A study from Japan found that "air humidity of lower than 30% resulted in more than double the amount of aerosolised particles compared to levels of 60% or higher, the simulations showed."
"Back off a bit please its too humid out here for this close of socially distanced contact! "
I don't know if you said what you intended to or not, but I just wanted to clarify that it is *low* humidity (dry air), not high humidity, that is conducive to aerosol formation.
Were there so many judge openings because MM blocked Obama’s nominations?
Has gerrymandering kept the number of judges at certain numbers?
Can the Dems correct the Congress seats that have made the districts so uneven?
Looks like the Dems need to have all 3 (President, House, and Senate) to right the wrongs and do it fast! Seems they need to be as nasty as the Repos and also make laws that will never allow the likes of a trump ever again.
Anita
All the articles I have read say low humidity is conductive for more aerosol spread. Bad for Dry climates that are cold especially.
I wanted to give an update to the zombie dream I had mentioned earlier in this thread. I dreamed it September 18th so that was a month ago today. It turns out there was a personal message for me in the dream as well, as two new people I started to work with both had to quarantine...I was around these people a lot before one of them got sick with Covid-19 and the other had someone who was in their house frequently (a nanny) test positive for Covid-19. Like in the dream I escaped getting the virus somehow. In the dream I saw a zombie attack someone who morphed into one of my neighbors...guess what--in real life a person died in the apartment above mine, but I don't know what from. So I was really sweating last weekend after they gave me the phone call and told me of the situation with my co-workers after earlier that week I had seen an ambulance pull up and pull a dead person out of my building...it was a little surreal for me. I started to feel exhausted and wondered if I was getting the virus too but it was just allergies (which I frequently get here in Georgia). As many dreams are, there was two layers of messages in the dream, one layer was personal information, but on top of that was the message which I took to mean a tough winter due to Covid-19 increasing a lot and possibly add to that the flu virus..."The viruses are coming" being a message that my Spirit Guides gave me three years ago after a series of zombie dreams and then we had a really bad flu year that winter of 2017-2018...
I haven't been remembering my dreams as well due to being extremely tired because the pandemic has made where I work busier than normal the last few weeks and now we are short-handed...Someone told me their theory today--he thought we would end up with herd immunity happening in general because the vaccines probably won't work well (he thinks the vaccines will give short-term immunity, not long-term), and because people are going to do what they want and that means the virus will spread to most people eventually. He said you can only delay that a little bit here and there...I tried to argue with him a little but in his mind he felt that was truth. Many other people out there probably think that way. He argued that therefore businesses should stay open, schools should be in session, etc...but with some accommodations for those who are more at risk...it was a little depressing to talk to him...he said Fauci was an epidemiologist and not a scientist...and complained about epidemiology not really being science. I started to sort of get that glazed why-am-I-here feeling...
@starpath Ugh, I hear ya! My sister is a virologist at NIH/NCI and she has been in meetings to report updates/findings to Dr. Fauci. During the height of Trump’s ire/disrespect toward Fauci (ok maybe there is no height w T), she said Fauci does not suffer fools and, while he is not aloof or arrogant, he nips inaccuracies and ineptitude in the bud. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for him to remain quiet and suffer death threats!!! Bc of T’s ineptitude.
It’s esp difficult for these deeply caring, dedicated scientists to watch their life’s work and passion to help the masses fall into the trenches of fear, despair, and untruths.
I’m so grateful to have her to answer questions and provide sound knowledge. And if she doesn’t know, she says so.
I have three risk factors and I am a teacher. Our district is pushing to send us all back in November (except for high schools which go back in January) for a hybrid model which means I will see 1/2 of my students every other day for about 40 minutes each time. We are trying to push them to move our return date to January. The Board keeps telling the public that teachers can choose if they want to teach in person or not. Our “choices” are to teach, take a leave of absence, quit, or get a doctor’s note for an accommodation to teach online. If I can get the medical exemption, which is likely, I will lose most of my students who aren’t choosing online school.
Its sbsolutely heartbreaking. I could consider returning to hybrid, but our district is also not being clear about meeting CDC requirements for class sizes. They’ve said something like “where social distancing isn’t practical, we will provide plexiglass.” Social distancing isn’t optional. Lol. They’re going to require masks, and they’re upgrading HVAC and adding Merv13 filters. But my classroom windows are still sealed shut. I still don’t have a commitment from them about what they will do if a child refuses to wear a mask, or wears it improperly.
One of our Board members said we need to get kids back in school because it’s time we all just learned to live with the virus. That made me so angry because this Board meeting was on Zoom and every Board member that voted to go back still works from home.Another Board member works for our state assemblmember. He’s a dyed in the wool Republican who clearly is politically motivated. It’s frurating beyond words to be at the mercy of these heartless people.
I have an appt with my dr. tomorrow morning to discuss what I will do.
One of our Board members said we need to get kids back in school because it’s time we all just learned to live with the virus.
This is the stance of Michigan's senate majority leader and speaker of the house since the Governor's emergency orders were stricken down by the MI-SCOTUS. It is absolutely insane.
My area of Michigan -- I was honestly anticipating everything being shut down by October 1, but the return to "in-person" instruction has thus far lasted almost 8 weeks. But - just this morning, we lost four districts. My own ISD (We're the middle-men between the State DOE and the local districts so we're a slightly different beast than an actual school district) shut down all of our center based Special Education programs today because of a possible infection last week. They're currently contact tracing. I think if the Upper Peninsula is any indicator (our closest Michigan regional neighbor) we're going to see these schools joined by a few more, then all quiet for a few weeks before things just start toppling left and right.
The "hybrid" model you described does have it's advantages in terms of safety - if you've got plexiglass and smaller class sizes because they're two days on, two days off (with that ever important day of cleaning in-between the cohorts) I honestly think those districts are the ones that will close the least. It's also the most cost prohibitive which is why we don't have everyone and their brother doing the hybrid model. The problem is going to come with the parents who don't expect their kids to follow the mask mandate. I had to go to a school last week to coach a new teacher where the Superintendent was pushing all of our Superintendent groups to loosen up or eliminate the mask requirement entirely because she was getting so much push back from parents. I'll be interested to see if her opinion changes now that schools have closed all around us. It was literally like flipping on a light switch. Friday all was normal. This morning, closures and news coverage.
You are not grappling with an easy decision by any sense of the word. I wish you the best as you think about it and weigh the pros and cons.
@dannyboy I remembered during my undergraduate studies, some of the classes were hybrid while there was one that was fully online. Now, most of the classes at the alma mater are all online. Most of the classes in my current graduate alma mater are fully-online with some in-class with social distancing.
There is a new documentary out on Hulu Totally Under Control. Here is an excerpt from The Atlantic about the film . Haven’t seen it yet but thought y’all might be interested.
Given the ongoing nature of the pandemic, it may seem senseless to make a two-hour film that looks back on how the coronavirus ran rampant in the U.S. And yet, Totally Under Control—from the Oscar-winning writer-director Alex Gibney and his co-directors, Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger—not only documents the chaos of 2020 with clear-eyed precision, but also successfully argues for its own existence.
does best—it refuses to offer the viewer a soothing or satisfying conclusion, and instead demands action. It denounces the president, but it also focuses on the responsibility of the American public to remain vigilant in preventing the spread of the virus, to fight the news-induced numbness, and to challenge those in power whose false promises can undermine the true reality of a crisis.
In the final seconds of the film, a title card reveals that the president was diagnosed with COVID-19 the day after the filmmakers finished editing. Now, in mid-October, even that fact feels like old news—the president certainly thinks it is. Yet as painful as examining the past in all its ugliness may be, it’s a necessary task. As Totally Under Control makes plain, there’s no clear ending in sight for Americans. But there won’t be an ending at all if lessons aren’t learned.
I Kid You Not!
Not only have we just had our worst day every on reported infections from Covid 19 with 80,000 plus new cases, health experts now fear an outbreak of polio in the Americas during the pandemic due to a delay in vaccinations and surveillance.
The pandemic has stressed immunization and surveillance systems designed to catch and respond to vaccine-preventable diseases
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/23/health/polio-outbreak-risk-covid-19/index.html
Some various news items from around the country today (Oct. 26):
The City of El Paso TX has instituted a mandatory two week stay at home order. Residents may only leave their homes during the day for emergency purposes. Hospitals have reached 100% capacity. https://kfoxtv.com/news/coronavirus/county-judge-el-paso-hospitals-and-intensive-care-units-are-at-100-capacity
The governor of Idaho has moved the entire state back to level 3 restrictions which will limit the size of gatherings and require restaurants to only serve food at tables. https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/coronavirus/article246720586.html
In Utah, hospitals are preparing plans to ration care so that only those with the best chance of survival will be admitted. Some of the largest hospitals in the state have already opened overflow ICUs https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/10/25/with-coronavirus-cases/
I had a serious chat with my doctor this morning. Although I was there for something else, he strongly encouraged me to avoid travel or family get togethers over Thanksgiving and for the two weeks after Thanksgiving. He expects to see a huge spike in cases here in California. He recommended the same for the Christmas holidays.
@rosieheart What part of California? I’m near Sacramento and people are acting like we’ve turned the corner because we made it to the red tier (sigh).
Well, if this is any indication of what to expect from the aftermath of Thanksgiving gatherings, it looks like things will be worse for Christmas because we will have an explosion of cases after Thanksgiving around the time people will be traveling/gathering for Christmas.
Before the holiday, officials advised Canadians to curtail their plans by limiting celebrations to those living under the same roof or moving the party online, but it is not clear how widely the advice was heeded.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/10/27/thanksgiving-coronavirus-canada-united-states/
@parizienne I am so sorry you have to face this dilemma. I am sending positive thoughts your way as you make this decision. I know it will be hard to say goodbye to your current students, but remember: if you're not here, so many other students in the future won't be able to benefit from your teaching. Please take care of yourself, and best wishes.
@rosieheart What part of California? I’m near Sacramento and people are acting like we’ve turned the corner because we made it to the red tier (sigh).
San Diego. We are also in the Red tier but every week we come perilously close to dropping out of it. My doctor said that he expects Thanksgiving to pop us out of the red tier, and so will holiday events throughout December. Stay safe!
@michele-b That's where "Private Property - Posted No Trespassing - Violators will be prosecuted" signs come in handy. No neighbors sneak up on me at all. Humidity is horrid here in the summer...but it looks to our friend come this winter with covid-19.
Thank you. I’m grateful for your kindness and positivity.
Possibly a bit of a silver lining. We’ve been told they’ve bought cameras for our classrooms and there may be an opportunity for me to teach all of my remote and hybrid students (with a classroom proctor) simultaneously. I’d still like to be there with them. It will depend on numbers and my risk. If it works the way we are being told, I can keep my students.