Here’s some personal stuff that’s made my life a *********** in the last 48 hours: my college campus just closed completely and won’t reopen until April 6th; I live 15 minutes away with my parents so unlike many students who basically have nowhere to live now and have to provide for themselves I guess you could say that I’m considered lucky, my ornithology class was out birdwatching and supposed to have taken an exam when we got back when we were informed of campus closing in the middle of the former, all of my classes have been moved online until the previously mentioned April 6th date, and worst of all, I’m worried about a trip to Kenya I’m going on with the Seneca Park Zoo Society at the end of May, this new stupid ban on flights from Europe is supposed to last 30 days but I’m genuinely worried sense my flights to and from Nairobi and then JFK are in Amsterdam and I don’t know If I should seek getting them changed.
Exactly what I was thinking of. When I was a kid, I had this animal book that said that tigers could be extinct "in 20 years" if nothing was done. I got older, saw that tigers were extant, wondered if the book was being dramatic. But I soon realized that tigers are only still here because people are fighting hard to keep them here. The real caveat, the one people forget, is "if nothing is done". Everything is fine until it isn't. And by the time it isn't fine, a lot of damage has been done, sometimes it's irreversible.
Today afternoon was sort of surreal. I got out of office to visit our bank and local tax office (that didnt answer my calls). Bank I found closed to public without further notice but I succeeded to at least hand over documents to security lady at staff entrance. Tax office visit turned our unsuccessfull, reason - they had 2 coronavirus cases lately and today a group of over 20 staff were put under house quarantine and I found nobody to disscuss our matter. On way back from city center, public transport was almost empty during rush hour. Most tourists dissappeared from streets, that was strange look. I took a quick visit to supermarket on way back and it was totally full of people with huge queus because bank payment terminals were collapsing. When state of emergency was announced, people went out to buy stuff and banking networks/ATMs/online banking was suddenly under heavy traffic and coudnt take the onslaught. And when I finally returned, my boss asked me to somehow get special ministerial approval so our employees can travel to Germany on Monday. Our prime minister just banned all travel to Germany and our army is at border and controls it tightly. We will see tommorow if I can get some way.
The most significant action of all may well be our public K-12 schools. This is a really difficult issue, one I'm sure has replaced yesterday's deliberations about colleges. It's going to be very difficult to figure out how to educate this population in any way but in-person; to compound the problem, teachers' unions have very strict contracts that prevent their services from being rescheduled too far into the summer, for instance, while school districts nevertheless have to provide some exact number of instructional days (about 180) per student or those students can not be promoted to the next grade next year. This is a big conundrum--and why NYC has seen colleges switch online and Broadway and museums closed,, but not yet the public schools. This is very, very clear in Westchester County (as Thylo alluded to) that has 121 cases in a very small area but hasn't shut its schools. One poster mentioned a 2-week closure; this is possible, because we had such a mild winter that there are unused school days left that can instead be used for this emergency. It really becomes a very different and difficult situation after those two weeks. Schools and teachers' unions are really caught between a rock and a hard place, while of course, the most important consideration is the children. This thread is about what we personally face with COVID-19, but I've stuck mainly with reporting what's happening in NYC. But I'm one of those college instructors who will now be teaching online for the first time starting in a week. This may sound like an easy solution, but for all of us who have never done so, it doesn't seem possible. Online courses work well when there is a body of material to learn or memorize--like psychology or zoology or art history--but process courses, which teach a process of doing something like writing, require discussion, demonstration, engagement, encouragement. I don't know how to do that without having students right in front of me, or sitting beside me, or looking at something a student has written with me. This is beyond necessary for second-language speakers learning basic literacy, a course I'm teaching for the first time in 15 years. If I were teaching a lit or research course, perhaps I could make it work via email or Blackboard--"you learn on your own and I assess and grade," a cavalier concept at best. But teaching the "how-to's" of reading and writing to people who desperately need it really means I need to pull skills of face-to-face computer networking out of thin air. My college is doing its utmost to help us do precisely that with a program called Blackboard Collaborate, with workshops scheduled around the clock. No one gets it after one session, there is no time for more sessions, and then we have to teach the students how to do it and make it like a real class. A real class? Yes, and it has to be, because each of us has to be ready to explain to the Middle States Association, our accrediting agency, that we have managed to do what our in-person classes do. That's a tall order when one's responsibility to a student is the central tenet in your life. Will I be able to do right by them? That's the standard I've judged myself against for 30 years. How has COVID-19 affected me personally? For the first time, even giving everything I can, it won't be the same as giving them everything they need and deserve. And I'll have to live with that.
Ontario (the province I'm from) just announced today that all public k-12 schools will close until April 5, effectively a 2-week closure as next week is march break. And I believe we have less cases then New York.
I have made the decision to cancel my Florida plans for next week. Everything has just gotten a tad too crazy now for my comfort levels. I'm still not panicked, but I think it's safer for me and my loved ones if I just stay home. ~Thylo
I'm gonna be honest, I've kind of been one of those thinking that people are blowing this out of proportion but now seeing how all of y'all are being affected and all the zoo closures and all the official government statements, I got to admit, I'm starting to get quite worried myself (and I have really bad anxiety on a daily basis so this is fun). Like I said earlier though I hope everyone stays safe and I wish you all good health, particularly those with pre-existing respiratory conditions and those that are older.
The key is not to panic. The threat is real, but these precautions are just that: precautions. This is all in an attempt to slow (preferably stop) the spread of the virus as opposed to the doomsday scenarios you see in pandemic movies. In a sense, many people and organizations are likely blowing things out of proportion to some extent, but with something like this that's better than not taking it seriously enough. Continue to live your life and don't become overwhelmed with hysteria, but be mindful of yourself and those around you. ~Thylo
I think the situation in Italy has really scared people into action. Speaking of jobs, suddenly I'm worrying how this will affect my job search. With how this is hurting a lot of businesses and organizations, I won't be surprised if hiring gets scaled back for a while. Probably gonna have to go back to the service industry this summer. Oh well.
After the post-COBRA press conference yesterday, I definitely feel pretty helpless. The UK government seem to be doing nothing. Schools, sporting events, museums, public gatherings, all remain 'business as usual'. If I understood correctly, they're not even testing anyone not in hospital anymore (I do wonder if Boris just doesn't want the media to find out if he caught it from Nadine Dorries or not). And saying they're not closing the schools because children aren't badly effected? Schools don't close to protect the kids, no, they close to protect nanny and grandad. I seriously worry now about my older relatives who do have grandchildren, that they pick up from school. Rarely have I been so incensed at the news that I wanted to throw my phone out the window. So here I am, on a commuter train, heading into London, to work at a major museum
Wisconsin just closed all universities and moved them online, but for some reason they have decided that K-12 schools should stay open as is.
I have heard rumors that Wisconsin may soon go into quarantine mode. The teachers at my school are having a meeting about what to do today. We may have to switch to online classes, or just have a break and come back later. The forensics season has been completely canceled. I am not sure if all Spring sports are going to be canceled as well.
I posted the likely answer to this above: The most significant action of all may well be our public K-12 schools. This is a really difficult issue, one I'm sure has replaced yesterday's deliberations about colleges. It's going to be very difficult to figure out how to educate this population in any way but in-person; to compound the problem, teachers' unions have very strict contracts that prevent their services from being rescheduled too far into the summer, for instance, while school districts nevertheless have to provide some exact number of instructional days (about 180) per student or those students can not be promoted to the next grade next year. This is a big conundrum--and why NYC has seen colleges switch online and Broadway and museums closed,, but not yet the public schools. This is very, very clear in Westchester County (as Thylo alluded to) that has 121 cases in a very small area but hasn't shut its schools. One poster mentioned a 2-week closure; this is possible, because we had such a mild winter that there are unused school days left that can instead be used for this emergency. It really becomes a very different and difficult situation after those two weeks. Schools and teachers' unions are really caught between a rock and a hard place, while of course, the most important consideration is the children.
When the NCAA cancels March Madness, one realizes the increasing concern about the virus. They didn't just keep the tournament going in empty gymnasiums, televising the games, to avoid the possible transmission in huge indoor arenas. They're worried about the teams themselves, even in very large indoor spaces. The economic loss of this one move alone is staggering. As more and more venues and events are cancelled, more people will lose jobs, as described upthread. For all my worries about doing my job well enough, I realize how fortunate I am to still be receiving my paycheck.
Here's an article that provides answers to questions about what kiinds of contact in daily life are safe and which aren't. It's also worth noting that if you want to go to the most reputable news outlets, but haven't because you hit a paywall or aren't a subscriber, both the New York Times and The Atlantic (both lauded for their COVID-19 coverage to date) have made reading of all COVID-19-related articles free from any platform. The Dos and Don’ts of ‘Social Distancing’
My school just informed us "that there is a high chance school will be getting shut down and that our teacher would have to give us our assignments online." Not surprised honestly.
That may happen over most of the state by Monday morning. Younger grades would basically lose the rest of the school year's learning. But it avoids spreading the virus more so that's good at least...
Was supposed to travel to Czech republic to visit zoos. Well, surely will not happen. Was planning on going to South-East Asia, not sure that will do either. Waiting to see what Germany does, maybe I'll go to Germany instead of Czech Republic for now.
Oddly, at this time there seems to be very little chance of Wisconsin K-12 schools closing. This is almost certainly due to the fact that the governor used to be the superintendent of schools.
The closing of the Houston Rodeo and Disney is how I know that things have gotten serious! Texans are a stubborn bunch and we love that damn rodeo. And Disney parks? They're gonna be losing a lot of money closing for the rest of spring break season. I guess they don't want a repeat of that measles outbreak that got traced back to Disneyland. Plus they get all those sick Make A Wish kids, would be awful if they got hurt. Panic is starting to hit Corpus Christi. Good thing my landlady and I did our quarantine shopping last week. I went to the store this morning to get a few little things (ice cream, chips, salsa, you know, the essentials) and there were a lot of people there trying to stock up. Toilet paper and sanitation supplies were sold out, of course. The canned food aisles were getting stripped down, lots of people buying water, at least the store set a limit on how much people could buy. Those big bags of cereal were selling out, I'll have to remember that the next time I'm stocking up for hurricane season because that's actually pretty smart if there's a risk of losing power and water.
