Coronavirus (NO POLITICAL OR SOCIAL COMMENTARY PLEASE)

[Batman1980]

Schools are like disease hotbeds lol

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by MrHT

And we're surprised about that??? People have been advocating for schools to reopen. I don't know why. People really thought schools can reopen and infection rate wasn't going to increase??

People's minds today are really twisted! And this is why it's taking longer than it should to get through this pandemic. It's nothing more than mere stupidity!

President: Get The Schools Open - return life back to normal

Parents: Get The Schools Open - I have had enough time with my kids

Schools: Get The Schools Open - we need the revenue

Doctors: What are you kidding? Close all the schools. Learn from home.

[Nielsb90]

Things are mostly back to normal where I'm at. Masks are mandatory in public transportion and people work from home where possible (me included). Things opened up a few months ago but there was a recent rise in numbers which is why masks have become mandatory and we have started working from home (again). Restaurants, bars, gyms, etc. have reopened but they have to follow guidelines.There are around 100 new cases daily in my country which is manageable. Everything closed down in early March and in hindsight that seems to have been the right decision.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by MrHT

And we're surprised about that??? People have been advocating for schools to reopen. I don't know why. People really thought schools can reopen and infection rate wasn't going to increase??

People's minds today are really twisted! And this is why it's taking longer than it should to get through this pandemic. It's nothing more than mere stupidity!

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

President: Get The Schools Open - return life back to normal

Parents: Get The Schools Open - I have had enough time with my kids

Schools: Get The Schools Open - we need the revenue

Doctors: What are you kidding? Close all the schools. Learn from home.

Not to completely disagree with you. But this has little to do with schools and learning. This is a university and like most (if not all) it is offering on-line learning. The issue is not schools/classes. But it is a bunch of 20 year olds (plus or minus a few years) assuming they are invulnerable and partying together.

[bruceames]

Agree that this is an off-campus issue. They even say that no cases so far are known to have been transmitted on campus.

College kids are going to gather and party off campus whether they have classes in-school or remotely, and therein lies the problem. That's just the nature of the beast.

[MifuneFan]

My gf works at a Nursing Home/Long-term facility. They've been doing excellent with no cases since the start of this..until yesterday. A male nurse who was hired through an agency tested positive for it. He only worked there on weekends, and was at the facility for 15 mins yesterday before being told the bad news on the phone.

Here's the thing. They were all supposed to get tested on Thursday, but for whatever reason he did his test on Friday AND when asked on the phone whether he had any symptoms he said "well I did lose my smell two days ago" ..So not only would he not have come to work on Saturday had he did the test on Thursday, but he also clearly missed one of the most tell-tale signs of the virus. They screen for symptoms at the entrance too, so either he just said no to everything, or the screener didn't ask the questions properly.

So now the place is in Outbreak protocol, and everyone including all the patients are going to be tested. What a mess. All the staff, including him, wear masks all day long, but it takes one slip like this for things to go to shit. I hope they all test negative.

[Batman1980]

No, we have in-person classes here even at NMSU right now. Granted at far fewer numbers than usual but people are going.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

No, we have in-person classes here even at NMSU right now. Granted at far fewer numbers than usual but people are going.

Not sure if that was meant in respnce to what I said. But
1) I don't know what NSMU is doing

2) Universities are complex places, for example Math classes can easily be done on-line. IT is much harder (if not impossible) to have a lab course (like Chemistry or engineering) on-line. So some courses will always need some form of in-person.

3) I have 2 nephews in two different Universities, one niece in a third one and my BIL and my cousin's husband teach at two others. I know what a few universities are doing very well but have no idea for others which is why I said most.

4) we are talking about University of Alabama so here is what they have on their site

https://education.ua.edu/students/fa...ss-scheduling/

Note that there are three instructional modes to the course listing, two of which should be familiar to you.

FACE TO FACE: All courses classified as face-to-face are simply courses, as you have always known them – face-to-face with your instructors and peers in a classroom space. The main difference is that the classroom space will be socially-distanced, and as noted elsewhere, you will be required to wear a facemask. All face-to-face classes will also be simulcast and recorded on Zoom. This way you will not miss anything if you have an anxiety about attending class or if you otherwise need to miss class.

ONLINE: The other familiar instructional mode is the one you experienced during the shutdown last semester. These are classes taught strictly online. Only about 15% of all of the University’s courses are online in the fall. We had to put some courses online because of room capacity concerns and health risk factors that applied to the instructors of record.

HYBRID: The one instructional mode that might be unfamiliar to you is what that we are calling hybrid courses. All courses classified as hybrid are, in effect, face-to-face classes that will result in some alternating form of in-class attendance. In other words, some percentage of the students enrolled in class will be in-person while the remaining percentage will be on the Zoom platform. The instructor will work out a system that equally divides your physical attendance in class with your attendance on the Zoom platform, unless if you prefer using Zoom to being in class.

[Scarriere]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

[Show spoiler]My gf works at a Nursing Home/Long-term facility. They've been doing excellent with no cases since the start of this..until yesterday. A male nurse who was hired through an agency tested positive for it. He only worked there on weekends, and was at the facility for 15 mins yesterday before being told the bad news on the phone.

Here's the thing. They were all supposed to get tested on Thursday, but for whatever reason he did his test on Friday AND when asked on the phone whether he had any symptoms he said "well I did lose my smell two days ago" ..So not only would he not have come to work on Saturday had he did the test on Thursday, but he also clearly missed one of the most tell-tale signs of the virus. They screen for symptoms at the entrance too, so either he just said no to everything, or the screener didn't ask the questions properly.

So now the place is in Outbreak protocol, and everyone including all the patients are going to be tested. What a mess. All the staff, including him, wear masks all day long, but it takes one slip like this for things to go to shit. I hope they all test negative.

That's terrible.
I hope things get sorted out well for all involved.

[veritas]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

Not sure if that was meant in respnce to what I said. But
1) I don't know what NSMU is doing

2) Universities are complex places, for example Math classes can easily be done on-line. IT is much harder (if not impossible) to have a lab course (like Chemistry or engineering) on-line. So some courses will always need some form of in-person.

3) I have 2 nephews in two different Universities, one niece in a third one and my BIL and my cousin's husband teach at two others. I know what a few universities are doing very well but have no idea for others which is why I said most.

4) we are talking about University of Alabama so here is what they have on their site

https://education.ua.edu/students/fa...ss-scheduling/

Its actually going to be extremely hard to do math classes online. When people are taking a finite elements course or numerical analysis course for example the problems will take multiple white boards and learning math generally requires a fairly large amount of in person instruction whenever people have a problem with a concept. Its also an extreme pain in the ass to write out upper division math problems into most computer programs since they just don't have keys for Greek letters, integrals pde's matrices etc making online testing nearly impossible except for all or nothing fill in the answer testing (on problems that take 5 or 10 pages worth of work and answers that will shift based on how many significant figures you use).


Having online lectures for review would be useful in the same way its useful for chemistry or engineering but an all online math course will hit a ton of road blocks that will hold a ton of students back. A teacher even having an accent seriously increases the difficulty of learning in a math class from my experience.

[MrHT]

Here's an interesting story. There are four Dollar Tree stores near where I live- one located 0.5 miles from my home, another 0.8 miles, another 1.1 miles and another 1.2 miles. The one located 0.5 miles is always packed and has a long line outside. The other three are not nearly as packed and almost never have a line. You can walk right in. They all are about the same in terms of size and items selection, so I have no idea why so many people are going to that one particular Dollar Tree store. Really strange! Maybe people are really that lost on my area and don't realize there are other Dollar Tree stores in the neighborhood.

[castor]

Maybe they're selling drugs in the back room?

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by castor

Maybe they're selling drugs in the back room?

It has to do with the capacity limit in the store. But retail stores have reopened here in NYC since late June. Since then, things have settled down and almost every store no longer has a line outside because stores aren't crowded anymore. Yet, this particular Dollar Tree stores just seems to never settle down. I just find it so odd.

[Underworld54]

I've been saying it all along, they shouldn't have closed down the economy for the healthy people, should have instructed the sick to stay home.

CDC: 94% of COVID-19 deaths had underlying medical conditions

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by Underworld54

I've been saying it all along, they shouldn't have closed down the economy for the healthy people, should have instructed the sick to stay home.

CDC: 94% of COVID-19 deaths had underlying medical conditions

And 50% of the general population have an underlying medical condition...so screw half of us hey?

"The "infectious but milder" D614G mutation of the virus has been found in genome sequencing data from samples collected by the institute, deputy director Herawati Sudoyo told Reuters, noting that more study is required to determine whether that was behind the recent rise in cases.

The strain, which the World Health Organization said was identified in February and has been circulating in Europe and the Americas, has also been found in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia."

Our only hope is this milder version becomes the dominant strain going forward. Because herd immunity is not going to happen and the promised vaccines will only offer partial and short term protection.

[Underworld54]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

And 50% of the general population have an underlying medical condition...so screw half of us hey?

"The "infectious but milder" D614G mutation of the virus has been found in genome sequencing data from samples collected by the institute, deputy director Herawati Sudoyo told Reuters, noting that more study is required to determine whether that was behind the recent rise in cases.

The strain, which the World Health Organization said was identified in February and has been circulating in Europe and the Americas, has also been found in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia."

Our only hope is this milder version becomes the dominant strain going forward. Because herd immunity is not going to happen and the promised vaccines will only offer partial and short term protection.

Most of you are fine then. This shouldn't be shocking since this is what the data has been saying since very early on.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

And 50% of the general population have an underlying medical condition...so screw half of us hey?

It’s more than 50%, since a large number of ailments falls under the “underlying health condition” umbrella, some not very serious at all. But it’s used by some people to fudge the numbers to minimize the impact of the virus.

[Underworld54]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

It’s more than 50%, since a large number of ailments falls under the “underlying health condition” umbrella, some not very serious at all. But it’s used by some people to fudge the numbers to minimize the impact of the virus.

You mean some underlying health conditions that the virus wouldn't impact at all?

[Lacit170]

Originally Posted by MrHT

I realize that, but what I'm saying is, why do these dine-in restaurants have to close completely? Can't they offer take out for now? It boggles my mind on why many of them closed completely when they didn't have to.

you need to realize that most areas of the country are nothing like NYC lol... in remote locations, a small restaurant might not be able to survive off of take-out if the majority of people only dine in and just dont use take out much in general....

restaurants for a large portion of people are a place to go for a "night out". if you can no longer go out, then many will just assume they cook in...

Originally Posted by mar3o

Well, I went to the family gathering tonight. Nobody was coughing which is good. There was some "power laughing" going on a bit, and there was a birthday cake which involved blowing out the candles, which I really wish they had skipped. Overall things seemed pretty reasonable except for that. There were some hugs at the end and I respectfully skipped them, where I normally would take part. We were mostly in a screened indoor patio room so there was some fresh air. Now the worrying over the next few days. We'll probably be fine as my girlfriend's folks have been in contact with them over the past few weeks anyways to take her grandmother back and forth.

glad to know you had a good time and decided to go. hope all is well and none of you have anything to worry about. im sure your girlfriend appreciated the gesture to go as well.

Originally Posted by Mike16

So whats the point of a two week quarantine? If you have it, its not going anywhere, you could simply spread it after your 14 days are up. Especially since you could have it but not show any symptoms.

i assume if you test positive for Corona, you quarantine 2 weeks, then take another test stating youre negative....not sure what you are insinuating

[dublinbluray108]

I heard this evening that extra Covid restrictions being placed on County Kildare in Ireland since 2 weeks ago have now been lifted with immediate effect. Counties Laois & Offaly still have their restrictions unchanged. Covid restrictions in Auckland NZ also have been lifted today.

There was some interesting bits of information from the WHO envoy Dr. David Nabarro earlier about the current status of Covid worldwide, the current number cases it has & about the vaccines to get rid of the virus. He said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland on the radio today that Covid-19 remains stealthy & dangerous and must be kept at bay. He also said that although the number of Covid cases are rising, fewer people are being admitted to hospital & fewer people are dying from it worldwide.

He said this could be partly due because older people, who are higher risk of catching it, are being very careful & because there is an increased focus on crowded indoor settings such as factories. He also said that there is "the possibility that Covid was becoming less fatal" although he was personally not ready to say it yet.

On vaccines; Dr Nabarro said that he was very hopeful for a vaccine to come in to get rid of Covid & he was amazed by the amount of progress being made between scientists around the world who are focusing their efforts on making them to get rid of the virus. However he did say, with caution, that it will take some time for the world's population to get everyone vaccinated when there is a vaccine that works.