COVID

DCPS last week finished its first in-person pandemic school year after more than a year of virtual learning.

We spoke with a DCPS teacher about navigating this first year back in person.

For D.C. parents who want them, finding a COVID-19 dose for their toddler has proved fairly successful in the first days of availability.

Why it matters: Many D.C. parents have been waiting for what might have seemed like an eternity for these vaccines, and now may be pleasantly surprised at how frictionless the experience is.

Children under the age of five can now get their COVID-19 shots after both the Pfizer and Moderna doses were recommended by the CDC.

Why it matters: COVID is one of the five leading causes of death in children, CDC advisers said this past weekend.

You asked, we responded. Here are some answers to your most common COVID-19 questions.

We are headed into our third pandemic summer as subvariants of Omicron dominate our region and vaccines for our youngest Washingtonians are almost here.

By the numbers: D.C. has seen a decline in its weekly case rate since mid-May. The usual caveat applies: These numbers reflect confirmed positive tests only. In D.C., a new surge of cases peaked at 340 weekly cases per 100,000 residents in the week ending May 21. As of the week ending June 4, the District remains at medium community levels, but the weekly case rate has dropped to 232 cases.

D.C. is urging families to vaccinate their school-aged children before the next school year.

Why it matters: Across the nation, children have fallen behind on getting their routine vaccinations — which are required by D.C. to attend school.

D.C. area officials are preparing to vaccinate children under the age of five who may be next in line to get their COVID-19 shots.

Why it matters: Parents who want their little ones vaxxed, stat, will be queuing up as soon as they get the green light.

D.C. council members undercut trust in DC Health when they probed why COVID-19 data wasn’t shared recently with the CDC over a two-week span, the agency’s director said in a letter to lawmakers that was obtained by Axios.

• DC Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt also said the District wouldn’t change when it releases new case information, citing burnout.

Public health workers have experienced “12+ hour workdays, attacks both verbal and physical on public health professionals, and significant misinformation about public health and our work,” Nesbitt said.

Why it matters: Residents were in the dark about the COVID risk when the city’s data disappeared from the CDC website — which made it look like the District had zero cases. And D.C. officials refused to explain the lapse.

• Nesbitt’s letter to several council members gives the first explanation.

Details: D.C. had been submitting automated and manual reports to the CDC, but stopped the manual reporting between April 27 and May 8, Nesbitt wrote.

• The CDC confirmed receipt of the data during this time, per Nesbitt’s letter.

The other side: A CDC spokesperson previously told Axios that the District’s reports actually stopped during that two-week period.

Between the lines: The agency and council members are at odds over when to share case data with the public. The council wants case information to come out on Mondays instead of Wednesdays, so there isn’t a three-day lag on the previous week’s data.

• But Nesbitt rejected that request in her letter, saying she would not allow staff to work on weekends. Monday reporting would “increase burnout, decrease morale, and it will not improve the public’s ability to understand their health risk,” she wrote.

Nesbitt called on the council to come to her directly in the future, rather than airing their concerns in public.