5 ms·
Not an epidemiologist, but a Boston resident. Generally, people under 30 completely ignore anything about the coronavirus here. You have people hitting a differ
by wegs 7y ago
Not an epidemiologist, but a Boston resident. Generally, people under 30 completely ignore anything about the coronavirus here. You have people hitting a different nightclub each night, going to parties, and that sort of thing.
A college town full of students who see their risk as 0.1% is not what you want right now.
Now, a more sensible thing might be to close the nightclubs, bars, and parties. But the city hasn't done that. Patient zero will probably infect hundred here.
And the people who will die will be the elderly (which includes a lot of faculty too).
- leggomylibro 7y agoBoston has had confirmed cases for quite some time; about 70 of them came from the same conference meeting. The area's "patient zero" event happened like a week ago.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoSo you have tens of thousands of people, who all have been in close proximity, now exposing their risk to their family. And if these college students have any elderly family members, that could pose a serious risk. By forcing people to go home, rather than shelter in place, everyone has increased contact with others and public infrastructure where the virus could be.
- wegs 7y agoNow here, you have to consider who is making the decisions. The president of MIT was born in 1950. The Chairman of the Board was class of '73. Virtually everyone in senior leadership are in categories with 10+% mortality rates. I'm not cynical about everything about the Institute (see my other comments, correcting cynical theories), but this is a place where I know many of the personalities involved personally, and I'm definitely very, very cynical.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoHigh-risk individuals should be quarantining themselves. It'd be a far more effective strategy than any other measure.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoBut then in this situation, who is going to teach the classes?
- chrononaut 7y ago> By forcing people to go home, rather than shelter in place, everyone has increased contact with others and public infrastructure where the virus could be. What situation are you referring to that would result in increased contact? This particular movement of students to a different location, often home? Or the long-term housing situation of the students throughout the rest of the semester?
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoMIT has an international student body. It might even mean that by telling students to go home, you're telling some students to go to CDC Level 3 country. If there is no outbreak at MIT, having the on-campus students remain on-campus might be preferable to forcing thousands to make their way through airports, buses, and other public infrastructure.
- JabavuAdams 7y agoHealthcare load-balancing.
- Polylactic_acid 7y agoThis sounds like it is happening before anyone has been infected yet to prevent a future problem.
- JPKab 7y agoIt's almost like MIT is acting in the best interests of their own public relations image, as opposed to the community at large.