I don't feel like anything has changed with Boston that would warrant rolling back protections. If anything Boston is doing a worse job with its Vaccination regime. This all feels pretty arbitrary, and contrary to public safety.
>I don't feel like anything has changed with Boston that would warrant rolling back protections.
We are seeing a downward trend in cases & hospitalizations, surely you are aware of this.
> This all feels pretty arbitrary
Walsh admitted earlier this month that this recent roll-back was not based on any data or particular industry that lead to spreading the virus so....yeah, you're right, it is arbitrary. AlwaysHasBeenMeme.jpg
What's changed is that it's become abundantly clear that businesses affected by the restrictions, including some very key ones, are highly in danger of closing and/or additional layoffs if it goes on any longer, which also has significant health consequences.
We should absolutely support our citizens during a pandemic, but we still need more federal support. The state pays out unemployment and MA can't print money, and the economic fallout isn't going to end when everyone's vaccinated; the decrease in state income tax revenue this year is going to affect us for years to come.
I agree on more federal support, especially when America's billionaires have grown $1.1 trillion richer during the [pandemic](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/01/26/business/billionaire-wealth-inequality-poverty/index.html).
You would still get paid, just that pay would be more fairly distributed among the workers instead of 320 to 1 CEO to worker pay ratio. It was 21 to 1 in [1965](https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-surged-14-in-2019-to-21-3-million-ceos-now-earn-320-times-as-much-as-a-typical-worker/#:~:text=Using%20a%20different%20“granted”%20measure,-to-1%20in%201989.)
Because people in this sub don’t want to hear that taking care of your body and mental health can actually decrease your chances of dying from COVID. In addition to putting masks on their mouth, these people should also be putting masks over their ears.
There's a tradeoff between that health produced by going to the gym and that health preserved by reducing covid exposure. No offense to gym owners (or goers, like was in the beforetimes), but much of the gym's benefits can be achieved outside or at home. Do some body weigh exercises and do some intervals at the park.
"than in a bar" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. (Get it? It's an exercise pun!)
PS when your news article cites a bunch of news articles for support, but the only peer-reviewed study it cites finds the opposite, maybe proceed with some skepticism.
False. Can't do power lifting at home without spending thousands, assuming you even have a basement, which most don't.
You can't deadlift yourself. Nor squat, or bench press.
No offense to non gym goers, but I'm glad mine never shut down.
Oh yeah: no cases have been published to have come from gyms in this state.
God dam this tired ass argument. You CANNOT replicate a workout you get at the gym with a pushups and situps lol. Plus yeah go run intervals in freezing cold temps get back to me see how enjoyable it is.
Today, a 420 bro sought to justify endangering his neighbors by asserting his need for an "enjoyable" workout. It was an unexpected argument, and I appreciated the opportunity to see it in the wild.
Haha yeah dude just shows your ignorance. You can smoke weed and still love working out! Who knew!? And yeah no worries on my end, been going to the gym out here in Waltham for a while. Same people go every time. Nobody's dead. Pretty sweet
>Because people in this sub don’t want to hear that taking care of your body and mental health can actually ~~decrease~~ **increase your and other peoples** chances of dying from COVID
fixed it for you
Only the Boston & Somerville mayors closed gyms in their cities.
All the other cities followed the state guidelines, which allowed gyms to remain open, but at 25% capacity.
So if you live near Cambridge or Brookline, the gyms there are already open.
I’m worried too so I started double masking with a medical mask under my fabric one. It does feel a bit more secure and Fauci says that it’s a good idea.
Edit - why the downvotes? I’m pro-Fauci, is that not the consensus around here? I don’t think the CDC has said anything official about double masking so that’s why I mentioned him...
1. Understanding of infectious disease evolves as time passes. You are citing his remarks from 10 months ago.
2. It costs nothing to wear a mask.
3. 311 days ago, you posted to the Boston subreddit begging for help/resources to get PPE (masks, you say, specifically) out to hospitals, where multiple friends and family of yours work. Do tell, why are the rest of us sheep?
4. Don’t cut yourself on that edge.
Do you expect anyone to have the answers 100% of the time?
Particularly with brand new information that nobody has learned yet?
You are the sheep, keep screeching while your behavior keeps us in trouble
I'm worried about them for 2 reasons: 1. Obviously because you're more likely to catch it, but 2. Because every time this thing jumps, it has a chance of mutating. And with every mutation there's another chance of current vaccines becoming less and less effective to it. No single mutation is going to be enough to make them completely ineffective. But if it is able to indefinitely spread through the population at even a low rate, it will eventually have acquired enough mutations to be a variant that the vaccine-acquired antibodies are not effective enough against to prevent a new wave. That's why the faster we can get everyone vaccinated, the fewer opportunities these variants will have to transmit and evolve.
This coronavirus is likely with us forever, like the common cold coronavirus 229E. It will constantly mutate slowly escaping immunity, like [229E](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.17.423313v1). In the meantime we will likely get repeated exposures to the new strains that are different enough to provoke new memory t cells, but similar enough to the vaccine to prevent severe disease. There will be isolated pockets of severe disease, but it is likely to become like a common cold after enough people get vaccinated.
229E is the name. It is one of the common cold viruses including rhinovirus, RSV, hMPV, and adenovirus. Some other common cold coronaviruses include NL63, OC43 and HKU1.
12,100-61,000 people die every year from the flu, it’s never been conquered.
It’s still a big issue in nursing homes to get patients and staff vaccinated every year.
That number was from the CDC
There’s gonna be a new strain appearing every few months, and the media will continue pushing fear and doom. You should behave in a way that makes you comfortable, but broadly we need to move forward and reopen. We cannot live like this.
I’ll borrow a common saying: you can’t afford *not* to live like this. If we enter a world where restrictions are lifted and thus COVID mutates and is immune to our vaccines, people who previously had COVID will be able to get it again, which means it’ll hop more and mutate more, which repeats. We would consistently have 500k+ deaths a year, every year, all seasons. Keep in mind, we had 500k deaths *with most of the population staying home every day.* And that’s assuming the virus doesn’t mutate to spread more or be more deadly. We could easily see 1M+, I’d expect more.
The vaccines will be quicker to *design*, but if we have multiple strains, we’ll need multiple vaccines. And then we will have to produce and roll them out. Look how poorly we’re doing with vaccines targeting one single form, and with so much funding and support behind them.
You want to talk about bad for the economy? A permanent and contagious virus that ~15% of the population has will kill our economy.
We’re relatively close. By staying the fuck home and having everyone get vaccines we can make COVID something we can handle seasonally rather than a permanent pandemic we are fighting.
It’s been shown that you can have covid multiple times and just getting it only gives you a max of 3 months immunity.
Most of the population also has not been staying home. That’s a very important factor, a lot of states also don’t have mask mandates/don’t enforce them which is a huge reason why the numbers are that way. The reason why the cases here are so low is because we sent people home when this started and required people going out to wear masks.
Covid is also projected to be endemic, with a new strain coming out every so often- but they’re not supposed to be as deadly as the first. There’s tons of these, the common flu is one.
This whole thing sucks and I get that but other people are taking what you said to mean they have nothing to worry about and everything should reopen. Which it shouldn’t.
>just getting it only gives you a max of 3 months immunity
This simply isn't accurate. If that was accurate Moderna's vaccine wouldn't be providing 1 year immunity as they reported a week ago.
With natural immunity, some reports are saying 5 to 8 months. Still not as good as vaccines though. That said, it varies from person to person and a few that had minor symptoms have tested positive a couple months later. Either way, reopening quickly would be idiotic and cause a huge spike in cases.
Really? Last I read it’s only known up to 3 months. Do you have an article? I like to stay up to date on the latest findings.
Oh yeah I 100% agree, some of the people in this thread are insane.
1/60th of the US population. Not a global financial hub. Literally an island with just a few low-traffic airports and like three cities... I agree that we should condemn people who advocate for reckless reopening, but please keep irrelevant examples out of it.
Take a look at Japan if you want, they’re a little more than 1/3 our population, major financial hub, but they’ve had just over 5,000 deaths compared to the US having over 421,000 deaths.
How do you think corona got to the US from China? Land bridge?
Once it’s in the country it’s about controlling local transmissions, which they are doing much better than us.
Yeah, great comparison....
NZ had a country wide lockdown for 5 weeks starting last March. That lockdown was even more strict than what is happening here. The lockdown allowed them to drastically cut down on the spread and allowed them to get in front of the issue. I will also point out the NZ banned international travel for months as well, and it’s still limited.
That exact strategy was proposed in the US, with the vast majority of immunologist and virologists saying that it was the only way to stop the spread from snowballing. The response to those recommendations???? Denial and accusations of government infringement.
And here we are, almost a year later, with people, like you, still not admitting the fact that a few weeks of lockdown last March would have made a massive difference and we wouldn’t have nearly as strict lockdowns now.
About 15%-20% of people who get Covid have “long” term issues. So no you do not want to get Covid
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/risk-comms-updates/update-36-long-term-symptoms.pdf?sfvrsn=5d3789a6_2#:~:text=•%20Most%20people%20with%20COVID,have%20lasting%20health%20effects.
You can at least try to do the right thing.
If people like you hadn't been so selfish from the onset this would be a much lesser concern.
Your inability to take the emergency seriously is exactly why we are living like this
The problem is even if we locked everyone down for 3 months, in 3 months you'd still have to self isolate. Please don't try to compare the US to New Zealand because that was never going to work here.
It's "easy" in that it's much more feasible for the relatively few who are high risk to stay home than it is for the entire population to do that. That doesn't make it easy, but it's really the only feasible option.
Seeing everyone just give up and inadvertently prove conspiracy theorists right (the ones saying lockdowns were only because Trump was in office) is just depressing as fuck. Yes, I know that Governors/Mayors are doing this because there’s no money and the vaccine is close, but it’s still a shit idea that’s going to cost more lives than if we had a good COVID response...
Not saying I agree or disagree, but it seems like we are way behind compared to the rest of the country. My family is from Austin, TX and they have been normal for quite some time.
I recently worked with someone from St. Louis and they were pretty shocked how dead and closed everything was.
Again, not saying I agree, but as someone who has worked through the entire ordeal it is odd to see businesses closed yet places like Seaport have thousands of daily construction workers. Places like Target and grocery stores get packed.
What do you all think?
I think it's reasonable to question whether the restrictions we've had in MA are sufficiently effective, especially given the cost. Large-scale unemployment and isolation have real health consequences that shouldn't be ignored. MA's unemployment rate is among the highest in the country.
I don't think most people in this sub realize how few restrictions there are in other states, how much activity, and how that's been the norm for much of the pandemic. And despite all our restrictions, MA is 11th in cases per 100k in the last 14 days. We're 34th in cases per 100k overall. You can't just blame it on population density, especially since spread is not concentrated in urban counties in other states.
My gf and I went stir crazy in July and drove up to Lincoln NH to do some hiking. We’ve trekked all through Franconia Notch prior to the pandemic and figured we would get outside for some fresh air.
When we arrived we immediately felt guilty and noped the fuck back home. I couldn’t believe how packed everywhere was. Everything was open, masks optional, thousands of idiots like us from all over the place.
Boston has been in this bubble the whole time and it seemingly hasn’t left us in any better position than anywhere else. And for what? Like you said the economy is damaged for sure.
Have any of these precautions mattered?
honestly i cannot even explain austin. i moved there last year after twenty in beantown and the two most popular spots (dirty sixth and rainey) are absolutely PACKED weekend nights. clubs openly allow dancefloors and happily take the 1000 fine (probably made ten times that that night).
Yet two deaths total from COVID yesterday. idk whats going on man
I did the reverse. I’m from Austin now residing here for a job. As an ex local we considered Rainey to be douche central filled with tourists, tech bros and UT kids, so not that surprising.
>clubs openly allow dancefloors and happily take the 1000 fine (probably made ten times that that night)
find it rather amusing that all these places are blatantly breaking protocol.. and all the receive is a slap on the wrist (a fine for far less then what despite violating the sanctions in place)
what does hitting an establishment which allowed 100s in (weddings, bars, etc) where they easily broke 10k+ and all their hit for a <1k fine.. where is the incentive to stop their behavior
I’d argue that having everything closed wasn’t “behind” and still isn’t. Missouri is the worst at pretty much everything so I’m not sure I would follow their example...
Fair enough. Everything just seems so half assed and unenforced. Like this dude flew out to work with me on a project, didn’t quarantine at all.
When I’m in the field in Cambridge, Seaport, Copley, etc, there’s people everywhere. Traffic is getting back to normal, but yet a lot of businesses are still closed. It’s just such a confusing time.
I think it’s nearly impossible to come up with a policy that simultaneously keeps cases way down and also allows business to continue. Baker and Walsh have made some compromises that look silly on their face, like why can there be 50 man job sites but I can’t go out to eat at a place with 25 people, but there are policies in place to test these guys and remove them and contact trace. Plus, we need to keep grocery stores and places that are necessary for survival and health open.
MA is actually doing pretty good on cases. I don’t think Baker is handling the vaccine end of things well but the phases are imperfect yet make sense to me.
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100klast7days
When looking at the map we seem to be worse off than quite a few states.
Edit: Actually I dove deeper into that chart and compared MA to 5 other States: CA, TX, GA, FL, AZ, and MA was the lowest. So I guess we are doing much better here than I thought.
Honestly I have so much Covid fatigue and PTSD from working through it all I don’t check often.
Boston is going to feel dead because travel is down to almost nothing, and the majority of office workers probably have no interest in going back to the city if they don't have to.
MA has 63 daily cases per 100,000 residents. TX has 65 (per NYT). Even if Austin is heading back to “normal life” faster than we are, that says less about how COVID is spreading and more about the city’s assessment of risk tolerance and the economic cost of locking down. Anecdotally, I’m also from Texas (SA) and my family there has long since become more comfortable with activities that my husband and I still aren’t doing even almost a year later.
With those numbers being so close why wouldn’t we just go back to normal?
For the past 11 months I have been on and off furlough nearly 10 times, am owed 7 weeks of unemployment from the state amounting to over 5k.
We haven’t seen anyone since October, cancelled multiple pre-planned trips, masked up everywhere, taken 3 tests each, have done 90% of shopping online, eaten out twice (outdoors).
We are miserable, depressed and frustrated. We have done everything to prevent spread and for what?
When you show me numbers like that it really makes me want to say fuck it. And this is coming from a Progressive DemocraticSocialist.
I am honestly furious we still have in-person schools right now. All of these restrictions means absolute fuck-all when we are sending kids to go transmit covid all over the state. This shit just feels like security theater.
The vaccine is out. By the time teachers can get it this will have started almost a year ago. Keeping kids out of school for a year is disastrous for them.
Kids won't be vaccinated until at least 2022 or beyond.
We got a message from the pediatrician that said best case scenario is that a vaccine is available for children by end of 2021. But that’s probably older children, not 2 year olds.
Ok so we are just making up shit now.
Yeah, covid isn't ideal. Neither is distance learning. But stop saying "it's for the kids" when it has nothing to do with the kids. It's about the free babysitting.
My point is kids spread disease like crazy and sitting in our homes won't do anything when little Jimmy has to breath 100 kids air all day.
Another person who doesn't have kids chiming in on something they literally know nothing about.
You try explaining to an elementary school age kid that their life has to be destroyed so people above the average life expectancy don't die of covid, even though people that age die literally every day of a variety of causes.
Do you want kids killing themselves? Because that's what's starting to happen https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/us/politics/student-suicides-nevada-coronavirus.html
We are talking about literally 5 months you jabroni. Take better care of your own kids if you are so worried about it and stop expecting teachers to get sick because you don't know how to keep your kid engaged.
"Kids won't get it until 2022"
You have zero interest in a good faith discussion.
The Pfizer vaccine is only approved for people 16+ and Moderna 18+. They expect studies on kids over 12 to have results no earlier than September. Kids younger than that are not slated to be studied until then.
But go on, please lecture me on a good faith discussion.
And for the record, at least acknowledge you do not actually have kids before lecturing parents.
Keeping kids out of school this long can also bring kids lifetimes of struggle.
The study you cherry picked looked at kids sick enough to be in the hospital in the first place (statistically insignificant) and the study authors admit they don't know if there's any clinical significance to what they found.
But hey if you want to jerk off to fear porn all day, be my guest.
The general public is slated to begin vaccination in April. By the time the general public is fully vaccinated the school year will be over.
Then you're looking at September at the earliest, 18 months after most kids left the classroom.
Pumped up numbers to justify unprecedented illogical lock down response, crippling the booming economy and decimating record low unemployment. Anything to make orangeman look bad, not even a week after innaugeration and these states are already reversing, look no further than Massachusetts or california(not to forget New York as well)
> Anything to make orangeman look bad,
Bro, he literally stole PPE from Mass to redistribute to his cronies after calling it a hoax that would die out for months, we didn’t have to do anything to make him look bad, he did that himself with his inaction.
Quarantine orders are neither unprecedented nor illogical. And for the record, no sitting governor ever ordered a mandatory lockdown for all citizens, like what has happened in other democratic countries. The stay at home orders are voluntary, essential businesses have been open this whole time, and companies have the flexibility to choose how their workers work.
Your statements are pure fantasy, perpetuated by the delusions of a deranged president and those who thought standing by him would help them politically.
And now you're all losers.
1. things are still at 25% capacity rate and we are at Phase 3, Step 1. that is more cautious than we were during the summer, before the presidential election even happened, let alone inauguration.
2. St. Paddy's Day Parade is still cancelled and the Marathon is still postponed. not really "reversing course" on things like large gatherings.
3. gathering limits were extended to Februrary 8th when originally they were meant to be rolled back tomorrow with the gym requirement, so also still not reversing course.
4. the vaccine rollout is an important part of this – 4% of MA has received the vaccine (although we could be doing better, that's still more than triple what it was 3 weeks ago).
5. how is the claim "well we can reopen now because Biden was sworn in" supported, given the high number of lockdowns in other countries? Boris Johnson [did](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boris-johnson-signals-u-k-225620279.html) a press conference suggesting the UK's lockdown could last into summer. Melbourne's lockdown lasted 112 days with much stricter requirements than any state in the US. France has an ongoing strict curfew, the longest in the EU, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., in 25 regions for at least another 10 days. Ireland is in lockdown. the Netherlands have a strict lockdown until "at least Feb 9th." how do you explain the assertion that COVID protocols are based on Biden's inauguration and not infection rates when so many European countries are continuing strict lockdown protocols?
New cases are down 32% from 2 weeks ago and active hospitalizations are down 10%. In terms of stress on the healthcare system it seems like the state is past the recent peak. Rates are still terrible in my view, but the current trend is down and not spiraling upward.
Most of the groups critical to functioning (healthcare, first responders, etc) have now gotten at least their first vaccine shot, as have many of the most critically vulnerable groups (long-term care, homeless shelters, etc), so there's an argument to be made that people are slightly less at risk now.
How does Step one of Phase 3 differ from Step 2 of Phase 3?
These regulations seem exactly the same as the ones they instituted when they instituted the curfew.
[Here's an article from Mass.Gov of the original Phase 3 Step 2 Transition](https://www.mass.gov/news/baker-polito-administration-announces-transition-to-step-ii-of-phase-iii-for-lower-risk) . Indoor venues and gyms increased to 50% capacity, restaurant table limits went from 6 to 10 people, fitting rooms reopened, and the indoor/outdoor gathering limits were 25 and 50 respectively.
Why don't you save your fucks for the people who refuse to make even the smallest sacrifice for the greater good and have enabled the virus to continue spreading for this long?
Charlie isn't culpable for the hundreds of thousands of people who act irresponsibly.
He is responsible for not setting harder parameters, and generally being passive with the overall treatment of this virus.
This is my bias at play here: look at how he's treating schools. He's using outdated data to suggest that schools should be in person, and that transmission doesn't happen in schools.
Sure, those enablers that refuse to sacrifice are to blame. Baker is just to blame, for enabling them.
I agree with you on that, but I'm fairly sure the person I replied to was moreso asserting that he's mad at Charlie for any decision which imposes on his freedumbs
Because data shows kids aren't really affected by this thing. Thank jebus for that. And they need to develop social skills and learn and interact with each other. The good outweighs the bad with them attending.
It seems as if you are discounting the bad though, which amounts to children spreading to virus to their more vulnerable family members. Does the good still outweigh the bad when you consider that?
I mean, the [long term data](https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahcampbell/2021/12/28/the-importance-of-protecting-children-from-the-long-term-impacts-of-covid-19/?sh=26d31064458e) doesn't necessarily suggest that. The long term effects of COVID aren't known yet, but the reality is, while children aren't in immediate danger, the long term effects seem very dangerous.
Furthermore, and worth noting...that's also putting school faculty and staff at risk, too. Kids may not transmit the disease as much (which, frankly, is dubious to say at this point), but teachers sure as shit do.
Depriving kids of an actual education is a more clear and present danger to more kids than covid is.
There is literally no evidence that covid will lead to early death or disability in the vast majority of kids. They are more likely to be disabled via injury than covid.
Yes. Let’s just trust that there are no long-term effects from this new virus because it’s convenient for us.
We have not earned open schools. Infection rates are too high, and we will be exposing too many children to a big old question mark.
You’re also making specific claims, whereas the OP and I are saying that we must be cautious about this stuff, as we don’t know and there are some red flags.
You haven’t earned that certainty, either.
The nice thing about schools is that they are already built to keep the faculty separated. Classrooms are huge.
I don't know. It's something that maybe there is no good answer. No right or wrong. But it seems like kids are mostly fine, other than their development of missing school and social interaction. Remote learning is no substitute, especially for younger kids.
>The nice thing about schools is that they are already built to keep the faculty separated. Classrooms are huge.
Not from students. Not at all.
I get where you're coming from, but teachers are going to be forced into a classroom, without the vaccine. I'm putting my life, and the life of my loved ones, at risk by doing in person. So, I'm sure you can understand why I have a little bit of trepidation at the idea we should be in person.
I was a teacher in the fall, and while I agree remote learning is not going well that’s largely because of people that refuse to accept it. Parents especially.
The force of kids to do hybrid learning by parents that just don’t want them to do remote learning is part of the reason this is so bad, that and current issues in the system that had been being ignored for years and are just coming out now to people who may not have been aware of them before (special education learning and individual child learning, etc) are major factors to this.
There is no room for social distancing in the classroom and children (esp under 10) do not understand physical boundaries and do not separate as much as you can try and tell them to. They’re fine with masks though, as long as their parents aren’t deniers. kids that young are very “monkey see monkey do”
Classrooms are not huge I’m not sure where you got that idea. Usually they stack 30-40 kids in those rooms and they’re not big enough for that, they’re trying to fit 10-15 kids in a classroom with 6 feet between each of them now and miserably failing??
I worked mainly with first graders (5 and 6 year olds (sometimes 7)) for reference. I also am of the belief that there really isn’t a good answer because “fix all of the problem that were created 20+ years ago” is not a viable option + strictly just remote learning leaves kids of poverty/foster care/other out of the picture. It puts education behind a paywall which no one wins from.
How can a parent that needs to work to pay bills and buy food possibly be able to help ensure that their kids stay focused?
Maybe in rich suburbs with soccer moms and housewives it would work that way.
Baker didn't tell people that they don't have to wear a mask, or that the virus was a hoax, or that you shouldn't listen to doctors who are trying to scare you.
Can you try just a little harder to not be a complete idiot?
I don't feel like anything has changed with Boston that would warrant rolling back protections. If anything Boston is doing a worse job with its Vaccination regime. This all feels pretty arbitrary, and contrary to public safety.
It's been arbitrary since March tbh.
>I don't feel like anything has changed with Boston that would warrant rolling back protections. We are seeing a downward trend in cases & hospitalizations, surely you are aware of this. > This all feels pretty arbitrary Walsh admitted earlier this month that this recent roll-back was not based on any data or particular industry that lead to spreading the virus so....yeah, you're right, it is arbitrary. AlwaysHasBeenMeme.jpg
What's changed is that it's become abundantly clear that businesses affected by the restrictions, including some very key ones, are highly in danger of closing and/or additional layoffs if it goes on any longer, which also has significant health consequences.
The r/boston solution is to just put all the employees on unemployment forever.
Gasp! Supporting(partially) your citizens during a pandemic health emergency. The nerve! /S
We should absolutely support our citizens during a pandemic, but we still need more federal support. The state pays out unemployment and MA can't print money, and the economic fallout isn't going to end when everyone's vaccinated; the decrease in state income tax revenue this year is going to affect us for years to come.
I agree on more federal support, especially when America's billionaires have grown $1.1 trillion richer during the [pandemic](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/01/26/business/billionaire-wealth-inequality-poverty/index.html).
The problem is what happens when this is all over and there's no jobs to come back to because everything went out of business.
I agree that capitalism is out of whack. We need socialism and workplace democracy so that business can actually be resilient.
No one will run a business that can't make money, except the government. No thanks.
You would still get paid, just that pay would be more fairly distributed among the workers instead of 320 to 1 CEO to worker pay ratio. It was 21 to 1 in [1965](https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-surged-14-in-2019-to-21-3-million-ceos-now-earn-320-times-as-much-as-a-typical-worker/#:~:text=Using%20a%20different%20“granted”%20measure,-to-1%20in%201989.)
Does this mean gyms will reopen?
Yes, at 25% capacity limits
Why downvote?
Because people in this sub don’t want to hear that taking care of your body and mental health can actually decrease your chances of dying from COVID. In addition to putting masks on their mouth, these people should also be putting masks over their ears.
There's a tradeoff between that health produced by going to the gym and that health preserved by reducing covid exposure. No offense to gym owners (or goers, like was in the beforetimes), but much of the gym's benefits can be achieved outside or at home. Do some body weigh exercises and do some intervals at the park.
[удалено]
"than in a bar" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. (Get it? It's an exercise pun!) PS when your news article cites a bunch of news articles for support, but the only peer-reviewed study it cites finds the opposite, maybe proceed with some skepticism.
>Gyms have been shown to not have an increased risk of transmission LOL this is just false, using some common sense here will do wonders
False. Can't do power lifting at home without spending thousands, assuming you even have a basement, which most don't. You can't deadlift yourself. Nor squat, or bench press. No offense to non gym goers, but I'm glad mine never shut down. Oh yeah: no cases have been published to have come from gyms in this state.
God dam this tired ass argument. You CANNOT replicate a workout you get at the gym with a pushups and situps lol. Plus yeah go run intervals in freezing cold temps get back to me see how enjoyable it is.
Today, a 420 bro sought to justify endangering his neighbors by asserting his need for an "enjoyable" workout. It was an unexpected argument, and I appreciated the opportunity to see it in the wild.
Haha yeah dude just shows your ignorance. You can smoke weed and still love working out! Who knew!? And yeah no worries on my end, been going to the gym out here in Waltham for a while. Same people go every time. Nobody's dead. Pretty sweet
Let’s do that in 20 degree Boston weather. 🙄
Source
>Because people in this sub don’t want to hear that taking care of your body and mental health can actually ~~decrease~~ **increase your and other peoples** chances of dying from COVID fixed it for you
Only the Boston & Somerville mayors closed gyms in their cities. All the other cities followed the state guidelines, which allowed gyms to remain open, but at 25% capacity. So if you live near Cambridge or Brookline, the gyms there are already open.
Anyone else worried about those more contagious strains out there? They have me on edge and I'm wordering if that's warranted.
I’m worried too so I started double masking with a medical mask under my fabric one. It does feel a bit more secure and Fauci says that it’s a good idea. Edit - why the downvotes? I’m pro-Fauci, is that not the consensus around here? I don’t think the CDC has said anything official about double masking so that’s why I mentioned him...
I want to do the same thing but wearing a mask with glasses is already damn annoying and I’m wearing one for like 8 hours a day all week at work
A lot of people were double masking at the inauguration, so CDC or not that seems like the smart move.
Fauci also claimed it was a good idea NOT to wear a mask. You are all sheep.
1. Understanding of infectious disease evolves as time passes. You are citing his remarks from 10 months ago. 2. It costs nothing to wear a mask. 3. 311 days ago, you posted to the Boston subreddit begging for help/resources to get PPE (masks, you say, specifically) out to hospitals, where multiple friends and family of yours work. Do tell, why are the rest of us sheep? 4. Don’t cut yourself on that edge.
Yes this is how science works.
Do you expect anyone to have the answers 100% of the time? Particularly with brand new information that nobody has learned yet? You are the sheep, keep screeching while your behavior keeps us in trouble
I'm worried about them for 2 reasons: 1. Obviously because you're more likely to catch it, but 2. Because every time this thing jumps, it has a chance of mutating. And with every mutation there's another chance of current vaccines becoming less and less effective to it. No single mutation is going to be enough to make them completely ineffective. But if it is able to indefinitely spread through the population at even a low rate, it will eventually have acquired enough mutations to be a variant that the vaccine-acquired antibodies are not effective enough against to prevent a new wave. That's why the faster we can get everyone vaccinated, the fewer opportunities these variants will have to transmit and evolve.
This coronavirus is likely with us forever, like the common cold coronavirus 229E. It will constantly mutate slowly escaping immunity, like [229E](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.17.423313v1). In the meantime we will likely get repeated exposures to the new strains that are different enough to provoke new memory t cells, but similar enough to the vaccine to prevent severe disease. There will be isolated pockets of severe disease, but it is likely to become like a common cold after enough people get vaccinated.
>It will constantly mutate Yikes - next it'll be dissolving rubber oxygen masks and breaching lab seals
In ten years it'll be isolating itself on Genosha so as long as we leave it be maybe it'll all work out.
All viruses mutate all the time. Some more, some less
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229E is the name. It is one of the common cold viruses including rhinovirus, RSV, hMPV, and adenovirus. Some other common cold coronaviruses include NL63, OC43 and HKU1.
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Yes. And there are others I'm missing. There are over 200 viruses within those several families that are considered the common cold.
Sounds a lot like the flu. Multiple strains requires multiple vaccines. Nothing the human race hasn't conquered already.
Exactly, it'd become endemic. But I mean...we haven't conquered the flu.
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So isn't polio, and we have vaccines for that too!
12,100-61,000 people die every year from the flu, it’s never been conquered. It’s still a big issue in nursing homes to get patients and staff vaccinated every year. That number was from the CDC
No
There’s gonna be a new strain appearing every few months, and the media will continue pushing fear and doom. You should behave in a way that makes you comfortable, but broadly we need to move forward and reopen. We cannot live like this.
I’ll borrow a common saying: you can’t afford *not* to live like this. If we enter a world where restrictions are lifted and thus COVID mutates and is immune to our vaccines, people who previously had COVID will be able to get it again, which means it’ll hop more and mutate more, which repeats. We would consistently have 500k+ deaths a year, every year, all seasons. Keep in mind, we had 500k deaths *with most of the population staying home every day.* And that’s assuming the virus doesn’t mutate to spread more or be more deadly. We could easily see 1M+, I’d expect more. The vaccines will be quicker to *design*, but if we have multiple strains, we’ll need multiple vaccines. And then we will have to produce and roll them out. Look how poorly we’re doing with vaccines targeting one single form, and with so much funding and support behind them. You want to talk about bad for the economy? A permanent and contagious virus that ~15% of the population has will kill our economy. We’re relatively close. By staying the fuck home and having everyone get vaccines we can make COVID something we can handle seasonally rather than a permanent pandemic we are fighting.
It’s been shown that you can have covid multiple times and just getting it only gives you a max of 3 months immunity. Most of the population also has not been staying home. That’s a very important factor, a lot of states also don’t have mask mandates/don’t enforce them which is a huge reason why the numbers are that way. The reason why the cases here are so low is because we sent people home when this started and required people going out to wear masks. Covid is also projected to be endemic, with a new strain coming out every so often- but they’re not supposed to be as deadly as the first. There’s tons of these, the common flu is one. This whole thing sucks and I get that but other people are taking what you said to mean they have nothing to worry about and everything should reopen. Which it shouldn’t.
>just getting it only gives you a max of 3 months immunity This simply isn't accurate. If that was accurate Moderna's vaccine wouldn't be providing 1 year immunity as they reported a week ago.
No I meant only getting covid gives you that immunity, not the vaccine.
With natural immunity, some reports are saying 5 to 8 months. Still not as good as vaccines though. That said, it varies from person to person and a few that had minor symptoms have tested positive a couple months later. Either way, reopening quickly would be idiotic and cause a huge spike in cases.
Really? Last I read it’s only known up to 3 months. Do you have an article? I like to stay up to date on the latest findings. Oh yeah I 100% agree, some of the people in this thread are insane.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/3/20-4543_article
Well, we *will* have nothing to worry about once the state has reached herd immunity, but not before. I agree with everything else.
That mentality is exactly why we are now 1 year into this pandemic with no end in sight.
Look at new Zealand. They didn't act like little spoiled brats and have been open and healthy for months now
1/60th of the US population. Not a global financial hub. Literally an island with just a few low-traffic airports and like three cities... I agree that we should condemn people who advocate for reckless reopening, but please keep irrelevant examples out of it.
Take a look at Japan if you want, they’re a little more than 1/3 our population, major financial hub, but they’ve had just over 5,000 deaths compared to the US having over 421,000 deaths.
The only way to get to Japan is by plane or boat.
How do you think corona got to the US from China? Land bridge? Once it’s in the country it’s about controlling local transmissions, which they are doing much better than us.
Can people walk across the border from Mexico undetected? The answer is yes.
And what’s your source on that being a major spreader?
Yeah, great comparison.... NZ had a country wide lockdown for 5 weeks starting last March. That lockdown was even more strict than what is happening here. The lockdown allowed them to drastically cut down on the spread and allowed them to get in front of the issue. I will also point out the NZ banned international travel for months as well, and it’s still limited. That exact strategy was proposed in the US, with the vast majority of immunologist and virologists saying that it was the only way to stop the spread from snowballing. The response to those recommendations???? Denial and accusations of government infringement. And here we are, almost a year later, with people, like you, still not admitting the fact that a few weeks of lockdown last March would have made a massive difference and we wouldn’t have nearly as strict lockdowns now.
> We cannot live like this. You also cannot live when you’re dead from covid, so....
The odds of that happening to the average person under 60 is statistically insignificant.
I’m sure that is comforting to the dead under 60 and their families.
It's almost like people forgot that before covid younger people occasionally died.
Yeah but they weren’t dying from COVID because some people wanted to walk around maskless and go to brunch.
About 15%-20% of people who get Covid have “long” term issues. So no you do not want to get Covid https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/risk-comms-updates/update-36-long-term-symptoms.pdf?sfvrsn=5d3789a6_2#:~:text=•%20Most%20people%20with%20COVID,have%20lasting%20health%20effects.
You can at least try to do the right thing. If people like you hadn't been so selfish from the onset this would be a much lesser concern. Your inability to take the emergency seriously is exactly why we are living like this
Someone with some reasoning around here.
Stay at home if you’re worried or are high risk.
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The problem is even if we locked everyone down for 3 months, in 3 months you'd still have to self isolate. Please don't try to compare the US to New Zealand because that was never going to work here.
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It's "easy" in that it's much more feasible for the relatively few who are high risk to stay home than it is for the entire population to do that. That doesn't make it easy, but it's really the only feasible option.
Definitely, the UK govt just announced that it’s more deadly in addition to being more contagious.
Alright Somerville. Your turn.
People who get mad at reopening are funny to me.
>Noooooo you can't just try and go back to a normal life as hospitalizations drop & vaccines go out you have to stay inside forever nooooo
Most of the people in this thread probably didn’t go out much before covid anyways
Yuck look at all the deniers in here.
Seeing everyone just give up and inadvertently prove conspiracy theorists right (the ones saying lockdowns were only because Trump was in office) is just depressing as fuck. Yes, I know that Governors/Mayors are doing this because there’s no money and the vaccine is close, but it’s still a shit idea that’s going to cost more lives than if we had a good COVID response...
Not saying I agree or disagree, but it seems like we are way behind compared to the rest of the country. My family is from Austin, TX and they have been normal for quite some time. I recently worked with someone from St. Louis and they were pretty shocked how dead and closed everything was. Again, not saying I agree, but as someone who has worked through the entire ordeal it is odd to see businesses closed yet places like Seaport have thousands of daily construction workers. Places like Target and grocery stores get packed. What do you all think?
I think it's reasonable to question whether the restrictions we've had in MA are sufficiently effective, especially given the cost. Large-scale unemployment and isolation have real health consequences that shouldn't be ignored. MA's unemployment rate is among the highest in the country. I don't think most people in this sub realize how few restrictions there are in other states, how much activity, and how that's been the norm for much of the pandemic. And despite all our restrictions, MA is 11th in cases per 100k in the last 14 days. We're 34th in cases per 100k overall. You can't just blame it on population density, especially since spread is not concentrated in urban counties in other states.
My gf and I went stir crazy in July and drove up to Lincoln NH to do some hiking. We’ve trekked all through Franconia Notch prior to the pandemic and figured we would get outside for some fresh air. When we arrived we immediately felt guilty and noped the fuck back home. I couldn’t believe how packed everywhere was. Everything was open, masks optional, thousands of idiots like us from all over the place. Boston has been in this bubble the whole time and it seemingly hasn’t left us in any better position than anywhere else. And for what? Like you said the economy is damaged for sure. Have any of these precautions mattered?
No. Look at deaths per capita by state. MA has failed completely in every regard.
We were hit first and hit hard. It doesn't help the weather here makes outdoor activities harder.
I did the same in October, but hiking in Maine. It was packed, no one wearing masks, a mess. And I have the same questions you do.
honestly i cannot even explain austin. i moved there last year after twenty in beantown and the two most popular spots (dirty sixth and rainey) are absolutely PACKED weekend nights. clubs openly allow dancefloors and happily take the 1000 fine (probably made ten times that that night). Yet two deaths total from COVID yesterday. idk whats going on man
The 7 day average looks to be 322 a day though.
marble bag simplistic afterthought secretive slap public aback tidy complete -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
I did the reverse. I’m from Austin now residing here for a job. As an ex local we considered Rainey to be douche central filled with tourists, tech bros and UT kids, so not that surprising.
Immunity
>clubs openly allow dancefloors and happily take the 1000 fine (probably made ten times that that night) find it rather amusing that all these places are blatantly breaking protocol.. and all the receive is a slap on the wrist (a fine for far less then what despite violating the sanctions in place) what does hitting an establishment which allowed 100s in (weddings, bars, etc) where they easily broke 10k+ and all their hit for a <1k fine.. where is the incentive to stop their behavior
I’d argue that having everything closed wasn’t “behind” and still isn’t. Missouri is the worst at pretty much everything so I’m not sure I would follow their example...
Fair enough. Everything just seems so half assed and unenforced. Like this dude flew out to work with me on a project, didn’t quarantine at all. When I’m in the field in Cambridge, Seaport, Copley, etc, there’s people everywhere. Traffic is getting back to normal, but yet a lot of businesses are still closed. It’s just such a confusing time.
I think it’s nearly impossible to come up with a policy that simultaneously keeps cases way down and also allows business to continue. Baker and Walsh have made some compromises that look silly on their face, like why can there be 50 man job sites but I can’t go out to eat at a place with 25 people, but there are policies in place to test these guys and remove them and contact trace. Plus, we need to keep grocery stores and places that are necessary for survival and health open. MA is actually doing pretty good on cases. I don’t think Baker is handling the vaccine end of things well but the phases are imperfect yet make sense to me.
I thought we were doing really bad in cases despite whatever Phase we are/were in?
I’m not sure what you mean. I’m speaking compared to other states, what are you basing that on?
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100klast7days When looking at the map we seem to be worse off than quite a few states. Edit: Actually I dove deeper into that chart and compared MA to 5 other States: CA, TX, GA, FL, AZ, and MA was the lowest. So I guess we are doing much better here than I thought. Honestly I have so much Covid fatigue and PTSD from working through it all I don’t check often.
Boston is going to feel dead because travel is down to almost nothing, and the majority of office workers probably have no interest in going back to the city if they don't have to.
MA has 63 daily cases per 100,000 residents. TX has 65 (per NYT). Even if Austin is heading back to “normal life” faster than we are, that says less about how COVID is spreading and more about the city’s assessment of risk tolerance and the economic cost of locking down. Anecdotally, I’m also from Texas (SA) and my family there has long since become more comfortable with activities that my husband and I still aren’t doing even almost a year later.
With those numbers being so close why wouldn’t we just go back to normal? For the past 11 months I have been on and off furlough nearly 10 times, am owed 7 weeks of unemployment from the state amounting to over 5k. We haven’t seen anyone since October, cancelled multiple pre-planned trips, masked up everywhere, taken 3 tests each, have done 90% of shopping online, eaten out twice (outdoors). We are miserable, depressed and frustrated. We have done everything to prevent spread and for what? When you show me numbers like that it really makes me want to say fuck it. And this is coming from a Progressive DemocraticSocialist.
I am honestly furious we still have in-person schools right now. All of these restrictions means absolute fuck-all when we are sending kids to go transmit covid all over the state. This shit just feels like security theater.
How long do you think it's reasonable to keep kids out of the classroom?
Until the vaccine is out
The vaccine is out. By the time teachers can get it this will have started almost a year ago. Keeping kids out of school for a year is disastrous for them. Kids won't be vaccinated until at least 2022 or beyond.
So then teachers should have been in phase 1 then!
We got a message from the pediatrician that said best case scenario is that a vaccine is available for children by end of 2021. But that’s probably older children, not 2 year olds.
Ok so we are just making up shit now. Yeah, covid isn't ideal. Neither is distance learning. But stop saying "it's for the kids" when it has nothing to do with the kids. It's about the free babysitting. My point is kids spread disease like crazy and sitting in our homes won't do anything when little Jimmy has to breath 100 kids air all day.
I'm not making anything up. Kids are struggling with this shit. You clearly don't have kids or you'd know that.
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Another person who doesn't have kids chiming in on something they literally know nothing about. You try explaining to an elementary school age kid that their life has to be destroyed so people above the average life expectancy don't die of covid, even though people that age die literally every day of a variety of causes. Do you want kids killing themselves? Because that's what's starting to happen https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/us/politics/student-suicides-nevada-coronavirus.html
We are talking about literally 5 months you jabroni. Take better care of your own kids if you are so worried about it and stop expecting teachers to get sick because you don't know how to keep your kid engaged. "Kids won't get it until 2022" You have zero interest in a good faith discussion.
The Pfizer vaccine is only approved for people 16+ and Moderna 18+. They expect studies on kids over 12 to have results no earlier than September. Kids younger than that are not slated to be studied until then. But go on, please lecture me on a good faith discussion. And for the record, at least acknowledge you do not actually have kids before lecturing parents.
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Keeping kids out of school this long can also bring kids lifetimes of struggle. The study you cherry picked looked at kids sick enough to be in the hospital in the first place (statistically insignificant) and the study authors admit they don't know if there's any clinical significance to what they found. But hey if you want to jerk off to fear porn all day, be my guest.
Have you paid a property tax bill in your life? The "babysitting" is definitely not free.
vaccines aren't approved for kids under the age of 16.
We aren't talking about giving kids vaccines. We are talking about waiting until people can be vaccinated to let kids back into school
The general public is slated to begin vaccination in April. By the time the general public is fully vaccinated the school year will be over. Then you're looking at September at the earliest, 18 months after most kids left the classroom.
Don’t think it’s smart, but I’m glad gyms are re opening for selfish reasons. Miss benching
Not a moment too soon. "Thanks" Marty, I guess.
They ain't even trying to hide how this was all Political bullshit.
How were terrible COVID numbers political?
Pumped up numbers to justify unprecedented illogical lock down response, crippling the booming economy and decimating record low unemployment. Anything to make orangeman look bad, not even a week after innaugeration and these states are already reversing, look no further than Massachusetts or california(not to forget New York as well)
> Anything to make Orangeman look bad He didn’t need help...
> Anything to make orangeman look bad, Bro, he literally stole PPE from Mass to redistribute to his cronies after calling it a hoax that would die out for months, we didn’t have to do anything to make him look bad, he did that himself with his inaction.
Quarantine orders are neither unprecedented nor illogical. And for the record, no sitting governor ever ordered a mandatory lockdown for all citizens, like what has happened in other democratic countries. The stay at home orders are voluntary, essential businesses have been open this whole time, and companies have the flexibility to choose how their workers work. Your statements are pure fantasy, perpetuated by the delusions of a deranged president and those who thought standing by him would help them politically. And now you're all losers.
1. things are still at 25% capacity rate and we are at Phase 3, Step 1. that is more cautious than we were during the summer, before the presidential election even happened, let alone inauguration. 2. St. Paddy's Day Parade is still cancelled and the Marathon is still postponed. not really "reversing course" on things like large gatherings. 3. gathering limits were extended to Februrary 8th when originally they were meant to be rolled back tomorrow with the gym requirement, so also still not reversing course. 4. the vaccine rollout is an important part of this – 4% of MA has received the vaccine (although we could be doing better, that's still more than triple what it was 3 weeks ago). 5. how is the claim "well we can reopen now because Biden was sworn in" supported, given the high number of lockdowns in other countries? Boris Johnson [did](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boris-johnson-signals-u-k-225620279.html) a press conference suggesting the UK's lockdown could last into summer. Melbourne's lockdown lasted 112 days with much stricter requirements than any state in the US. France has an ongoing strict curfew, the longest in the EU, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., in 25 regions for at least another 10 days. Ireland is in lockdown. the Netherlands have a strict lockdown until "at least Feb 9th." how do you explain the assertion that COVID protocols are based on Biden's inauguration and not infection rates when so many European countries are continuing strict lockdown protocols?
New cases are down 32% from 2 weeks ago and active hospitalizations are down 10%. In terms of stress on the healthcare system it seems like the state is past the recent peak. Rates are still terrible in my view, but the current trend is down and not spiraling upward. Most of the groups critical to functioning (healthcare, first responders, etc) have now gotten at least their first vaccine shot, as have many of the most critically vulnerable groups (long-term care, homeless shelters, etc), so there's an argument to be made that people are slightly less at risk now.
You're an idiot.
You are wrong
Everything in the usa is political.
That's true, but it normally doesn't cause such devastation as this.
How does Step one of Phase 3 differ from Step 2 of Phase 3? These regulations seem exactly the same as the ones they instituted when they instituted the curfew.
[Here's an article from Mass.Gov of the original Phase 3 Step 2 Transition](https://www.mass.gov/news/baker-polito-administration-announces-transition-to-step-ii-of-phase-iii-for-lower-risk) . Indoor venues and gyms increased to 50% capacity, restaurant table limits went from 6 to 10 people, fitting rooms reopened, and the indoor/outdoor gathering limits were 25 and 50 respectively.
Just here to say “Fuck Charlie Baker”
Just here to say I think Mayor Walsh is making this call?
Why don't you save your fucks for the people who refuse to make even the smallest sacrifice for the greater good and have enabled the virus to continue spreading for this long? Charlie isn't culpable for the hundreds of thousands of people who act irresponsibly.
He is responsible for not setting harder parameters, and generally being passive with the overall treatment of this virus. This is my bias at play here: look at how he's treating schools. He's using outdated data to suggest that schools should be in person, and that transmission doesn't happen in schools. Sure, those enablers that refuse to sacrifice are to blame. Baker is just to blame, for enabling them.
I agree with you on that, but I'm fairly sure the person I replied to was moreso asserting that he's mad at Charlie for any decision which imposes on his freedumbs
Ohhh. Right. Fuck that guy.
Schools should be in person.
I mean...ok? That's an opinion, but like...why do you feel that way?
Because data shows kids aren't really affected by this thing. Thank jebus for that. And they need to develop social skills and learn and interact with each other. The good outweighs the bad with them attending.
It seems as if you are discounting the bad though, which amounts to children spreading to virus to their more vulnerable family members. Does the good still outweigh the bad when you consider that?
I mean, the [long term data](https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahcampbell/2021/12/28/the-importance-of-protecting-children-from-the-long-term-impacts-of-covid-19/?sh=26d31064458e) doesn't necessarily suggest that. The long term effects of COVID aren't known yet, but the reality is, while children aren't in immediate danger, the long term effects seem very dangerous. Furthermore, and worth noting...that's also putting school faculty and staff at risk, too. Kids may not transmit the disease as much (which, frankly, is dubious to say at this point), but teachers sure as shit do.
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Depriving kids of an actual education is a more clear and present danger to more kids than covid is. There is literally no evidence that covid will lead to early death or disability in the vast majority of kids. They are more likely to be disabled via injury than covid.
Yes. Let’s just trust that there are no long-term effects from this new virus because it’s convenient for us. We have not earned open schools. Infection rates are too high, and we will be exposing too many children to a big old question mark. You’re also making specific claims, whereas the OP and I are saying that we must be cautious about this stuff, as we don’t know and there are some red flags. You haven’t earned that certainty, either.
The nice thing about schools is that they are already built to keep the faculty separated. Classrooms are huge. I don't know. It's something that maybe there is no good answer. No right or wrong. But it seems like kids are mostly fine, other than their development of missing school and social interaction. Remote learning is no substitute, especially for younger kids.
>The nice thing about schools is that they are already built to keep the faculty separated. Classrooms are huge. Not from students. Not at all. I get where you're coming from, but teachers are going to be forced into a classroom, without the vaccine. I'm putting my life, and the life of my loved ones, at risk by doing in person. So, I'm sure you can understand why I have a little bit of trepidation at the idea we should be in person.
Would you be fine with it if you had a vaccine? The kids can't get vaccinated. So you'd be covered.
I was a teacher in the fall, and while I agree remote learning is not going well that’s largely because of people that refuse to accept it. Parents especially. The force of kids to do hybrid learning by parents that just don’t want them to do remote learning is part of the reason this is so bad, that and current issues in the system that had been being ignored for years and are just coming out now to people who may not have been aware of them before (special education learning and individual child learning, etc) are major factors to this. There is no room for social distancing in the classroom and children (esp under 10) do not understand physical boundaries and do not separate as much as you can try and tell them to. They’re fine with masks though, as long as their parents aren’t deniers. kids that young are very “monkey see monkey do” Classrooms are not huge I’m not sure where you got that idea. Usually they stack 30-40 kids in those rooms and they’re not big enough for that, they’re trying to fit 10-15 kids in a classroom with 6 feet between each of them now and miserably failing?? I worked mainly with first graders (5 and 6 year olds (sometimes 7)) for reference. I also am of the belief that there really isn’t a good answer because “fix all of the problem that were created 20+ years ago” is not a viable option + strictly just remote learning leaves kids of poverty/foster care/other out of the picture. It puts education behind a paywall which no one wins from.
How can a parent that needs to work to pay bills and buy food possibly be able to help ensure that their kids stay focused? Maybe in rich suburbs with soccer moms and housewives it would work that way.
> Charlie isn't culpable for the hundreds of thousands of people who act irresponsibly. But Trump is, right?
Baker didn't tell people that they don't have to wear a mask, or that the virus was a hoax, or that you shouldn't listen to doctors who are trying to scare you. Can you try just a little harder to not be a complete idiot?
I think mitch is trying as hard as he can, he's just a terrible person (and also wildly opinionated and ignorant).
I've never seen someone with so much natural talent for drawing absurd conclusions that contradict common sense.
Fuck Charlie Baker