COVID-19

[NTP66]

At the end of the day, we have to make some changes. The old "if we can't fix everything, we shouldn't bother trying anything" mantra that plagues the PDT is unacceptable here.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Part of the problem is that word got leaked out of the high school in early April that they were just going to accept the last 9 weeks grade before Covid to be the grade for the semester.

So (and I would have done the same when I was in high school) a majority of the students just quit "showing up" because it served no advancing purpose for their grade. Interestingly enough one of the people I talk to noted there is a pretty big gender split on this as well...not surprisingly.

[nocera]

Source of the post Part of the problem is that word got leaked out of the high school in early April that they were just going to accept the last 9 weeks grade before Covid to be the grade for the semester.

This is spot on. The district (at least my district) isn't allowed to give any student a lower grade than they received in the previous 9 weeks. So of course 80% of the kids aren't doing any work. I wouldn't either.

[NAN]

Again, this is anecdotal, but talking with administrators and teachers in maybe the best district in South Carolina and they are saying less than 30% of students have engaged in what they are calling "consistent attendance and work completion" with zoom, google teams, etc...

I don't even want to know what that number looks like in non-wealthy districts.

My sister in law and my neighbor are both city school teachers. Literally half the kids don't have internet. My sister in law said she has only had constant contact with 7 kids over the past few weeks out of like 30. My neighbor said he has only had 10% participation.

[NAN]

At the end of the day, we have to make some changes. The old "if we can't fix everything, we shouldn't bother trying anything" mantra that plagues the PDT is unacceptable here.

Agree some changes have to be made, but I don't think they have to be extreme. At some point, whether it's this year or next (or whenever), society has to start getting back to "normal". There may never be a vaccine. Everyone should take extra precautions, but in a world of over 6 billion people, you will never get everyone on the same page.

[MWB]

Yup, they’re grades can’t go down, can only go up. For middle school it’s going to simply be a “pass” grade. High school they have the option of a numerical grade or a pass. What many kids understandably fail to see is that not doing this work hurts them for next year.

My daughter has to do all of her work, regardless. She has a really easy schedule this semester and complains about having to do art homework for a class she was pass/failing originally, and she’ll “never use again.” So what. If nothing else, it’s a way to learn scheduling and self-discipline. But I know she’s half-assing it.

[RonnieFranchise]

Received instructions for pickup of my daughter's stuff from her locker today. I wonder how many kids have been crapping their pants since March knowing the day would come when the school would go through their stuff.

[Troy Loney]

Looks like those increased testing numbers are because states are mixing anti-body tests in with the covid tests in their numbers.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... as/611935/

[faftorial]

Received instructions for pickup of my daughter's stuff from her locker today. I wonder how many kids have been crapping their pants since March knowing the day would come when the school would go through their stuff.

I thought locker searches in highschhols were routine these days.

[grunthy]

Looks like those increased testing numbers are because states are mixing anti-body tests in with the covid tests in their numbers.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... as/611935/

The increased numbers are from the CDC, not directly the states themselves. Look at COVID Tracking project, they even link it in your article to show the actual test numbers for viral testing.

[count2infinity]

Ohio lifts dine-in restrictions on restaurants and bars today. Will definitely be a nice little experiment to watch over the next week or so for the Wolf administration.

[Troy Loney]

Looks like those increased testing numbers are because states are mixing anti-body tests in with the covid tests in their numbers.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... as/611935/

The increased numbers are from the CDC, not directly the states themselves. Look at COVID Tracking project, they even link it in your article to show the actual test numbers for viral testing.

The article says that states are mixing the results as well. COVID Tracking project is based on state data I believe. I saw someone point this out a week or so ago as well. Some of the increased testing numbers didn't alight with some figure that Quest was releasing, and the individual that spotted this proposed it was possible that states were including antibody tests with the COVID testing numbers. This article seems to confirm that.

[Troy Loney]

I don't see how this distorts the overall picture of the virus' impact and how the virus is contained across large swaths of the country, but it does impact the data.

[grunthy]

Looks like those increased testing numbers are because states are mixing anti-body tests in with the covid tests in their numbers.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... as/611935/

The increased numbers are from the CDC, not directly the states themselves. Look at COVID Tracking project, they even link it in your article to show the actual test numbers for viral testing.

The article says that states are mixing the results as well. COVID Tracking project is based on state data I believe. I saw someone point this out a week or so ago as well. Some of the increased testing numbers didn't alight with some figure that Quest was releasing, and the individual that spotted this proposed it was possible that states were including antibody tests with the COVID testing numbers. This article seems to confirm that.

They link to the covid tracking project to show the discrepancy between the cdc and state...

[Troy Loney]

Can you pull the section where you see that?

[grunthy]

Can you pull the section where you see that?

Kristen Nordlund, a spokesperson for the CDC, told us that the inclusion of antibody data in Florida is one reason the CDC has reported hundreds of thousands more tests in Florida than the state government has. The agency hopes to separate the viral and antibody test results in the next few weeks, she said in an email.

They even have a chart on their website that shows the differences between state data and cdc data.

[Troy Loney]

I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing. If the states are the ones reporting the inaccurate data, that doesn't matter.

The intermingling of viral and antibody tests suggests that some of those gains might be illusory. If even a third of the country’s gain in testing has come by expanding antibody tests, not viral tests, then its ability to detect an outbreak is much smaller than it seems. There is no way to ascertain how much of the recent increase in testing is from antibody tests until the most populous states in the country—among them Texas, Georgia, and Pennsylvania—show their residents everything in the data.

[grunthy]

I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing. If the states are the ones reporting the inaccurate data, that doesn't matter.

The intermingling of viral and antibody tests suggests that some of those gains might be illusory. If even a third of the country’s gain in testing has come by expanding antibody tests, not viral tests, then its ability to detect an outbreak is much smaller than it seems. There is no way to ascertain how much of the recent increase in testing is from antibody tests until the most populous states in the country—among them Texas, Georgia, and Pennsylvania—show their residents everything in the data.

Considering a vast majority of the states aren’t doing this, and it looks like the states that did it are correcting it, I cannot imagine it is that ridiculously off. No state has employed antibody testing at that vast of a number to have testing data 1/3 off.

[grunthy]

Honestly every person tested should be tested for active infection and antibodies. That would give us the best data to go by for reopening.

[NTP66]

Source of the post Will definitely be a nice little experiment to watch over the next week or so for the Wolf administration.

Yep, I want to see how other areas - especially similar areas (large, dense cities, for example) - turn out a few weeks after opening things up. Let others be the guinea pigs.

[pens9192]

Source of the post Will definitely be a nice little experiment to watch over the next week or so for the Wolf administration.

Yep, I want to see how other areas - especially similar areas (large, dense cities, for example) - turn out a few weeks after opening things up. Let others be the guinea pigs.

What's the benchmark though? What if not all the restaurants decide to reopen their dining rooms, even a month form now? And those that have opened, what if their business is even half of what it was pre-covid..could that data be used to analysis? Some people will choose just not to go even if things really drop off and everything is reopened back to what it was in February.

[pens9192]

Yup, they’re grades can’t go down, can only go up. For middle school it’s going to simply be a “pass” grade. High school they have the option of a numerical grade or a pass. What many kids understandably fail to see is that not doing this work hurts them for next year.

My district isn't giving out grades (letter, percent, or even pass/fail) for this last grading period, they just have to show progress. We haven't told our kids yet because obviosuly they would shut down and not do anything. I worry those most for my son in Kindergarten. I really don't know how he will do in 1st grade now. These past two months have been a big struggle with him and we were in the middle of IEP evaluation when everything shut down. Will they spend the first part of next school year doing a review from last year?

[NTP66]

Source of the post Will definitely be a nice little experiment to watch over the next week or so for the Wolf administration.

Yep, I want to see how other areas - especially similar areas (large, dense cities, for example) - turn out a few weeks after opening things up. Let others be the guinea pigs.

What's the benchmark though? What if not all the restaurants decide to reopen their dining rooms, even a month form now? And those that have opened, what if their business is even half of what it was pre-covid..could that data be used to analysis? Some people will choose just not to go even if things really drop off and everything is reopened back to what it was in February.

I honestly have no idea. Any data is better than no data, though. I'm absolutely positive that some will not go back to normal, like my family. No chance we go to any sit down restaurants for the foreseeable future. Same goes for movie theaters, etc.

[count2infinity]

My wife and I used to hire a sitter and go out once or twice a month to a bar or restaurant and have an evening to ourselves. I don't see that happening any time soon. Even if restaurants open up, I just can't see it happening for us.

Food trucks? Outdoor seating with the little one? Maybe... but by and large from here on for a the foreseeable future, we'll be either getting take out or just cooking at home.

[willeyeam]

I'm eating on the patio at a golf course after I play Saturday but I have no plans to eat in anytime soon. I'll wait and see how it goes first