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What now? There is no plan. We have the vaccine, at least in the US and EU we have enough doses, and they are more effective than many expected them to be. We a

What now? There is no plan. We have the vaccine, at least in the US and EU we have enough doses, and they are more effective than many expected them to be. We are many, many days into "three weeks to slow the spread". In Manhattan numerous restaurants constructed "outdoor dining" areas, but since eating outside in 20F weather kind of sucks (I can attest from personal experience), many are fully enclosed and have heating and A/C. They are literally indoor dining except located on the street and not built to code, but we all pretend that this is making a difference. Everyone knows that children in schools are a major vector for disease. Pre-covid it was always parents with school-aged kids bringing in colds and flu. Everyone knows that testing is largely performed only on people showing symptoms and children do not show severe COVID symptoms, but parents got tired of having their kids at home so we got a round of articles claiming children don't spread COVID and reopened schools while everything else was shut down. I could go on with many more examples but we all know them. The response is a joke. The lockdown largely hasn't affected the elite and wherever it has we get COVID theater and special exceptions, but it's also become political and part of the identity for a certain highly influential strata of society so we keep moving the goalposts with no plan.

deelowe 5y ago
As a parent, I didn’t get tired of my kids being at home. Their grades were slipping to the point where we had no other option.
- hatchnyc 5y ago
  I mean lots of people lost their jobs and businesses, and saw their lives and standard of living derailed as a result of the lockdowns, but we've been told that this was worth the sacrifice. EDIT: And I'll add I mention this out to point out the absurdity and double standards that have been applied here.
Clewza313 5y ago
McSweeney's had a great piece on the absurdity of outdoor dining enclosures: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-am-the-designer-of-this-restaurants-outdoor-seating-space-and-this-is-my-artists-statement https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-am-the-designer-of-thi...
- warning26 5y ago
  > This restaurant commissioned me to create a structure that would allow its patrons to dine comfortably in cold and inclement weather while still keeping them at low risk of contracting COVID-19. There are plenty of outdoor dining structures that provide good airflow, but those ones don't support "dining in cold or inclement weather". Personally, I won't dine outside unless the outdoor dining setup actually provides good airflow.
barney54 5y ago
While schools might be a major vector for many diseases, the evidence suggest children do not spread COVID very well to teachers. Opening schools is not a joke, it following the evidence. Here's the US CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-br... "Findings from several studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2 transmission among students is relatively rare, particularly when prevention strategies are in place. An Australian study of 39 COVID-19 cases among 32 students and seven staff traced contacts across 28 schools and six early childhood centers and found only 33 secondary positive cases (28 students and five staff members) out of 3,439 close child contacts and 385 close staff contacts.58, 59 Several contact tracing studies have found limited student-to-student transmission in schools."
- ianlevesque 5y ago
  This is pre-Delta. It’s ridiculously more contagious now.
- belltaco 5y ago
  That study was way before delta, from Oct 2020 and with masking and social distancing in play. Delta is extremely infectious compared to the older strains. No way that children don't spread COVID very well to teachers anymore. Especially given the anti-masking push in schools.
  - Exmoor 5y ago
    I think it's safe to say that Delta has made kids (especially pre-pubescent kids) more contagious than earlier strains, but they still seem to be an undersized proportion of cases currently being reported. Even in states with spiking case loads and school in session with no mask mandates, the proportion of reported cases in children is less than their proportion of the population. That doesn't even factor in the proportion of adults who are vaccinated or have been previously infected and are much less likely to be infected now. It's honestly a pretty interesting phenomenon given the fact that most people's "common sense" is that kids transmit viruses extremely well.
  - 5y ago

deelowe 5y ago

As a parent, I didn’t get tired of my kids being at home. Their grades were slipping to the point where we had no other option.

hatchnyc 5y ago
I mean lots of people lost their jobs and businesses, and saw their lives and standard of living derailed as a result of the lockdowns, but we've been told that this was worth the sacrifice. EDIT: And I'll add I mention this out to point out the absurdity and double standards that have been applied here.

Clewza313 5y ago

McSweeney's had a great piece on the absurdity of outdoor dining enclosures: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-am-the-designer-of-this-restaurants-outdoor-seating-space-and-this-is-my-artists-statement https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-am-the-designer-of-thi...

warning26 5y ago
> This restaurant commissioned me to create a structure that would allow its patrons to dine comfortably in cold and inclement weather while still keeping them at low risk of contracting COVID-19. There are plenty of outdoor dining structures that provide good airflow, but those ones don't support "dining in cold or inclement weather". Personally, I won't dine outside unless the outdoor dining setup actually provides good airflow.

barney54 5y ago

While schools might be a major vector for many diseases, the evidence suggest children do not spread COVID very well to teachers. Opening schools is not a joke, it following the evidence. Here's the US CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-br... "Findings from several studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2 transmission among students is relatively rare, particularly when prevention strategies are in place. An Australian study of 39 COVID-19 cases among 32 students and seven staff traced contacts across 28 schools and six early childhood centers and found only 33 secondary positive cases (28 students and five staff members) out of 3,439 close child contacts and 385 close staff contacts.58, 59 Several contact tracing studies have found limited student-to-student transmission in schools."

ianlevesque 5y ago
This is pre-Delta. It’s ridiculously more contagious now.
belltaco 5y ago
That study was way before delta, from Oct 2020 and with masking and social distancing in play. Delta is extremely infectious compared to the older strains. No way that children don't spread COVID very well to teachers anymore. Especially given the anti-masking push in schools.
- Exmoor 5y ago
  I think it's safe to say that Delta has made kids (especially pre-pubescent kids) more contagious than earlier strains, but they still seem to be an undersized proportion of cases currently being reported. Even in states with spiking case loads and school in session with no mask mandates, the proportion of reported cases in children is less than their proportion of the population. That doesn't even factor in the proportion of adults who are vaccinated or have been previously infected and are much less likely to be infected now. It's honestly a pretty interesting phenomenon given the fact that most people's "common sense" is that kids transmit viruses extremely well.
- 5y ago