School Closings

[Peter Brown]

And pretty quickly, I wished I could go back to college and postpone adulthood for a little while longer.

I was wondering when someone would say it. They have the whole rest of their lives to be miserable.

I’d go back for the fun alone.

This post appears to have escaped the mods' review.

Oh wait, you are a moderator!

I actually am not. I was told I would be made one if Trump won... and the rest is history. Thus my Mod Emeritus status.

fwiw, I feel like you are the moderator.

[faircornell]

Cornell going to online learning.

[laxpert]

From Cornell's President Martha Pollack announcement:

Attendance at athletic events will be severely restricted to three guests per team member. More details on specific events will be forthcoming.

[OCanada]

Yes. All conference championships. They will still participate in NCAA playoffs per the announcement I saw. Does not address regular season games. Does not address NCAA

[wgdsr]

Hearing Middlebury is about to end spring sports too...

there is one presumptive positive case in vermont so far. 2 hours away.

Amherst suspends their season.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... d-19/56132

Yes, confirmed Amherst cancels. Hearing humors from people involved with Harvard athletics that they will make a similar announcement in the coming days.

as of yesterday, not one confirmed or presumptive case had been detected in amherst's county.

So what should these schools do, wait until the virus community spreads to their campuses? If that happens then the government will take over and a campus wide quarantine will be implemented which will make a cancelled lacrosse season seem incredibly trivial.
Also, I'd imagine they'd find more than a few cases close by if they were testing broadly.

are you self- quarantined yet or nah?

[Homer]

Hopkins is going to online-only for at least the next month.

[thetruth]

Hearing Middlebury is about to end spring sports too...

there is one presumptive positive case in vermont so far. 2 hours away.

Amherst suspends their season.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... d-19/56132

Yes, confirmed Amherst cancels. Hearing humors from people involved with Harvard athletics that they will make a similar announcement in the coming days.

as of yesterday, not one confirmed or presumptive case had been detected in amherst's county.

So what should these schools do, wait until the virus community spreads to their campuses? If that happens then the government will take over and a campus wide quarantine will be implemented which will make a cancelled lacrosse season seem incredibly trivial.
Also, I'd imagine they'd find more than a few cases close by if they were testing broadly.

are you self- quarantined yet or nah?

You realize you're not an epidemiologist or nah?

[youthathletics]

Snowflakes.

[Homer]

Snowflakes.

I can't tell if you're being serious or not

[Reddogg]

Hearing Middlebury is about to end spring sports too...

there is one presumptive positive case in vermont so far. 2 hours away.

Amherst suspends their season.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... d-19/56132

Yes, confirmed Amherst cancels. Hearing humors from people involved with Harvard athletics that they will make a similar announcement in the coming days.

as of yesterday, not one confirmed or presumptive case had been detected in amherst's county.

So what should these schools do, wait until the virus community spreads to their campuses? If that happens then the government will take over and a campus wide quarantine will be implemented which will make a cancelled lacrosse season seem incredibly trivial.
Also, I'd imagine they'd find more than a few cases close by if they were testing broadly.

are you self- quarantined yet or nah?

As institutions of higher learning, I expect and explanation as to why they taking these steps now, when there are no cases in many if the surrounding communies and no indication that the student population is at great risk. What do they know that is causing these decisions? There is no recommendation from CDC to close schools without an incidence of virus. In abundance of caution doesn't work for me. High schools and elementary school will be next. Then parents will need to stay home. The result of panic and fear could be much worse than the virus itself. This is not air airborne ebola. Approximately 40,000 people die a year in the USA in car crashes, yet we still drive and let our kids get licenses.
Now, if you want to take measures to protect the elderly, first responders, truck drivers, national grid workers then I get it. Stop the madness.

[Homer]

ow, if you want to take measures to protect the elderly, first responders, truck drivers, national grid workers then I get it. Stop the madness.

The only meaningful measure available to protect the groups you mentioned is slowing the overall rate of transmission. That's it. That's the whole ballgame. Every cancellation you've seen has as its basic rationale protecting "the elderly, first responders, etc." Only those folks are really at risk, but the whole key to keeping them alive is slowing the rate of transmission so the medical system isn't overwhelmed in a way that diminishes care for those truly in danger.

[Reddogg]

Nescac cancelled all spring sports.

And it begins..

[youthathletics]

ow, if you want to take measures to protect the elderly, first responders, truck drivers, national grid workers then I get it. Stop the madness.

The only meaningful measure available to protect the groups you mentioned is slowing the overall rate of transmission. That's it. That's the whole ballgame. Every cancellation you've seen has as its basic rationale protecting "the elderly, first responders, etc." Only those folks are really at risk, but the whole key to keeping them alive is slowing the rate of transmission so the medical system isn't overwhelmed in a way that diminishes care for those truly in danger.

You could easily argue sending college kids back into general population, could only make matters worse. Kids are not going to sit home....so you are in theory adding more people to be in general population. College kids are in general more healthy, so now they will be out in closer contact with others.

They should be saying no spring break, stay on campus.

[rolldodge]

https://nypost.com/2020/03/10/italian-d ... -thoughts/

[thetruth]

FIrst Coronavirus case in the US was January 19, 2020.
By March 10, 2020, 51 days later, there are 972 confirmed cases and 28 deaths from it.

The first H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) case in the US was March 28, 2009.
By May 2, 2009, 35 days later, there were 155 cases with 1 death and 430 schools closed in 28 states, including the University of Delaware.
By May 18, 2009, 51 days later, there were 6 deaths.
On July 25, 2009, stage 3 trials for a vaccine are started
On September 21, 2009, China is the first country to start vaccinations and US Govt orders 251 million doses of vaccine from manufacturers with vaccinations starting shortly thereafter
By April 10, 2010, the CDC estimates there have been 60.8 million cases, 274,304 hospitalizations and 12,469 deaths from H1N1 in the US despite over 250 million vaccinations and 700+ school closings.

I'm not an expert, but I know a few people who are. This ain't the flu or even the Swine Flu. This is a lot scarier, we're much earlier in flu season, our vaccine prospects seem much further away and our response so far hasn't been nearly as aggressive as it was for the Swine Flu pandemic in 2009. Seems that may be changing.

[Reddogg]

How does sending home kids during an outbreak help? There is no evidence that closing colleges will lessen transmission. If anything, these policies increase travel and increase the risk of infecting others. Also, kids with free time are more likely to do things that increase risk - go out in public, erc. Restricting non-essential travel seems more appropriate. Once the colleges cancek classes, high schools will follow. The economy is going to be massively impacted causing substantial hardship, especially for those on the margins.

We are talking about a viral pneumonia not airborne ebola. Stop the madness. These schools are just trying to cover their asses in case of an infection.

[Badlands]

I’m hearing that Duke has gone to online classes for rest of year.

[rolldodge]

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03 ... oronavirus

This is more focused on grade school closures, but provides some insight in the benefit of proactive school closures.

[rolldodge]

Another thing that I’m not sure has been considered here is that the Universities are protecting one of their greatest assets, their faculty and staff, who are much more like to be in the at-risk population.

[Matnum PI]

for what it's worth, and i understand that pieces are moving as we type but... Lots of D1 games were played today.