Jason Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 BTW @Joe I think you asked me for what I posted previously about density vs crowding and then it got lost in the noise of the election. I don't remember what specific article I posted, but there's been a lot written about this. http://www.scientificamerican.com//public/resources/favicons/favicon-4c8c70500bd3f01ae8c38cf7dd2771fe.ico Population Density Does Not Doom Cities to Pandemic Dangers WWW.SCIENTIFICAMERICAN.COM Crowding, connections among communities and other factors seem to better explain infection and mortality rates Overcrowding—Not Density—Is a Major Factor in Covid Infection | City WWW.CITY-JOURNAL.ORG Building more housing is a key solution to fighting contagion. COVID-19 Studies Are Proving That Density Is Not the Enemy NYMAG.COM The real risk factor is different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkStar189 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 3 hours ago, Spork3245 said: School is certainly one of the biggest factors of spreading this, I’d argue it’s higher than indoor dining (not counting bars/clubs, just restaurants). I do agree that all 3 should probably be closed, though. I agree. But in my area, a lady in the school district posted an update pretty much saying out of the few students that are testing positive, almost all are being traced back to getting infected from other family members or social gatherings outside of school. I'm sure it won't stay that way for long, but it was a little reassuring for now anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 14 minutes ago, Jason said: My workplace made a small bet over when our schools would shut down for a second time (IT for a school division) but I definitely don't feel bad about that compared to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littleronin Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 My wife's school district's administration don't know what to do. Morale is shot because of all the new cases within the district (a bunch of teachers are out and now student infections are picking up) The only subs they can get have tested positive and a large group of subs from last year refuse to go near the schools this year. They don't want to go online because of the backlash they will face from a community that, even during the current outbreak, deny that any of it is real. So during a her weekly meeting today they were trying to pressure the teachers into "forcing" them to go online until the start of the new year. It really did seem like they were trying to punt the blame to the teachers for going online instead of making the call themselves. EDIT: She recorded the meeting and willing most likely be sending it out to the local paper and maybe the some new outlets in Reno to show them what the teachers are being asked to do. UPDATE: After asking my neighbor (former superintendent of the district we live in) to listen to the recording. He said it sounds like they administration is trying to get a majority of the staff to say that they don't feel comfortable coming into the buildings and would rather not (it was never worded as switching to online which he said was a key) so they could take that to the board as the possibility of a teacher motivated strike. The importance of that is in the state of Nevada teachers cant strike and seeding the idea can result in termination of contracts without the district taking penalty. The district in question entered the year with a half million dollar budget gap but already had contracts approved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 The idea that anyone is actually physically sending their kids to school right now is patently absurd to me. We switched over to online only in like March, before the last school year was even over. No one threw a fuss and it's not a big deal. Jesus fucking Christ we have dumb people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 8 hours ago, DarkStar189 said: I agree. But in my area, a lady in the school district posted an update pretty much saying out of the few students that are testing positive, almost all are being traced back to getting infected from other family members or social gatherings outside of school. I'm sure it won't stay that way for long, but it was a little reassuring for now anyways. In NJ, schools don’t have to inform families that they may have been exposed to COVID if the infected child wasn’t physically there ~72 hours before testing positive. I know this because my friend, her husband, and son all got it (the husband had a 102-105 fever for 11 straight days), when the tests came back positive on a Monday morning, she called the middle-school to let them know, and because he wasn’t there since Thursday they told my friend “oh, good, we don’t need to make an announcement then”. When my friend questioned this, the school said they’re just following state-health guidelines. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Vic20 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 3 hours ago, Xbob42 said: The idea that anyone is actually physically sending their kids to school right now is patently absurd to me. We switched over to online only in like March, before the last school year was even over. No one threw a fuss and it's not a big deal. Jesus fucking Christ we have dumb people. Yup! My kids are both 100% online and at home. My wife was working at our local school, but gave her two week's notice because they are not following their own COVID protocols. This whole thing has shown us how incapable our local society is of doing things with the great good in mind. Keep in mind, I'm not talking about a community with deep financial problems, these people can afford to manage this situation the way I and my family are handling, they just don't want the fuss and inconvenience of sacrificing a little to do the right thing for all. IT will be a true shit show following thanksgiving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comet Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 4 hours ago, Xbob42 said: The idea that anyone is actually physically sending their kids to school right now is patently absurd to me. We switched over to online only in like March, before the last school year was even over. No one threw a fuss and it's not a big deal. Jesus fucking Christ we have dumb people. Not everyone can afford to work from home or even if they can work from home they aren’t always able to work and support virtual learning. My wife and I had to recruit the services of my sister in law’s family to support our kindergartener’s virtual learning because neither of us had the capacity to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Just now, Comet said: Not everyone can afford to work from home or even if they can work from home they aren’t always able to work and support virtual learning. My wife and I had to recruit the services of my sister in law’s family to support our kindergartener’s virtual learning because neither of us had the capacity to do so. I'd rather my kid just skip a year of school rather than sending them out into the cesspits. And kids don't (usually) go to school in the Summer, so clearly people need to have a plan for when their kid isn't gone for most of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Vic20 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 7 minutes ago, Comet said: Not everyone can afford to work from home or even if they can work from home they aren’t always able to work and support virtual learning. My wife and I had to recruit the services of my sister in law’s family to support our kindergartener’s virtual learning because neither of us had the capacity to do so. This is very true and I know that not all communities can handle these social changes without proper federal support ,which we all know isn't coming. This is why it pisses me off that there are plenty of communities with the means to lock it down, but don't because FOMO or this is MY MERICA! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 1 hour ago, Comet said: Not everyone can afford to work from home or even if they can work from home they aren’t always able to work and support virtual learning. My wife and I had to recruit the services of my sister in law’s family to support our kindergartener’s virtual learning because neither of us had the capacity to do so. My wife, a high school math teacher, is working harder than ever for 100% virtual, and is seated at her makeshift desk for 8+ hours a day. This shit is extremely hard for teachers. She's already nearly burnt out from it, to the point she's talking about leaving teaching entirely (there's other issues other than increased workload due to the virtual teaching, but the expectations and everything that is coming with it are becoming the last straw). And she's not the only teacher in this position or thinking this! It's all the work (and then some) with nearly none of the intangible rewards of teaching like getting to know the kids and that interpersonal connection that makes the job "worth the bullshit" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comet Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 23 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: My wife, a high school math teacher, is working harder than ever for 100% virtual, and is seated at her makeshift desk for 8+ hours a day. This shit is extremely hard for teachers. She's already nearly burnt out from it, to the point she's talking about leaving teaching entirely (there's other issues other than increased workload due to the virtual teaching, but the expectations and everything that is coming with it are becoming the last straw). And she's not the only teacher in this position or thinking this! It's all the work (and then some) with nearly none of the intangible rewards of teaching like getting to know the kids and that interpersonal connection that makes the job "worth the bullshit" I hear you man. My wife is also a teacher. What makes all of this is worse is that there isnt a healthy pool of substitutes anywhere so these teachers are putting in insane hours with no hopes of a respite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marioandsonic Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 My mom is a teacher, and she has the same complaints you guys are posting. Her school board was debating whether or not to gi back to being 100% virtual due to the rising cases, but I haven't heard what they decided yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodporne Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 27 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: My wife, a high school math teacher, is working harder than ever for 100% virtual, and is seated at her makeshift desk for 8+ hours a day. This shit is extremely hard for teachers. She's already nearly burnt out from it, to the point she's talking about leaving teaching entirely (there's other issues other than increased workload due to the virtual teaching, but the expectations and everything that is coming with it are becoming the last straw). And she's not the only teacher in this position or thinking this! It's all the work (and then some) with nearly none of the intangible rewards of teaching like getting to know the kids and that interpersonal connection that makes the job "worth the bullshit" I just spoke with a friend of mine the other day and his wife just quit her teaching job for apparently similar reasons. I feel for her, it looks fucking tough to power through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 My school division is a decent size (32 schools, ~12,000 students), and we (IT department) have been trying to mentally (and of course, factually) prepare administration for the possibility of learning from home. We have in-school 100% right now, with mandatory masks, and so far haven't had any in-school spread. We've closed classrooms for two weeks, and even one school for a week, but we've been lucky. But really, if we need to go fully remote again, the teachers/admin have no solid plan. Many of the kids we serve in poorer areas of the city have no home computer, or even home internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littleronin Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 45 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: My wife, a high school math teacher, is working harder than ever for 100% virtual, and is seated at her makeshift desk for 8+ hours a day. This shit is extremely hard for teachers. She's already nearly burnt out from it, to the point she's talking about leaving teaching entirely (there's other issues other than increased workload due to the virtual teaching, but the expectations and everything that is coming with it are becoming the last straw). And she's not the only teacher in this position or thinking this! It's all the work (and then some) with nearly none of the intangible rewards of teaching like getting to know the kids and that interpersonal connection that makes the job "worth the bullshit" Yeah my wife is just scrap the desk at this point because it just wasnt comfortable. Has been putting in up to 15 hour days because as a SPED teacher some of the kids just arent getting the material that seems to be a one size fit all instead of flexible for the kids to learn. A few of the last weekends she has stopped and had lessons on Saturdays as kids needed the help. It is sad to think that she put in less time and energy when school was in person over the virtual because of the constraints of the material and programs used. It should be noted that between my wife and the other online SPED teacher they are service just over 140 kids total and the district sees that as completely fine when Nevada laws say a teacher shouldnt have more than 27 I believe is the number on a caseload. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentbob Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 I agree kids should be at home being taught BUT I also understand why some kids need to be there as well. My niece we think boarders on autism and needs the social interaction with kids her age. She would get sad, mad and depressed during lockdown and some days my sister said, got pretty bad. Now she is only 7, but this is the time she needs interaction with physical friends, and not just digitally on a screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 45 minutes ago, Littleronin said: Yeah my wife is just scrap the desk at this point because it just wasnt comfortable. Has been putting in up to 15 hour days because as a SPED teacher some of the kids just arent getting the material that seems to be a one size fit all instead of flexible for the kids to learn. A few of the last weekends she has stopped and had lessons on Saturdays as kids needed the help. It is sad to think that she put in less time and energy when school was in person over the virtual because of the constraints of the material and programs used. It should be noted that between my wife and the other online SPED teacher they are service just over 140 kids total and the district sees that as completely fine when Nevada laws say a teacher shouldnt have more than 27 I believe is the number on a caseload. Holy cow My wife has it better than most to be sure, relatively small class sizes and is a computer science magnet school school that is set up for online anyway, and she has these complaints. I can't imagine how that is. Beats her old school that she just left though. Right now they're in person and are extremely strict on who they let know may have been exposed to covid. Like you may be in the room with a positive case all day long but unless you were within 6 ft for 15 mins or more you're not getting notified Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 See How Coronavirus Restrictions Compare to Case Counts in Every State - The New York Times WWW.NYTIMES.COM Using an index that tracks policy responses to the pandemic, The Times analyzed outbreaks in each state relative to the state’s most recent containment measures. Quote States That Imposed Few Restrictions Now Have the Worst Outbreaks By Lauren Leatherby and Rich HarrisNov. 18, 2020 Coronavirus cases are rising in almost every U.S. state. But the surge is worst now in places where leaders neglected to keep up forceful virus containment efforts or failed to implement basic measures like mask mandates in the first place, according to a New York Times analysis of data from the University of Oxford. Wonderful reporting NYT! In other news, water is wet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_MH Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 I guess my wife has it easy then. Our local city puts like 70% of it's budget into education. She's a special needs teacher and has only a handful of students. She started the year in person with a lottery system and was moved to 100% online after the city started spiking. Last she was told, they'd remain online until at least a couple of weeks after New Years Day. The thinking was to try to see if there's a huge spolike after the holidays. The city is in pretty bad affair, though. We're nearing 500 new infections a week for a city of 112k. It's the suburban and college parts of the city causing issues; so basically Trump voters and college kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 2 hours ago, Spork3245 said: See How Coronavirus Restrictions Compare to Case Counts in Every State - The New York Times WWW.NYTIMES.COM Using an index that tracks policy responses to the pandemic, The Times analyzed outbreaks in each state relative to the state’s most recent containment measures. Wonderful reporting NYT! In other news, water is wet. Still important! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 16 hours ago, Jason said: BTW @Joe I think you asked me for what I posted previously about density vs crowding and then it got lost in the noise of the election. I don't remember what specific article I posted, but there's been a lot written about this. http://www.scientificamerican.com//public/resources/favicons/favicon-4c8c70500bd3f01ae8c38cf7dd2771fe.ico Population Density Does Not Doom Cities to Pandemic Dangers WWW.SCIENTIFICAMERICAN.COM Crowding, connections among communities and other factors seem to better explain infection and mortality rates Overcrowding—Not Density—Is a Major Factor in Covid Infection | City WWW.CITY-JOURNAL.ORG Building more housing is a key solution to fighting contagion. COVID-19 Studies Are Proving That Density Is Not the Enemy NYMAG.COM The real risk factor is different. Thanks! I was looking for the middle article, but this is amazing, gracias! A classmate of mine in this data science bootcamp I just finished did his capstone project on predicting the COVID-19 positivity rate in Chicago. One of the most important features in predicting the positivity rate that his model found was amount of people in household, so I thought that was pretty interesting and wanted to give him that article so he could explore that more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 19 minutes ago, Joe said: Still important! I guess? It’s like saying “wearing a jacket helps keep you warm”. Maybe I’d find it more important if I thought this would change a single “reopen-mah-state” chud’s mind, and if the people who’ll believe the article weren’t those who already knew this information. I’ll admit, I’m being super pessimistic, though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 1 minute ago, Spork3245 said: I guess? It’s like saying “wearing a jacket helps keep you warm”. Maybe I’d find it more important if I thought this would change a single “reopen-mah-state” chud’s mind, and if more than the only people who’d believe already knew this. It's important to have data that reinforces what we already know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Just now, Joe said: It's important to have data that reinforces what we already know. I didn’t argue against that. Did you read the article? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 11 minutes ago, Spork3245 said: I didn’t argue against that. Did you read the article? Yes and their analysis of the effect of containment measures on the virus's surge is important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 9 minutes ago, Joe said: Yes and their analysis of the effect of containment measures on the virus's surge is important. That data (regarding containment measures working) was already known from months ago. This analysis is just confirming that the measures still work... and why wouldn’t they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 My wife's old school district is now saying you don't need to quarantine if you've had secondary contact with someone who has or is suspected to have covid. That is, if person A with covid comes into contact with person B, and person C is a teacher who came into contact with B, C will not have to quarantine. You only need to contact the school medial office if you have two or more symptoms or have direct contact with someone with covid. Absolute insanity. That's now how infectious diseases work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Friend's school district rushed back last week to return before california locked things down more. He was immediately exposed to covid and has to do a 7 day quarantine. Dunno why only 7. His school district seems like fucking morons though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 lol good luck with that. Thanksgiving is going to be a super-spreader like the world has never seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 36 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said: lol good luck with that. Thanksgiving is going to be a super-spreader like the world has never seen. I was going to get a haircut before Thanksgiving but the place I went moved things back inside from the outdoor spot they were using by the time I went to make another appointment. I've also been debating getting my cleaning woman in before Thanksgiving if she's working right now (I obviously clean up myself too but it's never the same as having someone come in and give everything a good deep scrub) but I've been super reluctant to and now probably can't get her before Thanksgiving. Now probably not gonna want to do either until at least January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joestradamus Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Just heard from my sister who works in a clinic for Stanford that her boss has told them that 6 feet of distancing is no longer required. *shrugs* 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Man, I took my bike out for a short ride today—maybe a mile and a half round trip—to pick up a takeout order from a restaurant and holy fuck am I out of shape. Not having access to the gym since March had already taken an obvious toll but the month and a half of unsafe air quality bringing even the occasional bike ride and run to a halt has apparently really fucking done me in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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