A new national survey shows students in the United States are still struggling to make up learning loss experienced over the course of the COVID-19 crisis. The report this week from NWEA examined test scores from nearly 7 million elementary and middle school students in about 20,000 public schools around the US. The researchers found Read more
Posts Tagged ‘COVID-19’
Low attendance at NZ Catholic schools a pressing concern
Thursday, July 13th, 2023
“The ongoing issue of low attendance in NZ Catholic schools is a pressing concern” says Dr Kevin Shore, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Catholic Education Office (NZCEO). “Student success is vital. It opens doors to life’s best opportunities and allows school graduates to contribute positively to society,” Shore told CathNews. Acknowledging that the factors Read more
School attendance levels may never return to normal
Monday, July 10th, 2023
There is a risk that school attendance levels will not return to their pre-pandemic norm, says head of New South Wales Catholic schools, Dallas McInerney. He wants an inquiry into the long-term consequences of shutting down schools during the pandemic. In a speech to school leaders last week, McInerney said he had argued to keep Read more
Experts sound worries over support for Long Covid sufferers
Thursday, June 22nd, 2023More than a year after the Government launched a top-level advisory group on Long Covid, leading experts worry sufferers are still being let down by the health system. Those concerns have been aired in a series of just-released video interviews, as the Ministry of Health says it’s impossible to quantify how many people are living Read more
Covid emergency over … suffering continues
Thursday, May 11th, 2023
Just because the World Health Organisation (WHO) says the Covid-19 health emergency is over, it doesn’t mean everything’s OK. Far from it. It’s still a global health and welfare threat, WHO officials say. We can expect the same devastating health and social consequences will continue to plague us. The virus keeps evolving and spreading. Many Read more
Church removes all restrictions but Covid may be back to bite
Monday, April 24th, 2023
It seems no sooner than all Covid restrictions have been lifted from Catholic churches – the sneeze-proof face mask, the empty holy water stoup, the contactless signs of peace, that a selection of lurgies have made themselves known. The rising number of Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths suggest we could be in for another rough Read more
Nurse shortage a global health emergency
Monday, April 3rd, 2023
A shortage of nurses across the world has created a global health emergency. The International Council of Nurses (ICN) estimates 13 million nurses will need to be replaced within the coming years. ICNs March 2023 report says the global nursing shortage was as high as 30.6 million in 2019. That was before the pandemic. The Read more
Baby blood case: Parents accept that some blood products from vaccinated donors may have to be used
Monday, December 5th, 2022The strange case of parents wanting ‘unjabbed’ blood for their baby has reignited Covid conspiracies thought lost to 2021. Tony Wall and Nikki Macdonald explain that the family are ‘realistic’ about what lies ahead, along with the other key factors at play. The parents of the baby at the centre of the “unjabbed blood” case Read more
Blank white sheets of paper: free speech protest symbols
Thursday, December 1st, 2022
They have become a symbol of China’s recent wave of protests: Blank, white sheets of paper held aloft by demonstrators to signify their opposition to anti-virus lockdowns, censorship and freedom of speech. As videos of crowds holding up paper sheets and chanting slogans flooded the internet last weekend, Chinese-language social media posts have come to Read more
Did faith fall off a cliff during COVID?
Thursday, November 24th, 2022
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many lost the habit of churchgoing after almost every church in the country closed down their in-person services and shifted online. But did some of them give up on God? Sociologists like Michael Hout want to know. Hout, a professor of sociology at New York University, has long tracked the Read more