‘People Are Really Over It,’ But COVID Isn’t Over Summer School Helps Some Students Catch Up

While the risk has gone down, COVID-19 is still here.Three medical experts shared their perspective on the current and potential future state of COVID in “COVID-19: It Ain’t Over Yet, Folks,” a roundtable discussion hosted April 28 by Ethnic Media Services.

“The state of COVID … feels relatively mild compared to what we have seen in the past three years and remarkably stable,” said Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at UC San Francisco.

He said that was largely because of the vaccines, booster shots, Paxlovid treatment and home COVID tests, which all at least “work reasonably well” at preventing serious illness.

However, that doesn’t mean the danger is gone completely.

“COVID has not disappeared,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “In the United States on a daily basis, 200-300 people still die of COVID.”

“COVID was still the No. 3 cause of death in the United States in the last year,” added Dr. Ben Neuman, chief virologist at the Global Health Research Complex at Texas A&M University.

Part of the reason why COVID is still around is because it adapts.

Wachter said a new variant comes along every several months “that is a little bit better at its job of infecting people and evading immunity but not a game changer.”

People’s attitudes and behaviors have also helped COVID stick around, the panelists said.

“The reason we’re in this situation is not because research has failed. It’s because of a lack of willpower … The difference between can’t and won’t,” Neuman said. “We haven’t ever really attempted full-scale vaccine coverage in a short window around the world.”

“We have learned the disconnect between knowing the right thing to do and getting people to do it,” Wachter said. He said “misinformation and pushback against anything resembling a mandate” are largely to blame.

“The biggest problem,” Wachter continued, “we have these vaccines — they’re unbelievably effective — and the minority of people take them because they have been told things that are mostly wrong.”

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows many people were willing to get vaccinated at first but didn’t keep up with it. As of May 11, 81.4% of the U.S. population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 69.5% completed their primary series. However, only 17% of people in this country have gotten the updated bivalent booster shot, which provides increased protection.

Now “that any rules and restrictions are pretty much gone,” Wachter said, people are pretty much left to weigh the potential risks and benefits of different behaviors.

“It’s very clear that the value to many people … of forgetting about COVID and living life as if it was 2019 is very high,” he said. “People are really over it.”

“Everyone,” Schaffner began, before pausing, then repeating “everyone” with a slight smirk. “A large majority of people are much more relaxed about their personal infection control.”

“People have calibrated their level of fear and, therefore, their … behavior around [the question] ‘Am I going to get very sick and die if I get COVID?’ ” Wachter said, and the “likelihood of that is very, very low” for those not in highrisk populations such as older adults and those who are severely immunocompromised.

However, he said people often fail to take another risk into account: that of long COVID, which Wachter called “a really complicated, naughty problem.”

Long COVID can cause sometimesdebilitating symptoms long after even a mild initial infection has passed. Wachter said there is also “a body of literature that is quite convincing that says each case of COVID elevates your long-term risk of a whole bunch of stuff you don’t want to have: heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, autoimmune disease, cognitive decline.”

So what should people do to protect themselves?

All three speakers encouraged people to get vaccinated, stay up to date with boosters, and wear masks in certain situations, such as being on an airplane or in other crowded indoor spaces.

“We all have to come up with strategies that allow us to live our lives as fully as we can while mitigating the risks in a way that’s practical and sustainable,” Wachter said.

In other words, he agrees with the riskbenefit analysis approach. People just need to be realistic about the risks and benefits.

“Excuse me, the vaccines work,” Schaffner said in response to a woman who said her “confidence was shaken” when she got COVID after getting vaccinated. “You weren’t in the hospital. That’s what they were designed to do. If you expect perfection, you’re going to be disappointed.”

Wachter made a similar point about wearing a mask: “It lowers the chance of getting infected. It doesn’t bring it to zero.”

“Condoms prevent babies. Masks prevent infectious disease,” Neuman said. “You’ll hear a lot of argument about both of them, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t work.”

However, not just anything will do when it comes to masking for your protection.

“The quality of the mask and the fit is important,” said Wachter, who recommended N95 or KN95 masks that can create a secure seal around your mouth and nose.

Schaffner said the issue of keeping people healthy goes well beyond individual behaviors, however.

“We are the last highly developed country that does not provide medical care, both diagnostic and therapeutic care as well as preventive health services, for its entire population from childhood through senior citizenship,” he said. “I’m very frustrated that we haven’t dealt with this issue in a much more comprehensive and humane fashion.”

Visit cchealth.org/covid19/vaccine for more info on getting vaccinated in Contra Costa County. •

BY JULIA MÉTRAUX

As the academic year came to a close, the West Contra Costa Unified School District put the final touches on its summer school programs.

WCCUSD staff gave a presentation to school board members May 17 about summer school program and extended school year programs. ESY is for students with disabilities on an individualized educational program, largely known an IEP.

“Students were invited to attend summer programming based on our districts’ prioritization matrix,” said Elizabeth Henry, the WCCUSD director of curriculum, instruction and assessment.

Prioritized groups in the district include students who are English language learners, those in foster care, and students who have struggled with academics and attendance. Elementary school programming offers a mix of enrichment opportunities, like field trips, with academics being optional. Secondary summer school is largely focused on helping students get caught up in academics for the following year. ESY programming is not focused on academic recovery but on helping students reach milestones outlined in their IEP.

All regular summer school programming runs from June 20 to July 20.

WCCUSD Communications Director Elizabeth Sanders said that case managers have been reaching out to the families of eligible students. If there is still availability, children who are not classified as having prioritization can also apply to enroll.

“Following the recruitment of prioritized families, we are going to centrally put out a summer program guide for all families,” Sanders said. “But again, we really want this to be a warm welcome that is personalized to the prioritized families.”

According to the Institute of Educational Sciences’ Regional Educational Laboratory Program, research has found that summer instruction reverses summer learning loss, helps achieve learning gains and gives struggling students more time to master skills they did not during the school year.

Gabriel Chilcott, another WCCUSD director, said elementary summer school programming would also include coaching to help students succeed in the future.

“[There] is targeted instruction, as well as strong professional development and coaching as well as tracking growth, growth data over the course of the summer,” said Chilcott.

The ESY program is optional for students on IEPs, and whether or not a student will participate is decided by the student’s IEP team, which traditionally includes a parent or caregiver. Parents have the option of opting out of ESY.

WCCUSD also has a CCEIS Summer Enrichment Camp that all students are eligible for, which runs from June 26 to July 20. (CCEIS stands for Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services.) The applications for the camp program, which serves students from transitional kindergarten through sixth grade, were due May 9.

Kasey Blackburn-Jiron, WCCUSD expanded learning coordinator, said her office has multiple goals with this summer enrichment camp program.