I am okay with closure (in fact think it is prudent) but I really wish the pro-closure posters on this thread didn't sound so much like they do not give a crap about anyone who isn't a suburban mom holing up in her giant house. They leave the impression they don't care about janitors, or restaurant workers, or bus drivers, or really anyone who faces eviction, loss of health insurance, or bankruptcy if they can't pay their rent.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting article from Time about how grandparents took over childcare duties in Italy when schools closed ... look where they are now.

https://time.com/5797637/italian-grandparents-coronavirus-babysitters/

My parents are already offering to drive up if schools close to help watch the kids because they know DH and I don’t have enough leave for an extended quarantine. I don’t want to put them at risk, but I think this is what a lot of families will turn to if schools close, making the situation worse.

It now seems the height of denial that Italy did not close its schools until March 4.

Interesting article from Time about how grandparents took over childcare duties in Italy when schools closed ... look where they are now.

https://time.com/5797637/italian-grandparents-coronavirus-babysitters/

My parents are already offering to drive up if schools close to help watch the kids because they know DH and I don’t have enough leave for an extended quarantine. I don’t want to put them at risk, but I think this is what a lot of families will turn to if schools close, making the situation worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Closing schools is total stupidity/insanity. At risk people should quarantine themselves. Lighting the entire economy & culture on fire so that an 80 year old can make it to 81 without quarantining themselves is the height of stupidity.

Wherever you went to school? Please let us know where they teach to think like that. Many could protect their kids from going there.

China's demographic is different from ours. Due to various family planning policies, famines, etc., they have a bulge in the 50-70 year range. That's partly why the chart looks like that.

EVERY SINGLE ADULT IS AT RISK OF GETTING IT.

From there is a Russian roulette, you might be strong and healthy and still die or end up with iron lung.
See how old are you and what are the odds for your age group to get sick? No you don’t need to die, but it can leave you sick for life.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a pro-closure poster. I'm not bored. I truly believe closing schools *early* an outbreak will reduce spread and help us all and in the long term help our economy.

I admit to having a fascination watching countries from afar sputter and protest that they... can't !
They just can't! They just caaaaaaaan't close the schools. There's no need to do anything THAT drastic!

and then 9 days later.... BOOM..... schools are closed.

I've watched it happen in Japan, S. Korea, and Italy so far.

Spain is next. Germany and France will follow shortly after Spain (Switzerland seems more proactive so they might squeeze in a little earlier.) Netherlands is clueless. UK seems a bit more with it.

Australia will close proactively for 2 weeks I think... they seem to be really on top of things.

Haven't been following Arab countries but they mostly have all closed. They were very scares by what happened in Iran.

You missed Taiwan. They are the first to re-open but have rules mandating re-closure that are very strict.

Spain already has closed schools in three cities including Madrid.

Of the Arab countries, Iraq, Kuwait, Palestine, Lebanon, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar all have closed schools.

I don't know why you think Switzerland is proactive. Their rep, I guess. But they have not been smart on this one.

It has one-tenth the population of Germany and one-third of the cases. It is fourth in the world for cases per million after China, Italy, and South Korea. Trains going to and from Switzerland and Milan until today--am guessing closing Italy has changed this. They have had close to no controls for Italians who come into Switzerland daily for work. (Same for French and German workers.)

In any case, they haven't closed schools and it is a country full of SAHMs. A friend of mine there (not Swiss) withdrew her kids from school today over the school's strenuous objections.

Anonymous wrote:Closing schools is total stupidity/insanity. At risk people should quarantine themselves. Lighting the entire economy & culture on fire so that an 80 year old can make it to 81 without quarantining themselves is the height of stupidity.

Dude, pray to be under 19 years old, non smoking female, with zero health issues and no cold as even cold now will make you an easy pray for CV... and that if you catch mild case you can be a goner or handicapped for life....


Dr. Bruce Aylward, of the W.H.O., In the interview with NY Times stated
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/health/coronavirus-china-aylward.html

Q: What were mild, severe and critical?

A: No. “Mild” was a positive test, fever, cough - maybe even pneumonia.


https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-qu...covid19-symptoms-deaths-spread

During infection, the virus that causes COVID-19 attacks cells within the respiratory tract, particularly the lungs. As these cells die, they fill the airway with fluids and debris while the virus continues to replicate — making it hard to breathe.

The presence of dying cells and a replicating virus spark the immune system to react to the infectious intruder. Immune cells then flood the lungs to repair damaged tissues and wipe out the virus. While the immune response to the virus is generally highly controlled, it can sometimes go berserk and cause its own damage to healthy cells as well as dying ones. A flood of signals from the immune system, called a cytokine storm, can damage the lungs and cause respiratory failure, and can also harm other organs, leading to multiorgan failure.


So......OP, if you thing that mild case is a light cold then think again because this thing is a war on your body, even in mild cases.
besides confirmed damage to lungs and immune system, kidney, liver, gallbladder, brain matter, cardiovascular system, spleen, etc ... wait for it.... there is more!!!
Just posted on another thread: recently discovered damage to central nervous system: in China they found virus in the cerebrospinal fluid of a male patient- he recovered, not sure about sequela

Anonymous wrote:GDS just closed starting tomorrow!

Smart

Taiwan it looks like did an amazing job of controlling the spread of illness -- and even they had to close schools for 10 days.

Their outbreak started right when schools were closed already, however. So in a way you could see that as early (proactive) school closure.

https://cdn.jamanetwork.com/ama/content_public/journal/jama/0/jvp200035supp1_prod.pdf?Expires=2147483647&Signature=bIZCLS7ZLWTJd~U~H40JgiEGdFb3ggVUJpBvJ7KdANK7HgK1zaj4uWHvqweGym1nWfO~nXt9Y5i1vX79pF7zjjqfzmJAy3udTdpVVZQe07xnQIPcBMXLwZ5XjgTO8yKFXVIpxsXhrmOu8sGSpKiEmQ86ZCKfOTar7fMAGmUCtjiYVFwf31K3REWAA-r3hZyoZpqz3QKpVgpsRpF9fV9thQCq0~yvbvRKTH4PcoB~CZgmXH7rpVb6bILXQn5zBCphf6pyLAa4zIebUEKfCdCYdSdi9LeIEUsesqsYpNWgHJcr4K1LC0hFlst0RHQz-vZ7I-OvrX~5jel6zjjtuDQzjQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIE5G5CRDK6RD3PGA

Anonymous wrote:I'm a pro-closure poster. I'm not bored. I truly believe closing schools *early* an outbreak will reduce spread and help us all and in the long term help our economy.

I admit to having a fascination watching countries from afar sputter and protest that they... can't !
They just can't! They just caaaaaaaan't close the schools. There's no need to do anything THAT drastic!

and then 9 days later.... BOOM..... schools are closed.

I've watched it happen in Japan, S. Korea, and Italy so far.

Spain is next. Germany and France will follow shortly after Spain (Switzerland seems more proactive so they might squeeze in a little earlier.) Netherlands is clueless. UK seems a bit more with it.

Australia will close proactively for 2 weeks I think... they seem to be really on top of things.

Haven't been following Arab countries but they mostly have all closed. They were very scares by what happened in Iran.

different pro-closure PP and this is exactly it. "there just no way we can close schoo... ok, schools closed! hope it's not too late?"

Anonymous wrote:Closing schools is total stupidity/insanity. At risk people should quarantine themselves. Lighting the entire economy & culture on fire so that an 80 year old can make it to 81 without quarantining themselves is the height of stupidity.

Wherever you went to school? Please let us know where they teach to think like that. Many could protect their kids from going there.

Anonymous wrote:I just can't help but think that if schools were to close now, 10% of the parents would view it as an extended vacation, which would put their kids (and eventually ours) at a much greater risk than if they were to continue to just go to school daily. Yes, someone's parent may have been at the BioGen conference in Boston, but it's a lot less likely than Jimmy running into infected people on the flight home from Barcelona because his mom saw a 3 week beach vacation instead of a voluntary quarantine.

are you insane? there will be no flights to barcelona or anywhere else.

GDS just closed starting tomorrow!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are not grasping the full extent of what may be about to unfold.

So true! We could avoid an Italy by closing schools, banning public gatherings, and suspending religious services NOW.

"Everything we do before the epidemic hits seems alarmist. Everything we do during an epidemic seems inadequate."

The government cannot ban or suspend religious services.

They can encourage churches etc. to consider it. In Singapore and Hong Kong (BTW two of the places coming out best in this mess) the Catholic Church took the lead in suspending services and others followed.

American governments absolutely can forbid gatherings of a religious or any nature in the name of public health.

They can't stop you from praying on your own!

Anonymous wrote:Why do Asian countries let people wear masks to protect from COVID-2019?

They wear masks to protect others from COVID-19, not necessarily because they think it will stop them from getting it. Very common in Asia to wear a mask when you are sick (or might be sick). Considered socially responsible.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/opinion/coronavirus-face-mask-effective.html