Harris County, Houston, has had 400 corona deaths.
As I am sure you know, deaths lag case counts by weeks in most cases.
Yrs, I do know that. But the starting numbers are low enough that even vast increases, in percentage, will not result in great numbers of deaths. Plus fatality rate is much lower here, presumably because the population is younger.by comparison, little Mercer County, NJ, is half the size and has more than 10x as many deaths as my suburban county.
One should also not think if it’s not a death it’s ok. A relative of mine gave up 3 months of his life in hospital and rehab to Covid.
My kids would tell you they have already given up 4 months of their youth, and will continue to sacrifice their education, to keep the elderly from COVID.
I think food is an issue for students living in a dorm, and parents need to ask questions to be sure the plan will work. Having all of the students pile into a cafeteria 3 times a day won’t work, so it’s going to be mostly carry out.
What are the menu options? Students will get bored quickly.
Where will they eat? It’s looking very likely in their dorm room by themselves.
Where can they pick up meals? This is a logistics problem.
Some colleges are having reserved times for dining hall access to spread students out.
I feel like the schools that are going back to in person have the dining part figured out. Socially distanced indoor seating with table service, outdoor tent seating, to go options, contracting with restaurants and food trucks to accept meal swipes, spacing out timing for picking up food, etc…
Even in normal circumstances, students didn’t “pile into” dining courts three times/day. Schedules are so vastly different that it was always spaced out.
As of yesterday, 4 of D20’s 5 classes are still scheduled in person, so she will be on campus next month if the situation stays the same. Taking it a day at a time here.
Slight difference when the sacrifice is staying at home as a student vs being in an induced coma for weeks when you are the sole breadwinner. The point was that I keep seeing people dismiss the impact on those who get sick but don’t die by saying “only x deaths”. Yes some of them are just in inconvenienced by quarantine but for others it’s much more than that. And it’s not only the elderly who get Covid.
We are on the fence.
As mentioned things in Houston are not promising & we live right next door in Fort Bend County.
Food is definitely a concern, but the big question for me is still should she make the move at all since her classes have turned out to be all on line?
I have not made a good transition with this darn Pandemic. We were initially in Phoenix, where we’d gone for Spring Break & ended up staying for almost 3 months. Barely leaving the apartment.
Here, back home we are basically in lockdown despite no official stay at home order.
So we are pretty much living in “la la Land” and with fall semester fast approaching need to get back to reality.
I guess this virus is going nowhere fast, so we need to adjust.
Having my daughter procure her own food, which I am sure we can figure out is only one issue.
With all classes online, will she move to Austin only to sit in a room doing online classes?
We have almost zero contact day after day. We are in a comfortable home, with like minded neighbors around us that are in touch.
So I have just never fully adjusted to this whole situation. Some people seem to be living life as normal.
The most frustrating thing is the fast approaching fall semester is happening smack dab in the middle of all this spiking due to “reopening too soon” in Texas.
Frankly I do not think too soon was a factor. The issue was so many thinking it meant life was back to normal.
It was supposed to be done in careful stages.
I really do not know what to do at this point. I suggested she email her professors to confirm that there is no need for her to be there for any inperson situations.
I literally count 14 days after any outside contact & can only breath easy once that window has passed. I have been that scared.
My husband works in Phoenix at a hospital & I feel like he is surrounded by Covid.
Sorry, my thoughts are so scattered. Just venting.
@WylieA - I think your concerns are very reasonable, and I know what you mean about not really breathing easy until 14 days after any potential exposure. My son is going to a college that is not having freshmen in person anyway this fall, and that exactly aligns with what our family feels comfortable with (not returning in person).
It is a short drive to Austin by Texas standards-just under 3 hours. I cant imagine that many of her classmates will be staying home unless they really cant afford the dorm cost. But of course it is always an option, and those who stay away help de-densify the campus for others, so it is a win-win.
Both of my kids are going back. They are both living off-campus at a school in upstate NY that has announced in-person instruction. Even if it has to close, they will probably both stay and continue on-line from their apartments. Right now the county where the college is located has few or no covid cases, and I’m sure that will change when the students return, but hopefully they can keep it under control. My daughter stayed at her apartment in the spring and she said it was not a bad semester, as she was able to “go” to class with her roommates. My son came home and was miserable.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/08/houston-coronavirus-deaths-number/
For Houston/Tx info Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD is good to watch out for, he is on twitter which isn’t great for me, but he has plenty to say as pediatrician scientist. He does a ton of general media.
NJ now has 19 states, including the 3 largest, on its quarantine list. Maybe all 49 other states will be on it soon.
@Sybylla – Thank you! I have been following him for a couple of weeks now. I innocently started following Trevor Bedford and a couple of NYC ER docs in Feb & March, and now I am following far too many of both!
We haven’t decided yet but the chances of attending on campus this fall is less than 50/50. Chances of attending at all is probably less than 50/50
Hooray for Dr. Hotez! Medical hero, and a West Hartford boy.
Our S cancelled his fall dorm (brand new to boot) and will taking classes remotely.