The screen isn’t an option. Most sensible students/companies would be running this class on Zoom right now.
It would be repeated 4 hour classes with mostly 22- to 25-year-old students.
I can choose not to do it. I already told them my old classrooms would not be ok. I can demand masks. I might get replaced but oh well I guess.
Thank you for the thorough response.
And to answer you last question, a bunch of people just don’t care. Or they care but think things are okay now.
Takeout is fine guys. For some macro data, Australia continued to allow takeout nationwide and NZ forbade it. The two countries had identical curve-crushing results.
The way you contract COVID is prolonged personal contact in an indoor space. That’s how ~all the outbreaks have happened. Everything else is an extremely distant second.
What’s interesting is the data they based it on was from smoking, but the studies were going to be patches and/or gum. Maybe it’s only effective when absorbed in the lungs, as I think it blocks the receptors the virus binds to. But the problem is if you’re a smoker and you do get it, you’re more likely to get a severe case, so there’s a costly trade-off.
This is the most peculiar thing. Nobody seems to understand it. People who should be in extreme physical distress from low oxygen levels feel and appear fine. Somehow the virus is blocking those reactions while also blocking the absorption of O2 from the lungs.
Given the confusion about it in the medical community, I assume no other known diseases do this.
I thought the nasal O2 was administered before patients were in an ICU-level situation, if you’re aiming for 2 per nurse, that makes sense why it’s so much tougher to create the proper conditions.
Add this to the list of things that are blowing my mind about human behavior but I’m shocked that people wouldn’t decide to go with the proning for a few days to a couple weeks to significantly improve their odds of literally surviving. I imagine it sucks in a few ways, especially if there aren’t special beds for it (like with a hole cut out for the face), but sign me up for survival if it comes to it.
You start taking it if you’re feeling a little sick and it turns it back, or you take it daily in the winter?
The problem with this is we all have to eat, so even if you order groceries via Instacart, at least 3 other people are touching every container, and likely more like 5+. So I’m not sure it makes a huge difference - wash everything washable, heat whatever you can.
My issue with takeout/delivery is just that it’s one delivery per meal as opposed to once a week, which creates additional risk. Even if you mitigate that for yourself, you’re putting someone else at increased risk. But if we’re OPEN as a country/society, and everyone else is licking doorknobs and shit, then it’s really a matter of what each person is comfortable with in terms of risk. Just remember that the person bringing your food is probably going to 20+ homes a night, using elevators and sharing that small space with others and breathing that confined air, pushing buttons, etc.
Therein lies the problem.
Meanwhile, Senator, it’s May 11th and you’re still feckless as fuck. But thanks for your role in ramming Joe down our throats, Chuck, that bodes really well for getting rid of Trump.
I’m washing all produce in soapy water, 15-20 seconds per piece if possible, then rinsing and drying. I have to believe the health benefits of eating veggies to keep the immune system strong outweigh the risks of eating them over constant rice, beans and pasta.
This is accurate in my opinion, based on the best available information today. However, given the insane swings in “best available information,” I think it’s wise to keep taking precautions.
For clarity I would change “personal contact” to “breathing the same air.”
For example, I have been avoiding my building’s elevator as much as possible when going down to get packages. If someone sick rides the elevator without a mask, there could be viral particles in the air on the elevator.
I don’t think we know enough to say 30-60 seconds is safe, because it’s likely a function of time and the size of the space. For example, 60 seconds on an elevator could be worse than five minutes in a bigger room.
New Hampshire threw a big party the weekend prior, so look at it for a leading indicator. (This weekend was freezing and windy and didn’t seem like too much was going on. Although it’s hard to say for sure since I was at home the entire time.)
Cheesecake Fiasco Aka ClusterFuck (CF)
TLDR supposedly smart scientist sticks around in CF chaos way too long out of morbid curiosity and duty. The food was delicious, may he Rest In Peace (cough).
We online order at 11am for 5pm pickup thinking we would beat the system by ordering early and picking up on the early side. Because we have some gift certificate thing we have to plan to pay inside but figure that’s a 5 minute ordeal.
We run a little late and get there 5:10. As we drive thru the mall parking lot there is a huge line of cars for Maggionos and then aneven bigger car line for CF. We swing around and park in the ramp, mask up and get in a line of about 50 people. Fairly decent social D outside, breezy cross ways wind to the line. 100% masks.
After 25 min or so we get near the door people are exiting from very sporadically with food or employees running food out. We find out from others that at 5:30 they are trying to complete 4:00 and 4:30 orders.
Around 6:00 we get to entry way. We wait outside until it’s clear before we stand there. Sadly as we enter a guy joins us. We just suck it up.
We get inside the cashier area. It’s chaos. People are doing their best to distance but I’d say 4’. A guy snaps at me and I just look at him, not much I can do. Then I notice we can get behind some plants blocking the mall side entrance. The wife stands there and I brave the line.
The hostesses running the registers are doing their best. There are literally dozens of food bags lined up on every available surface. Yes orders ready to go but other than the names getting called out as it’s set out, there seems to be no attempt to match bag with customer.
I get my turn about 6:20. Paying goes well. Our food is still being cooked. They at least can look at a specific name and can tell that an order is done or not. I conspicuously give $40 for the tip jar on a $60 order hoping for some personal attention and I have a son that manages a Texas Roadhouse so I know it’s not the tip employees fault. She is very thankful. She says she will find me when my order comes out.
I send the wife outside as people are coming in and very few going out.
My wife’s common first name is called out by a blond lady on the far side by the tables. She calls out at least 6 names. One person near there responds to their name and the blond lady disappears towards the tables were there are another several dozen orders bagged up. Total has to be over 100 tho I find that it’s probably 50 orders as there are different bags for meals and for cheesecakes.
I take refuge in the hall by the restrooms. Witness a guy wanting to change his order to just Cheesecake since that is packaged up but not his food. That sucks up several minutes of manager time. Another lady wants to cancel and several of us suggest she just leave and deal with her money already paid tomorrow.
Then a dark haired guy comes out with a pad and takes a few names. I’d been out of line of sight of the main area and to my horror people are def crowded in the cashier area. Guy in 76ers shirt is getting pretty angry and loud.
I tell this guy I’m a microbiologist and that he needs to get a manger to fix this- clear the area. Assign 2 people to take names and numbers. And then communicate by text to clear out orders that have been sitting there forever.
Then low and behold at 6:50, my angel that promised to take care of my calls out my wife’s first and last name much louder than any name has been called out.
We see the upper merion police pull into the lot as we pull out. No idea what happened. I think someone called them from the waiting area.
I ended up tweeting the bones of story above to the corporate CF account including picture.
My son confirms that his Texas Roadhouse in MN got overrun as well. They got 2 hours behind cooking but kept people outside. They even had their online ordering systems go down so he had 9 people taking phone orders. He thinks corporate shut down the online ordering due to the massive demand. He put out more than double a normal Mother’s Day which is one of, if not their most busy day annually.
I had Fish-n-chips. The wife had some kind of herb crusted chicken and mashed. We split a Cinnabon cheesecake. The chocolate piece is all hers tonight as I’m allergic. Very yummy.
We are both taking an extra 2000 D supplement plus we go for an hour walk most days.
You can’t beat me up more than I am beating myself up for not bailing.
*I stipulate that I should have left without food. I get the debate on takeout. I am on team not that worried about smear because that is the one thing people seem good at for infection control. Replating, a microwave zap and some hand washing on getting home.
At some point I got more interested in the process of watching what was happening. Also Mothers Day is tricky at my house. My wife has no kids of her own, but played a big role with my younger two from middle school on. That she ended up not having/adopting is 100% me not able to restart after raising 5 and losing 1. It’s not a wedge but it is complicated. I very much want to make sure she has a good day.
We drop any fruit or vegetable with a skin into a bleach/water (2 tsp/gallon - but this is dependent on the strength of the bleach) solution for 2 minutes and then rinse with fresh water.
Or else we wait a minimum of 3 days before handling, for something like a big bag of potatoes.
Compare this to a couple I follow online who just repatriated. Go to 10:00.
I take daily year round and bump up to 10,000 IU when I feel “peppery”. As you probably know, it’s fat soluble, but no adverse effects recorded below 25,000 IU daily consumption for an extended period. I worked in a corporate environment and long hours, so got into the habit of taking year round.
Forgot the customary caveats: IAMNAD and YMMV.
Anyone else get word from their employer when they are resuming back to the office protocols? Got told June 22nd and I’m honestly stressing about it. They said masks are to be worn 100% of the day. I sit within 6 feet of like 6 people. I’m going to send an email to my boss and ask to continue to work from home, as I have been doing my job as as efficiently this way. It’s probably going to be a tough sell as a healthy 30 year old though. 5 weeks is probably enough time to see the impact of “OPEN FOR BUSINESS” so hopefully they push it back.
It’s so weird to me that Florida’s highway patrol had these same checkpoints set up at the state lines not a month ago and no one seemed to mine that much but now it’s commie oppression. Also it was not that when it was done for DUI prevention and will not be when it is done in the future for that purpose. Weird.
Don’t know how easy it is for you to say no to teaching these classes but if you can’t then get a room with front and back entrances. Students in from the back, you from the front, plenty of space between you and the front row and don’t allow students to approach you. Two fans blowing towards the students behind you and no airco blowing towards you. Makes it a lot safer for you but I would probably still say no even under these conditions.
So lucky my company has already said people that want to can work from home basically till a vaccine or treatment exists.