Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[MisterPenguin]

On the topic of restrictions vs. quality of life...

If one wanted to get to 0 deaths on the Interstate system, one would enact a speed limit of 20 mph, an age restriction, and a no-passenger policy.

We don't do those things because while a draconian Interstate driving policy would drastically lower Interstate deaths, it would severely damage our economy and way of life, which would indirectly cost us lives in other ways.

We all have our opinions of what those in power should do about the virus. I find it useful to see those decisions as a sliding scale:
Too few restrictions = too many virus cases, deaths, hospital overload
Too many restrictions = economic hardship, addiction, abuse, suicides

Perhaps you're too young to remember the hoopla and cries of inconvenience and extra cost when:

• seat belts were required by law
• cars had to have air bags
• cars had to pass federal crash dummy tests
• speed limits were reduced as population density increased
• cars had to pass state inspections for safety
• people fined for not following safety laws

But if you're really going to compare driving accidents to COVID, assume 20-car pileups whose frequency increases geometrically over time... and there are people OK with that. They just want to drive fast with no seat belts.

 

[SamusAranX]

"Perfect Attendance" bonuses caused many co-workers to show up at work even when they were obviously sick. Is that likely to change? Does WDW offer any incentives to CMs that may be directly contrary to "stay at home if you are sick"? And what about asymptomatic spreaders?

i can't speak for WDW, but I know my CEO has made it very clear now that if we come into the office sick we will get sent home, even if it's just "allergies". no more "I am dedicated to the job so I come in with a 100 degree fever and vomiting".

 

[danlb_2000]

Rampant suicides have NOT been a side effect of the last year. Elevated? Yes....bad? Yes.

But it’s a political red herring...it’s along the lines of flu comparisons, cancer comparisons, auto accident comparisons and the like.

So Clark county - “Vegas” to the rest of the world - Reported 12 student suicides from June to December...up from 6 normally...and every person doing the “ma freedom” routine has now demanded schools reopen like its 2018. “We can’t wait”

1 is too much...not saying “acceptable losses”...but that statistical assessment is not correct based on 4,400 students.


You know what a crisis is? Hundreds of thousands of opioid deaths in the backwaters for years. Because they have no money...and their “wing” couldn’t care less.
But how inconvenient is that?

Woefully underfunded mental health is inconvenient too.

I diverted there...but you get the point. Masks and limited restaurants/bars are not causing mass suicides. Just don’t go there.

I wasn't focusing on the suicide part, just the general statement. Neither extreme is really viable, so the best course of action is somewhere in the middle.

 

[GoofGoof]

I can’t believe after all this time we are still doing the comparison to the flu. It‘s a novel virus, there was no vaccine until very recently and no human had any prior exposure to it so no level of natural immunity. It’s not the same as the flu. The 400K+ additional deaths over a normal flu season were with masks and distancing and stay at home orders. Who knows what the total would have been without mitigation. Once the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it and once the vast majority of the population is immune either naturally or through vaccination the Covid restrictions will all be gone.

 

[SamusAranX]

I can’t believe after all this time we are still doing the comparison to the flu. It‘s a novel virus, there was no vaccine until very recently and no human had any prior exposure to it so no level of natural immunity. It’s not the same as the flu. The 400K+ additional deaths over a normal flu season were with masks and distancing and stay at home orders. Who knows what the total would have been without mitigation. Once the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it and once the vast majority of the population is immune either naturally or through vaccination the Covid restrictions will all be gone.

@GoofGoof my purpose wasn't to go against COVID mitigation; but now that we know what we did for COVID can pummel the flu season, I think it's reasonable to ask what tradeoffs people are and aren't ok with. otherwise annually, we are leaving lives on the table so to speak, even with a flu shot.

 

[sullyinMT]

"Perfect Attendance" bonuses caused many co-workers to show up at work even when they were obviously sick. Is that likely to change? Does WDW offer any incentives to CMs that may be directly contrary to "stay at home if you are sick"? And what about asymptomatic spreaders?

Every year, at the end of school year award ceremony, my wife and I roll our eyes at the perfect attendance award. All it means is at least most of those kids came to school sick once or twice ... or more.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I wasn't focusing on the suicide part, just the general statement. Neither extreme is really viable, so the best course of action is somewhere in the middle.

Understood

(Pssst...I wasn’t really talking to YOU )

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I can’t believe after all this time we are still doing the comparison to the flu. It‘s a novel virus, there was no vaccine until very recently and no human had any prior exposure to it so no level of natural immunity. It’s not the same as the flu. The 400K+ additional deaths over a normal flu season were with masks and distancing and stay at home orders. Who knows what the total would have been without mitigation. Once the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it and once the vast majority of the population is immune either naturally or through vaccination the Covid restrictions will all be gone.

...today is just a day ending in “y”

I love hearing from the downplayers/“safe” theme park travelers though...

...so enlightening.
Like the dark ages. Get the leeches and let’s bleed the evil spirits out, huh??

 

[sullyinMT]

@GoofGoof my purpose wasn't to go against COVID mitigation; but now that we know what we did for COVID can pummel the flu season, I think it's reasonable to ask what tradeoffs people are and aren't ok with. otherwise annually, we are leaving lives on the table so to speak, even with a flu shot.

I think the reasonable ask is what schools and offices like yours will do going forward. It sounds like your workplace is taking the responsible approach. Take a day for any symptoms, possibly work from home where “toughing it out” is safer. If the allergy symptoms improve and don’t develop into “oh, that wasn’t allergies,” come back tomorrow. The team will get by and be better for it.

Schools now are better equipped to handle sick days, and kids can make up the work almost in real time so long as they aren’t bedridden with illness. Perfect attendance awards should be nixed from here on out.

 

[Patcheslee]

Every year, at the end of school year award ceremony, my wife and I roll our eyes at the perfect attendance award. All it means is at least most of those kids came to school sick once or twice ... or more.

Ours went to excused days don't count against their perfect attendance. It's the "parents didn't call and no doctors note" ones that get em now. In that case losing a perfect attendance award would be the least of my daughters worry.

 

[oceanbreeze77]

Every year, at the end of school year award ceremony, my wife and I roll our eyes at the perfect attendance award. All it means is at least most of those kids came to school sick once or twice ... or more.

Its sad how we prioritize other things over the health of our children. We make it seem so special to win these types of awards when the number one thing that helps a child succeed is their Physical wellbeing.

 

[hopemax]

@GoofGoof my purpose wasn't to go against COVID mitigation; but now that we know what we did for COVID can pummel the flu season, I think it's reasonable to ask what tradeoffs people are and aren't ok with. otherwise annually, we are leaving lives on the table so to speak, even with a flu shot.

Despite your framing, no one has been trying to save "every life." But since this is a novel virus, we don't know where the most effective "breakpoints" are. The points where this action will diminish deaths by 10%, or this action will diminish deaths by 5%. What we do have is some general ideas of what the "circuit breakers" are to stop transmission of infectious diseases. When you know nothing, you trip all of them. The more you know, the more containment you are able to actively demonstrate the fewer precautions you need to take. We have not been able to demonstrate COVID containment. Every time restrictions are pulled back, cases rise. We hope that vaccines will finally provide the containment we need.

Your question reads to me a lot like, "Why do we evacuate neighborhoods of people for wildfires, but if it's a house fire we don't? They are both fires."

Given the diminishment of many seasonal bugs (except rhinovirus), I do think we will see a lot more PSAs about the benefits of voluntary mask usage. If there is another flu like H1N1, which did come with recommendations for people to be more cautious, work from home and school closures in communities with serious outbreaks, I think you will see more of that stuff becoming more acceptable and communities pulling those circuit breakers faster. If there is a novel influenza with the same or worse IFR and R(0) as COVID, however, we can expect all the circuit breakers to be thrown again.

 

[DisneyCane]

That's nice and all, but we weren't taking all reasonable precautions from day one, at least some areas and groups weren't. See: anti-mask protests, live and let die Florida, large parties in LA, and so on.

We also didn't know until now that these same precautions would crush the flu season. We were actually worried about a twindemic, so if anything we dodged some bullets.

I think the experts were saying from the beginning that these measures would suppress the flu season.

As far as "live and let die Florida," there were significant restrictions at the beginning. There are still a ton of restrictions in every county I've been to. There are mask mandates in a ton of counties. It's not like there is nothing being done at all in the state. Every time I see Governor Desantis arrive for a press conference or something, he wears a mask even though he hasn't done a mandate. He's never said don't wear one and the Florida Department of Health has recommended them since the CDC started to. He's just said that he doesn't believe in mandates as a way to get compliance.

 

[MrHappy]

I can’t believe after all this time we are still doing the comparison to the flu. It‘s a novel virus, there was no vaccine until very recently and no human had any prior exposure to it so no level of natural immunity. It’s not the same as the flu. The 400K+ additional deaths over a normal flu season were with masks and distancing and stay at home orders. Who knows what the total would have been without mitigation. Once the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it and once the vast majority of the population is immune either naturally or through vaccination the Covid restrictions will all be gone.

Even worse, the interstate and suicide nonsense I had to skip over the last few pages.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Ours went to excused days don't count against their perfect attendance. It's the "parents didn't call and no doctors note" ones that get em now. In that case losing a perfect attendance award would be the least of my daughters worry.

Its sad how we prioritize other things over the health of our children. We make it seem so special to win these types of awards when the number one thing that helps a child succeed is their Physical wellbeing.

Perfect attendance is dumb.
It proves nothing.

This will never change

 

[danlb_2000]

Understood

(Pssst...I wasn’t really talking to YOU )

Sometimes it's hard to tell.

 

[DCBaker]

Current vaccine report -

 

[DCBaker]

Numbers are out - there were 219 new reported deaths, along with 10 Non-Florida Resident deaths.

 

[Figgy1]

Numbers are out - there were 219 new reported deaths, along with 10 Non-Florida Resident deaths.

View attachment 527676View attachment 527677View attachment 527678View attachment 527679

Holy string of bad words Batman! Not good at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hopemax]

Starting 2/8 Colorado will begin 1B2: age 65+ and teachers.

1A is at 90% of 2nd doses for frontline medical. 100% skilled nursing homes 1st dose, 71% 2nd dose
1B1 is 90% 1st dose for first responders/moderate risk healthcare, 34% age 70+ for a total of 47% of 1B

expecting 425,000 doses by March 5th, goal of 55% through 1B2 by that date. Expect 3 weeks to vaccinate teachers.