Preparing for Coronavirus?

[the_geneticist]

The predicted late July announcements of fully online for Fall 2020 have begun.  UC-Berkeley and several others today.

Watch for more big announcements over the next 11 days!

But, but, wait, students signing pledges to be socially responsible was going to make everything OK!

We are "hybrid".  You know, because allowing a handful of senior studio arts students the opportunity to use the art building while the other 20,000 students take online classes counts as "hybrid" [eye roll].

[Puget]

The predicted late July announcements of fully online for Fall 2020 have begun.  UC-Berkeley and several others today.

Watch for more big announcements over the next 11 days!

But, but, wait, students signing pledges to be socially responsible was going to make everything OK!

Ha hahahahahahaha! We all know how responsible students are...

I think it really depends on the student population, just like it really depends on the non-student population. I trust our students a heck of a lot more than a lot of so called adults in this country. Just about every email I get from them in the run up to registration has begun with some variant of "I hope you are well and staying safe " I'm consistently impressed with how socially responsible they are in general. I know that's not true everywhere, but let's not "young people these days" grump with a broad brush.

[Wahoo Redux]

The predicted late July announcements of fully online for Fall 2020 have begun.  UC-Berkeley and several others today.

Watch for more big announcements over the next 11 days!

But, but, wait, students signing pledges to be socially responsible was going to make everything OK!

Ha hahahahahahaha! We all know how responsible students are...

I think it really depends on the student population, just like it really depends on the non-student population. I trust our students a heck of a lot more than a lot of so called adults in this country. Just about every email I get from them in the run up to registration has begun with some variant of "I hope you are well and staying safe " I'm consistently impressed with how socially responsible they are in general. I know that's not true everywhere, but let's not "young people these days" grump with a broad brush.

Liability thing?

[Cheerful]

I think it really depends on the student population, just like it really depends on the non-student population. I trust our students a heck of a lot more than a lot of so called adults in this country. Just about every email I get from them in the run up to registration has begun with some variant of "I hope you are well and staying safe " I'm consistently impressed with how socially responsible they are in general. I know that's not true everywhere, but let's not "young people these days" grump with a broad brush.

It's nice that you trust your students, puget, but you well know that the brain is not fully developed until, when, age 25?  Every student email I've received has had similar nice sentiments.  Do all of your students avoid binge drinking, etc.?  Leaving all that aside, asymptomatic is a thing.

In the last month, "young people these days" in at least three different states (West coast, Midwest, East coast) have convened in large parties that have direct connections to virus outbreaks in their communities.  Selfish and troubling.

[Puget]

It's nice that you trust your students, puget, but you well know that the brain is not fully developed until, when, age 25? 

Yes, on average, executive function (EF) peaks around the mid 20s and then starts to decline by around age 50. (Incidentally,  I haven't seen a lot of concern expressed about older adults making poor decisions during the pandemic, but arguably that's been at least as apparent, and even more problematic since they are at high risk from the virus.) The important point here is that these are age averages-- individual differences within a given age are substantially bigger than age differences within the adolescent-adult age range. So knowing someones age in that range alone tells you relatively little about their EF.

I'm also not convinced that poor EF is the major driver of risky behavior in the pandemic. Things like wearing a mask and keeping social distance require EF at first, because they are not our usual behaviors (you need EF to over-ride automatic responses), but over time for the people who have been doing them they have become habits, which don't require EF any more. The people who are still not doing these things are unlikely to be not doing them because of poor EF-- more likely it is because they don't believe the science and/or as a political statement (as crazy as that is).

Now, could poor EF contribute to college students acting impulsively to attend a party for example? Sure, absolutely, and combined with their increased drive for social interaction *on average* college age folks will engage in somewhat more of this risky behavior than they would if they were a bit older.  However, that average hides a huge amount of variation. Students who have made it to selective colleges will have higher EF on average. Students who have high scientific knowledge/trust and values around protecting the health of others will be better at resisting temptation to engage in risky behaviors. This makes some college populations relatively lower risk and some "adult" populations higher risk.

Every student email I've received has had similar nice sentiments.  Do all of your students avoid binge drinking, etc.? Leaving all that aside, asymptomatic is a thing.

Actually they don't binge drink much. And there are plenty of adults older than college age who do binge drink. As I said, I know college student populations differ dramatically.  My point was that this isn't a universal about college students in general. See above.
We are also not relying on student responsibility alone-- they have to follow the rules or they get kicked off campus, and testing will be done twice a week.

In the last month, "young people these days" in at least three different states (West coast, Midwest, East coast) have convened in large parties that have direct connections to virus outbreaks in their communities.  Selfish and troubling.

Certainly. And also super-spreader events among not young people, at churches, large family gatherings, and so forth. Issues involving young people tend to get amplified by the media because it fits the "kids these days" narrative.  There are lots of important questions about what makes people engage in risky behavior (and lots of research on that going on)-- age is going to be one factor, but probably a pretty minor one in comparison to others.

[kaysixteen]

And young people are probably less likely to wish to do things like show up in mass public gatherings unmasked, etc., in order to make a 'virtue signalling' political/ cultural statement, nor to be hardened into positions about science, politics, etc., that would resist correction with updated and/or clarified. publicly stated facts about pandemics and the like.

[hmaria1609]

Earlier today, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a new mask order for the city:
https://wtop.com/coronavirus/2020/07/dc-coronavirus-update-july-22/

[downer]

Hot off the presses:
http://www.bioethics.net/2020/07/who-are-we-kidding-theres-no-way-we-should-be-heading-back-to-campus/

[Parasaurolophus]

Things are going pretty well in this province and this city, despite a spike from reopening things. AFAIK none of the universities in the city or the environs are reopening in 2020-21. I just found out today my university is anticipating being at about 40% F2F for 2021-22.

Seems perfectly reasonable and responsible to me.

[sprout]

Things are going pretty well in this province and this city, despite a spike from reopening things. AFAIK none of the universities in the city or the environs are reopening in 2020-21. I just found out today my university is anticipating being at about 40% F2F for 2021-22.

Seems perfectly reasonable and responsible to me.

Oof.  I mean, they're very probably right, but oof.

[apl68]

A member of the staff scored several cans of sanitary wipes for the library!  Our stocks have been replenished.

Plus we had bulk orders of paper towels and toilet papers arrive yesterday.

[hmaria1609]

Earlier this week, I was recruited into doing inventory of a bin of cleaning supplies sent from our admin. office.  The branch manager was busy so I had the fun of doing it.  Everything accounted, list checked off, and back the packing slip went to admin.

[apl68]

Just got a load of four cases of hand sanitizer and 1,000 pairs of disposable gloves off the truck from the wholesaler.  Our library's in good shape now for cleaning supplies.  I hope that makes the staff feel a little better while we're in the middle of a serious local and statewide surge in cases.

[spork]

Two recent outings have demonstrated to me the laziness and idiocy of many people in the U.S.:

• At supermarket, man who looked to be in his 70s perusing the yogurt selection with a mask under his chin, mouth and nose uncovered.
• At Home Depot, only a slight majority of employees were wearing masks correctly; many had noses or both noses and mouths exposed.

For the rest of my life I will probably be wearing an N95 mask whenever I enter a store.

[Cheerful]

I'm troubled by the thought of tens of thousands of college students traveling to college towns all over the U.S. in the coming weeks.  Is this really going to happen?  Some places are doing relatively well and this will mess that up.

I'm struggling to remain cheerful some days.  What are you best tips for maintaining optimism and pushing forward with mental strength during this time?  What gives you hope and motivates you to adopt a winning attitude rather than a defeated one?

Some good stuff:  1.  Science is in a much better place than it was in March and they'll know even more a few months from now.  2.  Just as fast as things turned ugly, they can take a sharp turn for the better.