What does reopening look like in YOUR state?

[Deleted]

Got a gut punch today.  Went to pick up my elderly, legally blind friend who goes nowhere other than grocery with me and doctors.  She told me a mutual friend went to the ER last night because of persistent mouth sores which make her unable to eat, personal doc has been using elimination method testing for drug reaction for months, friend has lost 25+ lbs, personal doc said going to hospital was too dangerous b/c of Covid, she's had 2 negative tests in last 3 weeks.  Husband took her to ER last night because of pain and weight loss.  This woman is tough-multiple cancer survivor, etc. so when she caves it means a lot.  She has pneumonia in one lung.  Hospital is culturing aspirate from lung and also mouth lesions.  

My friend told me late morning, after our grocery run, that she's spent unmasked driveway time with the friend's husband.  And we both unmasked in the car on the way home today.  Wake up call for both of us and many more.  

I think our risk level is low because my friend's potential exposure was outdoors and distanced.  But that's what everyone thinks until it happens.

[raeoflyte]

Jul 28, 2020 15:22:00 GMT -5 movingforward said:

The YMCA has been open in my city almost all summer. They have been using one of the school buildings and putting 10 to a classroom. They haven't had any issues but we are talking about kids 12 and under. It is the middle and high school age kids that are going be doing the spreading.

I don't see anyway to keep class sizes that small during school, and elementary aged kids are vectors for infection. There were schools near us that closed last spring for norovirus. It's a blip on the radar now, but at the time that seemed crazy but they couldn't stop the spread.

[Deleted]

MLB  tested 6400 people the other day and got results.

Public health in my area said we have 20 pending tests and the results are taking 14 days.

Sure, let's waste tests on sports and not actual sick people... 

How do schools go back when there is no testing or it lags so long its useless?

[Blonde Granny]

Just when I think it can't get any worse, it does: Last weekend in Fort Smith there was some sort of 2 day super thing.....2500 people attended. The Alcohol division was supposed to supervise, and that didn't go well. 5 agents to supervise 2500 young people. Drinking, music, whatever over the 2 days....I can only imagine what is going to explode in 2 weeks.

Our Governor needs to have his head examined and then tossed out of office before the entire state in is the hospital.

By the way, this is Arkansas.

[busymom]

The governor in our state is supposed to make a decision on whether to reopen schools this week.  Our largest city beat him to it, and decided NOT to reopen this Fall.  It'll be online learning once again.  IMHO that's a smart move, as most kids take a school bus, and how are you supposed to keep so many kids 6 feet apart?  And, that doesn't even consider how crowded the schools are, with the large class sizes.  There are those who will be angry about this, but, too bad...

By the way, we have family in Iowa, and one of the school districts there just announced the kids will only be in class 2 or 3 days each week.  It's a mess for parents who have day jobs.  Who takes care of the kids on the days there is no school?  And, how will parents afford extra daycare costs, if they can even find a place that will take their kids?  

[jerseygirl]

NJ news agencies sued the NJ government to get access to info on NJ handling of pandemic. Gov Murphy has not been open about even who is on the crisis panel. When newspapers were trying to get info on PPE in NJ, state trooper organization responded it wasn’t available since terrorists might use the info.
Both repub and Dems working together to pass bill for more government openness- of course Murphy needs to sign

[Deleted]

Oregon released the criteria yesterday to open schools. Right now, our area doesn't qualify because you have to have less than 30 cases per 100K and the case numbers need to be dropping for 3 weeks. 

We have 9 cases with a 7K population. 7 are new cases and 20 "symptomatic direct contacts" were also tested but the results are still pending. 

Here you apparently can't even get tested unless you were in direct contact with a confirmed case. And, they consider direct contact 15 minutes, less than 6 feet, and no masks. Any other contact is ignored...

Those on "monitoring" because they have been exposed are on the honor system to stay home. Same for those on "quarantine". Technically, they can do whatever they please. 

[TheOtherMe]

Jul 29, 2020 10:55:32 GMT -5 busymom said:

By the way, we have family in Iowa, and one of the school districts there just announced the kids will only be in class 2 or 3 days each week.  It's a mess for parents who have day jobs.  Who takes care of the kids on the days there is no school?  And, how will parents afford extra daycare costs, if they can even find a place that will take their kids?  

The governor has decreed that schools must be at least 50% in person unless the parents opt to go virtual.

The district where I live is opening 4 days a week in person.  Fridays the teachers will work with the virtual students.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I was looking at the virtual option and it requires quite a bit of dedication to do and we're locked in for a semester.   If DH gets called back to work I can't realistically expect my mom to shuttle them to test sites and all that stuff for an entire semester.  My job is not really geared towards it though they would be flexible with me and DH has zero vacation till the end of the year.  His company has a point system so if he takes unpaid leave it counts against him and in a time of lay offs putting yourself on HR's radar is a bad idea.

I also can't figure out how to expect DH to handle full time home school and a full time job.   Gwen is in 5th grade and could probably self motivate herself enough during the day then we go over things at night.  I can't imagine Abby as a 1st grader trying to be at the computer for 5 days a week from 8:30-3:45 for an entire semester.

I am waiting to see what CB has to say at the end of the week I guess.  F*ck Governor Reynolds.   I am going to have that made into a bumper sticker I am sure I am not the only parent thinking the same thing.

[pulmonarymd]

My son’s college just announced it will be all virtual this semester. They had been planning to have freshmen on campus, but that has been scrapped. I imagine many other universities will be making similar announcements given the current situation. Only thing I can be cheered up by is the school in in DC, so it is a nice FU to the president. Wish it didn’t have to happen as he is a senior, and it puts hope for a different spring semester in doubt

[TheOtherMe]

Jul 29, 2020 16:15:45 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

F*ck Governor Reynolds.   I am going to have that made into a bumper sticker I am sure I am not the only parent thinking the same thing.

I will buy one.  That is the way I feel about her.

And I am not a parent.  I am "only" a concerned citizen.

[TheOtherMe]

Apparently the high school baseball tournament is having problems keeping fans to socially distance.

They keep telling the fans today to not break the zip ties to open up more seats.  All seats are reserved for that very reason.

The Illinois governor has moved all fall sports to spring.  Spring sports in Illinois will go in to summer.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jul 29, 2020 16:15:45 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

I was looking at the virtual option and it requires quite a bit of dedication to do and we're locked in for a semester.   If DH gets called back to work I can't realistically expect my mom to shuttle them to test sites and all that stuff for an entire semester.  My job is not really geared towards it though they would be flexible with me and DH has zero vacation till the end of the year.  His company has a point system so if he takes unpaid leave it counts against him and in a time of lay offs putting yourself on HR's radar is a bad idea.

I also can't figure out how to expect DH to handle full time home school and a full time job.   Gwen is in 5th grade and could probably self motivate herself enough during the day then we go over things at night.  I can't imagine Abby as a 1st grader trying to be at the computer for 5 days a week from 8:30-3:45 for an entire semester.

I am waiting to see what CB has to say at the end of the week I guess.  F*ck Governor Reynolds.   I am going to have that made into a bumper sticker I am sure I am not the only parent thinking the same thing.

Can you shift your hours?  Can you work 2-9 pm instead?  I’m not sure what you are doing in the lab, but usually it doesn’t matter what hours you are there, just that you get the work done.  

[Spellbound454]

We have been enjoying a period of nice low transmission rates and low levels of infection

and now its increasing again..... So much so....that if it continues we are going back to lock down.... (Just our city)

Its increasing in Europe too......They are advising people not to go to Northern Spain and another couple of Countries could be closing their borders.

So annoying... people just don't care......... and young people are getting the blame for the spread.

[jerseygirl]

Three dozen lifeguards in Long Beach Island at the Jersey shorehave tested positive for Covid after going to a party. We rent a house there every year for 2 weeks.
There was a huge party -700 people at another NJ town. House owner and people who rented house are being charged - jail? Fine?

[lynnerself]

Jul 29, 2020 11:16:30 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

Oregon released the criteria yesterday to open schools. Right now, our area doesn't qualify because you have to have less than 30 cases per 100K and the case numbers need to be dropping for 3 weeks. 

We have 9 cases with a 7K population. 7 are new cases and 20 "symptomatic direct contacts" were also tested but the results are still pending. 

Here you apparently can't even get tested unless you were in direct contact with a confirmed case. And, they consider direct contact 15 minutes, less than 6 feet, and no masks. Any other contact is ignored...

Those on "monitoring" because they have been exposed are on the honor system to stay home. Same for those on "quarantine". Technically, they can do whatever they please. 

I was looking at the guidelines to open schools. One big problem is that the metrics are per county, not school district. So in my county, we may never meet the numbers in the big city. But the county extends clear up into the rural mountains. Those small districts can't open either?

And our school district crosses two counties, how does that work?

ETA

It looks like our local carefully crafted plan is out the window unless things change by Labor day. It called for a choice of hybrid or online only learning.

[Deleted]

Jul 29, 2020 17:54:39 GMT -5 lynnerself said:

Jul 29, 2020 11:16:30 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

Oregon released the criteria yesterday to open schools. Right now, our area doesn't qualify because you have to have less than 30 cases per 100K and the case numbers need to be dropping for 3 weeks. 

We have 9 cases with a 7K population. 7 are new cases and 20 "symptomatic direct contacts" were also tested but the results are still pending. 

Here you apparently can't even get tested unless you were in direct contact with a confirmed case. And, they consider direct contact 15 minutes, less than 6 feet, and no masks. Any other contact is ignored...

Those on "monitoring" because they have been exposed are on the honor system to stay home. Same for those on "quarantine". Technically, they can do whatever they please. 

I was looking at the guidelines to open schools. One big problem is that the metrics are per county, not school district. So in my county, we may never meet the numbers in the big city. But the county extends clear up into the rural mountains. Those small districts can't open either?

And our school district crosses two counties, how does that work?

ETA

It looks like our local carefully crafted plan is out the window unless things change by Labor day. It called for a choice of hybrid or online only learning.

I understand this area was planning to do in-person school. I can imagine if they try it will be an open-close-open-close sort of deal...

Still curious why we have a big rodeo and county fair coming up and those are considered safe? 

Ulmatila said today they reported 76 more cases. Their county only has 75K people!

[raeoflyte]

Our big district just said virtual until October. I'm surprised it took them this long to make the call and expect the surrounding districts to make similar shifts.

Our district said 74% of families wanted to return in person. My office is in a much more conservative county (mask mandate is statewide, but this is a county that said they wont enforce it) and it's hysterical to hear them talk like schools will be back to normal after a week or 2.

[saveinla]

We got an email that said we will be working from home for the rest of the year.

[Opti]

Jul 29, 2020 10:59:25 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

NJ news agencies sued the NJ government to get access to info on NJ handling of pandemic. Gov Murphy has not been open about even who is on the crisis panel. When newspapers were trying to get info on PPE in NJ, state trooper organization responded it wasn’t available since terrorists might use the info.
Both repub and Dems working together to pass bill for more government openness- of course Murphy needs to sign

Given Fauci and his family are getting death threats I think who is on the crisis panel needs to remain unknown by the pubic. And given that the feds have confiscated PPE, I am fine with not letting the papers and therefore the fed and others know, what we have. At this point protecting our supply is more important IMO then letting the public know what we have and do not have. I don't know if terrorist countries would be interested in our PPE, except perhaps Jared, but this is a time I think its better to play it close to the vest.

In April, my facility got some donations of gloves and hand sanitizer through the local sheriff's office. They were needed because back then the supply chain for sanitizer and gloves was low and sometimes non-existent. Now everyone is making hand sanitizer and there does not seem to be a shortage of gloves. In fact some places like my local large grocery chain sells masks, hand sanitizer, and gloves including boxes of them. Buying hand soap is difficult now, but my guess is manufacturers or producing sanitizer over hand soap.

While the governor's decision making may be less on target now, we are still much better off than the rest of the country. I'd like to keep in that way. In  spite of being part of the epi-center for the crisis, I am seeing things I never thought I'd see now on the worldometer virus board. Louisana for example has passed both NJ and NY in number of cases per capita. Arizona is ahead of us too, and Florida will probably pass us sometime in August.

ETA: I forgot, Florida pulled just ahead of NJ in cases per capita yesterday. Putting us now in fifth position instead of second, where we were much of April through June.

[Deleted]

Last week I was told I should be reported to ProBoards for this being fake news.

Today, it was announced the FDA may grant "emergency use" for a vaccine with 50% effectiveness that's unproven for October so people can "get back to normal".

If they rush this vaccine out and it causes any problems, you will NEVER get herd immunity because even fewer people will trust vaccines.


"The hype about a SARS-Cov-2 vaccine is so intense, it’s almost inconceivable that the White House won’t roll out something in October as a boost to its fortunes at the voting booths the next month. In fact, leading scientists have warned of an October surprise, in which, despite insufficient data, the president could instruct Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn to issue an Emergency Use Authorization, circumventing the normal approval process for vaccines for the sake of political expediency. Right now, we have preliminary data on safety and immunogenicity (i.e., whether a vaccine can produce an immune response of some kind—not necessarily protective against the disease) for several of the vaccine candidates. But the larger trials needed to determine whether these agents actually are effective against SARS-Cov-2 are just beginning."

From a company that's never developed a vaccine:

"There has been enormous hype about the candidate products in the pipeline, with almost a billion dollars in federal money flowing to the maker of one of the widely touted vaccines, the biotech company Moderna, which has never brought a product to market, while the chief medical and financial officers of the firm have made tens of millions from trading in options on the company’s stock."

www.thenation.com/article/society/vaccine-coronavirus-october-surprise/

[Opti]

Jul 30, 2020 9:32:06 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

Last week I was told I should be reported to ProBoards for this being fake news.

Today, it was announced the FDA may grant "emergency use" for a vaccine with 50% effectiveness that's unproven for October so people can "get back to normal".

If they rush this vaccine out and it causes any problems, you will NEVER get herd immunity because even fewer people will trust vaccines.


"The hype about a SARS-Cov-2 vaccine is so intense, it’s almost inconceivable that the White House won’t roll out something in October as a boost to its fortunes at the voting booths the next month. In fact, leading scientists have warned of an October surprise, in which, despite insufficient data, the president could instruct Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn to issue an Emergency Use Authorization, circumventing the normal approval process for vaccines for the sake of political expediency. Right now, we have preliminary data on safety and immunogenicity (i.e., whether a vaccine can produce an immune response of some kind—not necessarily protective against the disease) for several of the vaccine candidates. But the larger trials needed to determine whether these agents actually are effective against SARS-Cov-2 are just beginning."

From a company that's never developed a vaccine:

"There has been enormous hype about the candidate products in the pipeline, with almost a billion dollars in federal money flowing to the maker of one of the widely touted vaccines, the biotech company Moderna, which has never brought a product to market, while the chief medical and financial officers of the firm have made tens of millions from trading in options on the company’s stock."

www.thenation.com/article/society/vaccine-coronavirus-october-surprise/

It will only be news if and when it happens. Until then its conjecture. Could the President pressure the head of the FDA? Of course. Will he cave? That's not a given. Doing this wrong could result in criminal liability. 

Trump's Presidency is littered with people who quit or were fired instead of doing what Trump asked. If I were you, I wouldn't declare victory unless and until the FDA rushes an approval out. This article is merely opinion, not fact.

[Deleted]

Jul 30, 2020 10:00:53 GMT -5 Opti said:

Jul 30, 2020 9:32:06 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

It will only be news if and when it happens. Until then its conjecture. Could the President pressure the head of the FDA? Of course. Will he cave? That's not a given. Doing this wrong could result in criminal liability. 

Trump's Presidency is littered with people who quit or were fired instead of doing what Trump asked. If I were you, I wouldn't declare victory unless and until the FDA rushes an approval out. This article is merely opinion, not fact.

It's not just opinion, the head of the FDA said it's likely to happen...

To me it's not about "victory" it's about making the anti-vax problem worse if they don't do things right.

If they grant emergency use and there's a problem with the vaccine, you don't think it will be even more impossible to get people to take it when they get one that actually works well? 

They've already dropped the standard from 70% to 50%.

"The US Food and Drug Administration could issue emergency use authorization (EUA) of a coronavirus vaccine in a matter of weeks, once a vaccine meets efficacy requirements, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which approves vaccines, said Wednesday.

“We stand ready for using emergency use authorization in an appropriate setting,” Marks said during an online event called the Disease Control and Prevention Summit.

An EUA would green light a coronavirus vaccine for use on an expedited basis.

Marks said the increased attention the agency is giving to coronavirus vaccine trials should speed up the process of granting emergency use authorization to a vaccine that crosses an efficacy boundary in a clinical trial.

“We'd like to hope that when that happens, it will be a matter of weeks before we could actually potentially have something like an emergency use authorization,” said Marks, who added that he hopes the EUA will apply to a relatively broad population. “Emergency use authorization will be for the population for which we have appropriate data.""


www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-07-29-20-intl/h_07b1b159cdd369bf5a42d5a754136acd

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

For all the people who made fun of me for being short in school. .. 

www.fox29.com/news/taller-people-face-higher-risk-of-catching-covid-19-survey-says


People over six feet tall are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with the coronavirus, the results of a new survey reveal.


I know this is pretty much information for  information's sake and really does not contribute all that much.  I am not going to go lick door knobs and let people sneeze in my face but when reading it I couldn't help but snicker.  Short people shall inherit the Earth!

[Deleted]

DS will appreciate that. He's 4'9" tall. Or, as he puts it, just an inch shy of not being a dwarf. 

[Opti]

Jul 30, 2020 10:12:30 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

Jul 30, 2020 10:00:53 GMT -5 Opti said:

It will only be news if and when it happens. Until then its conjecture. Could the President pressure the head of the FDA? Of course. Will he cave? That's not a given. Doing this wrong could result in criminal liability. 

Trump's Presidency is littered with people who quit or were fired instead of doing what Trump asked. If I were you, I wouldn't declare victory unless and until the FDA rushes an approval out. This article is merely opinion, not fact.

It's not just opinion, the head of the FDA said it's likely to happen...

To me it's not about "victory" it's about making the anti-vax problem worse if they don't do things right.

If they grant emergency use and there's a problem with the vaccine, you don't think it will be even more impossible to get people to take it when they get one that actually works well? 

They've already dropped the standard from 70% to 50%.

"The US Food and Drug Administration could issue emergency use authorization (EUA) of a coronavirus vaccine in a matter of weeks, once a vaccine meets efficacy requirements, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which approves vaccines, said Wednesday.

“We stand ready for using emergency use authorization in an appropriate setting,” Marks said during an online event called the Disease Control and Prevention Summit.

An EUA would green light a coronavirus vaccine for use on an expedited basis.

Marks said the increased attention the agency is giving to coronavirus vaccine trials should speed up the process of granting emergency use authorization to a vaccine that crosses an efficacy boundary in a clinical trial.

“We'd like to hope that when that happens, it will be a matter of weeks before we could actually potentially have something like an emergency use authorization,” said Marks, who added that he hopes the EUA will apply to a relatively broad population. “Emergency use authorization will be for the population for which we have appropriate data.""


www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-07-29-20-intl/h_07b1b159cdd369bf5a42d5a754136acd

Marks is not head of the FDA, Hahn is. And being prepared to speed things up is not the same as pushing it out with no oversight at all.

www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-organization-charts/fda-overview-organization-chart

I don't care much about the anti-vaxxers. Let them die with the anti-maskers and those who intentionally go into crowded areas sans mask. Our country needs to weed out stupid, might as well start with the volunteers.

Do you remember when Paul posted 'proof' as to why Trump would win in a landslide due to a massive amount of formerly unregistered voters? Remember how it didn't happen? Even if Hillary had been elected, I doubt the FDA would come forward and say the approval process would move at the same pace it always does. Of course the process is likely to be faster. It is after all a health emergency. Whether it will be a responsible faster or not, will be determined by what actually happens. Not by articles and people opining before the actual situation occurs. 

[Deleted]

As a formerly 5'4" person who's shrunk a bit, I'm happy with this news.  

[NastyWoman]

Jul 30, 2020 6:55:50 GMT -5 saveinla said:

We got an email that said we will be working from home for the rest of the year.

We had a townhall to tell everyone we would be staying home for the year - we were already told this for my location, but now it is company (nation) wide.

Did you have any damage/problems from the EQ this morning, or are you far enough away?

[saveinla]

Jul 30, 2020 11:35:10 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Jul 30, 2020 6:55:50 GMT -5 saveinla said:

We got an email that said we will be working from home for the rest of the year.

We had a townhall to tell everyone we would be staying home for the year - we were already told this for my location, but now it is company (nation) wide.

Did you have any damage/problems from the EQ this morning, or are you far enough away?

No problems or damages, but it was pretty close and the jolt felt very violent and seemed to last longer than normal. Many aftershocks too. 

[pulmonarymd]

There has been an expedited approval process for drugs that the FDA uses for years. It most prominently came to be used during the HIV pandemic, due to the actions of AIDS activists. It has been used for Remdesivir, a drug we now use to treat COVID. If a vaccine is far enough along in the approval process, issuing an emergency use order, would be consistent with how it has been used in the past and would be a responsible use of the expedited use. Unless someone thinks this is not an emergency.