Coronavirus

[Jocephus]

[mikechamp]

The company I work for works for a district here in Florida which I will not name, other than to tell you it is in the top 10 largest in the nation. We asked a principal if we could donate to their PPE supply to help them re-open and it became apparent to us that the district is not prepared. They don't have the supplies necessary yet. We're like a month away and schools are having to fend for themselves procuring things like masks, plexiglass shielding, sanitizer, etc.

The kids might mostly be fine if they get COVID, but will the staff? If your teacher gets sick, do you have a substitute for 2 weeks (minimum)? Are there actually enough qualified substitute teachers to even step up as teachers inevitably go down with COVID? This is gonna be a constant struggle.

All kinds of stuff like this discussed in the parent groups and among the teachers from what I hear. Would substitutes even take the jobs? And don’t kids have to quarantine free being exposed to teachers with Covid?

Apparently Israel has tied their surge to transmission in schools, though it sounds like mask requirements were loose and effectively nonexistent in some places.

I openly wonder if there will be enough: substitute teachers, custodians and bus drivers. Our school district had a perpetual problem getting enough bus drivers before all this.

And to ghostrunner's question about kids exposure, I get the impression--from our school district's guidance only--that if a kid is exposed, they alone will have to quarantine since the affected child will have been at least 6 feet from others. Not the teacher or classmates, just the exposed kid. I don't quite understand that stance, but that's the impression I get.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

All of this a result of cutting funding to the bone. To the extent that teachers sometimes have to provision their classrooms with their own money.

It's time to get back the money hoarded by the hyper-capitalists in our midst.

[Smith Corks One]

Our school district has made it clear that we will not be able to keep 6 feet of distance between kids. 3 is the goal, but even that may not always be feasible. We are not looking at any reduction in class size (some parents will choose to keep their kids at home, but some teachers will also be at home due to underlying medical conditions). I’m practically sick just worrying about the whole thing. We’re clearly not ready either, but at this point it’s ‘full speed ahead.’

[GeddyWrox]

I haven't told my kids yet but I think I've all but decided they aren't going to school (if the district starts out trying to do business as usual). I'm hoping the school board decides to do online learning again in to start the fall. If they don't and in-person is the only option, I think we'll be enrolling the freshman in some sort of home-schooling curriculum and will let the senior decide between early college or the home-schooling site.

[Leroy]

So the experts say this.

Though some public health experts expected coronavirus transmission to wane in the summer as temperatures rise and the air becomes more humid, cases have actually skyrocketed in some of the hottest and stickiest parts of the country.

Engineers and ventilation experts said this may be in part because residents escape the heat by retreating indoors where heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems could exacerbate airborne transmission with unplanned air currents.

“The main way (air conditioning) can contribute to spreading coronavirus is by creating strong air currents that can move the droplets … and contribute to increase risk,” said William Bahnfleth, chair of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ Epidemic Task Force (ASHRAE) and professor at Penn State University.

Sounds familiar.

[sighyoung]

[GeddyWrox]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... Brilliant.

I got Training Day Denzel and John Wick Keanu.

[Jocephus]

[mikechamp]

Someone checked in on how Sweden is doing. I think the headline gives away their assessment.

Sweden becomes an example of how not to handle COVID-19

Sweden is one of the richest countries in the world, and as nations started grappling with the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, the Swedes took a totally different approach to their neighbors. While other nations quickly imposed lockdowns, Sweden allowed people to keep living largely as normal. Stores and restaurants have remained open throughout the pandemic, as have elementary and middle schools.

The economy has still taken a serious hit, however, and now Sweden is being seen as a cautionary tale on the risks of allowing businesses to reopen too early. The country's mortality rate from the coronavirus is now 30% higher than that of the United States, when adjusted for population size.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sweden-becom ... 18249.html