COVID-19
pjl44
Posts: 9,971
I know there's a thread on AMT, but I think putting it in the forum for political discussion has brought out all the problems you might imagine.
My hope is that this thread can be focused on discussion of vaccine and treatment progress, apolitical analysis of case/mortality trends, good faith discussions about difficult decisions like when to reopen schools, etc. If you want to bicker about red states and blue states, mask wearing, Governors, our President, etc., the thread in AMT would be more appropriate.
My motivation to kick things off was a couple articles that caught my eye recently:
Despite some anecdotes, it looks very unlikely for someone to get reinfected:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/health/covid-antibodies-herd-immunity.html#click=https://t.co/cTiRddiIZm
It hasn't been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet, but these are potentially the best treatment results we've seen so far. A well-designed study, although I wonder if it's a large enough sample.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-53467022?__twitter_impression=true
And hopefully many people have already seen the encouraging results from Oxford's Phase 1 studies published in The Lancet:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/oxford-coronavirus-vaccine-induces-strong-immune-response-early-trial-results-n1234191
My hope is that this thread can be focused on discussion of vaccine and treatment progress, apolitical analysis of case/mortality trends, good faith discussions about difficult decisions like when to reopen schools, etc. If you want to bicker about red states and blue states, mask wearing, Governors, our President, etc., the thread in AMT would be more appropriate.
My motivation to kick things off was a couple articles that caught my eye recently:
Despite some anecdotes, it looks very unlikely for someone to get reinfected:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/health/covid-antibodies-herd-immunity.html#click=https://t.co/cTiRddiIZm
It hasn't been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet, but these are potentially the best treatment results we've seen so far. A well-designed study, although I wonder if it's a large enough sample.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-53467022?__twitter_impression=true
And hopefully many people have already seen the encouraging results from Oxford's Phase 1 studies published in The Lancet:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/oxford-coronavirus-vaccine-induces-strong-immune-response-early-trial-results-n1234191
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The parent of a 16 year old who is looking to start her junior year here in a few weeks, we are concerned.
They offer two choices - In-school instruction with attendance in or out dependent on the color coding system our state has. You also have the choice of on-line. These choices are by contract each semester.
We chose in-school.
We're caught in a weird spot. Our daughter is to start her culinary arts career program this year. It's a two-year program.
There are two paths to graduation in Ohio. You have college prep + passing the state mandated graduation test.
My kid is not college prep nor is she a pass-the-big-ass-test kind of kid. (Test anxiety is horrible.) What they do with these kids is to require: 120 hours of volunteer work, pass English 9 & 10, Math 9 & 10 and participate in a 2-year career program that ends with them having earned certification in their program. She has everything ticked from the list except for the career program.
A revision to the restart plan was sent yesterday. I need to read over it to see what they have tweaked.
2016: Lexington and Wrigley 1
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary is going with three feet of distance, and there's absolutely no fucking way our children are returning to school if our district aligns with that guidance. And if remote learning is the absolute shitshow that it was in the spring, they aren't doing that either.
We'll see what the district comes up with by August 10, but I'm expecting more incompetence.
2016: Lexington and Wrigley 1
Just looked over the information released yesterday from the school. They are following the county guidelines for going back. The mask mandate for school set by the health department is that they need to wear them if they are moving through the halls, working one-on-one with a teacher or in a small group. The mask can be single layer but can't have holes in them.
Um, :shakes head: . Not thrilled with that.
Oh, the shocking news is that the school year start moved by two weeks. Didn't know that. Instead of starting on August 17th, my daughter starts on September 1st. Would have been wonderful to have that highlighted. If you don't click on the link, you don't get that information.
@dankind would be interested to learn that the online learning in our adopted district sounds like it will not be the shit show of the spring. If Ohio goes purple (which I don't know if that means lockdown again) each day they will have instruction with their teacher and it sounds as if it will be according to the given schedule of classes. My daughter always did her coursework according to the time blocks of her schedule, but I know that a lot of people (including the boyfriend we don't care for) just didn't do anything at all.
I am still of the camp to say that just because they say this is how it will be doesn't mean it will pan out that way.
2016: Lexington and Wrigley 1
A strange way to note people now....
"They should be ok"
"I'd be surprised if that person had any issue with it"
"I sure hope that person doesn't get it."
So sick of this virus!
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/health/moderna-vaccine-covid.html
I think a good deal of us have been vaccinated for the flu but still got the flu in a any given flu season. I still get vaccinated because some protection is better than no protection.
Personally, I'm not sure that 60% is good enough for my family to get out of the house and resume our lives, but it is what it is.
The influenza vaccine is generally about 50 - 60% effective in a typical year, but influenza isn't really a great comparator for a covid vaccine. Influenza is difficult to develop an effective vaccine for because of the rapid mutation rate and multiple circulating strains. So far, SARS CoV2 hasn't seemed to mutate much. The challenges in vaccine development come from other areas.
Here's hoping it's either lazy or just plain tired after wiping out more than 650,000 souls.
2016: Lexington and Wrigley 1
I haven't given it much thought since everything changes so much, week to week.
Not much of a decision to make with one at risk person in our household.
Wonder if we were all healthy of we would send him and just keep anything he brings back to us? (We would stay on lockdown but let him go to school.)
Hard saying, not knowing. As much as it sucks, I think our decision is an easy one. He stays home.
Just not worth the risk of my wife dying.
Is it going to be the same as the in-person teaching? No. However, these poor teachers had a pandemic, lil used or unused resources to navigate . . . In K's district, they had 5 days to patch together something.
As far as the learning aspect, Lil T will learn what he needs to learn and honestly, the social stuff will come. My guess (and it is purely a guess) is that they will address bringing everyone back together as a community after the all-clear is given.
In the meantime, I am glad that they have choices so that people in situations such as yours can choose the best fit for your family. I'm sorry that we have to make these choices, but I'm glad that they are there to make.
2016: Lexington and Wrigley 1
The district sucks. Great Schools is a scam.
But the kid who has friends actually wants to go back to the classroom, and the little guy who gets bullied every day would obviously rather learn remotely.
I would just rather not deal with the district's incompetence anymore.