Return to Normalcy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is a hospitalist and has worked with Covid patients. She predicts 3 years before schools can reopen and have a normal life back. I was surprised by that but she would know better than me what to expect.

That's about how long the Great Influenza took.

I'm sure they will figure out some way for schools to be open in some fashion, but it will take everyone wearing masks and preventing idiots (or people without child care or paid leave) from sending their kids to school sick.

I think it will be about three years as well, it's going to take some time for a vaccine to come out and then the disease seems to be acting more like the seasonal flu and the vaccine probably won't have 100% effectiveness. If people are willing to go about their business with masks and at least six feet away, then we can start doing more things we want to do.

The longest period any school district in America was closed during the Spanish Flu was 14 weeks, I believe. Feel free to correct me.

Anne Arundel County has just announced they're bringing elementary kids back on a hybrid basis this November. Most of the Baltimore privates have full elementary schools and hybrid for middle and high. Coworkers in Florida have their kids back in public schools.

If there is no real second wave (and no hint of one is appearing) I don't see any legitimate reason to keep achools closed.

Baltimore privates are an unfair comparison. Many of their privates are premiere schools with sprawling campuses and generous budgets that can more easily accommodate the changes necessary to promote reasonable safety. Many public schools do not have these resources. In addition, private school parents are much more likely to be white collar and working from home right now, and therefore less susceptible to infection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can’t even begin to approach normal until we first topple capitalism and start seriously addressing income inequality.

Sure, as long as your trust fund is safe, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is a hospitalist and has worked with Covid patients. She predicts 3 years before schools can reopen and have a normal life back. I was surprised by that but she would know better than me what to expect.

Your friend sounds clueless.

Hospitalist are generally not very good doctors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can’t even begin to approach normal until we first topple capitalism and start seriously addressing income inequality.

Agree. The people most affected by Covid have been the poor. This highlights the need for housing so that people do not live in overcrowded conditions, effective health care for all, the private school model for public schools, Universal Basic Income because most service people will not be employable, and a red education of the country to the Great Society programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is a hospitalist and has worked with Covid patients. She predicts 3 years before schools can reopen and have a normal life back. I was surprised by that but she would know better than me what to expect.

Keeping schools closed for three years just isn't reasonable unless we drastically change the way education is done in the entire country.

We already have. High school and college really may never be the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Random benign questions I have:

- when will Trader Joe's allow baskets again?
- How long are all the SOCIAL DISTANCING!!!!1111 signs going to remain? We know. But how long are the signs going to be everywhere?
- when will the Whole Foods hot food bar come back? Will it ever come back?
- who bought stock in plexiglass, and can you share?

Ha! I'm a TJs employee. The companywide policy is that stores are allowed to use baskets again, but it's up to the individual stores to decide if they want to. Some stores have done this already, others haven't because it's just another logistical challenge to figure out when it comes to cleaning. I'm thinking that we'll be 100% back to baskets pretty soon, though

The real question is, who goes to Trader Joe's and only uses a basket? Every time I have tried to do this I end up running to get a cart because the basket gets too full and heavy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is a hospitalist and has worked with Covid patients. She predicts 3 years before schools can reopen and have a normal life back. I was surprised by that but she would know better than me what to expect.

Keeping schools closed for three years just isn't reasonable unless we drastically change the way education is done in the entire country.

We already have. High school and college really may never be the same.

It is unacceptable and not sustainable long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is a hospitalist and has worked with Covid patients. She predicts 3 years before schools can reopen and have a normal life back. I was surprised by that but she would know better than me what to expect.

That's about how long the Great Influenza took.

I'm sure they will figure out some way for schools to be open in some fashion, but it will take everyone wearing masks and preventing idiots (or people without child care or paid leave) from sending their kids to school sick.

I think it will be about three years as well, it's going to take some time for a vaccine to come out and then the disease seems to be acting more like the seasonal flu and the vaccine probably won't have 100% effectiveness. If people are willing to go about their business with masks and at least six feet away, then we can start doing more things we want to do.

The longest period any school district in America was closed during the Spanish Flu was 14 weeks, I believe. Feel free to correct me.

Anne Arundel County has just announced they're bringing elementary kids back on a hybrid basis this November. Most of the Baltimore privates have full elementary schools and hybrid for middle and high. Coworkers in Florida have their kids back in public schools.

If there is no real second wave (and no hint of one is appearing) I don't see any legitimate reason to keep achools closed.

Baltimore privates are an unfair comparison. Many of their privates are premiere schools with sprawling campuses and generous budgets that can more easily accommodate the changes necessary to promote reasonable safety. Many public schools do not have these resources. In addition, private school parents are much more likely to be white collar and working from home right now, and therefore less susceptible to infection.

Publics in other states are open....

You missed that part, did you?

I guess you also missed the article in the Baltimore Sun about the thousands of kids missing from school this year because they didn't have the resources to do online distance learning. These are poor kids. You really think it does any service to have poor kids miss multiple years of school to satisfy your fears?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think next year things will begin to return to normal, maybe during the summer.
Why?
I hope we have a new president. This will mean we'll have more targeted fast testing, which will quickly pin point hot spots, and stamp out any flare ups.
This will mean most of us can go back to normal life. Movies, etc.
I think there will be a cell phone app that will read your results from a rapid test, so you'll be allowed to go into stores, movie theaters, etc. How this will work so people don't switch phones, etc., I don't know, maybe a fingerprint ID system?
Vaccines will start to appear, but it will take time to get most people vaccinated, and to find out if there are any side effects that are dangerous.
Many of the new vaccines will only be 50% effective, so people will still have to wear masks and socially distance.
I think 4-5 years before things really return to "normal", but I may be optimistic. We may never return to the way things were here back in February 2020.
There are so many unknowns. The virus may mutate to the point where it's no longer infectious, or only causes a common cold, nothing nefarious or fatal.
Or the virus may be with us forever, like flu, with different strains circulating throughout the world.
We may need annual covid vaxes in addition to flu vaxes.
BUT given that covid is so much more dangerous than flu, we may still have to wear masks and socially distance if we are not armed with daily rapid tests we can show everywhere we go.
A treatment may appear (like penicillin in the 1940s) that will end the illness.
This all depends on a DEMOCRAT in the White House leading and sending appropriate funding to the correct areas, based on scientific research and advice from experts who actually know what they are talking about.
Pray Biden wins, else this scourge will continue, deaths will increase...no, no no no no

Thanks for this thoughtful and interesting post. Totally agree that life will get better only if we improve testing and make decisions based on science. And that can only happen if we oust Trump. VOTE BIDEN-HARRIS if you want your children to live a normal life again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous[b wrote:]I know Joe Biden would have handled this infinitely better because he and Obama had a Pandemic Response Team in place as well as a pandemic plan. Trump got rid of both of them.[/b]

But not to be political, things will change for the better in January if we have a new administration. I know this. We’ll have a national plan.

Our schools(not DC) are already back and the precautions of our governor are good. We’re prioritizing school (no parties, no playdates) and still taking all precautions.

But normal? Pre-covid normal where we hugged people, went to concerts and plays, hung out at friends homes inside for hours... not coming back for at least another year.

Yes. Also, Biden is not a pathological liar and narcissist, so that will help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Random benign questions I have:

- when will Trader Joe's allow baskets again?
- How long are all the SOCIAL DISTANCING!!!!1111 signs going to remain? We know. But how long are the signs going to be everywhere?
- when will the Whole Foods hot food bar come back? Will it ever come back?
- who bought stock in plexiglass, and can you share?

My Trader Joe's has never stopped allowing baskets.

I went to the WF in Arlington last week and the hot bar was back. Not as plentiful as before, but it's there. I was surprised to see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Random benign questions I have:

- when will Trader Joe's allow baskets again?
- How long are all the SOCIAL DISTANCING!!!!1111 signs going to remain? We know. But how long are the signs going to be everywhere?
- when will the Whole Foods hot food bar come back? Will it ever come back?
- who bought stock in plexiglass, and can you share?

The signs drive me nuts. We are all aware, thank you.

NP. The signs are not there for people like you who are aware, PPs. Surely you understand that the signs are there for those willfully ignorant "I didn't realize!" shoppers and also for the "You can't make me wear a !#%! mask!" shoppers. The signs not only inform--the signs also give beleaguered store employees something concrete to point to as they tell idiots to wear a mask. Not that it helps with anti-mask fools, but it gives a store a little coverage in terms of being able to say, we have a policy and its written down and clearly displayed.

Just breeze past the signs with your masks on, PPs.

[Anonymous]

I’m not predicting anything (either way), but things will not happen in a certain manner just because they should or could. The future will be what it will be, regardless if it’s deemed “sustainable” or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can’t even begin to approach normal until we first topple capitalism and start seriously addressing income inequality.

Topple capitalism? Good or bad, that would be the I opposite of “back to normal.”

[Anonymous]

I think it will happen in spits and starts, but more slowly than any of us think right now. It really depends if there is a (or several together) vaccine that works well.