Update on ASU's failure to notify the public about the amount of students and staff testing positive for Covid-19 .
They caved.
Fun fact!
The caving happened shortly after the posting of my carefully worded message on one of their message boards...which means I had absolutely nothing to do with their reversal but can at least claim I called them out before the reversal went public. Small personal victory, bigger University vs. public victory.
They had 161 people test positive out of 32,729 tests across their 4 university campus locations. This is a less than 1% positivity rate (good). It was interesting to note that most of the students tested were asymptomatic. ASU has produced their own PCR, test. The test was designed by ASU and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in June. People who take the test are able to receive results within 24 to 48 hours. ASU has been encouraging everyone connected to the University to get tested. I believe they are doing research as well.
Pres. Crow updated some of their Covid policies as well. Needed updates.
- Students engaged – whether hosting or attending - in social gatherings on or off campus that do not adhere to public health protocols will be subject to suspension.
- Face coverings have been required in all ASU buildings. They have also been required in outdoor spaces when social distancing hasn’t been possible. Effective immediately, face coverings are required at all times in all ASU outdoor spaces (except when eating).
- We have a no-visitor policy in our residence halls – this includes students who live in other residence halls. Students who violate the no visitor policy will be subject to suspension and evicted from university housing.
- https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2020/08/25/arizona-state-university-reports-161-covid-19-cases-32000-tested-four-campuses/3440366001/
Today the front page of the Boston Globe details a study that shows that the Biogen Conference held at the end of February, which caused the shut-down of my town's schools, caused 20,000 Covid cases.
We all knew that Biogen, a company of medical scientists, had done the unthinkable by holding an international conference in Boston late in February when everyone was worried about the virus. But now Biogen is claiming they didn't know it was a problem.
To be fair, while many people were aware of the virus in late February, it hadn’t really sunk in to the collective that COVID was highly contagious and could be so dangerous. I was in Boston on Feb. 29th to meet up with a friend. The cafes were packed and there was a Sanders rally going on in the city. My friend was working at Dana Farber Cancer Center as a researcher, and I even asked whether she, working in a hospital, felt nervous at all about the virus. She was not particularly concerned, and neither was I. At that point, I think there was a sense that COVID might peter out the way H1N1 did. This was before the virus swamped Italian hospitals, remember.
That said, Biogen, being composed of medical scientists, may have been privy to information the general public didn’t have.
@coyote I hear what you are saying, how you didn't think the virus was coming here back then and how it hadn't sunk in for many people. But I don't agree with making excuses for people in the health fields. You didn't have to be privy to special research to know not to hold an international conference at the end of February.
We have posts back in late January on this forum warning people about air travel. None of us are in the field of making drugs and biotech. I have an MPH but I don't do biotech or work in the field. Biogen does. We were reading the UK nurse, Paul Campbell in mid January.
Before Biogen held its conference, we'd filled 10 pages of posts in this thread about the virus, were already reading scientific evidence of how asymptomatic people were spreading the virus, and air travel had already declined worldwide.
On January 26, a month before the conference, I posted about the dangers of air travel. I wore a mask and hunkered down in my airplane seat to take a medically necessary flight for surgery. I would not have traveled except for medical necessity. It was a month before the conference. In January, @lovendures wrote a post about cleaning seats on the plane and not using the bathrooms.
By the time Biogen held their conference, air travel, especially international air travel was, in my opinion, foolhardy for a biotech company. They should have known better.
I was supposed to attend a HUGE natural foods trade expo in Southern California the first week of March. For a few weeks leading up to that conference, other major conventions and conferences had begun canceling events worldwide. I was getting nervous because 80,000 industry people attended this expo last year. Major companies were pulling out, and demanding the EXPO be canceled.
They only canceled when it was apparent there were few buyers or vendors attending. Many of the companies had implemented travel bans due to the virus. Companies had being asking for the cancellation for 2 weeks or more.
The organizer lost an incredible amount of money. HUGE amounts.
The US banned China travelers Jan. 31.
The US Banned travel from Europe on March 12th.
Should Biogen have known?
I think they rolled the dice and lost. Yes, it was early, but many promenade companies had already begun canceling all non-essential travel worldwide. It costs a lot of money to cancel a convention or conference.
By the time Biogen held their conference, air travel, especially international air travel was, in my opinion, foolhardy for a biotech company. They should have known better.
Hi Jeanne, hi everyone
I fully agree and I applaud you for posting warnings when you did. It's a shame not everyone heeded the warnings, which is why a lot of people are suffering today.
U of A caught a covid cases before there was a major outbreak by testing poop from dorm room sewage.
@fajm. Welcome. So glad you decided to join us. Thank you also praising our early pandemic warnings about traveling and laying low back in late February.
Right before our stores emptied out of toilet paper, someone here, I think it was @Laura or @lovendures, said to stock up on toilet paper. I went right out and got enough to allow my family to quarantine safely for a month. I am so grateful to have received that information from this community.
Laura also recommended other supplies to keep on hand which I zoomed out and got just before hunkering down.
Because of some of our neighbors were infected at the Biogen conference, our middle school, where their kids attended, were the first to close in the state. Then because of Biogen's carelessness, the pandemic literally went viral in Boston and we did not want to go to any stores. The hospitals scrambled to have enough beds to handle the expected load. It was frightening, given what had happened in Italy only the month before.
Home shopper services were jammed and I was so grateful to have gotten supplies right before the crisis struck.
Because of this community, we had what we needed.
Because of this community, we had what we needed.
Thanks for the welcome Jeanne, for a year or so I have been thinking about exploring the esoteric world and I am glad I found this forum.
That's good to hear the community helped - I still struggle to understand why toilet paper would be considered a critical item in a pandemic. I hail from Europe and even here in some countries there was a run on TP, such as the UK.
How do forum participants think Covid-19 is being managed by individual US States?
California lead strong, but then our governor ceded decision making to individual counties, so now we're mostly screwed. There's no enforcement of any of the rules anywhere, ever.
Stats for CA:
https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/california?view=total-deaths&tab=trend
For the most part, Arizona has failed. At the beginning, our governor did a good job and shut down the state. Lives we saved. But he opened back up way to o fast with no plan. Our Governor, does not want to take responsibility for anything so he has pushed difficult governing designs to the counties and cities on covid issues. He is a big supporter of Trump. He also has provided confusing and poor guidance for schools to reopen. Our covid numbers are better, but much of that is because of mandates from our mayors and counties, that and him being backed into a corner.
@fajm. Washington state was one of the earliest affected by Covid and we were lucky to have a progressive governor who listened to scientists and public health officials. The lack of testing and personal protective gear was a serious issue early on thanks to lack of federal support. The red portions of our state resisted stay at home orders and mask wearing. As a result, Covid numbers skyrocketed in those counties. Now we have a state mandated mask order and majority comply. The state closed down in March and most of the densely populated areas are still in phase two reopening. Our Covid numbers have plateaued, though and the death rate is down.
@jessi1978 I am currently attending college at Stony Brook. Two of the classes are fully online via Zoom while the other two are in classrooms. We are required to wear masks and social distance. In a class of 14, there is a student seated every six feet.
My son is also a student at Stony Brook but all his classes are online, which I am grateful for. I was worried since of course as you know that campus is huge. Less I can keep my family to go out the better.
@jessi1978 I am doing an MA in Asian and Asian American Studies. The college charged me with in-state tuition albeit I still live with my parents. The program is supposed to be two semesters long, where this semester I am doing four classes. Next semester I will have to do two lecture classes, to special reading classes as electives, and a project or thesis. I am considering doing a creative project as I do not intend to pursue a PhD.
My father is willing to drive me to the campus which takes a little over an hour. The LIRR fares are off-peak both directions, where I have to transfer between electric and diesel trains. Everyone is required to have masks on.
The professors with classroom times allow students to take the class on Zoom. This semester, I realized I have to write papers for all classes. When I read through the syllabuses, I felt the work was daunting, however, I am not much a procrastinator. During my undergraduate years, I had a 10-page personal project where I ended up completing days before the due date.
Even though the campus is huge, the classrooms are split up into different buildings. I am wondering where in Long Island are you from?
Thank you all for your replies -
@laura-f my brother-in-law moved recently from NYC to California. He and his partner were infected a couple of months ago in LA but thankfully recovered. What do you think is the main reason for lack of enforcement?
@2ndfdl I have a friend in Mineola (close to Dallas), although I have not spoken to him in ages and don't know how they're doing. I hope you guys keep safe.
@jessi1978 I followed Governor Cuomo's briefings back in May and I admired his leadership and the way he handled the crisis. As far as I can tell, NY state still holds the grim record of the most deaths by state, sadly, but if it weren't for Cuomo I think the situation would be much worse.
@lovendures from what you say it sounds like Governor Ducey has been following in President Trump's footsteps, so to speak. Whether it's a matter of the blind leading the blind I can't say but to me it's very troubling that a health issue of such proportions appears to be shaped by party politics rather than by science. I visited Arizona 8 years ago and I loved it, I hope to go back at some point.
@bluebelle I have seen some of what you speak of in the news. Regardless of party affiliation, the fact that people resisted mandates to wear masks and stay at home is especially concerning. As NY Gov. Cuomo said "If you don't wear a mask you are affecting my health". I still struggle to see why a portion of the population fails to understand this simple fact. Perhaps this is due in part to social media as well.
I have a feeling that, social media to a degree is being weaponized to cause damage to some Western countries. Some of the more gullible people that tend to rely on pseudo-news found by FB, Twitter and the like are at risk by being seriously misled and they don't realize that.
I truly hope that a vaccine is found soon.