Preparing for Coronavirus?

[Cheerful]

Water??  I KNOW!  WTF?  Same with canned soup? Why? You will not lose electricity!  You can still cook! Why buy such things? Frozen foods will not defrost, IF you decide to stock up on food, WHY go with the canned stuff?

Canned chicken noodle soup is what I consume when I have cold/flu.  Long a remedy according to conventional wisdom, some research suggests chicken soup helps.

Canned foods are nonperishable and convenient for people who don't have large freezers.

As noted by some officials, the current crisis is a good reminder to be prepared for other types of crises (e.g., power outages).

[clean]

As noted by some officials, the current crisis is a good reminder to be prepared for other types of crises (e.g., power outages).

Yes, people should Already Have water and food because of the other crisis situations.  Here it is hurricanes.  I already have water, and food that will store well. 

Also, and I could be wrong, but isnt Home Made Chicken Soup supposed to be best, and not Campbell's Chunky variety?

Anyway, I hope everyone stays healthy and is not forced to rely on their canned chicken soup to regain their  health!  I hope that no one has to quarantine and use up their bottled water so that their emergency stockpiles remain full! 
(do note, though, that water does expire!  And be warned that the plastic seems to leach into the water, so it may not necessarily be healthy to use long stored water!)

Good Luck to All of Us! 

[Cheerful]

Also, and I could be wrong, but isnt Home Made Chicken Soup supposed to be best, and not Campbell's Chunky variety?

If, when sick, you or loved ones are eager to make home made soup, more power to ya!  If you have some stored in freezer, more power to ya!  I look for reduced-sodium canned varieties (which are still loaded with salt).

[marshwiggle]

I did buy toilet paper online a week or so ago. NOT because I was 'CV19Shopping'.  Consumer Reports a few years ago picked a White Cloud brand, and I used to be able to get it at Walmart.  Over a year ago, Walmart stopped stocking it. I was able to get it at Amazon, but I had to buy 4 twelve packs at a time. It was a little cheaper than what I was paying at Walmart, so I did. Well, it was time to reorder.  My Amazon account reported that it was last ordered in Jan 2019, so it looks like I buy about a year's worth at a time. My case just came in last week. 

I had to buy TP yesterday just because we had run out. At the grocery store, the cheap TP was sold out, but pricier brands remained.
Why do people stock up on that? A 12 pack lasts us for weeks already. Presumably whatever people buy lasts them several weeks as well. (Does anybody go to the store for each individual roll????)

So why buy several weeks worth on top of the normal several week supply????

[Cheerful]

Preparing to put the remainder of my courses online for this semester.

[Caracal]

Preparing to put the remainder of my courses online for this semester.

I guess I'm feeling like I have enough of a grasp of what I would probably do if courses were all moved online to not have to do more. I also just think it would be one of those situations where it would be important to just focus on getting the minimum done. If I started teaching a fully online course next semester, I would obviously spend time figuring out how to rearrange lectures and content to meet the format. But it is the middle of the semester and if we just move all classes online now, we are dealing with a very abnormal situation. If our CMS has some sort of live meeting function I'll give my lectures there and do what I can to encourage students to actually log in and participate. With a little modification, the essay exams I have now would work ok online. I'll start there and adapt as I go.  Will it all be great and optimized for ideal student learning? No, probably not, but if everything is changed in the middle of the semester because of a public health emergency, good enough will do.

[the_geneticist]

Our provost has put out a call to have us "consider" how we could make our classes more accessible online/fully online. 
I teach large enrollment project-based lab classes.  I'm still waiting to hear what the plan is since those cannot be put online.  And the lab is linked to a lecture.  This is true for almost all biology/chemistry/organic chemistry/nursing classes.
I figure it's too large of an issue for me to worry too much.  Simply put, this is beyond a class-by-class issue.  I'm not going to try to make an online version since it simply can't be done (let alone done well) in the three weeks before Spring term starts.  And that assumes I have no other job responsibilities.

[science.expat]

Our provost has put out a call to have us "consider" how we could make our classes more accessible online/fully online. 
I teach large enrollment project-based lab classes.  I'm still waiting to hear what the plan is since those cannot be put online.  And the lab is linked to a lecture.  This is true for almost all biology/chemistry/organic chemistry/nursing classes.
I figure it's too large of an issue for me to worry too much.  Simply put, this is beyond a class-by-class issue.  I'm not going to try to make an online version since it simply can't be done (let alone done well) in the three weeks before Spring term starts.  And that assumes I have no other job responsibilities.

Intensive lab classes at the end of semester. At least that's what we're planning.

[marshwiggle]

Our provost has put out a call to have us "consider" how we could make our classes more accessible online/fully online. 
I teach large enrollment project-based lab classes.  I'm still waiting to hear what the plan is since those cannot be put online.  And the lab is linked to a lecture.  This is true for almost all biology/chemistry/organic chemistry/nursing classes.
I figure it's too large of an issue for me to worry too much.  Simply put, this is beyond a class-by-class issue.  I'm not going to try to make an online version since it simply can't be done (let alone done well) in the three weeks before Spring term starts.  And that assumes I have no other job responsibilities.

Intensive lab classes at the end of semester. At least that's what we're planning.

Isn't that kind of a gamble that the outbreak will have passed by that time? If it hasn't, "intensive" lab classes sounds like more people together for longer periods of time, a.k.a. a recipe for transmission.

Almost all of the actions people are taking seem predicated on the idea that they will be for a fairly short, well-defined time period, and thus are unsustainable if the conditions persist for months, rather than weeks.

[Caracal]

Our provost has put out a call to have us "consider" how we could make our classes more accessible online/fully online. 
I teach large enrollment project-based lab classes.  I'm still waiting to hear what the plan is since those cannot be put online.  And the lab is linked to a lecture.  This is true for almost all biology/chemistry/organic chemistry/nursing classes.
I figure it's too large of an issue for me to worry too much.  Simply put, this is beyond a class-by-class issue.  I'm not going to try to make an online version since it simply can't be done (let alone done well) in the three weeks before Spring term starts.  And that assumes I have no other job responsibilities.

Intensive lab classes at the end of semester. At least that's what we're planning.

Isn't that kind of a gamble that the outbreak will have passed by that time? If it hasn't, "intensive" lab classes sounds like more people together for longer periods of time, a.k.a. a recipe for transmission.

Almost all of the actions people are taking seem predicated on the idea that they will be for a fairly short, well-defined time period, and thus are unsustainable if the conditions persist for months, rather than weeks.

Well, presumably if necessary at the end of the semester, you can just cancel the lab classes, find some not great online alternative, finish the semester and move on. Part of dealing with a crisis situation is recognizing that various important things might not happen and that we will just sort it out later.

[the_geneticist]

Our provost has put out a call to have us "consider" how we could make our classes more accessible online/fully online. 
I teach large enrollment project-based lab classes.  I'm still waiting to hear what the plan is since those cannot be put online.  And the lab is linked to a lecture.  This is true for almost all biology/chemistry/organic chemistry/nursing classes.
I figure it's too large of an issue for me to worry too much.  Simply put, this is beyond a class-by-class issue.  I'm not going to try to make an online version since it simply can't be done (let alone done well) in the three weeks before Spring term starts.  And that assumes I have no other job responsibilities.

Intensive lab classes at the end of semester. At least that's what we're planning.

Isn't that kind of a gamble that the outbreak will have passed by that time? If it hasn't, "intensive" lab classes sounds like more people together for longer periods of time, a.k.a. a recipe for transmission.

Almost all of the actions people are taking seem predicated on the idea that they will be for a fairly short, well-defined time period, and thus are unsustainable if the conditions persist for months, rather than weeks.

Well, presumably if necessary at the end of the semester, you can just cancel the lab classes, find some not great online alternative, finish the semester and move on. Part of dealing with a crisis situation is recognizing that various important things might not happen and that we will just sort it out later.

This is the last week of labs for us (next week is finals).  We could always cancel the last lab sections and excuse the students.  Not ideal, but I'm fine with doing it once.
What I'm really worried about is Spring quarter classes that are starting in a few weeks.  We have heard NO decisions on how that quarter will be run (will we offer lab classes?  Or just some of them? etc.). We live in interesting times.

[science.expat]

Our provost has put out a call to have us "consider" how we could make our classes more accessible online/fully online. 
I teach large enrollment project-based lab classes.  I'm still waiting to hear what the plan is since those cannot be put online.  And the lab is linked to a lecture.  This is true for almost all biology/chemistry/organic chemistry/nursing classes.
I figure it's too large of an issue for me to worry too much.  Simply put, this is beyond a class-by-class issue.  I'm not going to try to make an online version since it simply can't be done (let alone done well) in the three weeks before Spring term starts.  And that assumes I have no other job responsibilities.

Intensive lab classes at the end of semester. At least that's what we're planning.

Isn't that kind of a gamble that the outbreak will have passed by that time? If it hasn't, "intensive" lab classes sounds like more people together for longer periods of time, a.k.a. a recipe for transmission.

Almost all of the actions people are taking seem predicated on the idea that they will be for a fairly short, well-defined time period, and thus are unsustainable if the conditions persist for months, rather than weeks.

Sure, but it's what we can plan for now. As others have suggested, if that doesn't work we'll move to plan b (or c, or...). Our lab courses are crucial for delivering the learning outcomes so the fall back is probably to give students incompletes and have them make up the labs in intensive sections the following semester or in the the summer. (I'm in the Southern Hemisphere where winter is coming...)

[alto_stratus]

Wow, this is a first for me.  We're moving everything virtual and online. 

[OneMoreYear]

We also just got the news that we need to move everything online for at least two weeks starting next week. As I am teaching statistics to math-phobic grad students, I am a little nervous. At least in a face to face class, I can see the level of panic in front of me and adjust as needed.  Also, very few of my students have a personal license for the stats software they need for class (we meet in computer labs), so they are going to have to watch my online lectures in the campus computer labs anyway. I'm thinking that this somewhat defeats the purpose of putting my class online, but I guess the point is that students are not forced to meet as a large group?

[Hegemony]

OneMoreYear, I wonder if you can try to find a workaround, as many universities are sending students home as well as moving all classes online.  Can you manage without the fancy software, just for this term?