Where I live in FL, spring break is next week. Tomorrow was already a scheduled professional day (no school) so now they are deep cleaning. PERFECT timing for break!

We don't have it yet in my county but there is in the nearby Big City.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I said a week ago was too early to close schools, but I think now and next week is the right time. There are cases and some local transmission. It’s a good time to start closing things.

I think Fairfax and Arlington will close next week.

Praise the Lord! Another convert!

Our new slogan:

"Come together by STAYING APART!"

(i.e. do your part as a citizen by staying apart!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I said a week ago was too early to close schools, but I think now and next week is the right time. There are cases and some local transmission. It’s a good time to start closing things.

I think Fairfax and Arlington will close next week.

I thought a good time was before viruses start to spread widely, based on history and other countries' experience?

I'm not convinced it has spread widely yet. When it had spread widely in Italy, the hospitals were overwhelmed. I have not heard any reports of hospitals being overwhelmed here, and outside of nursing homes, few American fatalities. So if it is widespread, the reaction is not so bad.

So instead of wringing your hands that this should have been done weeks ago, be grateful that we are in fact catching it in time. Can't win with some of you.

You want to see the hospitals overwhelmed? Are you insane? That’s what we are trying to avoid!

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if closing schools will stop the spread of this when there is no current case in a school. Plus, when kids are out of school, who will take care of them? parents, baby sitters, elderly grandparents, and who knows who else...and those are the ones who have been expose to others much more frequently than the existing kids at school. Those other adults are the ones you don't know where they have been over the weekend when they are not with your kids. At church, at the theater, hanging out and drinking, smoking with other people.

There was a WHO expert on BBC news saying this today. He said that there doesn't seem to be that much transmission among children in schools (unlike the flu), and when kids are out of school they're hanging around older relatives or else going out places on their own, which is not always good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I said a week ago was too early to close schools, but I think now and next week is the right time. There are cases and some local transmission. It’s a good time to start closing things.

I think Fairfax and Arlington will close next week.

I thought a good time was before viruses start to spread widely, based on history and other countries' experience?

I'm not convinced it has spread widely yet. When it had spread widely in Italy, the hospitals were overwhelmed. I have not heard any reports of hospitals being overwhelmed here, and outside of nursing homes, few American fatalities. So if it is widespread, the reaction is not so bad.

So instead of wringing your hands that this should have been done weeks ago, be grateful that we are in fact catching it in time. Can't win with some of you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if closing schools will stop the spread of this when there is no current case in a school. Plus, when kids are out of school, who will take care of them? parents, baby sitters, elderly grandparents, and who knows who else...and those are the ones who have been expose to others much more frequently than the existing kids at school. Those other adults are the ones you don't know where they have been over the weekend when they are not with your kids. At church, at the theater, hanging out and drinking, smoking with other people.

Please imagine standing in the hallway of one our overcrowded high schools or middle schools during class change and breathing in the air deeply. Would you feel safer there or hanging out in your living room or the park?

I will be breathing air on the metro regardless. Seeing as adults are catching this at a much higher rate, I'd probably rather be in a school.

Here’s another good link to show why we need to take action now (and should have weeks ago, at this point).

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/12/814522489/singapore-wins-praise-for-its-covid-19-strategy-the-u-s-does-not

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if closing schools will stop the spread of this when there is no current case in a school. Plus, when kids are out of school, who will take care of them? parents, baby sitters, elderly grandparents, and who knows who else...and those are the ones who have been expose to others much more frequently than the existing kids at school. Those other adults are the ones you don't know where they have been over the weekend when they are not with your kids. At church, at the theater, hanging out and drinking, smoking with other people.

Please imagine standing in the hallway of one our overcrowded high schools or middle schools during class change and breathing in the air deeply. Would you feel safer there or hanging out in your living room or the park?

You don't catch this virus by breathing the same air as infected people. Try a different visualization.

Yes you do. Our country’s guidelines haven’t changed to reflect that, but yes you can be infected up to two hours after the infected person has left.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if closing schools will stop the spread of this when there is no current case in a school. Plus, when kids are out of school, who will take care of them? parents, baby sitters, elderly grandparents, and who knows who else...and those are the ones who have been expose to others much more frequently than the existing kids at school. Those other adults are the ones you don't know where they have been over the weekend when they are not with your kids. At church, at the theater, hanging out and drinking, smoking with other people.

Please imagine standing in the hallway of one our overcrowded high schools or middle schools during class change and breathing in the air deeply. Would you feel safer there or hanging out in your living room or the park?

You don't catch this virus by breathing the same air as infected people. Try a different visualization.

Yes, you do. It lasts in the air three hours. You should stand 6 feet from people! The Chinese have been fogging their streets (and by now, they know what they are doing).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if closing schools will stop the spread of this when there is no current case in a school. Plus, when kids are out of school, who will take care of them? parents, baby sitters, elderly grandparents, and who knows who else...and those are the ones who have been expose to others much more frequently than the existing kids at school. Those other adults are the ones you don't know where they have been over the weekend when they are not with your kids. At church, at the theater, hanging out and drinking, smoking with other people.

Please imagine standing in the hallway of one our overcrowded high schools or middle schools during class change and breathing in the air deeply. Would you feel safer there or hanging out in your living room or the park?

You don't catch this virus by breathing the same air as infected people. Try a different visualization.

Why are there 37 different threads on DCUM right now about closing schools, but very few dedicated to shutting down other businesses/workplaces? Yes, kids can be vectors and contribute to the spread of disease. You know who else can spread it, and die from it at alarmingly higher numbers--adults! Adults who are still riding the metro and going to their workplaces in very high numbers. Sure, some people are working from home, but the vast majority of working adults in this region are still reporting daily to an office.

So why is so much of the vitriol singularly dedicated to the topic of closing just schools?

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if closing schools will stop the spread of this when there is no current case in a school. Plus, when kids are out of school, who will take care of them? parents, baby sitters, elderly grandparents, and who knows who else...and those are the ones who have been expose to others much more frequently than the existing kids at school. Those other adults are the ones you don't know where they have been over the weekend when they are not with your kids. At church, at the theater, hanging out and drinking, smoking with other people.

Please imagine standing in the hallway of one our overcrowded high schools or middle schools during class change and breathing in the air deeply. Would you feel safer there or hanging out in your living room or the park?

I'm not sure if closing schools will stop the spread of this when there is no current case in a school. Plus, when kids are out of school, who will take care of them? parents, baby sitters, elderly grandparents, and who knows who else...and those are the ones who have been expose to others much more frequently than the existing kids at school. Those other adults are the ones you don't know where they have been over the weekend when they are not with your kids. At church, at the theater, hanging out and drinking, smoking with other people.

Anonymous wrote: if DH and i both ended in a hospital our kids would go to foster care.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

OMG

Call public health and ask them what the plan is.

Anonymous wrote:I said a week ago was too early to close schools, but I think now and next week is the right time. There are cases and some local transmission. It’s a good time to start closing things.

I think Fairfax and Arlington will close next week.

I thought a good time was before viruses start to spread widely, based on history and other countries' experience?