Coronavirus General Discussion

[jalanlong]

Well, here we go. Schools were supposed to open for in-person instruction 8/5 but it was just announced that classes will be online through Labor Day.

"Based on our local health indicators that are showing an increase in infections in our community and current staffing projections, the first phase will begin with all students attending school virtually." (emphasis mine)

Locally I've heard that some teachers may be opting out. Nationally it appears that some teacher's unions are not letting a crisis go to waste and are making more demands before agreeing to teach in-person. Perhaps teacher shortages will be the deciding factor in all of this.

Why on earth would anyone believe at this point that students will go back after Labor Day? I feel like the only thing that is going to stop this is people just unenrolling their children from the school as a protest.

[flyingpylon]

Parler seems to be gaining some traction, as a twitter substitute, and bitchute for a YouTube substitute, not sure if face book has an uncensored competitor with any legs yet, but at least there some alternatives building a user base,

It's founder was on C-Span. But it seemed to be only a phone thing? No way to engage in it using a computer?

Vinny

https://parler.com/ but I think you have to register to see anything, unlike Twitter.

Just tried to register. Gave my landline phone number. Sent me a text for a number I need to enter to keep going. My landline does not receive texts. All this leads me to conclude it is phone based only and not to be used on a computer. Anyone here actually on it?

Vinny

It's not phone-based only. I am on it and I can use the website or the app on my phone. You do have to be able to receive a text to get registered.

[Libertarian666]

Also what is also interesting to me is that the 75% choosing to go back goes against earlier questionnaires (and local news polls) where only 50% of parents were planning on sending their kids back. So either the polls were wrong, or parents opinions changed in the last month (with a surge in cases happening) or what parents "want" to do vs what they can actually do are two different things.

Interesting that those polls were that far off. Maybe opinions really have shifted in the past several weeks.

Are the schools going to reopen non-academic and afterschool activities too, or is it just academic classes? I worry that an entire generation of kids is going to be socially handicapped because their public lives are being dramatically curtailed. They're being taught to live in fear and they're spending most of their time on social media or playing video games, and they're not doing what kids normally do to prepare for college, career etc. A few weeks is one thing, but as the duration starts being measured in years, that's something else. I think parents are starting to understand this even though the media and health officials are studiously avoiding the subject.

That's why I hypothesized that if schools don't reopen, people are going to start organizing their own homegrown versions.

That's why I'm pretty sure the politicians will indeed open the schools.
How are the children going to get their woke brainwashing quotient without publik skools?

[Libertarian666]

Also what is also interesting to me is that the 75% choosing to go back goes against earlier questionnaires (and local news polls) where only 50% of parents were planning on sending their kids back. So either the polls were wrong, or parents opinions changed in the last month (with a surge in cases happening) or what parents "want" to do vs what they can actually do are two different things.

Interesting that those polls were that far off. Maybe opinions really have shifted in the past several weeks.

Are the schools going to reopen non-academic and afterschool activities too, or is it just academic classes? I worry that an entire generation of kids is going to be socially handicapped because their public lives are being dramatically curtailed. They're being taught to live in fear and they're spending most of their time on social media or playing video games, and they're not doing what kids normally do to prepare for college, career etc. A few weeks is one thing, but as the duration starts being measured in years, that's something else. I think parents are starting to understand this even though the media and health officials are studiously avoiding the subject.

That's why I hypothesized that if schools don't reopen, people are going to start organizing their own homegrown versions.

Well it is a moot point now because even though 75% of parents in my district chose to send their kids back (and some other wealthier districts had upwards of 85% choosing to send their kids back) the districts decided yesterday to start the school year out online, ignoring parents wishes. At this point I do not believe they will have a physical school year at all. I think they will get people acclimated to this with a "goal" of starting physical at Labor Day but it will never happen. I have no idea what I am going to do. My son does not learn sitting in front of a computer doing online math or science games that they call online school. He asks every day when he can go back to school and see his friends.

As an aside, do you think that the users of Facebook and other social media outlets lean liberal? People that I know are all for reopening but I am not sure they are representative of the avg citizen. So I like to sort of gauge what the avg person is thinking about all of this. I am not sure if Facebook is a good barometer or not. While Frisco ISD had 85% of parents choose to send their kids back and the district decided to do online instead, I would say that 90% of the comments to that news on Facebook were something along the lines of "thank you for keeping our kids safe!" or "Thanks Frisco for following the Science!" If that is really the way the avg person thinks then we may never have school again.

I can't find data for Facebook, but according to Pew Research, Twitter users are definitely more leftist than average:

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/20 ... ter-users/

[Libertarian666]

As an aside, do you think that the users of Facebook and other social media outlets lean liberal? People that I know are all for reopening but I am not sure they are representative of the avg citizen. So I like to sort of gauge what the avg person is thinking about all of this. I am not sure if Facebook is a good barometer or not. While Frisco ISD had 85% of parents choose to send their kids back and the district decided to do online instead, I would say that 90% of the comments to that news on Facebook were something along the lines of "thank you for keeping our kids safe!" or "Thanks Frisco for following the Science!" If that is really the way the avg person thinks then we may never have school again.

My observation of Facebook is that the loudest and most frequent posters absolutely lean left. I consider them to be "progressive", not "liberal". Whether what you see accurately represents the entire user base depends on who you are "friends" with.

But I have noticed that more moderate users tend not to post at all or have dismissed Facebook entirely, which makes it a big echo chamber most of the time.

I like to have a gauge on the way the avg person thinks about stuff so that I can sort of know what might be coming. Should I prepare for a short shutdown or a long one in this case? But it is hard to know how the majority of people feel on this. Generic polling says that people are in favor of shutdowns and closed schools. And social media posts would definitely confirm that. However, when our locals school parents had to actually put pen to paper and say if they were sending their kids back to school or not, close to 80% chose to send them back. is there a "silent majority" out there that is against all of this or no? It's hard to tell.

I believe there is a very significant silent majority that is fed up not only with all of the closings (school included) but cancel culture and wokeness in general.

We'll see in 109 days.

[jalanlong]

Also what is also interesting to me is that the 75% choosing to go back goes against earlier questionnaires (and local news polls) where only 50% of parents were planning on sending their kids back. So either the polls were wrong, or parents opinions changed in the last month (with a surge in cases happening) or what parents "want" to do vs what they can actually do are two different things.

Interesting that those polls were that far off. Maybe opinions really have shifted in the past several weeks.

Are the schools going to reopen non-academic and afterschool activities too, or is it just academic classes? I worry that an entire generation of kids is going to be socially handicapped because their public lives are being dramatically curtailed. They're being taught to live in fear and they're spending most of their time on social media or playing video games, and they're not doing what kids normally do to prepare for college, career etc. A few weeks is one thing, but as the duration starts being measured in years, that's something else. I think parents are starting to understand this even though the media and health officials are studiously avoiding the subject.

That's why I hypothesized that if schools don't reopen, people are going to start organizing their own homegrown versions.

That's why I'm pretty sure the politicians will indeed open the schools.
How are the children going to get their woke brainwashing quotient without publik skools?

I don't think you have to go as far as organizing home schools. This would be over tomorrow if the 81% of parents at my school (and the 75% at the other schools) who wanted the kids to go back went to the district tomorrow and unenrolled their kids from school. That would end this right now.

[Tortoise]

In California, the Orange County Board of Education voted this week to reopen its schools for in-person attendance, but Emperor Newsom overruled their decision today and mandated that those schools (as well as all other schools in counties on his "watch list") must remain online-only this fall.

[Libertarian666]

Also what is also interesting to me is that the 75% choosing to go back goes against earlier questionnaires (and local news polls) where only 50% of parents were planning on sending their kids back. So either the polls were wrong, or parents opinions changed in the last month (with a surge in cases happening) or what parents "want" to do vs what they can actually do are two different things.

Interesting that those polls were that far off. Maybe opinions really have shifted in the past several weeks.

Are the schools going to reopen non-academic and afterschool activities too, or is it just academic classes? I worry that an entire generation of kids is going to be socially handicapped because their public lives are being dramatically curtailed. They're being taught to live in fear and they're spending most of their time on social media or playing video games, and they're not doing what kids normally do to prepare for college, career etc. A few weeks is one thing, but as the duration starts being measured in years, that's something else. I think parents are starting to understand this even though the media and health officials are studiously avoiding the subject.

That's why I hypothesized that if schools don't reopen, people are going to start organizing their own homegrown versions.

That's why I'm pretty sure the politicians will indeed open the schools.
How are the children going to get their woke brainwashing quotient without publik skools?

I don't think you have to go as far as organizing home schools. This would be over tomorrow if the 81% of parents at my school (and the 75% at the other schools) who wanted the kids to go back went to the district tomorrow and unenrolled their kids from school. That would end this right now.

Can you do that without having another school to send them to? I would think that would be illegal, but I admit knowing nothing about Texas school laws.

[jalanlong]

Also what is also interesting to me is that the 75% choosing to go back goes against earlier questionnaires (and local news polls) where only 50% of parents were planning on sending their kids back. So either the polls were wrong, or parents opinions changed in the last month (with a surge in cases happening) or what parents "want" to do vs what they can actually do are two different things.

Interesting that those polls were that far off. Maybe opinions really have shifted in the past several weeks.

Are the schools going to reopen non-academic and afterschool activities too, or is it just academic classes? I worry that an entire generation of kids is going to be socially handicapped because their public lives are being dramatically curtailed. They're being taught to live in fear and they're spending most of their time on social media or playing video games, and they're not doing what kids normally do to prepare for college, career etc. A few weeks is one thing, but as the duration starts being measured in years, that's something else. I think parents are starting to understand this even though the media and health officials are studiously avoiding the subject.

That's why I hypothesized that if schools don't reopen, people are going to start organizing their own homegrown versions.

That's why I'm pretty sure the politicians will indeed open the schools.
How are the children going to get their woke brainwashing quotient without publik skools?

I don't think you have to go as far as organizing home schools. This would be over tomorrow if the 81% of parents at my school (and the 75% at the other schools) who wanted the kids to go back went to the district tomorrow and unenrolled their kids from school. That would end this right now.

Can you do that without having another school to send them to? I would think that would be illegal, but I admit knowing nothing about Texas school laws.

You can indeed. Just unenroll and state that you are HomeSchooling them. I did that when I lived in Downtown Dallas. My son was in 1st grade and his school was terrible.

[Xan]

Update from Texas: the AG/Governor have overridden local ordinances that closed religious schools, as being against the Texas and US constitutions. Such schools can now remain open regardless of the local ordinances.

[vnatale]

Parler seems to be gaining some traction, as a twitter substitute, and bitchute for a YouTube substitute, not sure if face book has an uncensored competitor with any legs yet, but at least there some alternatives building a user base,

It's founder was on C-Span. But it seemed to be only a phone thing? No way to engage in it using a computer?

Vinny

https://parler.com/ but I think you have to register to see anything, unlike Twitter.

Just tried to register. Gave my landline phone number. Sent me a text for a number I need to enter to keep going. My landline does not receive texts. All this leads me to conclude it is phone based only and not to be used on a computer. Anyone here actually on it?

Vinny

It's not phone-based only. I am on it and I can use the website or the app on my phone. You do have to be able to receive a text to get registered.

Thanks for the pointer. Now I will use my cell phone number so that I can receive the text.

[Libertarian666]

Also what is also interesting to me is that the 75% choosing to go back goes against earlier questionnaires (and local news polls) where only 50% of parents were planning on sending their kids back. So either the polls were wrong, or parents opinions changed in the last month (with a surge in cases happening) or what parents "want" to do vs what they can actually do are two different things.

Interesting that those polls were that far off. Maybe opinions really have shifted in the past several weeks.

Are the schools going to reopen non-academic and afterschool activities too, or is it just academic classes? I worry that an entire generation of kids is going to be socially handicapped because their public lives are being dramatically curtailed. They're being taught to live in fear and they're spending most of their time on social media or playing video games, and they're not doing what kids normally do to prepare for college, career etc. A few weeks is one thing, but as the duration starts being measured in years, that's something else. I think parents are starting to understand this even though the media and health officials are studiously avoiding the subject.

That's why I hypothesized that if schools don't reopen, people are going to start organizing their own homegrown versions.

That's why I'm pretty sure the politicians will indeed open the schools.
How are the children going to get their woke brainwashing quotient without publik skools?

I don't think you have to go as far as organizing home schools. This would be over tomorrow if the 81% of parents at my school (and the 75% at the other schools) who wanted the kids to go back went to the district tomorrow and unenrolled their kids from school. That would end this right now.

Can you do that without having another school to send them to? I would think that would be illegal, but I admit knowing nothing about Texas school laws.

You can indeed. Just unenroll and state that you are HomeSchooling them. I did that when I lived in Downtown Dallas. My son was in 1st grade and his school was terrible.

Ok, so you do have to say you are homeschooling, but you don't actually have to prove it. Good.

[WiseOne]

That's why I hypothesized that if schools don't reopen, people are going to start organizing their own homegrown versions.

That's why I'm pretty sure the politicians will indeed open the schools.
How are the children going to get their woke brainwashing quotient without publik skools?

Now that would REALLY make me go the homeschool route, if the required online material included that kind of woke brainwashing.

My brother lives in Berkeley, CA and once proudly took me to visit his daughter's school. She was in first grade at the time. I looked up on the wall and saw a set of posters on the wall that was obviously some kind of art/social studies project. I forget exactly what it said, but it was something like "White people are bad because they have done bad things to black and Hispanic people." I was pretty shocked. My brother didn't understand why I wasn't happy to see that. He's the quintessential Berkeley resident.

[WiseOne]

A tip for mask wearing outdoors in hot, humid weather!! Provided as a public service to this board!

I don't mind masks indoors, but I really have a problem with them when I'm trudging up hills and doing garden work outdoors in hot, humid conditions. I get short of breath and it gets really sweaty and unpleasant under the mask. In outdoors conditions like this, the mask is completely pointless except for virtue signaling. I take it off when possible, but that's not always socially acceptable.

What you want in these conditions is a mask that looks like a mask, but is made of a breathable, loose-woven material. Preferably cotton. So I bought a roll of 4" wide cotton gauze bandages from the drugstore, and cut off a long piece. Cut away material on the ends so that you have two thin strips to tie together to make ear loops. Ta da! Breathable, comfortable, and looks perfectly legit. And you get several masks from a roll.

Here in NY where the infection rate is miniscule, I don't see the need for anything more than this. In a state where infection rates are still high, you might want to limit this just for outdoor use.

[Smith1776]

A tip for mask wearing outdoors in hot, humid weather!! Provided as a public service to this board!

I don't mind masks indoors, but I really have a problem with them when I'm trudging up hills and doing garden work outdoors in hot, humid conditions. I get short of breath and it gets really sweaty and unpleasant under the mask. In outdoors conditions like this, the mask is completely pointless except for virtue signaling. I take it off when possible, but that's not always socially acceptable.

What you want in these conditions is a mask that looks like a mask, but is made of a breathable, loose-woven material. Preferably cotton. So I bought a roll of 4" wide cotton gauze bandages from the drugstore, and cut off a long piece. Cut away material on the ends so that you have two thin strips to tie together to make ear loops. Ta da! Breathable, comfortable, and looks perfectly legit. And you get several masks from a roll.

Here in NY where the infection rate is miniscule, I don't see the need for anything more than this. In a state where infection rates are still high, you might want to limit this just for outdoor use.

I did cardio at the gym the other day with my mask on. That was not fun. Particularly those last 5 or 10 minutes where I was really breathing hard.

2 out of 10. Would not recommend.

[Hal]

A tip for mask wearing outdoors in hot, humid weather!! Provided as a public service to this board!

I don't mind masks indoors, but I really have a problem with them when I'm trudging up hills and doing garden work outdoors in hot, humid conditions. I get short of breath and it gets really sweaty and unpleasant under the mask. In outdoors conditions like this, the mask is completely pointless except for virtue signaling. I take it off when possible, but that's not always socially acceptable.

What you want in these conditions is a mask that looks like a mask, but is made of a breathable, loose-woven material. Preferably cotton. So I bought a roll of 4" wide cotton gauze bandages from the drugstore, and cut off a long piece. Cut away material on the ends so that you have two thin strips to tie together to make ear loops. Ta da! Breathable, comfortable, and looks perfectly legit. And you get several masks from a roll.

Here in NY where the infection rate is miniscule, I don't see the need for anything more than this. In a state where infection rates are still high, you might want to limit this just for outdoor use.

I did cardio at the gym the other day with my mask on. That was not fun. Particularly those last 5 or 10 minutes where I was really breathing hard.

2 out of 10. Would not recommend.

How would the masks with the exhalation valve go? 3M makes them and you can get them in hardware stores.
https://sydneytools.com.au/product/3m-9 ... respirator

If you really want to freak out the people at your Gym, try wearing what's in the link
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/774 ... ems-ce.pdf

[jalanlong]

In outdoors conditions like this, the mask is completely pointless except for virtue signaling. I take it off when possible, but that's not always socially acceptable.

So this morning while I am driving and I see a man out jogging by himself in suburbia in a "feels like" temperature of 93 and he is wearing a mask, should I assume he is virtue signaling or does he just really doesn't understand why he is doing it?

This morning when I went to a store and made a purchase, the cashier who took my credit card immediately put hand sanitizer on after handing the card back to me. I am assuming she does that with every single customer and every single card, not just mine. That is one of the interesting things about this is that now all of the sudden people are worried about everything that they touch. Shopping cart handles, door handles, credit cards etc. For however many years they were alive most people did not care about getting germs and then suddenly they will die if the touch anything that I touched. Even the CDC says catching any sort of illness from a credit card is highly unlikely. I am quite sure that the cashier does 100 other things every day that are more dangerous than touching my credit card. Do you think that 2 years from now people are still going to be germophobes or is this just a temporary thing? I mean we are almost 6 months into this now.

[vnatale]

In outdoors conditions like this, the mask is completely pointless except for virtue signaling. I take it off when possible, but that's not always socially acceptable.

So this morning while I am driving and I see a man out jogging by himself in suburbia in a "feels like" temperature of 93 and he is wearing a mask, should I assume he is virtue signaling or does he just really doesn't understand why he is doing it?

This morning when I went to a store and made a purchase, the cashier who took my credit card immediately put hand sanitizer on after handing the card back to me. I am assuming she does that with every single customer and every single card, not just mine. That is one of the interesting things about this is that now all of the sudden people are worried about everything that they touch. Shopping cart handles, door handles, credit cards etc. For however many years they were alive most people did not care about getting germs and then suddenly they will die if the touch anything that I touched. Even the CDC says catching any sort of illness from a credit card is highly unlikely. I am quite sure that the cashier does 100 other things every day that are more dangerous than touching my credit card. Do you think that 2 years from now people are still going to be germophobes or is this just a temporary thing? I mean we are almost 6 months into this now.

Temporary.

Remember "Never forget 9/11"?

It's been forgotten and we've all gone back to our normal lives aside from what you have to go through when you are flying.

Vinny

[vnatale]

The best and worst face masks, ranked by their level of protection


https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is ... er=twitter

[dualstow]

A tip for mask wearing outdoors in hot, humid weather!! Provided as a public service to this board!
...
What you want in these conditions is a mask that looks like a mask, but is made of a breathable, loose-woven material. Preferably cotton. So I bought a roll of 4" wide cotton gauze bandages from the drugstore, and cut off a long piece. Cut away material on the ends so that you have two thin strips to tie together to make ear loops. Ta da! Breathable, comfortable, and looks perfectly legit. And you get several masks from a roll.
...

Pretty sneaky, sis.

I certainly don’t consider myself a virtue signaler like my neighbors who shone flashlights at the sky for the amount of time that Floyd had a knee on his neck (oh yes they did). However, I wore a mask on a hot humid walk and I did suffer. I sometimes lift it and sneak a gulp of air like a whale surfacing.

On days like that I can wear my thinner cotton mask that my wife gave me years ago for cat litter duty. It’s definitely not spec for coronavirus.

[flyingpylon]

Temporary.

Remember "Never forget 9/11"?

It's been forgotten and we've all gone back to our normal lives aside from what you have to go through when you are flying.

Vinny

Wow, are you kidding? The Patriot Act, for starters...

[WiseOne]

A tip for mask wearing outdoors in hot, humid weather!! Provided as a public service to this board!
...
What you want in these conditions is a mask that looks like a mask, but is made of a breathable, loose-woven material. Preferably cotton. So I bought a roll of 4" wide cotton gauze bandages from the drugstore, and cut off a long piece. Cut away material on the ends so that you have two thin strips to tie together to make ear loops. Ta da! Breathable, comfortable, and looks perfectly legit. And you get several masks from a roll.
...

Pretty sneaky, sis.

I certainly don’t consider myself a virtue signaler like my neighbors who shone flashlights at the sky for the amount of time that Floyd had a knee on his neck (oh yes they did). However, I wore a mask on a hot humid walk and I did suffer. I sometimes lift it and sneak a gulp of air like a whale surfacing.

On days like that I can wear my thinner cotton mask that my wife gave me years ago for cat litter duty. It’s definitely not spec for coronavirus.

Thanks! The gauze mask is the equivalent of the knit scarves that all of us were wearing (per CDC instructions) back in March. And I bet a lot better than the masks I see located under noses and chins.

Just to remind y'all, no personal mask is going to protect you from getting coronavirus. The mask is to prevent you from transmitting the virus to someone else. Just do the 6 foot distance thing and your conscience will be satisfied.

[vnatale]

Temporary.

Remember "Never forget 9/11"?

It's been forgotten and we've all gone back to our normal lives aside from what you have to go through when you are flying.

Vinny

Wow, are you kidding? The Patriot Act, for starters...

And, what else? How has The Patriot Act affected your day-to-day life? After 9/11 everything was supposed to have different, to have changed, In the summer of 2002 I was on subway cars in New York City with police in them carrying heavy duty semi-automatic rifles. By the summer of 2003 the presence of the police was long gone.

Vinny

[flyingpylon]

Temporary.

Remember "Never forget 9/11"?

It's been forgotten and we've all gone back to our normal lives aside from what you have to go through when you are flying.

Vinny

Wow, are you kidding? The Patriot Act, for starters...

And, what else? How has The Patriot Act affected your day-to-day life? After 9/11 everything was supposed to have different, to have changed, In the summer of 2002 I was on subway cars in New York City with police in them carrying heavy duty semi-automatic rifles. By the summer of 2003 the presence of the police was long gone.

Vinny

Have you been to a major event with a large crowd in the last 20 years? Or a large government building?

Perhaps 9/11 hasn’t affected the daily routines of people that much. But I would say there are changes that have become part of life that weren’t there before, like the awareness that our government is constantly spying on us, never-ending wars in the Middle East, terrorist attacks, etc. Lots of things to be mindful of that weren’t there before. I suppose it all depends on how you look at it.

[Tortoise]

How has The Patriot Act affected your day-to-day life? After 9/11 everything was supposed to have different, to have changed, In the summer of 2002 I was on subway cars in New York City with police in them carrying heavy duty semi-automatic rifles. By the summer of 2003 the presence of the police was long gone.

Have you been to a major event with a large crowd in the last 20 years? Or a large government building?

That's right. My recollection is that prior to 9/11, theme parks, big concerts, etc. generally didn't open people's bags and purses to search through them as they entered. After 9/11 they did. Even now, almost 20 years later, they still do.