Monthly Archives: March 2021

HONOLULU (KHON2) U.S. Senators Brian Schatz and Mazie Hironowere among several lawmakers to vote on a bill that would offer $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 funding.

If the bill passes, Hawaii could get $6.1 billion in the American Rescue Plan Act, of which a portion would go toward bolstering state and local budgets that have sustained significant tax revenue loss due to the pandemic.

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The newest COVID-19 relief bill includes money for unemployment assistance, small businesses, rent relief, vaccine distribution, schools, health care workers and Native Hawaiian programs.

This is just a really useful and urgently needed piece of legislation for the state of Hawaii, explained US Senator Brian Schatz. So, Im real proud of this work, and I think its going to provide the kind of help that we need to get us through the next several months.

Sen. Schatz and other senators spent 27 hours finalizing the bill, which passed the Senate this morning.

As its currently written, households making under $75,000 and couples earning up to $150,000 will be eligible to receive a one-time payment of $1,400.

Unemployment insurance benefits, which were set to expire on March 15, will also get a $300 federal plus up through the first week of September.

Hundreds of millions of dollars will go to rent and mortgage relief, small business assistance and reopening of schools.

State and county assistance At least $2.2 billion for Hawaii

Funding may be used to bolster state and local budgets that have sustained significant tax revenue loss due to the pandemic

An additional $116 million will also go to the State of Hawaii for critical capital projects to enable work, education and healthcare in response to the pandemic.

This money is actually for the purpose of plugging a budget hole, explained Sen. Schatz. So, Im quite confident that both state and county governments should be able to avoid the kinds of cuts that were being contemplated. Laying off or furloughing teachers and other government workers just shouldnt be necessary anymore.

Unemployment assistance At least $575 million in estimated funding for Hawaii workers

Rent and mortgage relief Estimated $226.5 million for Hawaii

Hawaiian Housing Assistance $6.5 million For Hawaii

Small businesses and non-profits $60 billion nationally

Vaccine distribution and procurement At least $20 million for Hawaii

Testing, contact tracing and mitigation $47.8 billion nationally

Health care Estimated $150 million for Hawaii

Direct cash payments Estimated $1.7 billion to Hawaii residents

Nursing homes $1.4 million for Hawaii

Education At least $634 million in estimated funding for Hawaii schools

Electric and water utility assistance $6 million for Hawaii households

Child care and welfare programs $138 million for Hawaii

Early childhood education $3.5 million for Hawaii

Transportation $380 million in estimated funding for Hawaii

Senior and disability support programs $9.2 million for Hawaii

Arts and humanities At least $2.37 million in estimated funding for Hawaii

Expansion of the Child Tax Credit

Health insurance

In Hawaii, a family of four with an income of $120,000 is projected to save $551 per month on their premium payments.

Emergency federal employee paid leave $570 million nationally

Food and nutrition programs

Agriculture $4 billion nationally

Billions of dollars are coming to Hawaii to help families and small businesses. This new package will deliver immediate help to people who have lost their job or cant make their rent. It provides funding for schools and health care and will give our state more resources to get people vaccinated.

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched every family and community in Hawaii and across our country. With so many people still out of work and unable to pay their mortgages and bills, it was crucial for the Senate to pass a sweeping relief bill that meets the urgency of the moment facing our country. By passing the American Rescue Plan, the Senate has taken bold action to put money into peoples pockets, help our schools re-open safely, support state and local governments, speed vaccine distribution, expand health care access, and so much more. I urge the House of Representatives to pass this legislation as soon as possible so that President Biden can sign it into law.

The bill will now go to the House of Representatives, then to the Presidents desk to be signed into law.

The plan from the House is to is to finish the bill on Tuesday and then I know it will go straight to the Presidents desk, itll be law by the end of Tuesday or the beginning of Wednesday, Sen. Schatz said. For Congress to move this quickly on the second biggest rescue package in American history, at the beginning of the Biden administration, it was a really big achievement.

I was really proud of the work we did, We stayed on the Senate floor for 26 and a half straight hours. So it was long, it was dozens of votes, it was lots of arguing and zero sleep, but its all worth it because help is on the way for the people of Hawaii, Sen. Schatz concluded.

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$6B coming to Hawaii in federal COVID-19 relief bill - KHON2

HONOLULU (KHON2) Exactly one year ago, the first case of coronavirus was detected in Hawaii. Since then, the pandemic has killed hundreds in the state, crippled the economy and made protective face masks the norm.

On March 6, 2020 the states Department of Health confirmed the first case of COVID-19: an Oahu man who had contracted the virus while on board the Grand Princess cruise ship in Mexico.

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Within a week, the University of Hawaii suspended athletics and announced classes would continue online.

Then, on March 23, Former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced a stay-at-home, work-from-home order. Two days later, the entire state shut down, turning Hawaii into a ghost town.

By late March, the state implemented the mandatory two-week quarantine for travelers. All the while, unemployment claims reached 82,963.

Less than three weeks after the first case, Hawaii recorded the first confirmed coronavirus fatality.

Two weeks following the first recorded death, the states overall death toll rose to nine, while the total case count ballooned to 500.

In late April, officials required everyone to wear protective masks in Hawaii, ahead of the rest of the US. Thats one of the things Lieutenant Governor Josh Green said should have happened sooner across the country.

If we had had a mask mandate from the federal government last summer, we would have saved 300,000 lives, Green said. We would have prevented 15 million cases.

By early May, Hawaiis cases began to decline and restrictions were slowly lift through June.

But the community, having endured closures, stay-at-home orders and mask mandates, had already begun to experience pandemic fatigue.

Clearly by the Fourth of July weekend it was like the virus was not existent, Governor David Ige said.

Then, the states progress began to take a turn.

In late July, Hawaii recorded its first daily triple-digit case count, with 109 reported by the state Department of Health. By Aug. 4, total cases climbed to 3,000, with 31 dead. Schools were left with no choice but to begin a new year with distanced learning.

Cases continued to soar through August, with one record-breaking daily count after another. Lt. Gov. Green announced 355 new cases, the highest single day total to-date, on Aug. 13, 2020.

The state would then see itself forced into another lockdown.

An outbreak at Oahu Community Correctional Center resulted in 181 inmates testing positive and a cluster at Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo infected almost every patient there, leading to the loss of 27 lives.

In late September, Honolulu entered Tier 1 of its four-tier reopening strategy, and shifted to Tier 2, four weeks later. The City remained there until Feb. 25, 2021.

On the anniversary of Hawaiis first COVID case, Green said 27,838 have been infected and 444 have died.

As he reflected, he said there were things he wished were handled differently.

If we had been contact tracing and testing adequately, during the springtime, we could have avoided such a steep mountain of cases in the summer, Green said. That was one clear thing we could have done better.

Even though Hawaii seemed to be able to contain the virus better than the rest of the country, the lieutenant governor says many lessons were learned.

You have to be aggressive in these circumstances, for safety, and then use your analytics to make the decisions, he shared.

Now that the vaccine is available and being administered to more residents each day, Green says things should return to some sense of normalcy within the next six months. But he added that the economic and psychological impacts will take much longer to recover from.

And although protective masks may no longer be required by late summer, Green says theyll likely continue to be used by many to prevent catching illnesses as simple as the flu.

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One year of COVID-19 in Hawaii: Could it have been handled better? - KHON2

CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Indians third baseman Jos Ramrez and slugger Franmil Reyes have been isolated from their teammates at spring training after breaking COVID-19 protocols.

Manager Terry Francona said Sunday that the two players have been sent to their temporary homes in Arizona as the Indians await word from the league as to when they can rejoin the team.

Francona said Reyes drove to the Indians' exhibition game on Friday in Mesa and went to get a haircut following the 10-4 win.

Reyes, who had a similar misstep last year when spring training resumed after the coronavirus-caused shutdown, told the Indians that he and Ramirez then went out to dinner and were indoors, which violates COVID-19 guidelines established by Major League Baseball and the players' union.

Francona said Reyes and Ramirez came to the team's complex on Saturday and were immediately sent home. They did not have contact with any other players or team personnel.

"We're pretty fortunate here," Francona said. "We have some medical people who are right on top of things and they came right to me and they said: 'Look, this is what we're doing. We're informing the league.' The players themselves actually self-reported that they had made a mistake.

"So we told them: 'This is not our rules. These are the rules that the players' association and Major League Baseball came up with. We have to enforce them.'"

Francona said he has spoken to both players, who understand they could have put others in jeopardy.

"They were both upfront and honest with us about what happened," Francona said. "We're not trying to put guys in the penalty box. We try to talk to guys almost every day. 'Hey, this is gonna happen if -- it doesn't matter if you agree with it or not. These are the protocols that are in place and you have to live by it.'"

Last season, the Indians were forced to isolate starting pitchers Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac when they broke COVID-19 protocols by going out to eat while the team was in Chicago. Clevinger was traded to San Diego a few weeks later.

Link:

Cleveland Indians' Jose Ramirez, Franmil Reyes break COVID-19 protocols, away from team - ESPN

With each day and each vaccination, the US inches closer to the finish line of what has been a brutal battle against Covid-19.

But its not over just yet.

Infection numbers, after weeks of declines, now seem to have plateaued at high levels. The US has averaged more than 60,000 Covid-19 cases daily in the past week. More than 41,000 people remain hospitalized with the virus nationwide, according to the COVID Tracking Project. And an average of more than 1,700 US Covid-19 deaths were reported every day for the past seven days.

And highly contagious variants that are already circulating have experts worried another Covid-19 spike could be just weeks away. More than 2,700 cases of variants first spotted in the UK, South Africa and Brazil have been reported in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but the agency has cautioned thats not the total number of cases in the country, but rather those that have been spotted with the help of genomic sequencing.

The vast majority of these cases at least 2,672 are the more contagious variant known as B.1.1.7, first spotted in the UK. The variant has been found in 46 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC.

That strain is increasing exponentially, its spiking up, infectious diseases specialist and epidemiologist Dr. Celine Gounder told CNN Saturday. So we are probably right now on a tipping point of another surge.

Speaking on the dangers of that variant, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, warned CNN on Friday, that virus is about to take off in the United States.

The variants are a big reason why experts have repeatedly warned that now is the time to double down on measures that work to curb the spread of the virus and not ease Covid-19 restrictions.

There are so many reasons why you dont want to pull back just now, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN late last week. You want to plan that you will be able, within a reasonable time, to pull back. But not at a time when we have circulating variants and when you have what looks like a plateauing of the decline in the cases.

Despite health leaders warnings, several state leaders announced they were easing Covid-19 restrictions.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday he was lifting the statewide mask mandate and doing away with any capacity limits on businesses, beginning March 10.

It is now time to open Texas 100%, he said.

On the same day, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said he was lifting all county mask mandates and would allow businesses to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced revisions to public health orders on Tuesday, including dropping a 300-person limit for events at banquet centers. On Thursday, he said that when the state reaches 50 cases per 100,000 people for two weeks, all health orders will be lifted.

Meanwhile, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer unveiled a series of eased restrictions, including expanded capacity for restaurants, retail, gyms, stadiums and other facilities.

And in Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards also loosened restrictions. The majority of businesses including restaurants and salons are now allowed to operate at 75% capacity, while religious services no longer have capacity limits.

On Friday, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey also said he was lifting occupancy limits on businesses including restaurants, gyms and theaters. A similar announcement came from West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, who said restaurants, bars and other businesses including gyms and museums could begin to operate at 100% of their capacity. Justice also upped the social gathering limit to 100 people.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order Friday rescinding the face covering requirements in state government offices, buildings and facilities as well as in restaurants.

Meanwhile in California, all of the states amusement parks, including Disneyland, Magic Mountain and Universal Studios along with sports and concert venues will be allowed to reopen with limited capacity starting April 1, Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly announced Friday.

We feel like now is the appropriate time to begin to reintroduce these activities in some fashion, and in a guarded way, in a slow and steady way, Ghaly said.

In their announcements for eased restrictions, several state leaders pointed to the growing light at the end of the tunnel and expressed an optimism fueled by the growing vaccination numbers.

But experts have cautioned the US likely still has a few months to go before enough Americans are vaccinated to help suppress the spread of the virus. So far, less than 10% of the countrys population has been fully vaccinated.

Heres when the US could reach herd immunity through vaccinations alone

More than 57.3 million Americans have received at least their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, CDC data shows. And more than 29.7 million have received two doses of a vaccine, according to the data. Thats roughly 9% of the US population.

The countrys vaccination effort has been in many ways a race against time, experts have said as state officials work to get as many shots into arms as possible before dangerous variants potentially take over.

Last week, new research offered reassuring news: theres now more evidence that the B.1.1.7 variant poses little threat to the efficacy of vaccines.

The research, published Thursday, shows that while the variant can hide a little bit from the immune system, its not enough to decrease the value of vaccines significantly and it doesnt threaten to reinfect people who have recovered from the previous dominant variant of the virus.

These findings indicate that variant B.1.1.7 is unlikely to be a major concern for current vaccines or for an increased risk of reinfection, the researchers wrote in their report, published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.

Receiving both doses in a timely manner is encouraged for maximum efficacy in areas where the variant is circulating, the researchers said.

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US is at a tipping point of another Covid-19 surge, expert says. That's why safety measures remain crucial now - ABC17NEWS - ABC17News.com

The Indian men's boxing team's final campaign at the 35th Boxam International Tournament in Castellon, Spain was derailed by a positive COVID-19 case in the side, resulting in three withdrawals from the final matches.

Olympic-bound Ashish Kumar (75kg) tested positive for the virus and as a result of being his roommates, Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) were forced to withdraw from the finals on Sunday night.

All three of them ended with silver medals, which could have been gold but for the unforeseen circumstances.

"What started as a great competition has ended in an anti-climax," Indian boxing's High Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI from Castellon.

Ashish is "asymptomatic and is doing fine". He will serve his quarantine in Castellon for two weeks before heading back to India.

Hussamuddin and Sumit have tested negative and are travelling back with the team, which will land in Mumbai on Monday.

Veteran Satish Kumar (+91kg) was also unable to compete in the final due to "sickness".

Manish Kaushik (63kg) ended up being the sole gold medal winner for the side, beating Denmark's Nikolai Terteryan in the final to complete a brilliant comeback from a knee injury which kept him out of action for a year.

Among the women, Simranjit Kaur (60kg), who is also bound for the Olympics, was forced out of her final after her semifinal opponent -- Kiria Tapia of Puerto Rico -- tested positive for the virus. The Indian, however, has returned a negative test.

"Because of local government regulations, she could not compete," Indian women's boxing's high performance director Rafaelle Bergamasco said.

Vikas Krishan (69kg) was the only other male boxer to compete on Sunday, losing a gruelling contest to Spain's Youba Sissokho. The Indian was left with a cut above his right eye in the ferocious contest.

In the women's draw, Pooja Rani (75kg) and Jasmine (57kg) also signed off with silver medals after being beaten by superior opponents in American Melissa Graham and Italian Irma Testa respectively.

India's campaign thus ended with one gold, eight silver and one bronze medal that was claimed by six-time world champion M C Mary Kom.

Read more:

COVID-19 case hits Indian boxers in Spanish tourney, three men pull out from final - ESPN

School variance:The Williamsville Central School District, the regions largest suburban district, reported the most cases on-site with 283 through February. Frontier reported 179; Niagara Falls, 172; Orchard Park, 160; North Tonawanda, 143; Ken-Ton, 126; Starpoint, 115; and Lockport, 112.

Buffalo Public Schools, which didnt reopen classrooms to students until Feb. 1, reported 90 cases.

Early in January and early February, it was two a day. In a week, we probably had 12 to 14, said Mark Laurrie, superintendent of the Niagara Falls City School District.

This week, were probably going to have two to four cases, Laurrie said on Feb. 25. I feel for the first time like theres light at the end of the tunnel.

Other districts reported far fewer on-site cases, including Springville, 7; Depew, 12; Iroquois, 15; Eden and Cheektowaga Central, each 20; North Collins, 24; and Maryvale, 25.

Safe schools:Despite the winter surge, school and health officials maintain schools are not a major spreader of the virus and that transmission rates are lower than in the general population because of adherence to the protocols wearing masks, social distancing and reducing capacity in the buildings.

They have some cases, dont get me wrong, but schools have been seen as very low risk, said Daniel Stapleton, Niagara Countys health director.

Read more here:

Fully reopen schools? Here's what the Covid-19 numbers say - Buffalo News

COVID-19 might soon be a thing of the past now that several vaccines are widely available. But some adaptations to deal with the novel coronavirus are likely here to stay.

Housing market heats upLois Surmi, president of the Durango Area Association of Realtors board of directors and managing broker with R1 Colorado Durango, said in March that 2020 looked grim in the real estate industry as public health orders took effect.

A year ago, we went through a period where we werent able to even get into our own listings to take photos. We couldnt go in, and we thought, How long is this gonna last? she said.

It turns out, it wasnt long at all.

When showings were allowed to resume in summer, small mountain towns across Colorados Western Slope had become popular destinations for homebuyers looking to flee densely populated cities vulnerable to the coronavirus.

The median price for a home in La Plata County jumped 15.8% to $449,000 in 2020, up from $387,750 in 2019.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, from October to December, the median price for a home in La Plata County rose more than 40%, to $631,807 from $450,277.

A big factor was the sale of homes valued $1 million or more.

Rick Lorenz, who compiles statistics for Team Lorenz, said strong demand drove up median and average prices. A limited supply of new housing also helped.

In 2020, Lorenzs statistics showed 100 homes sold for $800,000 to $1 million, compared with 34 homes in 2019. Ninety-eight homes sold for $1 million and up, compared with 49 in 2019.

Surmi said that even in the seasonably slow winter, heavy demand for homes in La Plata County continues.

I know its winter, but were seeing the same kind of urban refugees. Its not letting up, she said, adding, Things may level off at some point, but the demand is real.

Bump-outs debutThe city of Durango will resume its bump-out program March 15. The outdoor patio dining areas helped Main Avenue businesses endure indoor dining restrictions that limited capacity, sometimes down to 25%.

In 2021, the city plans to add concrete planters and other design tweaks to make bump-outs safer.

Their vulnerability became apparent Sept. 16, when a drunken driver plowed into Tequilas patio space and sent four people to the hospital.

Still, bump-outs were popular with customers, and restaurateurs said they helped keep doors open.

Assistant City Manger Kevin Hall told The Durango Herald: We are getting a lot of positive feedback. We did restrict the road a bit and chewed up a little bit of parking, but it seems to be working.

Workers go remoteOffices across the country allowed employees to work remotely when it became apparent in spring that large gatherings threatened to spread COVID-19.

Miguel Munoz, an e-commerce entrepreneur working remotely in Durango, said the pandemic accelerated an already strong movement to work remotely by five to 10 years.

Munoz and his wife, Ina Ropotica, relied on remote work for the pandemic and moved to Durango from Spain in August for a better work-life balance. They see it as the way of the future.

In November, FIS Worldpay closed its 81,380-square-foot building, which housed about 250 people in Durango, to transition employees to remote work.

Members of Durango City Council, including Mayor Dean Brookie, are asking how remote work might impact the use of city facilities. Many city employees now work in a remote-and-office hybrid model after going all-remote for months last year.

Office space increasesA consequence of remote work has been a glut of office space in Durango.

John Wells, owner-broker of the Wells Group, told the Herald: We have seen some increased vacancy rates based, obviously, on all this occurring this year as part of the COVID.

Employers learned they could do with less space, and telecommuting didnt decrease productivity.

Some of those employers may have discovered they were still operating efficiently, and they didnt need the cost of 4,000 (square) feet, he said. Maybe they just need 1,000 or 2,000 square feet, some conference rooms and meeting rooms, and then a certain percentage of their employees are going to want to continue to work from home. They realize they dont need all that office space.

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Some COVID-19 adaptations will have legs - The Durango Herald

If youre wondering why Zack Britton has yet to make his spring debut: hes coming along slowly due to a bout with COVID-19 this winter.

Per beat writer Dan Martin, Britton told the New York Post that he contracted COVID-19 in January, and it hit me pretty good.

I lost a good amount of weight. Physically, Im all good now but trying to be smart, Britton said in an email to the paper.

Britton further said the Yankees are building him up slowly he has participated in drills but not thrown off a mound in a week but he expects to be ready for Opening Day.

The Yankees did have another player affected by COVID this winter in Gio Urshela, who told The Post earlier this winter that surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow was delayed because he contracted the virus. Urshela has recovered from both the illness and the surgery, and made his spring training debut this week.

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Sports Zack Britton reveals bout with COVID-19 in January - 1010WINS

Phaedra Simon, a single mom of three from Opelousas, LouisianaI'm not trained to teach them how to read. It's totally different from how I learned.

Simon worked hard to keep her children ages9, 8 and 7 on track when they started the year virtually like everyone else in the St. Landry Parish school district. She even quit her jobto give her youngest the attention he needed.

As soon as the chance came to return to in-person learning, she seized it, even as she worries about their health."I'm not trained to teach them how to read," Simon said.

She's continued working with them, reading at home together every night. "I'm still nervous, waiting to see their new report cards," Simon said.

School looks different for kids and parents during the COVID-19 pandemic

Kindergarteners and their parents explain what school is like a year into the COVID-19 pandemic.

USA TODAY

Nearly a year into remote learning, instilling good learning habits remains a daily mission for Pam Bowling, a first grade teacher atAllen Elementary School in eastern Kentucky. Shepeppers every virtual lesson with positive narration Good job! I hear reading books being opened! a management technique usually reserved for kids off-task in an actual classroom.

Only now, the 6- and 7-year-olds in Bowlings class log on from their homes, many still donning pajamas.

Pam Bowling, a first grade teacher at Allen Elementary School in Allen City, Ky., reviews sight words with her class during a Feb. 15, 2021 virtual lesson.Floyd County Public Schools

Make sure we're sitting up, Bowling trilled at the start of her daily 9 a.m. reading session. I want you to be comfortable, but I dont want you to be too comfortable, right? We dont want to fall asleep. We want to make sure were sitting up, paying attention, just like we were at school.

On a mid-February morning, one perched at a desk, another sprawled on a couch, a thirdsatcross-legged in her bed, a stuffed Olaf, the snowman from the movie "Frozen," at her side.

I've got em with hair that looks like they've been shot out of a cannon,joked Bowling, an educator for 25 years.They're getting up, and their hair is every which way. And you can tell they're sleepy.

Even for veterans such as Bowling,teaching students to read over a videoconferencecall is an unprecedented challenge.

"It's particularly hard for teachers right now," said Taylor, the early learning professor fromRhodes College. "I dont think you can make the same connections, give the same in-the-moment feedback or at least as often as you might be if you had all of your students in a room."

In Floyd County, a community of about 36,000 in Kentuckys rural Appalachia region, Bowlings pleas for focus and participation are motivated by an unsettling reality: Poverty rates are high, and educational attainment is low.There is no time to waste.

Except for a brief return to in-person classes in the early fall, Bowling, 50,has been teaching from her dining room, a focus wall displaying weekly spelling words and reading skills affixed to a wooden hutch behind her seat.

I was very skeptical (of remote learning), Bowling recalled. I said, I don't know how we're gonna read through the camera. I don't know how that's gonna translate.

There was no sign of her early skepticism during the class's mid-February lesson asBowling and her students tackledsight words, spelling with the short e and nonfiction reading comprehension. Bowling, who said she can be her own worst critic, said she triesto remember the setup is only temporary.

Its just swallowing the fact that Hey, this is what I've been dealt with, she said. It might not be the best, it may not be the easiest approach, but and I say this almost every day to my parents and kids we're just gonna roll with the hand were dealt.

The next day, a brutal snow and ice storm knocked out power for nearly 48 hours. A few days after that, another momentous challenge loomed: With little time to prepare, Bowling and her kids eased back to in-person classes on a hybrid schedule, a litany of health and safety routines added to her charge.

"We're just gonna roll with it," she said.

WATCH: Three third grade teachers, three perspectives

When schools shuttered in March, Sydney Tolbert was a preschooler atthe Libertas Schoolof Memphis, Tennessee'sonly public Montessori charter school, and starting to makestrides in reading, her mother said.

"She was just right there. And then all of a sudden, we just stopped, recalledStephanie Tolbert, who felt relief that Libertas was of the few public schools in Memphis that offered in-person classes beginning in the fall.

I knew that if we could get her back in school, that she would just take off," Tolbert said. "And you could just see her. I watched her just, like, flourish. It was awesome.

In-person learning isn'ta pandemic panacea, especially for youngsters learning to read. In Sydney's multi-grade classroom, teacher Toni Sudduth, a classroom assistant and the 15 students practice social distancing and wear masks even when outside.

Second grader Skylar Tolbert, 7, peers over the shoulder of her younger sister, Sydney, 6, a kindergartner at Libertas School of Memphis. The sisters read at home each night after school.Courtesy photo

Although it helps that the curriculum is individualized for each student,group reading lessons, such as reviewing letter sounds, have had to be abbreviated. It's a challenge for students to be able to watch how their teacher's mouth moves while sounding out letter combinations and words. Sudduth started the year with a face mask with a clear window, but it kept fogging up. She switched to a clear face shield, so she can pulldown her mask behind the shield to demonstrate how a sound is made, then pull her mask up as the class makes the sound together, placing their hands to their throat to feel the sound as well.

Sounding out words is one area where online learning platforms provide an advantage, saidEmily Wakabi, areading interventionist at Libertas. I used to cue (students)every time, like, Watch my mouth,she said, and that's not helpful this year.

Most of Wakabi's work with about 40 children is done in person, but she meets online with students whose families don'twant to take the risk of returning to school. During a virtual session in February with second graderJada Guy, they worked onblending letter sounds to make words, and learning the new letter sound "ph." The computer froze, and an animated presentation to guide Jada as she pronounced the words lagged.

Know someone who has children who are struggling with reading? Share this story

Plenty of times, Jada demonstrated her excitement over what she was learning, including after writing down "pamphlet," a new word with the letter sound she'd been practicing.

"Was that fast, Ms. Wakabi?" she asked.

"That was so fast! You are fast," Wakabi said, explaining that building a student's confidence is a key to reading.

"A lot of times," she said, "kids need the motivation and encouragement to read just as much as they need the skills."

First grade teacher Kristin Bosco, left, works with a small group of students in her classroom at John Sevier Elementary in Maryville, Tenn., on Thursday, February 4, 2021. Bosco allows groups of up to eight virtual students to come into the classroom for in-person English-Language Arts learning from 8:30 to 11:30 in the morning.Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

The Zoom meetingfeaturedmore personality than you see in a typical office call. A child sipped water too close to the computer. Another yawned, mouth wide open to the screen. A third sat obscured by his pencil box, which was positioned in front of the camera.

Kristin Bosco no longer gets distracted by such sights. The first grade teacher at John Sevier Elementary in Maryville, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, has 17 students in her virtual class.

She's grown accustomed to it, even if it might never feel normal to teach reading over a computer screen. While the children read a passage about a king, seeking words with the "ng" sound, Bosco flipped through her Zoom panel to see each face to make sure everyone paid attention.

Between tasks, the children talk with each other, something Bosco said she believes is important for their social growth. Learning this way has given her a window into the children's home life that she didn't always have. She hears about and often sees the children's pets and learns things such as when a parent switches jobs.

Conversations are an important foundation to literacy,helping children build vocabulary and practicewhat they're learning on the page.

Allowing children to talk more is really important," said Holmes from UL-Lafayette. "Teachers are trained to get children talking to each other. Theyre not learning that original, authentic language otherwise.

After the classreading, students brokeup into groups based on their reading level. Teacher's aide Kim Wood worked with one group, while Bosco stayed with another. Two groups occupied themselves withindependent activities. The groups rotate each day.

Bosco workedwith two boys who need the most support, takingturns with them reading a digital book about ice cream. One boy, Kian, told his teacher how much he loves ice cream, making a connection between it and the smoothie he has every night.

Kian's mom,Adrienne Schwarte, said virtual learning has allowed her to witness more of the learning process than she might otherwise see. Schwarte, a college professor,and her husbandadded a reading nook to their home to give Kian and his brother opportunities to read.

We've seen his confidence level really grow with reading," Schwarte said. "I would sayKian was probably a little bit of a slower reader at his grade level at the beginning of the yearcompared to some of the other students, and he's really picked up over the last three or four months.

At the start of the school year, third grade teacher Lisa Gemarwas asked to be one of 11 virtual teachers needed for children who didn't want in-person learning at Northside Elementary School in the Clinton, Mississippi, school district. It was an adjustment, but she was up to the challenge.

"The expectations are no different," Gemar, a 10-year teaching veteran, said of leading a class in a Zoomsession. "I'm still able to pick up on what they're struggling with, and we've built a really great relationship even virtually through a screen."

Just like their peers who are learning in person, the virtual students take weekly assessments, so teachers canreview what areas students need extra work in.Students whoneed more help meet daily with an intervention specialist for 30 minutes.

The transition to virtual learning was eased by Clinton's eight-year track record as aone-to-onedistrict, meaning every student gets alaptop or tablet.

In the Madison County School District north of Jackson, Mississippi,sometechnology issues have meantmore students needadditional intervention, saidChristylErickson, the district's curriculum director.

Some (students) are coming back that were unfortunately, because they had no internet and even hot spots that we provided did not help some of these children were packet learners," Erickson said."Their parents taught them. Now, we did have very few of those,but that's still a gap we have to close for these kids.

The experts fear the pandemic willwiden achievement gaps.

"Knowing what we know about how education inequity works, I would think its more likely that were going to see larger gaps between schools, between districts, because of those different kinds of financial resources," said Rhodes College's Taylor. "I hope that our national conversation around that is focused on the different types of resources provided to those groups rather than to look at them as individual failings."

If early readersget the resources in time and attention that they need, UL-Lafayette's Holmes said, she'soptimistic they can overcome the pandemic's challenges.

"Children are strong and can bounce back quickly, sometimes a lot faster than adults,"Holmes said."With consistent routines in place, whether learning at home or at school, I have hope that they will catch up."

Early childhood education coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from Save the Children. Save the Children does not provide editorial input.

Published11:50 am UTC Mar. 7, 2021Updated5:33 pm UTC Mar. 7, 2021

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Students are struggling to read behind masks and screens during COVID-19, but expectations are no different - USA TODAY

SALT LAKE CITY The first COVID-19 patient treated at University of Utah Hospital said he wasnt scared to die, but he was hoping to pull through after his lungs quit working.

Neal Murphy, 75, believes he contracted COVID-19 on a Feb. 27, 2020, flight from California to Salt Lake City to visit his son, who is a doctor at University Hospital. He said was too tired to go to dinner that night and by morning, his temperature had reached 104.5 degrees.

I said to my wife, This is not a cold. A day later, they said, this is COVID, Murphy recalled in a U. video production created to commemorate the anniversary of Murphys survival of COVID-19.

It was the worst possible scenario, he said, adding that he was immediately isolated at the hospital. Murphy was given supplemental oxygen and was ultimately intubated and put on a ventilator for five days. At one point, he was given a 3% chance of survival.

Ive beat odds like that, thats no problem, he said. Murphy said he posted a picture of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on his hospital bed railing. If he can survive five years of torture, I can go through this.

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Murphys son, Dr. Ryan Murphy, said that in his dads situation, theres nothing he could do ... either he was going to survive or hes not.

Hes all about the fight, the struggle never give up, never surrender. Thats his ethos, the younger Murphy said.

In all, the elder Murphy, a professor of dentistry in Cleveland, was hospitalized in Utah for 13 days.

I wasnt scared. Im 75 years old. Ive been around the block a few times, he said. Theres a point where you have to say, I can do no more.

Murphy said he felt reassured by the U. staff.

Miracles are helped along by the dedicated people in health care, that cannot be denied, he said. They really are heroes. I would be a dead man without them.

The Utah Department of Health reported 570 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, as well as five new deaths.

The number of new cases has been gradually declining since after the first of the year. The rolling seven-day average of people with confirmed cases is now 9.5% with the average percentage of tests sitting at 4.6%.

The state administered nearly 26,100 doses of COVID-19 vaccine since Fridays report, bringing the total number of people who have been fully vaccinated to 304,168 in Utah. A total of 843,032 doses of vaccine have been administered in the state, according to the health department.

Utah has tested 2.24 million people for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including 7,052 since Fridays report was issued midday.

There are 194 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 29 fewer than was reported a week ago.

The deaths reported on Saturday include a Salt Lake County woman older than 85 who was not hospitalized at the time of her death; a Salt Lake County woman between the ages of 45 and 64 who was hospitalized; a Weber County man between 45 and 64 who was hospitalized; a Salt Lake County woman between 25 and 44 who was hospitalized; and, a Uintah County woman between 45 and 64 who was hospitalized.

The total number of lives lost to COVID-19 in Utah is at 1,975 since the pandemic hit here a year ago.

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First COVID-19 patient at U. Hospital says he wasnt scared to die - Deseret News