Cases and rates are skyrocketing again. I wonder why that is?

Maybe it has to do with cities, states and countries moving to fast with
reopening their areas, and pulling back on safety protocols?

Now countries have to rollout another lockdown.

We got unintelligent sports leagues in America stating they are
going to allow all fans back into stadiums.

What’s an Easter weekend without a crucifixion?

SMH

And the degree to this woman has been perpetually wrong is mind boggling
Like you'd assume that at a certain point someone this wrong would just STFU. But here we are.
Meanwhile HQ isn't even considering people coming back until September.

I hope all goes well. I might work from home for the rest of my life.

Software technology allows me that luxury. No client interaction is needed
and I don’t touch hardware.

There's no functional reason for me to go to the warehouse down the street to do work.

She just doesn't understand group dynamics in the way she thinks she does and keeps trying to change me.

Her current opinion is that because my teammates have been ready and willing to go to the warehouse (they go to the ones they work in) this entire time. Then I should too. But these are the same guys that when the country shut down one went to France, one went to Cancun, and another was trying to go on a cruise that got cancelled.

They've BEEN making bad choices, and that they judge me, isn't indicative of me. Like I GET it, I know how they think of me. But this is a job and their opinions are getting in the way of work. And if they choose not to include me on work stuff, she's the boss, she needs to own that because that's not a me thing in this situation. That's an ethics thing that she's allowing.

They removed pretty all restrictions and mandates a few weeks ago. But as of yet, nothing out of the ordinary is going on.
They are middle of the pack in new cases according to the NYTimes data

No tracing.

Hospitalization is down again. But only to the point it was in June.
https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/0d8bdf9be927459d9cb11b9eaef6101f

still have antibodies from catching covid in the last 6 months. I'm in Texas and this place never ever "shut down".

My youngest (1st grader) is set to return this week to hybrid learning, in person twice per week. My oldest (7th grader) will return in two weeks. We're in Michigan, and most districts have been open at least partially for most of the school year. Our district has been cautiously closed all this time, and had been holding tightly to metrics around case and hospital numbers in the area.

The started this plan for returning around 6 weeks ago, while numbers had been consistently low, but the last few weeks has been an un deniable upward trend in both cases and hospitalizations. It feels like once they set in motion the plans to return to in person, they stopped looking at any data and are pushing through regardless.

We do have the option to keep our kids fully remote. They are REALLY looking forward to getting back and seeing some of their friends at this point so it would be hard to reverse course when the school is opening. But then I see news reports like this about current strains impacting younger people, along with news stories about outbreaks in schools, and I just don't know...


(Partial swipe):
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/05/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html

Another US Covid-19 surge may look different, experts say, particularly for younger people. Here's how

"We have to think about the B.1.1.7 variant as almost a brand new virus," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. "It's acting differently from anything we've seen before, in terms of transmissibility, in terms of affecting young people, so we have to take this very seriously."

"I understand that people are tired and that they are ready for this pandemic to be over, as am I," Walensky said. "Please, continue to hang in there, and to continue to do things that we know prevent the spread of the virus."
The difference between previous surges and another possible surge now is "the people most affected now are the younger individuals," emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen told CNN on Sunday.

"We're seeing in places like Michigan that the people who are now getting hospitalized by large numbers are people in their 30s and 40s," Wen said. "And now we're even seeing children getting infected in larger numbers, too."
It's not just Michigan.
"What we're seeing is pockets of infection around the country, particularly in younger people who haven't been vaccinated, and also in school-aged children," former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
"If you look what's happening in Michigan, in Minnesota, in Massachusetts, for example, you're seeing outbreaks in schools and infections in social cohorts that haven't been exposed to the virus before."

cause it really makes no sense to force kids and teachers back in school for like 6 weeks before summer begins.

they would send weekly emails showing the numbers for the county, with reminders on the metrics they were using to determine when a return would be safe. Then they stopped sending those emails as soon as they gave us a date to return, as if it doesn't matter while to me it's when it matters most.

I know they were getting pressure because almost all the other districts in the state were open, and I know the district lost some enrollment from parents who switched to other schools (we have school of choice here along with plenty of charter school and private school options).

I live in the suburbs of Raleigh, but across the county line. The county I live in is pretty much Trump country, so they decided to send the kids back in phases. My son is in pre K, and they meet in person everyday but Wednesdays.

Due to the huge outbreaks after Thanksgiving nationally, they decided to go remote from Thanksgiving to the middle of January.

However, overall the school's been pretty good about the covid cases. There's only been around 10 cases the whole school year, and none in my kid's class. They all have to wear masks and so temp checks upon entry. Only one class is allowed in the hallways at a time. Lunches are in the classroom. We've been comfortable with the arrangement this year. Aside from the first 2 days of school when they said masks weren't required. We declined to take him to school the first week. Then the school board changed the mask requirements. Teachers must've been threatening a walk out.

She hadn't seen a classroom in person in a year and a month. Since 5th grade promotions were cancelled and she was tired of doing online classes, she wanted to go back. She's in a public charter school, so the classes were slightly smaller than regular public (but that's not saying much), and between parents opting to stick with virtual learning and how they are splitting the 'hybrid' learning (2 days in class, Mon-Tue or Thur-Fri), there are only 5-6 kids in the room, though it may have been less (will have to see when I get home).

I'm a little nervous, but not overly so right now. Her dance class has been doing small in person classes the last few months, so she knows the drill of keeping the mask on, temp checks, sanitizer, social distancing, etc. They're pretty strict about it there, so if the child doesn't fall in line they can't come to the studio, Whether the school will be as strict I'm not sure.

I got plenty more to say on reasons behind them going, how this hybrid teaching is going to shake out, and how we may end up with a year+ of wasted schooling, but that's another rant for another post.

Again, we're in Michigan which has the worst current spike in cases/hospitalizations in the country. My youngest was supposed to return to school last Thursday. Half of the school went back in On Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday fully virtual and Thursday/Friday being in school for my sons group. Over half of the kids at the school are staying fully virtual, so less than a fourth of the kids are actually in a classroom at a given time. For my son's group that comes out to 4 kids in his class on his days.

On Wednesday they announced that there were three new cases reported at the school that week. Just from 2 days, with less a fourth of the school there. The timing is terrible with the return to school right after Spring break/Easter - and I know that the parents deciding to send their kids back are also more likely to be the parents who were traveling during the break, and/or are much more open-minded with their "bubble".

By son was disappointed about not going back, but we just couldn't do it. My oldest (middle school) isn't set to go back until the end of the month, but at this point I can't see that happening.

my sister teaches in Atlanta. Her vice principal went to Jersey to visit family. Came back with symptoms.. didnt tell anyone and got the principal sick. Few days before that happened she called my sister and asked her to come over and help her change a filter at her house and my sister refused. My sister said something told her not to go over there and then she found out she had covid.

My sister cussed her out and wanted to fight her.

Another teacher at the school in the next classroom got covid.

shit is a mess.

so now spring break is over and my wife teaches and they are bringing back 3/4 of the students. Its almost feels like they are trying to infect as many people as possible.

like they gotta have two in person weeks, for what?

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

teachers are furious in zoom meetings with the school board

More realistically, I think they are using this as a test run for next semester. Come fall I don't see kids going back en masse just yet, so they have to figure out what works and doesn't for the start of next year. Same as last year when moving everything to virtual when this all kicked off last year.

But yeah, money and testing still stands.

I know the juke the stats in Charlotte in order to get the data they need to move towards normal attendance.

Its def about testing and money.. but also about having data showing progress with attendance. Having more kids in class to end the school year makes it easier to move forward next fall with full attendance.

my wife just texted and said they changed the schedule again. They are just spit balling and seeing what sticks.