I was thinking of local public officials, who might look at testing reports from nearby jurisdictions and not realize that the positivity rate wasn’t truly going down.
I’m in San Diego and our mayor has secured approval from the state to start opening dine in restaurants and retail. Since we have great weather we have many restaurants with outdoor seating which I believe will be opened up first with social distancing. I’m not in a hurry to rush out once places open and will just wait and see how it all goes.
This doesn’t surprise me at all, but it will be interesting to see if it ends up being similar elsewhere.
It’s always been a very vocal minority (polling-wise) wanting to reopen as normal with more thinking it is too soon. The news can put cameras on whatever they want to show, but it doesn’t mean it’s representative of the masses. Same with emails to government officials, etc.
But it will be enough to spread the virus if summer/Vit D don’t stop it.
When humans are afraid of so many unlikely things like sharks and plane crashes, it’s not at all surprising that many are afraid of what could be a real issue for many more. Yes, one might be in the 80% not very affected, but they might not be too and some of the 20% seem to having ongoing issues even when they survive.
@gwnorth, that’s a good article. This quote caught my eye:
I am so tired of hearing, well, it’s just the elderly with serious medical issues that are dying, so we should really be talking about a peaceful end-of-life experience. Uh, my dad has incredibly serious medical issues and is on hospice, but he still enjoys life and wants to hang around as long as possible. He’s 83 and would like to see another birthday or two.
Which is why FIL is happy to hear of our two week prep to visit him. He enjoys his life. He has no desire to see it end just yet. He’ll be 92 and wouldn’t mind seeing 100.
If you want to see how people in your country (or state within the US) have changed their mobility to different types of destinations (e.g. retail/recreation, grocery/pharmacy, parks, transit stations, workplaces, residential), you can take a look at https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility/ . Within the PDF for each country, its political subdivisions are listed; within the PDF for each US state, counties are listed. Graph of mobility over time is also shown. However, the latest data is about a week old.
That sound you hear is a million lawyers warming up their printers.
Jobs won’t be flooding back anywhere, some estimates are that 40% of these job losses are permanent. We will be in a depression and it will take many years to recover from the economic destruction that just occurred. As always, the younger generation will suffer the most.
Governor Cuomo just extended free school lunch to anyone who wants it (not just free and reduced) throughout the summer. NY schools have never provided school lunch during the summer.
As nice as this sounds this is another unfunded mandate with no funding from the state so this social service will come out of the local school budgets.
That economic destruction is going to ruin far more than 90k lives, and unlike COVID, the average age of victims will not be 80.
You really have to feel for the millennials who graduated in 2007-9, then got hit with this once they were starting to get some real traction.
And I apply Hanlon’s razor to the mixing of test results. I haven’t met or heard many political types with enough analytical capability to deliberately blend the test results to make any policy decision look better. It’s a problem that needs to be fixed, though, so we don’t have to agree on the cause.
I’m surprised. Denver Public schools, and many of the surrounding districts, have provided breakfasts to all students to all children under 18 year round (at certain schools, most in the lower income neighborhoods but anyone can go to the school and get breakfast and lunch). Title 1 schools have free lunch for all. The 20 or so public recreation centers provide free lunch and breakfast in the summer, as well as activities (day care) to children in the summer, but it has been announced they will not open in June.
You don’t need much analytic capacity to know that making the total number of tests given go up, and the percent positive go down, will make re-opening look better. And you don’t need much analytic capacity to notice that the only states which did this were states whose governors wanted to re-open.
I used to live in CT that opened restaurants for outdoor dining yesterday. Today I saw photos in a local paper of 2 restaurants I’m familiar with. One restaurant had picnic tables set up at least 6’ apart. The other restaurant had tables set up so close you would’ve thought the photo was pre-covid. Neither of these restaurants had outdoor seating prior to this time. (Before anyone tries making the point that things can look closer depending on how the photo is taken, just know that this newspaper has a conservative editorial board and would be looking to make loosening restrictions successful.)
I would’ve considered eating at the first restaurant, but not the 2nd. I wonder who checks to see that the state’s guidelines are being followed.
Pennsylvania?
eta: link for your convenience…
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/cdc-and-states-are-misreporting-covid-19-test-data-pennsylvania-georgia-texas/611935/
Banquet and catering centers in my state can now hold parties for up to 300. These parties are not permitted to congregate and tables must be spaced 6 feet apart. Not really sure how the “no congregating” will work at a wedding…
I just drove through the neighborhood shopping center at 4:45 pm here in the heartland. The outside terrace of a popular bar and restaurant was packed. It sure didn’t look like the tables were 6 feet apart but I was driving so can’t be sure. I’m kind of surprised there were that many people there. I mean, I’d love to go out for a glass of wine but I’m not going to. I’m too afraid of getting it. Not worth it.
Observed:
A home birthday party this past weekend for grade-school kids. 20+ kids and their parents, outside in the driveway and garage (grass wet), but no masks or SD.
A group of 10+ teens outside, but no SD and no masks. DD recognized a couple of the kids, and their parents are not exactly Trump supporters.
A group of 10+ teens indoors (mutual friend of DD hosted; it was a group from a school club of which DD is not a part). No masks, intended to SD, but host admitted it didn’t end up happening. Parents of host are not Trump supporters.
In the grocery store, the elderly are the worst at SD. They try. They’re just bad at it. Old habits die hard. They do follow the arrows better than my cohort, though.
Talked to three friends in their 60’s (older than me). We chat weekly. They swear up and down they’re doing a great job staying home. I think, “Great. Glad they’re safe.” Fifteen minutes into the conversation they are literally comparing the crowds they personally witnessed at six different grocery stores, multiple big box stores, several take out joints, and have visited four doctors/dentists/off-the-books hair stylists/whatever. I realize that they are getting out and about WAAAAYYYY more than I am, and they can’t understand why anyone wants to open the economy. This same chat happens every week.
So that’s why I think how people poll and how they behave are likely two different things. My second thought is that if these kids keep getting together like this (and parents of ALL political persuasions are complicit) no matter what the rules/guidelines are, there is no point to continuing e-learning in the fall.
Agreed. Young people will be out socializing anyway, so I don’t think in person school will increase their exposure any.
twoinandcone do the Denver schools received state funding for the year round food? In NY we have summer food programs in urban areas available through various programs. This is a newbie that the schools are responsible for food including suburban schools. There is no additional funding (as of yet) so that means the food comes out of educational dollars which are funded by property taxes. If you are unfamiliar with NYS property taxes they are sky high. It is not uncommon to pay over 10K a year.