Sorry CT1417 if I got the Connecticut information wrong. I had heard that in a press conference with our governor—one of the reporters was hounding her saying that the Newport venues were losing upcoming summer weddings to CT which had indicated outdoor weddings of 250 would be allowed this summer. Two days later, our Phase 3 numbers came out, higher than I anticipated, and it seemed a reaction to that. A quick news scan shows more cagey/vague language than that reporter had used: that Lamont said outdoor gatherings COULD expand to as many as 250 by mid-July. So maybe/maybe not.
From the CTPost: “Gov. Ned Lamont has expanded the size of group gatherings beginning Wednesday to 25 people for indoor gatherings and 100 people for outdoor gatherings — up from limits of 10 indoors and 25 outdoors — as the state enters Phase 2 of reopening and looks ahead to the July 4 holiday.
By mid-July, Lamont said outdoor gatherings could expand to as many as 250 people.“
In any event, sorry for this sidetrack, ha ha I’ll stick to posting about my own state and also try to avoid tangents like this. But in terms of college in the fall, all of these numbers in many states seem to be heading towards greater gathering numbers this fall than many colleges are talking about. I’m not saying the states are right and the colleges wrong, just that it will be interesting to watch in places where there is a real difference between states vs college rules. The American University example posted above is a good example.
If we can’t control the spread of the virus in the hot days of summer, do we have any chance controlling it in the fall? If the irresponsible behaviors we’ve observed is any indication of what we can expect into the fall, would schools have to reconsider their plans for the fall?
@chmcnm you make an excellent point about the threshold and IMO colleges are going to withhold that info as long as possible. Why? Because I believe the threshold is going to be low in most cases, which means campus closed only weeks after it opens.
The spiking COVID numbers among the young speaks volumes and reveals that college employees have every right to not put much faith in students following rules, regardless of all the promises they’ll make to get back on campus.
I know, your kid will follow the rules, so will mine, But obviously there is an issue.
What I’m reading is that we are seeing more young people in the stats because they are finally being tested. They are not contributing to an increase in hospitalization or death rates.
I again believe way more of us have been exposed than we realize, including our kids.
These young people aren’t just getting tested because they can - they’re getting tested because either they have symptoms or were in contact with someone else who did or was exposed. Sports teams, frat rushing, beach house parties - these are all media reported sources of recent clusters.
If colleges don’t have very flexible thresholds, campus will be closed within weeks. Same for K-12
I would ask for the threshold for all classes to be online and the cafeteria to be 100% boxed meals, because I don’t think most colleges will close the dorms again.
Personally, I think the threshold for the above is actually very low and the students will probably have periods where they are under this restriction. We want to know where that line is so we can decide whether it is worth it to send our D back to college, and I believe that’s why schools are keeping that info to themselves.
If you knew a spike like we are seeing today would cause campus to be closed and all classes online for 3 weeks, would your child go back?
Someone on one of the Bowdoin town halls asked when the school would send kids home and we were told that it would be a matter of community spread and would be determined by local authorities. Sounded like it wouldn’t necessarily be Bowdoin that decided and they certainly didn’t have some sort of number. I’m not sure that any college will be able to answer that question.
We need mass fast testing to be routine everywhere. Hopefully this happens in the next 8 weeks, it’s the only way we can live with this virus until there is a vaccine. Can’t wait for the breath tests and more quick tests. Colleges need these in mass. The UK is working on installing these quick tests in their airports.
I am a bit perplexed by the 1 week on, 1 week off theory of schooling. Is the idea to limit the teachers exposure? Surely on the week off, the kids will all be playing together anyway, so their exposure level remains constant.
At our HS, there are 3,000 students and 500 or so staff in the one building each day, so a dense environment.
In order to keep the ability to social distance in classes, hallways, and common areas, our school says less than half the normal capacity is possible, so probably looking at 1 week in person, 2 remote (so 1/3 the students are there any given day). They are still working on it though.
A local, fairly affluent HS district with about 3,000 students at two different sites has already decided to go fully remote, saying it’s too difficult to figure this out and too many unknowns.
This. D19’s college is starting out the gate with 100% of meals boxes to go and some unrevealed percentage of classes online. It doesn’t seem it would take much of a pivot to have each student alone in their single dorm room all the time. I’ve asked on the college’s parent page and basically seem to be the only one concerned with the lack of info/details, so I backed off.
Well, yes, for now. S21 does not want to leave his friends, and is in denial of what next year of school could look like, and not open to much discussion right now.
I will say the moms of the friend group are back channeling, with the idea of keeping options open, which could include several in the friend group moving together (house rental or such, with some subset of parents) to attend a school where things would be more ‘normal’.
With that said, with the current spikes of covid in many states, it could be difficult to target a better situation with any accuracy.
For now, we are letting the boys enjoy summer before senior year, they have only been out of school for a two weeks.
Actually, I was thinking of college-sponsored parties. Welcome to campus picnics, that sort of thing. And no, I am not joking, I am unclear on why it would be any different.
The way our schools are doing it, they cut all class sizes in half (called “groups”, so one of my kids is in the yellow group, one is in group A to M and one is in group 2) so the kids can be spaced out in the classroom and take their masks off (regular ventilation is necessary, too, because apparently aerosols just keep on building up in each room), and the teachers desk can be spaced apart as well, without them having to project their voice all the way to the end of the classroom. It makes it easier to stagger entry, exit and recess times, so hallways, restrooms and playgrounds are less crowded. One school had every kid bring their own tennis ball for distanced games. It helps that in our system, teachers move more than students do. In theory, with everyone keeping their distance and regular hand washing and ventilating, infections shouldn’t happen in schools at all. If a kid is suspected of being a carrier, only the group is suspended, and, if the kid tests positive, only the group and their families are quarantined, but not not the whole class or even school.
I believe I mentioned in the regular corona thread that this system can alleviate some of the equity concerns with online schooling, because teachers can really focus on the individual kids’ progress during the week they are in class, and all work can be handed out and in in person, no internet access or printer required. For each group, this remains a problem in the first or last week of term respectively, but so much better than not seeing the teacher for months at all, the way it’s been for a while.
We are still not allowed to combine members of more than two households indoors, so in theory, singleton kids could ask another friend to play every day. In our house, each of my kids has two best friends they get to meet, and not together, and when has a friend over, the others can’t. There’s another rule that you are allowed to have indoor gatherings for up to ten people as long as you distance, so in practice, I fact just now I have two little ones play on the patio and the older ones holed up In front of the computer. No one is super clear on how all the rules intersect, you just sort of try to make sure to keep all contacts low enough that in case you end up infected, you’d be able to name anyone you or your family might have breathed on in the last week with confidence.
Edited to add that a doctor friend is a contact tracer and thus feels it incumbent upon her to be extra careful, and she had her kids name one friend each as a contact they get to see undistanced, and she takes notes on all the undistanced contacts she or her family have in a day. They also distance in the office and wear masks when travelling together in the car to swab quarantined people in their homes.
No one here is worried about touch and food any more. People just wash and disinfect their hands. It is all about breathing in the same space - how close, how long, how ventilated, what kind of mask.
@AlwaysMoving I think the 500 person (or even 50 person) outdoor parties will not be that social distanced. They just won’t. I understand that the “rules” are those parties can happen in masks and with distance but that is not how a party larger than 20 people can even exist. How will even 50 people all be six feet away from each other? It makes no sense. Once there’s an allowance for X number of people to gather, gather they will. Maybe some will have masks. Likely most won’t hug.
Then the answer is yes. Colleges in CT will be able to host outdoor events of 500 as long as they are 15 feet apart. Blanket groups that are not from the same household would still need to wear masks because of the 6’ outdoor rule.