An informed guide to the global outbreak, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment. |
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 | | The New York Times |
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School’s in session, mostly from home |
Even with the herculean effort, Los Angeles, along with most major public school districts in the country other than New York City, will be starting the school year remotely. |
For the four million children in the U.S. without internet access, many of whom are Black, Latino or Indigenous, school this semester will be fantasy. Other locations facing the same connectivity issues are turning to a vintage technology to reach students: television. |
In Mexico, Peru, Tanzania and Indonesia, governments are hiring local celebrities, news hosts and teachers to create engaging and educational material for students from preschool to high school. For more effective lessons, they’re using tools of professional broadcasts — high-quality sets, script writers and 3-D animations — and many say they are following the cardinal rule of the YouTube era: the shorter and snazzier, the better. |
While television lessons are not as valuable as online interactions with teachers and other students, experts say, educational broadcasts can help children’s academic progress, their success in the job market and even their social development. |
In other education developments |
- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill became the first big university to cancel in-person learning after classes had begun. One week into the semester, officials said 177 students had been isolated after coronavirus testing, with hundreds more in quarantine.
- Schools in Belgium will open full time in September after officials said the benefits of in-person education outweighed the risks posed by the pandemic.
- For many college students this fall, their dorms will be their childhood bedrooms. Here’s how parents can help make the experience easier for everyone.
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Encouraging news on herd immunity |
Scientists are changing the way they think about herd immunity. That could be good news for cities that have already been through severe outbreaks. |
Early in the pandemic, researchers estimated that perhaps 70 percent of a population would need to be protected from the virus — either by vaccine or already having been infected — to prevent large outbreaks. But that number has recently come down, our colleague Apoorva Mandavilli reports. |
“Over the past few weeks, more than a dozen scientists told me they now felt comfortable saying that herd immunity probably lies from 45 percent to 50 percent,” Apoorva wrote in today’s edition of The Morning. “If they’re right, then we may be a lot closer to turning back this virus than we initially thought.” |
What changed? Since March, researchers have created more sophisticated immunity models that factor in demographics and social patterns — taking into account, for example, how older people tend to socialize in smaller groups than young people. |
“It may also mean that pockets of New York City, London, Mumbai and other cities may already have reached the threshold, and may be spared a devastating second wave,” Apoorva wrote. |
What else we’re following |
| My wife and I have weekly date nights. Our travel bug has got us taking virtual trips each week. One of us chooses a country to “travel” to and the other arranges a dish and beverage from that country and chooses a movie or documentary to watch that takes place in that part of the world. |
| — Andy Otto, Decatur, Ga. |
Let us know how you’re dealing with the outbreak. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter. |
| Amelia Nierenberg contributed to today’s newsletter. |
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