Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[The Mom]

I've spoke with a a few dozen people who tested positive and only a few (2 or 3) had symptoms that were beyond headaches, runny nose, loss of appetite. Same goes from what I've spoken with others who know people who tested positive. Mild symptoms.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it doesn't hit some people hard, (mostly seniors), but it seems that a majority of the people who get it recover fairly quickly with mild symptoms.

I just finished reading a NYT article about the US Women's National Rowing Team (although only they are called team - it's usually crew) - they would be representing us in the Olympics - having an outbreak of Covid in March/early April at their training center in NJ. They are still recovering. Many of them were too weak and short of breath to walk around the block. These are young women who were in top physical condition, exercising multiple hours/day. And their words of wisdom - earned by being brought to their knees by this - is do not think that because you are young and in top physical shape that you will be spared some major misery.

I will link it here, but there is a paywall.

Take Coronavirus More Seriously, Say Olympic Rowers Who Got It (Published 2020)

A physical therapist brought the virus to rowers who were training to make the U.S. Olympic team, and one gold medalist said it “knocked us down pretty hard.”

www.nytimes.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

Schools should definitely open. Just simply do this:

1. Do whatever necessary to get your state's positivity rate under 1% which includes:​

a. Statewide mandate for masks at all times in public.​

b. All businesses must create a way to do business such that all employees and customers are socially distanced​

c. Aggressive contact tracing​

d. Financial assistance for those who need it while working toward this goal of <1% positive.​

​

2. If #1 is accomplished, open schools.​

Now, everyone, get to work on 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d. When complete, come back and demand #2.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

There's two issues at hand.

1. Opening schools is a HUGE risk. If schools were opening full time with no on-line option, things would get way out of hand very quickly. The amount of cases in children would skyrocket. There's no doubt about that. It's just too many people crammed in the same building for 6-7 hours. Masks wouldn't prevent anything overall. They might help a few people, but the spread would still be rampant. And even if kids don't get "too sick" they will still be little armies armed with the virus, ready to unleash it on everyone else outside of school. Don't buy the BS that says kids don't spread the virus. I teach pathophysiology and there's no scientific mechanism that is known to prevent children from spreading it.

2. Then, there's the other side of the argument. If schools go online only, there will be a LOT of families in a horrible predicament. If they have nobody to stay with their child because they work (single parents OR both parents) then they either need to find day care which could cost up to $1000/week or a babysitter. In either of those cases, there's no guarantee that the child would be able to actually complete the virtual learning tasks. So families may have to spend thousands of dollars and STILL have to do ALL of the work possibly at night and weekends because the care cannot hold the kids accountable. That punishes families whose parents work full time. We cannot expect whatever summer arrangements they had to be available once the school year begins. This could KILL the economy.

The school option idea is at least the best attempt at a common ground. Those applauding the online-only program would use online in a choice plan anyway.And, with any luck, the choice plan would keep numbers down a bit at schools (I know that this would not be a much in urban areas where parents have to work more often).

There's no easy way around this. One thing that CANNOT happen under any circumstance is to have all children back in school face-to-face at the same time.That's a potential death trap for students, teachers, and all of society. There's no way around that.

A voice of reason...thank you. We're all caught between a rock and a hard place.

 

[Polkadotdress]

It is a matter of time and resources. Kids have already lost so much education.... and remote learning requires adults at home. That can’t be fixed or changed.

A loss of learning can be recouped eventually. A loss of life cannot.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Schools are as safe as they’ve ever been. Kids die of the flu in large numbers every year. We don’t close schools, because up until this year, we knew schools were important.

It doesn’t matter anyway. Schools aren’t opening. People are selfish and afraid, and that’s that.

I'll let others dig for the current pediatric death toll for COVID-19 (couldn't find it in the time I devoted to the task), but for comparison, the CDC received reports of 130 pediatric deaths from influenza for the 2018-19 season in the US. Of those who were eligible, only 34% had received the recommended vaccine.

130 isn't exactly "large numbers" in a country the size of the US.

 

[chrisvee]

peak

Guess I have a shape in mind that doesn’t look like northeast/Italy (steep up, peak, sharp down) but more like high plateau, slow descent.

 

[corsairk09]

A loss of learning can be recouped eventually. A loss of life cannot.

For some kids it can. Kids who have learning disabilities, suffering from abuse, living in foster care, living in poverty, applying for citizenship.... recouping the education loss will be close to impossible. Covid is a problem that we have to face.... but we can’t pretend that preventing people from getting Covid is our ONLY priority. Education isn’t less important and loss of education isn’t less destructive because Covid exists.

 

[Jedijax719]

A voice of reason...thank you. We're all caught between a rock and a hard place.

Yes it is. What I've seen a few districts plan are mini-learning centers. Not sure how exactly they will work or if they will work at all but it is an attempt at something. Many areas with teacher aids, willing bus drivers, and other personnel who would be trained at least for the technology side of learning. The rest is done by the teachers through zoom or other virtual face-to-face platform (such as Google meets.) The numbers would be down to prevent over-crowding. The para-professionals assisting would be earning their pay while their normal services are not needed.

This is only if schools go full online. In my opinion, there should be an economic package passed to pay for such ideas and programs and need to be pushed by states suffering the most. But then again, it may not even cost much if all you are doing is employing hourly earners that would be working anyway.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

For some kids it can. Kids who have learning disabilities, suffering from abuse, living in foster care, living in poverty, applying for citizenship.... recouping the education loss will be close to impossible. Covid is a problem that we have to face.... but we can’t pretend that preventing people from getting Covid is our ONLY priority. Education isn’t less important and loss of education isn’t less destructive because Covid exists.

Those are real issues... but they aren’t directly connected to education. I understand what you’re saying, but that’s almost another issue entirely.

The answer to abuse, poverty, etc, shouldn’t be a public education system. There should be other answers to those problems. I realize that life isn’t that simple.

I know in my county, the schools were still delivering meals to kids who needed it. This also kept some of the cafeteria workers and bus drivers working.

 

[oceanbreeze77]

without this getting political

again I say...ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Those are real issues... but they aren’t directly connected to education. I understand what you’re saying, but that’s almost another issue entirely.

The answer to abuse, poverty, etc, shouldn’t be a public education system. There should be other answers to those problems. I realize that life isn’t that simple.

I know in my county, the schools were still delivering meals to kids who needed it. This also kept some of the cafeteria workers and bus drivers working.

Our town continued distributing meals, and had so many extra that they opened it up to any student who wanted one.

 

[Patcheslee]

The ride photo would be the motivation to take the mask off. People want a photo of them screaming on the big drop on Splash Mountain. The mask hides that. I think it’s a good indication of how seriously they are taking it. I’m sure guests are not happy when their photo doesn’t come up. They are creating unhappy guests in order to enforce the rules. The exact thing lots of people thought they wouldn’t do.

I'm wondering how they are dealing with ride photos that may have strangers in the shots that may or may not have masks on. We were denied a "first ride" photo on a Cedar Point ride because someone, not with us had removed their mask on Valvran.

That’s unacceptable. Instead of fighting about stupid semantics around statistics we should all be unified in demanding that our government does better. How is it that in 4+ months we haven’t figured out how to ramp up production on test kits and we haven’t expanded labs enough? Why are there still shortages of PPE? Why can’t I find a disinfectant wipe anywhere? There’s got to be a better way to attack this.

Indiana, Jackson County it's a week out just for the appointment for testing. People can't return to my workplace (even if they've been diagnosed with a sinus infection, strep, flu, ect.) until test results come in. It's completely insane. At least 1 employee had results lost and 4 weeks later they said it was found in another state and positive, when samples from my understanding aren't even viable that long.

And on topic of school returns, we learned the after school child program had to change their fee from $50 to $125 for the school year and limit capacity to 25% due to the increased staff and PPE needs. Not a huge increase given the amount of time it covers but for some families with multiple kids, it's a big hit to take right when we also have to buy school supplies and clothing.

 

[oceanbreeze77]

Doctors are keeping their kids home this year. DOCTORS.

 

[wdisney9000]

I just finished reading a NYT article about the US Women's National Rowing Team (although only they are called team - it's usually crew) - they would be representing us in the Olympics - having an outbreak of Covid in March/early April at their training center in NJ. They are still recovering. Many of them were too weak and short of breath to walk around the block. These are young women who were in top physical condition, exercising multiple hours/day. And their words of wisdom - earned by being brought to their knees by this - is do not think that because you are young and in top physical shape that you will be spared some major misery.

I will link it here, but there is a paywall.

Take Coronavirus More Seriously, Say Olympic Rowers Who Got It (Published 2020)

A physical therapist brought the virus to rowers who were training to make the U.S. Olympic team, and one gold medalist said it “knocked us down pretty hard.”

www.nytimes.com

"It knocked us down pretty hard", but per an article from the NY Times about the crew..."None of the rowers required hospitalization". And if I understand, the athletes are already training again.

IMO, saying "it knocked us down pretty hard" allows for a lot of interpretation. And only 12 of the 33 person crew/team was infected. The article even states how they mentioned their lack of "taking it seriously" , not wearing masks, not distancing, and still, less than half were infected and not one of them who were "knocked down pretty hard" required being hospitalized?? These are Olympic athletes. If they were affected by this as much as the article makes it seem, shouldn't we seek out other athletes to represent our country in the extremely intense planetary competition known as the Olympics? Surely, these women won't be able to compete in such a rugged and tough competition after their bodies have been through such a traumatic experience?

If they truly honor what they compete for, they should step aside and let healthy, alternate athletes compete in their place.

And again, this was only 13 people of the 4 million infected who claimed the virus struck them hard..., but not hard enough to be sidelined from a major sporting competition or even being hospitalized.

And please understand that I absolutely know (and respect), who I am responding to and I hope you know this is just a reply, not trolling or insolence.

 

[oceanbreeze77]

I just finished reading a NYT article about the US Women's National Rowing Team (although only they are called team - it's usually crew) - they would be representing us in the Olympics - having an outbreak of Covid in March/early April at their training center in NJ. They are still recovering. Many of them were too weak and short of breath to walk around the block. These are young women who were in top physical condition, exercising multiple hours/day. And their words of wisdom - earned by being brought to their knees by this - is do not think that because you are young and in top physical shape that you will be spared some major misery.

I will link it here, but there is a paywall.

Take Coronavirus More Seriously, Say Olympic Rowers Who Got It (Published 2020)

A physical therapist brought the virus to rowers who were training to make the U.S. Olympic team, and one gold medalist said it “knocked us down pretty hard.”

www.nytimes.com

something interesting that I read during the beginning of the pandemic (can't find the article, but it was from march) was that they were finding that people who workout a lot and are really really fit, were having a difficult time overcoming their symptoms. It said it was partially due to their cardiovascular system being in overdrive. I wish I could find the article but I would like to see more research on that.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I just finished reading a NYT article about the US Women's National Rowing Team (although only they are called team - it's usually crew) - they would be representing us in the Olympics - having an outbreak of Covid in March/early April at their training center in NJ. They are still recovering. Many of them were too weak and short of breath to walk around the block. These are young women who were in top physical condition, exercising multiple hours/day. And their words of wisdom - earned by being brought to their knees by this - is do not think that because you are young and in top physical shape that you will be spared some major misery.

I will link it here, but there is a paywall.

Take Coronavirus More Seriously, Say Olympic Rowers Who Got It (Published 2020)

A physical therapist brought the virus to rowers who were training to make the U.S. Olympic team, and one gold medalist said it “knocked us down pretty hard.”

www.nytimes.com

Its all over the place; people in their 90’s survive, children die, some folks get it and have no symptoms, some never contract it, here we see athletes, are down for a month, very confusing!

 

[Dizneykid]

We're canceling Christmas now? What does that even mean? Lol.

 

[wdisney9000]

This idea that most people only get the sniffles and only the elderly and informed ever really feel sick.

I'm not downplaying it to only be the sniffles but people react as if their are people dropping like flies all around us or cringing under their sheets with a fever as if they had a Xenomorph about to rip through their torso. And THAT mindset is simply not true.

For a anybody wondering....(Xenomorph is the Alien life form from the movie Alien starring Sigourney Weaver aboard the Spacehsip Nostromo, ...there I made this post about WDW...and TGMR...sorta).

 

[Dizneykid]

Doctors are keeping their kids home this year. DOCTORS.

Doctors have also said on mainstream TV that they would put their kids in school without hesitation. We can always find confirmation bias when we look for it. CDC is supposedly the holy grail of covid wisdom and they want kids in school.

Communities, Schools, Workplaces, & Events

Cleaning and Disinfecting: Everyday steps, when someone is sick, and considerations for employers.

www.cdc.gov

Check out that published date

 

[GoofGoof]

We're canceling Christmas now? What does that even mean? Lol.

Dr. doofenshmirtz is somewhere smiling right now....not even Phineas and Ferb can save Christmas this time

I think she meant Christmas parties at the parks not Christmas in general...at least I hope. So far the North Pole has no confirmed cases of Covid, but they have a travel ban on FL, TX, AZ and Brazil so Santa has to quarantine for 14 days when he gets back from delivering the gifts.