Axios
COVID’s college impact: 65% of students report skipping a textbook purchase
For vulnerable students, the pandemic has worsened the problem of textbook access, according to a report released by Student Public Interest Research Groups.The problem: With remote schooling, it’s much harder to borrow someone’s textbook or get a used book for cheap, forcing students to pay for access codes just to do their homework.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeBy the numbers: A survey of more than 5,000 students at 82 colleges and universities reveals COVID’s devastating effects on students’ ability to fully participate in class.65% of students reported skipping a textbook purchase this fall, even though 90%were worried it would impact their grades.79% of students said COVID impacted their ability to meet basic needs. Those who lost jobs were significantly more likely to skip buying textbooks or access codes.Zoom in: Eckerd College freshman Sanaa Ali told Axios she had to go without all her books for the better part of her first semester. And even after she paid for the access code to her calculus class, she lost access as soon as exams were over. So, to keep learning, she had to buy another book.”Higher education costs are already so high without the added burden of access codes that expire after just one term,” she said.The big picture: Dan Xie, the St. Petersburg-based political director of Student PIRGs, said publishers are taking advantage of vulnerable students during the pandemic — but argues universities and state legislators can stop it.Xie points to open textbook programs, already incentivized in California and Massachusetts, where professors can choose a free, peer-reviewed textbook online.This story first appeared in the Axios Tampa Bay newsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard.Sign up here.More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free
Associated Press
FDA says J&J 1-dose shot prevents COVID; final decision soon
Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine offers strong protection against severe COVID-19, according to an analysis by U.S. regulators Wednesday that sets the stage for a final decision on a new and easier-to-use shot to help tame the pandemic. The Food and Drug Administration’s scientists confirmed that overall the vaccine is about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, and about 85% effective against the most serious illness. The agency also said J&J’s shot — one that could help speed vaccinations by requiring just one dose instead of two — is safe to use.
The Telegraph
Scotland’s tourism and hospitality industries ‘left in limbo’ over Nicola Sturgeon’s lockdown plan
Scotland’s crisis-hit tourism and hospitality firms have been left in “limbo” and unable to take bookings thanks to Nicola Sturgeon’s failure to provide a detailed lockdown exit plan, furious industry leaders have said. The Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) said Boris Johnson’s blueprint had led to a “huge spike in bookings from England for foreign travel” in the summer but Scottish hoteliers and accommodation providers cannot compete as they do not know if they will be open. This was echoed by the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC), which said the First Minister had “completely failed” to provide clarity and firms were having to turn down bookings from south of the Border while their English competitors were inundated with queries. Paul Waterson, of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA), said a late spring reopening would “sadly be too late for many and for those who do survive there remain serious challenges ahead”. Both he and the STA said Ms Sturgeon’s decision to return to regional tiers at the end of April, rather than ease restrictions uniformly across the country, caused a massive headache for their industries as firms could not predict what level of restrictions would apply in their areas. Everywhere will initially move to Level 3, which under the old system meant licensed premises shutting at 6pm and not serving alcohol. Mr Waterson said “that such restrictive reopening conditions are simply not worth the time, effort and money involved.” In a statement, the Scottish Wedding Industry Alliance said: “Today’s announcement has done nothing to create hope that the biggest day in couples lives can go ahead as planned. “It has caused confusion, doubt and stress. For an industry which is already losing £6.5 million a day, the lack of clarity today will cost livelihoods, businesses will collapse and couples will postpone and cancel weddings, which support up to 40,000 jobs in Scotland.”
Benzinga
TikTok Star Josh Richards, Mark Wahlberg Partner On Gen Z-Focused Production Company
Josh Richards, a 19-year-old social media star from Cold Springs, Ontario, has partnered with Mark Wahlberg to launch a new production company, CrossCheck Studios, LLC. What Happened: A joint venture between Richards’ and Wahlberg’s production company Unrealistic Ideas will create content catered to Gen Z viewers and will be “focused on becoming the premier venue for internet-native creatives,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. CrossCheck Studios will be managed by Richards and his business partner Michael Gruen while being supported, from development through to production, by Unrealistic Ideas, a company that also boasts Stephen Levinson and Archie Gips as partners. See Also: Josh Richards Talks About His Rise To Fame And The Secret To Blowing Up On TikTok Why It Matters: CrossCheck Studios, which has already amassed a full program of content, will cater to a new generation of viewers focused on watching social media influencers and internet personalities. Richards, who has over 24 million followers on TikTok, has been expanding his portfolio and entering into the business world by co-founding companies such as Sillybandz and Talent X Entertainment with his longtime partner Gruen. Richards also recently entered into the financial business sector and co-hosts the “BFFs” podcast with Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports. Partnering with Wahlberg has always been one of Richards’ goals, he said. “When I first moved to LA to pursue this dream of a career, one of my goals was to meet @markwahlberg. I thought that was dreaming big. However, today, thanks to the hard work @Michaelgr1011 and I have put in, I am proud to call Mark a business partner!” he wrote on Twitter. What’s Next: Although it’s reported that CrossCheck already has a “full slate of material,” Richards and Gruen will be actively searching for creative and innovative ideas as well as new faces to produce future content. “The duo of Mark and Josh is distinctly unique and will be invaluable when creating content to cater towards multiple demographics,” Gips told The Hollywood Reporter. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaN95 Mask Producer 3M Expands Use Of Palantir’s Foundry Platform To Help With Supply Chain DemandHow Are Airlines Preparing For Renewed Interest In Travel After Pandemic?© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Benzinga
FDA Says Conduct Smaller Trials To Test Vaccine Efficacy Against COVID Variants
Amid concerning virus variants, the FDA said it would quickly analyze any vaccine booster shots against COVID-19 variants. The companies would not need to conduct lengthy randomized controlled trials to test the new shot effectiveness, the Wall Street Journal reports. The recommendation calls for small trials involving a few hundred subjects over a couple of months, potentially accelerating the review process. The agency issued new guidelines for makers of diagnostic tests and monoclonal-antibody drugs about how these companies can best adapt their products to address mutations. The federal agency has been criticized for taking up to three weeks to analyze the vaccine data from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) that demonstrated 72% effectiveness in the U.S. compared with 57% in South Africa, where the mutant strain has been prominently present. JNJ filed for FDA emergency use authorization earlier this month. The JNJ vaccine will be evaluated on 26 February. The company also partnered with Sanofi to support the manufacturing of its COVID-19 shot, as it reportedly has an inventory of just a few million doses. Two COVID-19 vaccines have already received an FDA green signal, one from Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) and the other from a partnership of Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) Price Action: JNJ closed 0.06% lower at 161.87 on Monday. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaSanofi/GlaxoSmithKline Initiate COVID-19 Vaccine Development After SetbackPfizer/BioNtech’s COVID-19 Shot Staved Off Illness, Death For Over 95% Of Israeli patients© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Associated Press
The Latest: CVS, Walgreens to give out shots in more states
CVS and Walgreens drugstores will start doling out COVID-19 vaccinations in more states on Thursday. The drugstore chains say they have received additional vaccine doses from the federal government after they used up their initial allotment. Both companies started giving out vaccines on Feb. 12 to eligible customers at stores in several states.
Associated Press
Mexican president says Mexico doing better than US on virus
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday that his country is doing better than the United States in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, even though Mexico’s per capita death rate is probably higher and the country has vaccinated less than 1% of its population. López Obrador said Tuesday that comparing countries is in “bad taste,” but went on to say “the most powerful nation on earth, our neighbor, did worse than us.” The Mexican government’s “estimated” death toll from COVID-19 is now about 201,000.
Reuters
Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine closes in on U.S. approval
Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine appeared safe and effective in trials, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday, paving the way for its approval for emergency use as soon as this week. The vaccine was 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 in a 44,000 person global trial, the FDA said in documents ahead of a Friday meeting of independent experts who will advise the agency on emergency authorization. New data provided by J&J to the FDA showed the vaccine was 64% effective at stopping moderate to severe cases of COVID-19 after 28 days in thousands of trial participants in South Africa where a worrying new variant has swept across the country.
Motley Fool
Why SPAC Fortress Value Acquisition II’s Stock Is Down Today
Shares of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Fortress Value Acquisition II (NYSE: FAII) were trading sharply lower on Monday, after the SPAC announced a deal to merge with ATI Physical Therapy. Fortress Value is a SPAC sponsored by Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based private equity and hedge fund manager. ATI Physical Therapy operates over 800 clinics in the United States.
Reuters
South Korea hails arrival of virus vaccines as first step in ‘return to normal’
South Korea shipped its first doses of a coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, transferring AstraZeneca vaccines from a production facility in the country to a warehouse outside the capital of Seoul in preparation for this week’s inoculation drive. Healthcare workers are scheduled to receive the first batch of AstraZeneca PLC’s vaccine from Friday, as South Korea looks to protect 10 million high-risk people by July, on its way to reaching herd immunity by November. AstraZeneca shots enough for about 750,000 people will be distributed from a production facility of SK Chemicals Co Ltd unit SK bioscience to immunisation centres across the country starting on Wednesday.
Axios
For children, the COVID surge isn’t over
Data: Department of Health & Human Services, University of Minnesota COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project, and Zach Levin; Chart: Michelle McGhee/AxiosChildren’s hospitals across the country say they’re still seeing a surge of kids suffering from a serious illness that typically follows coronavirus infections. The big picture: Severe coronavirus infections in children remain extremely rare, compared to the risk to adults. But persistent side effects from those infections mean that kids’ hospitalization rates don’t exactly mirror adults’.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeEven as coronavirus hospitalizations decline overall, children’s hospitals say they’re still seeing large numbers of kids suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome, commonly known MIS-C, — a serious illness that generally occurs several weeks after a child is infected with the coronavirus. MIS-C can cause inflammation in various body parts, and symptoms include fever, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea. Most cases occur in children between 1 and 14 years old, and the condition disproportionately effects children of color, per the CDC.”As the population in general seems to have fewer active cases, we are seeing more children being admitted with COVID-related problems, but most of those — I’d say more than half over the last five weeks — are children who have MIS-C,” said Rob McGregor, chief medical officer at Akron Children’s Hospital.What they’re saying: Hospitals say the disease seems to be more common now than it was earlier in the pandemic, and children are sicker now than they were in earlier surges.”The MIS-C has really hit us this time, and the last month has been way higher numbers and higher acuity than we [had] before with MIS-C — and that’s hard to explain,” said Lara Shekerdemian, chief of critical care at Texas Children’s Hospital.Unlike other children’s hospitals interviewed by Axios, Texas Children’s has also seen more severe cases of acute COVID too. “It feels like … we have seen in the last two three months patients who are sicker when they present with COVID than we did in the early experience,” Shekerdemian added.By the numbers: Pediatric COVID-related hospitalizations increased by 50% between Oct. 1 and Jan. 7, according to an analysis of Health and Human Services data by the University of Minnesota COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project. Adult hospitalizations rose by almost 300% over the same period.Adult hospitalizations have since fallen by 54%, while children’s hospitalizations are down by 25%.As cases began to rise in late November and December, “based on our experience, we said OK, MIS-C task force, mark your calendars,” said Roberta DeBiasi, chief of the Division of Pediatric Diseases at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. That surge began in January, and continues today.The CDC only has complete information on the number of MIS-C cases specifically through mid-December, when they were on the rise.What we’re watching: The children’s hospitals said that, based on previous trends, they expect the number of hospitalizations to fall in the coming weeks, a delayed result of the coronavirus’s lower community prevalence.”It seems like the peaks we had in the children’s hospital lagged a little behind those we were seeing in the adult systems,” said Ronald Ford, chief medical officer at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. “I would expect peds admissions to start to fall. Now, the big unknown here for everyone is how these new variants are going to affect things.”He said it’s still unclear how the new virus variants impact children, and that it’s a “distinct possibility” that they could be related to more severe cases of MIS-C. “We don’t know, but that’s one of those things that will have to be studied and looked into, if different variants have a different rate of severity of MIS-C in children,” he added.Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.
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