Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Possibly some good news.

 

That would be fantastic. Let's all hope it's successful.

 

Yeah, some disciplines definitely more affected than others, or even within disciplines such as yours. We just got word before 5pm that we are moving online from now until the end of of April. We are on a quarter system until next fall so right now we are finishing up the last week of classes before finals week.

For the last three days, it has been mayhem behind the scenes. I had mentioned in some other threads about several emails and announcements but I didn't check the university listserve. Over 100 email announcements from virtually every administrator up through the chancellor of our entire system. And some fighting going between various faculty who seem to be trying to one up each other. I invited them all to too hot!

 

The. Maine University system, just shut it down for the year. Don't come back after spring break kids (next week). Virtual for the rest of the year.

Same for the Maine Ivies.

Hard to see how public schools don't follow if this becomes the trend.

Talk about blowing up the economy: imagine all the workers that have to stay home till June to be with kids.

 

The economy is going to have to re-invent itself after half the world's population perishes. Try to enjoy the descent, is all I can say.

 

How will you feel about posts like this should millions die?

 

as long as trump gets re elected who cares? right?

 

Talk to me when we get to a minor flu season death toll. China, a country of over a billion and where this virus was born, has managed to limit the spread to 20 a day. It's not going to be the end of mankind, bro.

 

That's the best laugh I've had this week - thanks! Is your campus part of a state system? We are a branch campus of MN, but operate independently in most ways. Our student teachers are currently operating under a different policy than those at the twin cities campus. That may be due to their proximity with the cases in MN.

 

Hell, talk to me when we get to a year's worth of auto accident deaths. Hint: it won't happen.

 

All this callous, baseless, bravado in response to a comment about economic impact.

 

I'm a 69 year old 2 pack a day overweight smoker with diabetes, COPD, and a history of heart disease.....guess I oughta go ahead and order my casket.

 

No it doesnt mean people will die unnecessarily. No more than any other disease. It does matter that it doesnt kill young (relative assumption as it doesnt kill healthy people of any age) because right now you have an entire population wanting to hibernate in a closet thinking they can avoid the disease. I am awake and my awakening says the focus has to be on the elderly not the entire population.
Think about what happens when a so called "vaccine" comes out also. Do you really think they will produce enough to give to EVERY American? They wont. The priority will be just as I propose because....you got it, the healthy are not the concern.

 

Cut the crap. There's no callousness. There's plenty of base. Zero bravado. People are overreacting, which will in turn cause economic hardship and suffering for people, when it didn't have to. How about we not count the deaths before they happen and at least keep a positive outlook on the situation? Talking about millions dying is BASELESS.

 

Sounds like you are just callous and indifferent to people dying.

 

I just noticed your "Leon's Getting Larger".

Good to see you Johnny!

 

Humor is a necessity.

We def have some independence but as part of the CSU system there seems to also definitely be more coordination with the chancellor's office than I've experienced in other state systems. The chancellor might wind up taking measures that would affect all our Us, but right now, the decision-making has been left to our president. I think they've handled it well, finally realizing that they needed to move online., The debate was pretty robust--nothing that I've ever experienced before (I just observed) but we didn't have the same type of online space at my other Us to have the kinds of discussions we do here. Plus, we have a strong union and faculty senate and an ongoing effort toward bettter shared governance.

 

China stopped the outbreak by quarantining 50 million people in their own homes for 3 weeks. No contact with new people and the virus had nobody new to infect.

Italy didn't take things as seriously at first, and now, they don't have enough hospital beds for all the sick, and doctors are using war-time triage methods to decide who gets treatment, and who is left to die.

It's just not worth the risk to not take this seriously. Maybe you'd only have a minor case, but you could be there vector that transmits the disease to someone who dies. And for what?

People still die in car accidents but seatbelts save lives. It's a great precaution to take. With Corona, we need to take all precautions we can to slow down the spread. We won't save everyone, but does that mean we shouldn't try?

 

This all resonates, in terms of a president - chancellor - union (ours is the only unionized campus among the UM system - not even the TC campus is unionized) and shared governance.

The president made a system-wide decision to move classes online, but our campus has the autonomy to determine what that looks like at the moment. Our kids are still out in the field, while the U shut that down, most likely because of proximity to the existing cases in our state.

 

It most certainly does because the spread is uncontrollable and not preventable through vaccination. And even if self-isolation and social distancing are not completely effective, they can have positive effects, individually and for large numbers of people. This is not me--a non-epidemiologist--saying this, it's epidemiologists and other infectious disease experts who are.