Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #76

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It's interesting how some states are okay with the on again/off again learning that occurs when groups of students are sent home to quarantine - for however many days it takes until 1 or more of them gets test results.

The anxiety for parents, not knowing if the school will be open the next day or the next week, must be considerable (for those who like an organized life).

Kids from organized families do better in school and I suspect that there will be differences between classes who manage to go a month without disruption and those classes that get sent home for any number of days - but especially those where a kid tests positive and then everyone else has to go get tested.

But of course, parents know best and if that's what they choose, it is certainly better than no school at all. I have a strong feeling that this school year will emphasize sociality and repeated iterations of rules about social distancing.

While it may be a hard path for some states (lots more CoVid with the schools open), it will certainly put them on the road to a more Sweden style set of outcomes (more deaths among the elderly, high positivity rates leading to a version of herd immunity).

Teachers have to be very brave in these circumstances. So the parents if it's their kid who gets CV-19. Kids seem to pass it readily to each other, and under 14's do it mostly asymptomatically.

I doubt that most parents will wear masks around their own kids.

I'm trying to catch several of your points. I may have to edit a time or two. I’ve been watching our school system closely. I'm speaking just for what my school system does.

We don't have an on again/off again model here. The students in quarantine just transition into the e learning routine until their quarantine is over. What we do here is when a student is on quarantine from an exposure, it's a 14 day quarantine not dependent on a negative test.

All the parents here knew going into this quarantine can drop on a student in an instant.

My county isn't taking an approach like Sweden, I'm not sure what California is doing though. Families were encouraged to make decisions based on their entire household. We aren't trying to reach herd immunity or kill off our elderly people. The bulk of our death rate happened prior to school starting, where over 90% of our deaths were elderly. Our deaths are staying pretty low still.

Anyway, that's how we are handling it in my neck of the woods. :)
 
37 Places You’re Most Likely to Catch Coronavirus | Eat This Not That

From pumping gas to prayer, experts have ranked every activity by your risk of coronavirus exposure.

The #1 Most Dangerous Place at Your Grocery Store | Eat This Not That

It's the busiest area, which makes it a prime spot for spreading COVID-19, experts warn.

According to new reporting and interviews with grocery store workers and public health experts, the place in the supermarket that puts you most at-risk of contracting the virus is the cash register.

TIP:

I use self check out, no one but me touches my grocery bags, but some think self check out is dangerous. You be the judge.

Grocery worker: Covid-19 outbreak makes self-check-out risky for customers and staff
 
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Covid-19 cases up across Europe, raising fears of second wave

Covid-19 cases up across Europe, raising fears of second wave

Verity Bowman

4 hrs ago
A new report from Europe’s main health agency shows Covid-19 case numbers are tracking up, raising the possibility of an impending second wave for Europe.

Infection rates across the continent rose continuously for the 31 days to August 19 and reached 37 per 100,000 people in the EU/EAA and the UK.

The trend has continued, if not worsened, over the last week.

The figures, released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), add to growing concern over a resurgence of coronavirus.

Reporting on week 33 of the pandemic, the ECDC found 18 countries reported significant increases in the number of positive cases.

This included the UK as well as Austria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
 
Mass. reports 109 new coronavirus cases, 20 deaths Saturday as DPH upgrades its data system
More at link

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Saturday announced an additional 109 new cases of coronavirus and 20 deaths.

This weekend, DPH is updating its electronic laboratory reporting system to the Amazon Web Services cloud, which will increase data collection capacity. That means that Saturday’s coronavirus statistics could reflect lower numbers of individual tests, total tests, new cases and deaths, DPH said.

Saturday’s case counts and other data is based on information reported to DPH from 8:30 a.m. Friday to 5 p.m. Friday, the department said.

So far during the pandemic, at least 115,850 Massachusetts residents have tested positive for coronavirus and the state has seen 8,690 deaths related to the illness, according to DPH data.

As of Saturday, 315 people are hospitalized with coronavirus, 50 of whom are in the intensive care unit. Hospitalization numbers are not impacted by the data upgrade, DPH said.

The state’s seven-day weighted average of positive molecular tests stands at 1.1%. Earlier this week, the rate was 1.4%, per DPH data.

The department does not plan to update coronavirus statistics on Sunday
 
<RSBM>
I use self check out, no one but me touches my grocery bags, but some think self check out is dangerous. You be the judge.

Grocery worker: Covid-19 outbreak makes self-check-out risky for customers and staff

Our grocery stores (and hardware stores, and any other store that has self checkout) have shut down every other self checkout, so that we can social distance while self checking our groceries ..... lack of social distancing being the complaint of 'risk' spoken of by the person in your linked article.

There is always one staff member hovering at our self checkout areas ... directing people to the next available spot, and assisting when needed.
 
Our grocery stores (and hardware stores, and any other store that has self checkout) have shut down every other self checkout, so that we can social distance while self checking our groceries ..... lack of social distancing being the complaint of 'risk' spoken of by the person in your linked article.

There is always one staff member hovering at our self checkout areas ... directing people to the next available spot, and assisting when needed.

Good point. Thankx. Plus your not facing the employee at the cash register or the bagger or others behind you etc...
 
For every mile that people live away from interstates like the 5 and the 99, there's less CoVid, so that's a factor too.

RSBM. Well that's good to know for my little southern town! The running joke is, no matter what direction you go, we're "an hour and a half away from everything" - so maybe that includes Covid-19 as well! In a county of 40,000 we've had 23 deaths with 0 probable Covid-related deaths.
 
I wouldnt want to use the touchscreen tho. Does that get cleaned between customers I wonder?
I would recommend using disposable gloves. There is no way those screens are cleaned off between everyone. I stuff my pocket with my favorite latex free powder free gloves. If I forget gloves in those types of situations then I go crazy with my hand sanitizer. Feels weird not to have my hand sanitizer with me at all times.
I have a small pocket size bottle that I refill.

I keep a mask hanging in my car so I always have it, and the heat right now kills all the germs on it when left in the car with windows rolled up. I'm getting used to these adjustments and less stressed now than I used to be. Helps to know others feel the same as I do. I'm not the only one on this ship needing a life jacket!


How you ever wondered what you should have in your first aid kit?
 
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I'm trying to catch several of your points. I may have to edit a time or two. I’ve been watching our school system closely. I'm speaking just for what my school system does.

We don't have an on again/off again model here. The students in quarantine just transition into the e learning routine until their quarantine is over. What we do here is when a student is on quarantine from an exposure, it's a 14 day quarantine not dependent on a negative test.

All the parents here knew going into this quarantine can drop on a student in an instant.

My county isn't taking an approach like Sweden, I'm not sure what California is doing though. Families were encouraged to make decisions based on their entire household. We aren't trying to reach herd immunity or kill off our elderly people. The bulk of our death rate happened prior to school starting, where over 90% of our deaths were elderly. Our deaths are staying pretty low still.

Anyway, that's how we are handling it in my neck of the woods. :)

I think you missed my point. Surely, all schools will have sick children stay home? And notify parents if the children in their kid's class have CoVid? And as teachers go out with CoVid, there's a stop/start while a long term sub or a regular sub is found.

I did not say that was the model. I said that fully in-person school necessarily has those risks. So, both the districts and the parents want that model and think it will work (as opposed to consistency in teachers and daily activities, as happens with online education).

My entire point (and remember, I've been a teacher for more than 40 years) is that even exceptionally good adult students have trouble with constant pivoting. School starts, Classrooms 1-50 are all great the first day. Next day, classroom 27 is home on quarantine. Those kids now have to pivot to online - which on average takes a week. Really, most college and university profs will tell you it takes 2 weeks. The entire first day is spent learning to mute and unmute and half the kids/students never show up as they are unfamiliar with the interface (as are the teachers!)

Then, classroom 27 parents are notified that yes, Kid 27-R has CoVid. Class advised to go for testing, students not allowed back on campus without a negative test (really, it should be an immediate test and then one a week later, obviously). Does the school pay for that? I think not in most models. At any rate, the parents have to take their kids (all their kids, if they're smart) for testing.

2 weeks later, Kid 27-R has tested negative twice. Everyone is called back into the classroom. Yet, unknown to everyone, Kid 27-A actually got CoVid from 27-R two weeks prior, but had just one test and it was too soon to pick up a positive. No one knows about that one, so all of the kids in 27 get CoVid - and all but one merely have the sniffles.

Meanwhile, Room 11 has a kid whose parents tested positive at work and now that class has to stop until Kid 11-B is tested.

And all of this, in this "model" is considered a good plan by the parents. As I said, I think it meets certain social needs and perhaps even some academic ones. But it isn't a good plan for teaching math or science.

I totally get their decision to have their children mostly in school.

But I do think some kids will be very anxious and others, thrilled to have school stop and start (with little accountability for them), and still others will be just fine, as they are self-driven learners anyway.

In all my years of observing distance ed (including such places as reservations or isolated villages), the thing that mattered most (IMO) was consistency. Also, family harmony. Some kids learn really well at home with their families, going about fairly regular lives.

It's cool that families get to choose, but I don't buy the argument that either method is educationally superior. I doubt we'll see much data about this chaotic year, but it would be a great project for a school of ed. grad student in your state.

Sweden actually gave the same options as what you described - they continued with "regular school." Some parents immediately created ad hoc "private schools," which were based on online learning. The demographics of these schools were different (just as I'm betting they will be in any place with these two systems). The only difference is that Sweden didn't give much support to the online learners, although...their existing online learning system is better than most of ours, so, it remains to be seen whether we can do it as well as Sweden.

When people got sick, their communities found out, and people quarantined (a lot) when they found out they had been exposed - it just wasn't required. Here, it can be required (but people don't do it - and no one was made to do it in Sweden, which was my point).

The Swedes are getting through it, their economy is no better than Denmark's or Norway's, and all three nations do not yet have data about education.

Will schools where you are have any ability to enforce CV+ employees or students to quarantine?

If answer is yes, then much less like Sweden.

If answer is no, then very much like Sweden.

(And very unlike, say, Utah).
 
Here any child that quarantined has google classroom and zoom to keep up with lessons. Generally 3 days.

Also whole classrooms don't get sent home. Only the 1 child with symptoms and the children sitting directly around them. 5 kids total.

So far the only kids that have tested positive in my county (not our school) were 4 football players that probably caught it during summer practice since the first tested positive after 1 day of school.

Great that they have the ability to ventilate rooms so well, where you live. Here, the plan (when they reopen the schools...which is happening in districts that have shown the state their lower levels of CoVid positivity) is to have 15-20 students in a room and if one tests positive, they all go home until they are tested.

There's no way that the 2 meter rule is going to work in an indoor setting with kids, IMO. But I guess we'll all find out together.
 
I would recommend using disposable gloves. There is no way those screens are cleaned off between everyone. I stuff my pocket with my favorite latex free powder free gloves. If I forget gloves in those types of situations then I go crazy with my hand sanitizer. Feels weird not to have my hand sanitizer with me at all times.
I have a small pocket size bottle that I refill.

I keep a mask hanging in my car so I always have it, and the heat right now kills all the germs on it when left in the car with windows rolled up. I'm getting used to these adjustments and less stressed now than I used to be. Helps to know others feel the same as I do. I'm not the only one on this ship needing a life jacket!
Ahoy there ship mate :D

I'm actually paying over the odds (because it's all organic - only service I can get at the mo) to have my shopping delivered. So you're doing better than me, I'm avoiding!
 
Melbourne is halfway through its stage four lockdown now.

They are getting a lot of public encouragement, because there are signs that they are growing fatigued.


Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton ......... "Certainly, we are trending down," he said. "That is showing up in the stabilisation of hospital figures as well. We have a decrease in hospitalised patients, a decrease in ICU and even ventilators. So the overall trend is positive. Next week, if we carry on like this, we will see numbers below 150."

Premier Daniel Andrews ..... "I just say to people, we can't just stop. We can't give up. We've got to keep going. The only thing that wins, if we let our fatigue get the better of us, is this virus. It'll spread more rapidly. It'll take more lives. It'll mean opening up is further away than it's ever been."

The state recorded 182 new cases on Saturday, the second day running with fewer than 200 cases.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/...s-cases-continue-to-fall-20200822-p55oam.html
 
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Here any child that quarantined has google classroom and zoom to keep up with lessons. Generally 3 days.

Also whole classrooms don't get sent home. Only the 1 child with symptoms and the children sitting directly around them. 5 kids total.

So far the only kids that have tested positive in my county (not our school) were 4 football players that probably caught it during summer practice since the first tested positive after 1 day of school.
Quarantine for known exposure is only 3 days? That would be a complete waste of time. It’s not even long enough to get a reliable test result after exposure, so why send them home at all if it’s only for 3 days?
 
I think you missed my point. Surely, all schools will have sick children stay home? And notify parents if the children in their kid's class have CoVid? And as teachers go out with CoVid, there's a stop/start while a long term sub or a regular sub is found.

I did not say that was the model. I said that fully in-person school necessarily has those risks. So, both the districts and the parents want that model and think it will work (as opposed to consistency in teachers and daily activities, as happens with online education).

My entire point (and remember, I've been a teacher for more than 40 years) is that even exceptionally good adult students have trouble with constant pivoting. School starts, Classrooms 1-50 are all great the first day. Next day, classroom 27 is home on quarantine. Those kids now have to pivot to online - which on average takes a week. Really, most college and university profs will tell you it takes 2 weeks. The entire first day is spent learning to mute and unmute and half the kids/students never show up as they are unfamiliar with the interface (as are the teachers!)

Then, classroom 27 parents are notified that yes, Kid 27-R has CoVid. Class advised to go for testing, students not allowed back on campus without a negative test (really, it should be an immediate test and then one a week later, obviously). Does the school pay for that? I think not in most models. At any rate, the parents have to take their kids (all their kids, if they're smart) for testing.

2 weeks later, Kid 27-R has tested negative twice. Everyone is called back into the classroom. Yet, unknown to everyone, Kid 27-A actually got CoVid from 27-R two weeks prior, but had just one test and it was too soon to pick up a positive. No one knows about that one, so all of the kids in 27 get CoVid - and all but one merely have the sniffles.

Meanwhile, Room 11 has a kid whose parents tested positive at work and now that class has to stop until Kid 11-B is tested.

And all of this, in this "model" is considered a good plan by the parents. As I said, I think it meets certain social needs and perhaps even some academic ones. But it isn't a good plan for teaching math or science.

I totally get their decision to have their children mostly in school.

But I do think some kids will be very anxious and others, thrilled to have school stop and start (with little accountability for them), and still others will be just fine, as they are self-driven learners anyway.

In all my years of observing distance ed (including such places as reservations or isolated villages), the thing that mattered most (IMO) was consistency. Also, family harmony. Some kids learn really well at home with their families, going about fairly regular lives.

It's cool that families get to choose, but I don't buy the argument that either method is educationally superior. I doubt we'll see much data about this chaotic year, but it would be a great project for a school of ed. grad student in your state.

Sweden actually gave the same options as what you described - they continued with "regular school." Some parents immediately created ad hoc "private schools," which were based on online learning. The demographics of these schools were different (just as I'm betting they will be in any place with these two systems). The only difference is that Sweden didn't give much support to the online learners, although...their existing online learning system is better than most of ours, so, it remains to be seen whether we can do it as well as Sweden.

When people got sick, their communities found out, and people quarantined (a lot) when they found out they had been exposed - it just wasn't required. Here, it can be required (but people don't do it - and no one was made to do it in Sweden, which was my point).

The Swedes are getting through it, their economy is no better than Denmark's or Norway's, and all three nations do not yet have data about education.

Will schools where you are have any ability to enforce CV+ employees or students to quarantine?

If answer is yes, then much less like Sweden.

If answer is no, then very much like Sweden.

(And very unlike, say, Utah).

Here parents have a choice. Virtual or traditional.

If a child is quarantined they do NOT do virtual until they go back. They do google classroom (basically get their assignments) and zoom.

Our stores, doctors offices, restaurants ECT. are open. Parents have to work. I can't see a 7 year old doing virtual school home alone.

I think maybe we should all wait and see before inviting trouble.
 
Quarantine for known exposure is only 3 days? That would be a complete waste of time. It’s not even long enough to get a reliable test result after exposure, so why send them home at all if it’s only for 3 days?

I don't know about "known exposure". Our kids are quarantined for having symptoms. None of the kids in our school have tested positive.

3 days is how long it generally takes to get the test back. They are sent home until they test negative.

One of the kids that got sent home had a headache and fever, one kid puked on the bus. Neither child had Covid-19.
 
Here parents have a choice. Virtual or traditional.

If a child is quarantined they do NOT do virtual until they go back. They do google classroom (basically get their assignments) and zoom.

Our stores, doctors offices, restaurants ECT. are open. Parents have to work. I can't see a 7 year old doing virtual school home alone.

I think maybe we should all wait and see before inviting trouble.
Having been a single parent to a young child, I cant begin to imagine the strain this will put on parents. Dependants leave here in the UK does not legally have to be paid leave either.
 
Here parents have a choice. Virtual or traditional.

If a child is quarantined they do NOT do virtual until they go back. They do google classroom (basically get their assignments) and zoom.

Our stores, doctors offices, restaurants ECT. are open. Parents have to work. I can't see a 7 year old doing virtual school home alone.

I think maybe we should all wait and see before inviting trouble.

Isn't it illegal to leave a 7 year old home alone? I think here we can't legally leave a child alone until they are 12 years old ... due to the dangers of leaving them alone at a young age.
 
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