrict gatherings to try to control a rise in infections there. (The Times of London)
Spain Back on Lockdown? Madrid could be put back under lockdown, the official in charge of Spain’s health emergencies warned last night. “If the numbers continue to rise, drastic measures will have to be taken,” Fernando Simón said. The region of Madrid, which includes the capital, registered more than 15,000 new cases last week. Mr Simón said that apart from “a type of lockdown”, without specifying details, other strategies to combat the contagion could be considered. One small town in the Madrid region, Tielmes, is already under partial lockdown, with all restaurants and bars closed. (via The Times of London)
Chinese Vaccine is in Play with Health Workers Chinese health authorities have been inoculating medical workers and other at-risk groups against Covid-19 for more than a month as part of an emergency access program, a senior health official has revealed, as he flagged plans to include other essential workers ahead of the winter flu season. National coronavirus vaccine task force chief Zheng Zhongwei confirmed the existence of the program for the first time in a primetime interview with state media outlet CCTV on Saturday. He said the emergency use was limited to people such as medical personnel, epidemic prevention officials and border inspection workers. (Caixin Global)
The Virus is Less Deadly in Europe– Reasons Uncertain Covid-19 is becoming less deadly in Europe but we don't know why. It is becoming increasingly clear that people are less likely to die if they get covid-19 now compared with earlier in the pandemic, at least in Europe, but the reasons why are still shrouded in uncertainty.
One UK doctor has said that the coronavirus was “getting a little bit less angry”, while an infectious disease consultant at the National University of Singapore claimed that a mutated version of the coronavirus, D614G, is making the illness less deadly. In England, the proportion of people infected by the coronavirus who later died was certainly lower in early August than it was in late June. Over the period, this infection fatality rate (IFR) dropped by between 55 and 80 per cent, depending on which data set was used, found Jason Oke at the University of Oxford and his colleagues.
“This doesn’t seem to be the same disease or as lethal as it was earlier on when we saw huge numbers of people dying,” he says. For example, the week beginning 17 August saw 95 people die and just over 7000 cases across the UK. In the first week of April, 7164 died and nearly 40,000 tested positive. Dividing deaths by cases gives a crude case fatality rate of around 1 per cent in August, compared with nearly 18 per cent in April.
These figures don’t represent the true IFRs at these times, both because deaths lag behind infections by a few weeks, and because testing regimes have changed over time, but are indicative of a shift in the IFR. Oke and his colleagues used a more sophisticated method to estimate the change in IFR.
Covid-19 is known to be less risky the younger you are, so the changing demographic of those being infected could be one plausible reason that the disease currently seems less deadly. Yet Oke doesn’t think the change in age distribution alone is enough to account for what is happening. There are still a lot of older people testing positive, he says.
Several researchers have told New Scientist that the other main possible explanation is that cases are being treated more effectively in hospitals. The jury is out on whether one variant of the coronavirus, known as D614G, explains why covid-19 is becoming less deadly. Paul Tambyah at the National University of Singapore told Reuters that the rise of the D614G mutation had coincided with drops in death rates in some countries, suggesting that it might be “more infectious but less deadly”. (The New Scientist)
Sending College Students Home? More than 500 cases at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Nearly 160 at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Dozens at the University of Southern California. Colleges and universities that brought students back to campus are expressing alarm about coronavirus infections emerging as classes have barely started, raising the possibility everyone could be sent home. “The rise we’ve seen in recent days is unacceptable, and if unchecked, threatens our ability to complete the rest of the semester on campus,” University of Alabama President Stuart Bell said at a news conference on Monday, five days after classes resumed, as the mayor of Tuscaloosa temporarily closed bars and warned that the local health system could become overwhelmed. (The Washington Post)
–The STATS–
TOTAL GLOBAL CASES:
Johns Hopkins 24,007,049
WHO–23,752,965
GLOBAL DEATHS (WHO):
Today–815,038
Two Days Ago–806,410
One Month Ago–640,016
EVOLUTION OF-GLOBAL CASES (WHO):
Today– 23,752,965
Two Days Ago– 23,311,719
One Month Ago– 15,785,641
NEW CASES (WHO):
Today–210,183
–Tracking the Virus– The WHO has a new reporting protocol: We will capture the most up-to-date figures using the revised format
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–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 |