Subj : Covid-19 was: Miss.RvrDam To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Sun May 03 2020 09:10:00 Hi Nancy! BM> NB>>> Our schools are closed at least until April 29th, too... kids are NB>>> doing distance learning and being home-schooled, too... And the NB>>> colleges are doing things all online, too... BM>> I'm half-expecting another extension until mid-May -- at least here in BM>> the Midwest; New York/East Coast might be able to start reopening BM>> around the first of May just because that area had it earlier than here. NB>> At this point there still is no decision on whether or not schools NB>> will reopen before the end of the school year... NB> Update... a couple days ago, the governor announced that he was NB> keeping all the schools and colleges closed for the rest of this NB> academic year... I'm thinking we're keeping schools in Iowa closed until next academic year also; to me makes more sense to have consistency. NB>> Although we do seem to be coming on the downward side of the curve NB>> now, there's no way to know whether it will be a quick drop or a NB>> flatter/longer one... and the last thing we want is for things to NB>> suddenly spike upwards again... BM> The experts are mixed, though I think some are trying not to be BM> Doomsday Prophets. I'm thinking the curve will be long in tapering off BM> with multiple rises and falls as people 'are released' and forget the BM> social distancing, cleanliness, etc., and so contract COVID-19. This BM> reminds people and so they go back to protective measures (social BM> distancing and cleanliness), and so back and forth. More people will BM> have developed an immunity (probably to varying degrees) and so that BM> will also help reduce the curve. NB> I guess we'll just have to see how things actually play out.... True. Us non-scientists are doing a lot of guessing, and IMO sometimes acting illogically. News reporting pop-up areas of resistance to the stay at home orders; Illinois has two lawsuits pending against the Governor for overstepping his legal authority. OK, so people are getting antsy and seeing nothing happening to them and immediate circles of family and friends; doesn't mean the problem isn't still present. BM>> The news has a chart of number of instances by county. Scott, Clinton BM>> and Muscatine counties (me, north of here, south of here) are the BM>> highest -- yeah, we're also the most populous (in this part of Iowa) BM>> -- of course we're going to have the most COVID-19 cases! To me would BM>> make more sense if also showed percentage. NB>> That could be a useful tool... especially for an informed comparison... BM> IMO yes. Lots of little factors not being presented, or maybe better BM> to say overlooked. Italy had a very high death rate; later reported BM> because they have an older population, not something 'Italian'. BM> Though is helpful to know the virus is harder on an older population. BM> One the opposite end was I think Zambia had no reported cases: they BM> also had no test kits so unable to report. Had sort of something BM> similar here: Louisa County (IA) had a sudden spike: they get a bunch BM> of test kits and so they were able to do more tests and so all of a BM> sudden a landslide of new cases. Louisa County is in Iowa, so that BM> cased the Iowa report to have an increase, not as much of a spike BM> because the other 98 counties' reporting format was constant. And BM> probably also caused a mild bump in the U.S. reporting. NB> The ability or inability to test widely does seem to have a major NB> impact on what the statistics and such end up being.... Oddly yes. :) BM> ...Not that I'm scooping out these details, just are there and I'll BM> sometimes do a quick alternative analysis. NB> I'm not searching out stuff, but I do listen to the news blurbs NB> on my classical radio station... sometimes not really because I NB> want to but because it's there... so I do get somewhat of an NB> overview on things... Richard has been going on the state website NB> to hear our governor's daily updates, to get directly what the NB> various executive orders are.... Locally one of our TV stations has been carrying the Iowa Governor's daily news conferences on one of its subchannels (Ch. 6.3). Personally I would find it boring and the highlights on the news is sufficent. OTOH I don't have a need to go out in the world and so know where not to go to keep safe, etc. BM>>> Nothing's been said but I wonder about what's going on with upcoming BM>>> freshman college classes: the colleges and universities are closed. NB>>> Maybe the colleges just don't know what to plan for the fall... NB>>> it's so much a wait-and-see now.... BM>> That and the summer sessions! As you indicated, too early to tell. NB>> And just last night, when I was talking on the phone with a friend, NB>> she looked up what the status of colleges opening in the fall in our NB>> area was... generally they all were still in the wait and see mode... BM> Which at this point makes sense. BM> Currently just about all schools are shut down and no one knows for BM> sure when able to open. Hard to make plans. At this point I'm BM> guessing plan to continue with the on-line learning, and if things get BM> cleared go back to in-person learning, though the on-line will probably BM> continue as a popular alternative. NB> There's benefits and drawbacks to each kind of learning... and NB> some majors are much more dependent on in-person types of NB> activities than others... A lot of classes already have been NB> being done mostly if not totally online, even before this.... True. A friend of mine in college did much better learning from reading the texts than from the lecture. He was not a bookworm by any means, pretty much the opposite of that stereotype. My learning was pretty much old style: in person, in class, though a lot of the electronics is self-taught. Mixed results on that: done as a hobby and not as a career. Working on 'stuff' it is sometimes easier to follow along with a printout and/or I'll make notes of problems noted. And sometimes those notes go in work copy and all done on-screen. BM> There's also a percentage of students who will take off the semester BM> or maybe even year -- always have been some but I'm thinking even more BM> than usual. Combination of protective measure and building up some BM> finances. NB> Time will tell if more decide it's safer to stay home... for NB> some, returning to school might be better than staying in a NB> locality that might be earlier in the curve than where their NB> college is... Right: a lot of variables depending on where. Might be 'safer' (relative term) to live in a dorm than an apartment complex: dorm might have daily temperature checking, spraying of common areas, etc., whereas the apartment building probably would have nothing like that. BM>>> Here also more encouragement to stay in place, only going out when BM>>> necessary. I've been told Schnuck's grocery store (chain BM>>> headquartered in St. Louis) is restricting to 60 customers at a time. BM>>> I haven't heard of restrictions at the other grocery stores (including BM>>> Hy-Vee). Hy-Vee did put directional arrows on their (brand new!) floor BM>>> to sort of direct a flow of traffic to help keep people 6' apart. NB>> No one-way aisles here, at least not yet... just the one-way in> and NB>> out of the store.... and a lot of the "stuff in the aisles" to catch NB>> your attention has been moved out of the aisles to make them wider... NB>> They expect the carts to help maintain the distancing... BM> "Come near me and I'll crash my cart into you!!" The one-way BM> aisles might be more of a psychological thing: it is a lot easier to BM> stay six feet from the other customer wandering down the aisle but when BM> they stop to get or contemplate an item one still has to pass them. NB> There's less chance of spreading contagion if one isn't meeting NB> face on, I suppose... We still don't have one-way aisles at NB> Wegmans, but BJ's did put them in for the narrower cross NB> aisles... Again a lot of variables: Wegmans might have ten foot aisles, which would give the 6' spacing. BJ's narrower aisles might be eight feet and so the perception by the customer is too close. Guesses, of course. BM> I did skip going to Hy-Vee yesterday: nothing advertised I really BM> needed. I remember was two items but not recalling what they were. BM> Definitely not worth a special trip. NB> We are just doing our usual once-a-week shopping... only special NB> trips are if something important is running out... like milk or NB> the cats' kibble.... I did go last Thursday - ah! People! :) All of the Hy-Vee associates are required to wear masks -- one in Produce was kidding with me as he kind of liked it as hid if he was sticking out his tongue at a mean customer. BM>> ...Another thing to add a bit of confusion to my shopping while the BM>> store is remodelling! Now I need to go down the Baby Food and Pet Food BM>> aisles!! (Um, that's plural: they're two distinct areas!) NB>> I'd think so... At least the baby food/baby items has a NB>> separate section of the store here that I can just ignore... ;) BM> And helps you can 'legally' skip as no one-way aisle routing! NB> And even if there were one-way routing, that's in a part that can NB> be avoided anyway.... :) Hy-Vee still has the long aisles with no mid-aisle cut-through so for now I just walk quickly up the aisle I would normally skip -- less confusing than skipping the aisle I don't want, go past an aisle I do want but is the wrong direction, up the next one (correct direction), then take a left to go down the aisle I had to skip, now skip the aisle I was in previously...... ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... File not found, but if you'll hum a few bars... --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .