Around the world, schools have been forced to throw out their old rulebooks this fall. No longer just tasked with educating students, schools have been burdened with a monumental challenge: avoiding fueling the spread of a pandemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. To address this, they’ve had to come with unique plans, combining science, data and ingenuity to keep their students and communities safe.
My colleague Mélissa Godin looked at Germany, Scotland, and Norway as examples of the variety of strategies European countries are employing to address their nations’ particular needs.
In Germany, she writes, students have been broken into “cohorts” made up of several hundred of their peers and a set group of teachers, which aren’t permitted to mix with other cohorts. Students must wear masks in the hallways, but not at their seats, and classrooms are set up to permit social distancing and improve ventilation. However, this doesn’t seem to be working. The virus has already begun to spread in German schools; in Berlin, more than 40 of 825 schools for all age groups reported cases in the first two weeks after reopening.
Neither Scotland nor Norway have had big outbreaks in schools yet. In Scotland, schools reopened three weeks ago, with rearranged classrooms to accommodate social distancing and ventilation; all students over 12 were asked to wear masks for the first three weeks. Norway, meanwhile, was one of the first European countries to reopen schools, bringing kids back to classrooms in April. It combined a cohort model with a “traffic light” strategy, which adjusts measures at schools to the level of risk; under a “red light,” class hours must be altered and class sizes limited, while under a “green light,” schools can run on a normal schedule. Schools there are now under a “yellow light,” which means stricter rules for social distancing and hygiene.
While parents in the U.S. might feel encouraged to see European schools reopening, there’s an important difference: the virus is far more widespread in the U.S. In other words, it’s not at all clear that the strategies employed in Scotland or Norway will yield the same results in the states.
More than 26 million people around the world had been sickened by COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. eastern time today, and more than 863,000 people have died. Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
On Sept. 2, there were nearly 282,000 new cases and 6,013 new deaths confirmed globally. Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here is every country with over 300,000 confirmed cases to date ("per cap" is number per 100,000 people):
In a report released yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that patients in “severe and critical” condition be treated with corticosteroids, a class of drugs that reduces inflammation. The WHO found in a meta-analysis of seven studies that this class of drug reduced the death rate among severely ill patients by 34%. Although this effect is hardly “the stuff of victory parades,” as TIME’s Jeffrey Kluger writes, “in the grinding war against COVID-19, it is an undeniable victory in one important battle.”
Confirmed deaths from the virus in the Middle East surpassed 50,000 on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. However, that might be an undercount due to the limited testing in countries like Libya and Yemen; a U.N. official in Libya said yesterday the outbreak there is “spiraling out of control.” In Yemen, Houthi rebels who control certain areas have not released COVID-19 data.
As France copes with rising daily case numbers, its government has rolled out a $118 billion plan to boost its slumping economy, according to Reuters. The plan includes investing in green energy and job training.
In Nepal, thousands of people took to the streets in defiance of a government lockdown today, taking part in a religious festival in the city of Lalitpur, per the AP. In an hours-long clash, police fired teargas and water cannons at the demonstrators, who threw stones at them. Religious gatherings and outdoor festivals are banned in the country, which has seen rising COVID-19 cases.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 6 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. eastern time today. More than 185,700 have died. Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
On Sept. 2, there were more than 39,000 new cases and 1,056 new deaths confirmed in the U.S. Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
The White House announced today that it is buying 150 million COVID-19 tests from Abbott Laboratories in a $750 million deal, the New York Times reports . The tests, which cost $5 and take only 15 minutes—but are considered to be less accurate than the PCR tests that are the gold standard—received an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week. In recent days, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has faced criticism for new testing guidelines released last week that discouraged people without symptoms from testing. Critics have accused the agency of capitulating to the White House Coronavirus Task Force; President Trump has suggested that the country is conducting too much testing.
FDA officials are debating whether the agency should use its emergency powers to clear a coronavirus vaccine early, according to the Washington Post. Some say that the move could save lives, but others warn that it’s important to prove that the vaccine is safe and effective—and that a rushed vaccine could fuel vaccine skepticism.
Federal debt has ballooned during the pandemic, and it’s on track to break the record set in World War II by 2023, the Congressional Budget Office reported yesterday. The U.S. government’s debt is set to rise to 98% of the U.S.’s GDP this year, and to pass 100% next year; by 2030, it could make up 109% of GDP. Meanwhile, the number of new jobless claims has continued to fall, although it still remains high: according to the Labor Department , there were 881,000 unemployment claims during the week ending Aug. 29, about 130,000 than the previous week.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of September 3, 1 a.m. eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Scars From the Pandemic in Wuhan
Wuhan, China, where the pandemic first took off in January, is now buzzing back to life, TIME’s Charlie Campbell writes from the city. However, its economy and residents still bear the scars of the crisis. Read more here.
The Rock and His Family Tested Positive
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his wife and two daughters tested positive for coronavirus after becoming infected by family friends, according to the Associated Press. The actor said that his children recovered quickly, but that he and his wife had a “rough go.” Read more here.
The Super-Savers of the Pandemic
The share of Americans’ income that goes into savings shot up in April, and as a result of government aid, checking account balances across the income spectrum rose, the Atlantic reports. But that support has dried up for many people, and many low earners have gone back to spending normally. However, many high earners are still spending much less—which means many are socking away plenty of savings. Read more here.
Mixed Reviews for a U.S. Food Bank Program
Food banks say that a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that spent billions to buy food from farmers and distribute it to nonprofits overspent and could have provided more food, NPR reports. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Tara Law and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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