Recent research published online by JAMA Pediatrics presents “concerning trends” in the rate of pediatric hospitalizations due to COVID-19.

The authors looked at pediatric COVID-19 hospitalization trends in 22 states between May 15 and Nov. 15 for indications of both severity among population and spread of the virus.

“Adult, and especially geriatric, incidence of COVID-19 continues to dominate the national picture, but pediatric populations may require resources that are not readily available across the country,” according to the research published Jan. 11. “As conversations around in-person education continue, hospitalization growth may offer reasons for concern.”

While the study is limited to states that have data on hospitalizations by age (California was not included), the authors say it is a geographically representative sample that makes up 29 million children.

The child hospitalization rate for all states in the study increased from 2 per 100,000 children at the start of the study to 17 per 100,000 children by the end of the study. Some states with the most significant growth by the end of the study saw rates as high as 34 hospitalizations per 100,000 children (South Dakota), while other states ended the study with rates as low as 3 per 100,000 (New Hampshire).

According to recent reporting by CalMatters, COVID-19 cases are also rising for California youth. Child cases of COVID-19 have steadily increased since March and now make up 14 percent of the total cases in California, up from 10 percent of total cases in September, according to CDPH data. Since the beginning of the pandemic, at least seven California children have died and more than 350,000 children have tested positive for the virus, according to the report.

Read the CalMatters reporting at http://bit.ly/2KNi1mJ. Read the JAMA research at http://bit.ly/3olWnDz.

As more schools begin to reopen to in-person learning, the National Council on Teacher Quality has begun tracking COVID-19-related wording in the MOUs and board policies of some of the country’s largest school districts.

In an online spreadsheet, the NCTQ is tracking language used in MOUs and MOAs that covers working in the COVID-19 environment, such as PPE for staff and students, teacher evaluations and remote teaching assignments.

To date, NCTQ has analyzed the COVID-19 related MOUs and board polices of 44 districts, including nine of the largest in the nation. Of those, 42 included some type of remote instruction provision. Of the 42 districts that reopened with at least some remote instruction, only a little over half (23) include live instruction requirements in their MOUs or board policies. Little Rock School District (Arkansas) and Pinellas County Schools (Florida) allow live instruction to be determined by the teacher, while St. Paul Public Schools (Minnesota) specifies that they do not require live instruction at all.

Another finding: Only six of the 42 districts that reopened with some sort of remote instruction indicate specific limits to class sizes.

NCTQ will continue to add to the spreadsheet as more information becomes available. Read it at http://bit.ly/3a7HeRB.

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that provides federal leadership and support for school reopening.

The order, signed Jan. 21, directs the Department of Education to work with the Department of Health and Human Services to provide “evidence-based guidance” on the reopening of schools. The order also directs the collection of data to understand COVID-19’s impact on students, including those with the highest needs. It also directs the secretary of education to develop a Safer Schools and Campuses Best Practices Clearinghouse to enable schools to share best practices.