Today on AirTalk, we discuss how the coronavirus crisis is impacting special education students and educators. Also on the show, we look at how offices might reopen; get the latest on COVID-19; and more.
As Number Of Worldwide COVID-19 Cases Nears 2 Million, Federal And State Governments Debate When -- And How Much -- To Reopen
Setting the stage for a possible power struggle with President Donald Trump, governors around the U.S. began collaborating on plans Tuesday to reopen their economies in what is likely to a be a drawn-out, step-by-step process to prevent the coronavirus from rebounding with disastrous results.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday that he has joined a coalition with his West Coast counterparts in Oregon and Washington and would announce a detailed plan Tuesday for lifting virus restrictions, using “science to guide our decision-making and not political pressure.” A similar coalition has taken shape in the Northeast, encompassing Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. President Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his desire to see the U.S. reopened for business quickly, and at one point said he would like to see churches packed on Easter, insisted over the weekend that he has “total” authority to decide how and when to loosen restrictions in the country - a notion considered at odds with the Constitution, which largely delegates such matters to the states.
On Monday, Los Angeles County reported 239 new coronavirus cases — the lowest number of new daily cases reported in the county since March 26. There were 25 new deaths reported, bringing the total number of deaths in the county to 320. That puts the fatality rate here at 3.4%. That brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in L.A. County to 9,420, including 337 cases reported by Long Beach and 117 cases reported by Pasadena, both which have independent health departments. The number of confirmed cases worldwide is nearing 2 million, according to Johns Hopkins University’s data tracker, with more than a quarter of those cases in the U.S. and 25,000 confirmed in California.
With files from LAist and the Associated Press
Guest:
Richard Riggs, M.D., senior vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles
Former President Barack Obama Is Endorsing Joe Biden
Former President Barack Obama plans to endorse Joe Biden in a video on Tuesday, giving the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee a boost from the party’s biggest fundraiser and one of its most popular figures.
Obama and Biden are known to be close friends from their two terms in the White House, and Biden leaned heavily on his affiliation with the former president throughout the Democratic primary, touting their relationship and framing his pitch as an extension of Obama’s presidency. But Obama stayed above the fray in the primary, rarely speaking out about the intraparty fight. The former president offered his private counsel to any Democratic presidential contender who asked for it, but made no efforts to bolster any one candidate’s campaign — including Biden’s, despite their long history.
I’m proud to endorse my friend @JoeBiden for President of the United States. Let's go: https://t.co/maHVGRozkX
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 14, 2020
Today on AirTalk, we discuss what the endorsement could mean for Biden’s presidential campaign. Do you have thoughts? Call us at 866-893-5722.
With files from the Associated Press
Guest:
John Harris, founding editor at Politico; author of the book, “The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the While House” (Random House, 2006) ; he tweets
Students, Parents And Teachers In Special Education Programs Share Solutions For Navigating Online Learning During COVID-19
As students in districts across Southern California continue their schooling online amid school closures due to COVID-19, we’ve heard here on AirTalk from students, teachers and parents about the challenges that online learning poses when it comes to things like distributing and submitting assignments and communicating with teachers.
But the crisis poses a different set of questions for special education students and their parents and teachers, who must address many of the same issues students around the district face while also making sure that students are getting the individualized attention they need to succeed. Many districts like Los Angeles Unified as well as the California state and federal education departments have released their own guidelines and FAQs for working with special education students during school closures forced by the pandemic.
Special education students receive a wide array of services through both federal and state programs, and many of those don’t easily translate to online use, especially those that require physical or in-person assistance. And some parents are worried that more hurdles could be coming down the line. Part of the recently-passed coronavirus stabilization bill was a provision allowing the Secretary of Education to seek Congressional approval to waive parts of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal law that mandated individualized instruction and additional services for students with special needs in order to ensure they receive a comparable education to their peers.
If you’re a special education teacher, provider or a student or parent of a student in a special education program, we’d like to hear from you. How are you navigating the challenges of online learning and making sure that you or your student(s) get the individualized attention needed? Join our live conversation by calling 866-893-5722.
For more on this at LAist from KPCC’s Kyle Stokes, click here.
Guests:
Carolyn Jones, senior reporter at EdSource where she covers special education; she tweets
Margo Pensavalle, professor of clinical education at the University of Southern California; she was a special education teacher for 16 years and currently designs curriculum for the students with differences corridor of USC’s Masters of Arts in Teaching program
What Would It Take For Your Business To Reopen?
Today, California Governor Newsom is reportedly announcing his plan for reopening California’s economy and easing social distancing protocols.
But the timeline laid out by public health experts and the state officials might be just one of the many variables businesses are considering in deciding when they can go back to business. What would it take for your business or company to go back to normal?
Plus, after weeks of work-from-home and social distancing guidelines, will COVID-19 have changed the way you treat employees or customers? Will you be allowing more work-from-home options or be making changes to the set up of your company, whether internally or for customers? Call us at 866-893-5722.
What’s The Price Tag On A Human Life?
That may seem like a cold and abstract question, but for governments, companies and sometimes families, it’s a question that must be grappled with. And oftentimes, whose life is being examined has an impact on the answer.
In his new book, “Ultimate Price: The Value We Place on Life,” data scientist and health economist Howard Steven Friedman dives into how these different actors calculate the monetary value of people’s lives and the implicit or explicit assumptions driving this decision making.
We take a closer look at these issues, as well as the ways they’ve become magnified by the coronavirus pandemic.
Guest:
Howard Steven Friedman, data scientist, health economist and adjunct associate professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University; his new book is “Ultimate Price: The Value We Place on Life” (June 2020, University of California Press); he tweets
Post COVID-19, When And How Should We Approach Reopening Large Venues?
Although shelter-in-place might seem like it will last forever, there will come a point when public safety measures will be relaxed and even large venues will be reopened.
From a safety standpoint, when will large venues be ready for that? What about something as large as Las Vegas? What markers should we watch out for? And what kind of practices will be required to safely ease back into normal life?
We talk about what a return to post-COVID-19 life might look like, with Hal Kempfer, a former Marine intelligence officer who was part of the team that did the baseline training for North American military pandemic preparedness, as well as infectious disease specialist at USC, Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez.
Guests:
Hal Kempfer, CEO of GRIP (Global Risk Intelligence and Planning), a management consulting firm based in Long Beach; former Marine intelligence officer who was part of the team that did the baseline training for North American military pandemic preparedness
Edward Jones-Lopez, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at Keck Medicine of USC and epidemiologist