College students across Alabama and anyone with a .edu email address are being invited to participate in an anonymous Exposure Notification System app for iPhone and Android users. The app launched in a closed pilot phase on Monday that will allow up to 10,000 downloads for each phone type.

The app is part of the GuideSafe platform, a suite of tools designed to help people reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. It features a tool called HealthCheck, which allows users to report COVID-19 symptoms, and another called Event Passport, which uses an algorithm to assess whether a person is safe to attend a gathering of 10 or more people or not based on the responses they log in HealthCheck. 

The GuideSafe platform encompasses the Stay Safe Together and Testing for Alabama initiatives. Participation is voluntary and designed to protect users’ privacy while anonymously alerting each user to potential exposure to someone who has tested positive in the last 14 days. The exposure notification system assigns random numbers to each user to keep them anonymous to each other and to the system.

The app will be made available for mass public download later this month after the pilot phase ends and the app’s performance is assessed.

GuideSafe is the largest-scale testing initiative for higher education in the nation. It uses exposure notification technology developed jointly by Google and Apple.

Alabama is one of the first states to launch the technology, which is part of the state’s program for safe entry to campuses of higher education. Gov. Kay Ivey allocated more than $30 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding for the plan.

The pilot app was built by the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Birmingham-based MotionMobs, in partnership with the Alabama Department of Public Health.

“We have worked extremely hard to leverage research and innovation, community service, patient care and education to make a positive difference in this pandemic,” said UAB President Ray L. Watts. “This new app – using Google- and Apple-led technology and created by UAB faculty, staff and MotionMobs for the people of Alabama – is a necessary tool in our effort to return to college campuses safely this fall.”

Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday announced a program to increase internet access for K-12 students for distance learning as the start of the new school year approaches. 

The project, called Alabama Broadband Connectivity (ABC) for Students, will provide vouchers for families of students who are eligible for free and reduced lunches “or other income criteria,” according to a press release from Ivey’s office. The vouchers will pay for equipment and services for high-speed internet from the fall through Dec. 31. 

Ivey has allocated for the program $100 million of the state’s $435 million in federal CARES act funds to help the state safeguard schools amid the growing spread of COVID-19. 

The funds will be used to expand internet access by providing “equipment and service for broadband, wireless hot spots, satellite, fixed wireless, DSL, and cellular-on-wheels,” according to Ivey’s office. 

“Despite the upheavals in our lives during the past few months and at least into the near future, children must be able to continue their classroom instruction,” Ivey said in a statement. “This funding will expand internet access to allow more students to access distance learning while creating smaller classes in schools that provide those options and will also ensure their safety during the pandemic. While I respect those districts that have elected to use remote learning, I fear that a slide will come by keeping our kids at home. These funds will bridge the gap until all students can get back into the classroom as soon as possible.”

Families with children who receive free or reduced school lunch are to receive a mailed letter in August, and a website to assist Alabamians with questions as the program nears its launch can be found here.

“Once again, we are appreciative of the leadership and resources provided by Governor Ivey during this unprecedented time in our country’s history. More than ever before, the immediate need for broadband infrastructure, devices, and connectivity are an integral part of providing Alabama students with a quality education,” said Eric Mackey, Alabama superintendent of education, in a statement. “A huge part of evening the playing field to provide greater equity in educational services will come from closing the digital divide between varying Alabama communities. We still have a lot of work to do, but because of the resources provided by Gov. Ivey, we can head into what we know will be a challenging school year with greater optimism.”  

The funds are to be administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, which has partnered with Maryland-based CTC Technology & Energy for the project. 

“We have learned in the past several months that internet connectivity is a necessity for everything from education to healthcare and working remotely. I am pleased that Alabama is going to enter into this private-public partnership to make internet access available to those low-income households who cannot currently afford it. Economic status should not be a determining factor in receiving quality education, and it should not bar anyone from the ability to access vital online services,” said Sen. Del Marsh, president pro tem of the State Senate, in a statement. “Although this is only a temporary solution, I am confident that it will be a bridge to a time when fiber is put in the ground and access to the internet and devices will become standard across Alabama.”

According to Ivey’s office, the plan was drafted with the input from the Broadband Working Group, a group Ivey announced the creation of on June 25, which is composed of legislators and industry experts who are to provide to guidance on the state’s spending of $1.9 billion in CARES Act funds. 

“I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of Governor Ivey’s working group to utilize federal funds in the CARES Act to provide broadband access to all Alabama students regardless of income. I think Governor Ivey has a good plan,” said Rep. Randall Shedd, a member of the working group and a leader of the Rural Caucus. 

Mackey said last week that approximately half of the state’s K-12 students will begin school by learning virtually for a period of time. A lack of internet connectivity in many homes is a major concern for school administrators who face the challenge of providing education to students when new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase in Alabama. 

Unless the U.S. Department of Agriculture extends a waiver program, set to expire at the start of school, thousands of Alabama’s schoolchildren without transportation to school and who are learning remotely could miss out on school meals.  

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, and dozens of other senators on Wednesday urged the USDA to extend vouchers that provide critical meals to children during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools around the country to close their buildings and shift instruction to online and distance-learning models,” the senators wrote in a letter to USDA. “For many children, school breakfast and lunch may be the only healthy and regular meals they receive.”

The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has cost millions of parents their jobs, the senators wrote, and millions more students will be dependent on school-provided meals. 

“School meal program directors must begin procuring food, equipment, and supplies and placing orders now in preparation for the upcoming school year,” the letter continues. 

The waivers have allowed students to receive free meals when learning remotely, and the meals could be delivered to areas when transportation wasn’t available for students. 

State Superintendent Eric Mackey during a press briefing hosted by Jones on July 24 said “we do not anticipate that waiver being extended by the United States Department of Agriculture.” 

Mackey said those waivers allowed for the delivery of meals to students who couldn’t come to school to pick the food up, and it allowed for the serving of bulk items, such as milk by the gallon. That all goes away if the USDA does not extend the waivers, he said. 

“Essentially, they will have to come to school to get the meals,” Mackey said. 

Mackey said last week that about half of the state’s K-12 students will be learning remotely for a period of time once school begins.

The senators are urging the USDA to extend those waivers to help ensure low-income students can get school-provided meals throughout the upcoming school year. The senators also called on the USDA to reimburse schools for the transportation costs for delivering meals to low-income students.  

“While many school meal programs are managing these costs for the time-being, they cannot continue absorbing them for the foreseeable future. We ask that the USDA make additional funds available to schools to assist with the cost of delivering meals to low-income students until regular school operations are restored,” the letter continues. 

Senators in the letter asked the USDA to extend the following waivers: 

• Unexpected School Closures Waiver 
• Afterschool Activity Waiver
• Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program Parent Pick-Up Waiver
• Waiver of Child Nutrition Monitoring
• Waiver of Food Management Company Contract Duration Requirements
• Waiver of Local School Wellness Assessments
• Area Eligibility Waiver
• Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SSO) Waivers

Alabama Sen. Doug Jones is worried that what’s in Senate Republicans’ plan for a fifth round of coronavirus relief bills won’t provide enough to keep students, teachers, staff and families safe once schools begin reopening soon, while COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise. 

Jones said during a press briefing Thursday that proposed bills coming from Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office also doesn’t include enough funds for COVID-19 testing, for local and state governments hard-hit by the economic impact of coronavirus and includes a cut to unemployment benefits when millions need it most. 

Jones said he’s hearing from teachers all across Alabama who are worried but said it doesn’t appear lawmakers in Washington D.C. are nearing a deal to send much-needed federal aid and resources to schools.

“They do not feel like they have a plan in place that will keep both themselves and their children that they teach healthy,” Jones said. 

Alabama added another 1,923 new COVID-19 cases and 27 deaths on Thursday. Of the 83,495 confirmed coronavirus cases in Alabama, more than half, or 45,053, have been reported in July. More than a third of Alabama’s 1,516 coronavirus deaths have come in July as well. The state hit a record-high 1,605 coronavirus hospitalizations on Wednesday.

Jones said he filed a bill with Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., in early June that would provide grants to schools and universities to cover the cost of keep staff and students safe amid the pandemic, including the estimated $1.8 million Alabama schools would need to open safely, but that “Unfortunately that bill, like so many others, is sitting somewhere in Senator McConnell’s desk, and has not been brought to the floor.” 

Jones said the proposals coming from McConnell this week don’t include enough funding for schools, and ties too much of that money to physically opening schools for in-person classes. 

“I don’t think it gives our state and our local governments and boards of education, enough flexibility,” Jones said. 

The Republicans’ approximately $1 trillion relief package includes $105 billion for schools, with $70 billion earmarked for K-12 schools, according to The Washington Post. Of that $70 billion, two-thirds is set aside for schools to reopen for in-person classes, The Post reported. 

President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy Devos have called for schools to reopen fully despite surging cases in many states, including Alabama, and both have threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that do not. Presidents don’t have the ability to withhold funds from public schools. Doing so would take approval from Congress. 

“We are deeply concerned that the bill would seek to tie much-needed assistance to a federal definition of school building reopening,” said Council of Chief State School Officers executive director Carissa Moffat Miller in a statement on the Republican proposal. “It is important to know that nearly all schools will reopen in some way this fall, whether in person, remotely or a combination of both. Additional federal resources are critical to serve students in every learning environment, from necessary PPE and health and safety protocols for safe in-person instruction to broadband and connectivity in the home for successful remote learning.” 

Jones said he’s concerned that lawmakers are “not anywhere close” to finalizing a deal to provide critical federal aid to schools. 

“We didn’t even see that until this week,” Jones said of McConnell’s proposals. “And we got schools in Alabama that are set to open next week. Some have been delayed until August 20. Some have been delayed until Labor Day, but the fact is, to have this right here in front of us this late in this game, after we’ve been begging to try to get this stuff on the floor of the Senate for a long time, is unconscionable.”  

State School Superintendent Eric Mackey said last week that about half of Alabama’s public school children will be learning virtually for a period of time once school starts back, but acknowledged that it’s possible schools will have intermittent closures “of particular parts of the school” if outbreaks occur. 

“We don’t have a number,” Mackey said of a percentage of COVID-19 infections that would prompt a school to close, but he said there will come a point when it becomes “untenable to continue.”