Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston, Harvard: co-op, schools, universities)

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

I can see that bars and restaurants pose higher risks than other indoor business, as you can't eat or drink with a mask on, and the few restaurants I've been to just say you can take it off at the table. Bars I can see being worse yet than restaurants, because if it's crowded, you can have people standing shoulder to shoulder, indoors, with no mask.

And it's loud, so you've gotta yell and/or get real close to the next person...and that's not even counting the impaired judgment resulting from alcohol consumption. Yes, I give Baker tons of kudos for sticking to his guns on this one until Phase 4.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

If indoor dining has been open since June and we have not seen any spikes as a result, why would it be an issue now?

As other posters have already stated: I don't understand the difference between customers sitting 6 feet away from one another in a bar vs. a restaurant. I also don't see how other indoor venues can allow 10 people to congregate, but restaurants can't. I went axe throwing this weekend and there was a group of 10 family members a few lanes down from us. Seems unfair for restaurants have to adhere to restrictions that other indoor venues don't.

I’d venture to say the reason for the inconsistency is due to policy makers trying to walk a fine line between tanking the economy completely, and finding some way for certain businesses to survive. Their guidelines also tend to include many grey areas that businesses try to exploit to remain in business. People need to survive, so if there is a grey area to exploit, many will try

CDC has been claiming 6 feet since March, but many schools are using 3.5 feet a min distance for setting up desks? Why? If they use 6 feet, they won’t be able to fit everyone in a class for those doing in person hybrid programs. Why is every other business using 6 feet?

As for not seeing a spike, give it time. It took roughtly 8 weeks for cases to go from 150/day to around 500/day. If this is the start of a spike (not saying it is) then we might be around 1k/day in 4-5 weeks, and maybe 2k/day 2-3 weeks after that.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by bohemka

I guess our kids are dumb. Fair enough. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree and all that. My six-year-old has never seen an iPad before. To be honest, neither have I. I use dozens of apps and different systems for work (including iOS to use inDesign and Vellum), but I've never picked up an iPad, and I think it sucks. It's not intuitive at all. It also doesn't stand up on its own, so our first-grader has two hands on the device instead of one hand holding a writing implement. He's entering assignments by writing with his finger on the screen, which eliminates another essential element of his learning. We are working on solutions, but this flaw should have been addressed by teachers and administrators, not parents.

Our eight-year-old's first introduction to a laptop was in March, and then there was no screen time over the summer until last week. And his system is obviously different from that of the iPad. Two different education distribution systems. More to manage for the kids and the parents—who are pretending to continue their careers.

I think it's amazing that other young children can work fluently with iPads and Chromebooks to navigate through their lessons and submit assignments and attend zoom calls on time, but...wait. Nope. That's absolute BS that they can do all of those things on their own.

Private school kids are in class. In person. This is a massive statewide public education failure. And the problem starts with a U.

I never said your kids are dumb and you know it. A child who is introduced to tablets or computers at an early age tend to learn how to use them quicker than most adults do. I am not sure why they have your first grader writing on a screen, the schools here have the kids draw on paper and then the child or a parent takes a picture of their work with a phone or the chromebook and either email it or add it to google classroom. My grandson's chromebook has both a touchscreen and a keyboard. Unless all they are doing is clicking app icons they should have a keyboard.

As far as managing zoom sessions, my grandson uses Alexa to set a daily alarm 15 minutes before his zoom sessions so yes, he is fully responsible for being ready to participate and clicking the right icon to open the session. He's certainly no smarter than his peers who all seem to be doing the same thing.

I'm not thrilled with distance learning too much of it seems to be busy work, his dad is considering home schooling him but since there seems to be a chance that the schools will reopen soon here (Northern California) he wants to wait to see if that actually happens.

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

I never said your kids are dumb and you know it. A child who is introduced to tablets or computers at an early age tend to learn how to use them quicker than most adults do. I am not sure why they have your first grader writing on a screen, the schools here have the kids draw on paper and then the child or a parent takes a picture of their work with a phone or the chromebook and either email it or add it to google classroom. My grandson's chromebook has both a touchscreen and a keyboard. Unless all they are doing is clicking app icons they should have a keyboard.

As far as managing zoom sessions, my grandson uses Alexa to set a daily alarm 15 minutes before his zoom sessions so yes, he is fully responsible for being ready to participate and clicking the right icon to open the session. He's certainly no smarter than his peers who all seem to be doing the same thing.

I'm not thrilled with distance learning too much of it seems to be busy work, his dad is considering home schooling him but since there seems to be a chance that the schools will reopen soon here (Northern California) he wants to wait to see if that actually happens.

I know you didn't say my kids were dumb. We are pretty much on the same program as what you described, though the Chromebooks they had in the spring had touch-screens while now (for one) they do not. The other has been downgraded from a Chromebook to an iPad.

It's full-time schooling for me right now. I hope to keep my job. My colleagues have kids in class in other towns. Doesn't seem right.

[mdovell]

For bars people generally can talk louder in bars and if drinking can stay for awhile. Having a few drinks means you space it out having something to eat and these days call an ubur. Just pain food at a table usually means you are with someone else and therefore are talking. I have no issue with take out, outdoor seating is fine, indoor....I'm just not too confident.

With respect to kids and technology I'm not going to critique teaching methods or budgets or longevity. But the fact of the matter is if a kid really wants to learn they can learn and that's regardless of how young they are.

[Bridge781]

There definitely is a certain level of unfairness to some of this. My kids are on a hybrid model where they go two days a week but other schools are completely remote. There isn’t much rhyme or reason to it other than it’s what the teachers and the town voted for. I feel somewhat envious of people who have kids in private but that’s their choice and they’re paying for it. I have cousins in nj who have their 1st and 4 th grader in private and they school had already had to close for two or three weeks because of an outbreak

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by bohemka

I know you didn't say my kids were dumb. We are pretty much on the same program as what you described, though the Chromebooks they had in the spring had touch-screens while now (for one) they do not. The other has been downgraded from a Chromebook to an iPad.

It's full-time schooling for me right now. I hope to keep my job. My colleagues have kids in class in other towns. Doesn't seem right.

It's tough.. our grandson is a sweet kid but he's gotten so moody. He gets angry and overwhelmed because he doesn't feel that some of the work that he's expected to do has been adequately explained, and sad because he misses going to school and seeing his friends. It's definitely no fun. I'm just hoping that they really do re-open the schools in 2 weeks, even if it's only for a few days a week it would be a huge help.

[mdovell]

Eh. Not all private schools have busing now.

https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus...portation.html

[htfdcolt]

Cautionary note! Our "real" positivity rate may be north of 3%, not <1%, when adjusted for the repeated volume of asymptomatic testing being done by our colleges. This represents a disturbing increase in recent weeks. Seems to me this would not support the recent loosening of indoor dining restrictions. Not good, going into the cold season!

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/...-urge-caution/

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

There definitely is a certain level of unfairness to some of this. My kids are on a hybrid model where they go two days a week but other schools are completely remote. There isn’t much rhyme or reason to it other than it’s what the teachers and the town voted for. I feel somewhat envious of people who have kids in private but that’s their choice and they’re paying for it. I have cousins in nj who have their 1st and 4 th grader in private and they school had already had to close for two or three weeks because of an outbreak

Some of it is facilities related as to why some are remote, and some are not. All depends on the sort of air circulation the building has available. Some buildings have modern heating systems with filtration, and others have windowless (or unable to open the windows) rooms with radiant heating and no circulation. This may not play a role in every decision, but in the case of one of my kids, it is the reason they are remote, with a plan to go hybrid once some heating system upgrades are done.

Also, the teachers themselves do not vote. It's the school committee, which are elected officials. The union has it's own things to say, but for most part, your average 2nd or 3rd grade teacher here really doesn't have much of a say and is just along for the ride.