PhineasC

It seems very likely to me that teachers will strike if certain conditions are not met and the school boards take that into consideration. Agreed?

I have read reports that they chase people for a long while, up to a mile.

No one is forcing you to read the thread. Go drink some craft beer or toss the football around in the yard.

You wrote a lot of words here but basically just agreed with what I posted. Schools can't open without mitigations in place such as smaller class sizes, shifts, mandatory PPE, no recess, etc. and the union is driving that debate. That's exactly what I said... I never said it was bad or wrong. Just that it will happen and even when schools reopen it will be radically different than before.

We can't trust the Chinese numbers at all. For all of the faults of this country, our numbers are going to be as accurate as possible and plenty of people would blow the whistle if there was a cover-up.

Same here, the big company delivery guys around here don't wear masks. Have seen more DoorDash people with masks. I always laugh when I see someone driving in their car alone with a mask on. That's pure fear and lemming-like adherence to the rules right there.

Well, there is a balance. Fedex and Amazon should be providing masks for staff. I thought they were, actually. If not, that at least needs to be addressed.

What happens when Bezos turns around and says, "I need to lay off some staff and reduce operations because providing the mandatory PPE and meeting social distancing guidelines in all warehouses is impossible otherwise"? The state and federal govt will back down fast.

If FedEx and Amazon workers are shut down, the shut down for the rest of us would turn from bad to horrific. The sad fact is the current lockdowns only work because FedEx and Amazon (and places like them) are still humming along. So be careful demanding more regulations on businesses. These businesses are the only lifeline making this whole scheme work at all.

Yes, the teachers unions in many states are definitely not representative of the opinions of individual teachers. That was part of my point. I'm sure many teachers miss the kids and the interaction and would go back to teach if allowed.

I'm not against that, I was just pointing out that it will happen and become a new source of public angst over the summer. My wife and I are looking at homeschooling for a while because we believe that even if schools reopen in the fall, the kids will not be allowed to play together and interact and we will end up carrying a lot of the teaching load anyway. There is no denying teachers unions are powerful, especially in blue states that still have tight lockdowns and show no signs of easing. They will get what they want in terms of adjustments to the schools.

You are part of the "essential" class that is expected to keep working no matter what while the #StayAtHome crowd sits at home ordering DoorDash food, buying shit from Jeff Bezos, and drinking box wine while virtue signaling on the Internet. You know, taking a "sabbatical" to "stay safe."

We will not have South Korea style test and trace here in August, IMO. Maybe in select cities, like 5G cell service... The "continued impact of social distancing" has nothing to do with schools, unless you agree with my post that when the schools reopen it will be radically different, with mandatory masks, shifted schedules, and no social interaction. Warmer temps are a question, but probably offset with school being a closed, indoors environment where we know COVID spreads best. Plus, by late September the weather in many places in the US is just like it is now.

You think teachers will go back in the fall with no demand for PPE, social distancing, adjusted schedules, etc.? OK... If that's the case, why not send the kids back now? Nothing will have changed in terms of risk by late August.

Do you think China is being honest here? Really? And Vietnam probably doesn't have the health infrastructure or the honesty at the national level to accurately report. You really think they have had zero deaths? Really?

But, honestly, I think one of the biggest groups that will loudly demand continued social distancing and shutdowns are the teacher's unions, not the vulnerable seniors. Teachers will not want to go back in the fall, and if they do it will be pretty ridiculous, with tiny class sizes, shifted schedules, and no recess. If a school finds a suspected case of COVID-19, the entire school will need to shutdown for two weeks. Teachers will strike unless they get PPE and students are required to wear masks. There will be news reports of kids getting suspended for hugging a friend. Over the summer, this is going to become the touchpoint of the debate over this virus. That, and daycares.

Personal choice, but if they do choose to stay home, then we should spend our money beefing up the unemployment system (although many of them are retired already) and ensure they still have a steady supply of food, medicine, etc. that can be delivered. I think this is a pretty narrow subset of people. Those 75+ with underlying conditions (the biggest risk group by far) are certainly not working and frequently home-bound anyway.

Comparing the entire United States to individual tiny countries is silly. South Korea has one land border and it is the most heavily fortified in the world. That is nothing like here. Vietnam is still under communist rule. Of course they have had deaths from this. If you want to do that, compare Hawaii to Germany or Washington State to Germany. China's data is crap and their plan of containment involves disappearing doctors who speak out, so not sure they should be a model.

Not all data is of equal quality. Vietnam certainly has had a death from COVID-19. That should be obvious. China's data is total bunk and shouldn't be believed by anyone. New Zealand and Australia are islands that are very difficult to reach. It's easy to cut off imported cases there. Australia also has a very low population density and it has been summer into early fall there -- not peak season for coronaviruses. Germany is probably the most reliable case to look at. The US should not be compared to individual European countries. Need to compare the EU to the US to get a better picture.

To me, the fact that nearly 50% of the deaths are in nursing care facilities is kind of screwing up our assessment of risk for the general population. COVID for them is like herding a bunch of Boy Scouts into a cave and tossing a stick of dynamite in before sealing the entrance. Doesn’t mean kids everywhere are suddenly at much higher risk of being blown up.

Not as deadly but widespread with 50% having no symptoms and a further 25% having a very mild experience. The disease also got into the hospices and nursing homes which really pumped up the death numbers and gave a skewed picture of risk for the general population.

This thing has been spreading steadily here since January, possibly December. We’ve had plenty of time to see the surge hypothetical play out. NYC was as close as we came and even there we never really outpaced local hospital capacity.

Yeah I don’t really believe Iranian or Chinese numbers verbatim. It’s just another data point to throw in.

It didn’t really take off anywhere to the level that was “feared.” Florida and Georgia were supposed to be awash in deaths by now. But wait “2 more weeks” I guess...

And the handful of hospitals at the epicenter in NYC had poor ratings even before the pandemic. That may have contributed. There were also reports of early ventilator usage as a means to reduce spread in the hospital, which we now know was a mistake with this virus.