I understand and sympathize with libertarian viewpoints. And so when Baker repeats his opposition to mandatory quarantine, or Kemp says cities and counties in Georgia may not impose mask requirements, I get it. To a point. But, we’ve gone beyond that inflection point where principles of individual liberty and public health and safety collide. It’s why we have seat belt laws and many other measures that infringe upon our individual freedom. No principle should be absolute. And when our exercising individual liberty potentially impacts another person’s health negatively, a balancing act is needed to calibrate appropriate public policy responses.
Great comment! Viewing the world in an all-or-nothing binary way can lead to, well, what we are seeing.
Can you please drill that into the heads of the anti-mask
bozos!!!!! Thank you.
They won’t listen.
I heard on yesterday’s evening news that some teachers nationwide are actually making out wills for the first time or updating them.
It does appear now that many teachers out there are truly frightened regarding returning to the classroom.
It seems every national newscast (am or pm) gets more scary every day. No promising news whatsoever any more lately. Very very sad.
With trump now taking control of case numbers and all reporting, will MA still know it’s numbers? I am not clear on where the state gets them.
The White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded to a question on President Trump’s push to reopen schools: “The science should not stand in the way of this.”
I must say that statement may be the most appalling yet. Yes, worse than the insults and barbs from the President.
Science should always drive our public policy decisions. Sure, there should be discretion as to how the data is interpreted and how schools and public institutions, as well as private, implement safety measures and protocols. But, ultimately, if we’re not guided by science then we’re in voodoo land.
This is an Administration with blinders on, unwilling and unable to see anything but the goal of reopening at full throttle, come hell or high water – the economy, churches, schools. This isn’t merely anti-science, it’s wilful ignorance.
And, I don’t understand it.
As you all know, I very much want schools to reopen. But, there are at least a dozen states in this country where it’s not possible to do so without undue harms. Here, I’m thinking more about the staff and administrators than the children, even though there are risks to children as well. In Florida, for example, where test positivity in some counties is over 30% you can’t reopen the schools. Period. Same in Southern California, Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and several other states. Unfortunately, that list will likely grow by next week as the numbers of new cases rises sharply in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Oregon, and Oklahoma.
I saw that comment it my stomach literally turned. Joshua, We are past help and I ask one person to have the courage to explain how this is acceptable. I promise to listen. And I promise to be respectful.
We all want schools to reopen. But they need to open safely and with today’s news of a teacher who was positive but got a false negative being in the classroom with children and teachers…..it underlined how impossible this is. Even with a negative, she went to school feeling ill. Think on that a second.
Also, I listened to
Dr Kristin Moffitt, division of infectious disease, Boston children’s hospital, on WCVB tonight. Her words….
Kids may have milder symptoms and seem to be a cold or cough
Anyone with those symptoms should begin isolating
If around anyone compromised, testing needs to be done Immediately
Cold symptoms. Every kid has cold symptoms. And every single parent sends them to school with cold symptoms. I will bet every cent I have that will not change.
We absolutely cannot open safely. And sadly history tells us we will debate this rather than take the time needed to create a robust in home plan
Joshua…if I am wrong and you or anyone sees a way to open safely, please let me know. I would welcome some positive thoughts on this
The closest metaphor I could think of is weather and flying. Would McEnany tell air traffic controllers and airports to make sure airplanes fly, regardless of what meteorology is telling them.
It’s January 6th, 2021. At Boston’s Logan airport it’s been snowing heavily for several hours, visibility under a tenth of a mile, sustained northeast winds at 26mph, with gusts up to 38mph. Meteorologists reporting to Logan’s air traffic controller indicate conditions will worsen in the coming hours. McEnany to the air traffic controllers: “Don’t let meteorology and the weather stand in the way of flying. Gotta get the airplanes on their way.”
Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education, said in regard to potential coronavirus outbreaks in schools (this is NOT fake news): “You can’t plan for something that hasn’t happened yet.”
Maybe I spent too long in the Netherlands. But, I remember learning in high school in Holland that one of government’s main functions is to “plan,” to have “contingency plans,” to “prepare for a range of possibilities,” and to “organize and coordinate accordingly.”
Judging from DeVos’s Dutch name – she is of Dutch extraction – I would have expected her to know the meaning of the word “plan.”
“You can’t plan for something that hasn’t happened yet” makes me both laugh and cry. It sounds like something that Yogi Berra would have said, but he was smart enough to recognize the twisted logic that he used.
🙁
* No Swanboats this season in Boston’s Public Garden for the first time in 145 years. Will return in 2021.
* Head of the Charles Regatta cancelled. Virtual race only.
What’s next?…Thanksgiving dinners?Christmas tree lightings? Boston First Night? New Year’s Eve Ball Drop (Times Square)?
🙁
I suspect all. And it sucks.
My mom took us as kids to the swan boats. She took my kids. I have ducking photos all over. Memories of my mom are intertwined with the swan boats.
And I absolutely know she would want them cancelled so the kids and adults who ride them will be here when they can open.
I have the highest regard to school committees. My daughter is a school committee member. Their hands are tied. They see the irony
Every SC of maybe 5-7 people is meeting via zoom to discuss sending kids back to school…..because it is not safe for the SC to be in a room together.
As a nation we went over 1,000 deaths yesterday for the first time since June 9th. We got close last week (992). This week the uptick continues. The slope is more gradual than the increase we saw at the end of March, beginning of April. Nevertheless, it’s a trajectory NO other industrialized nation has taken. Our new daily cases path is unique, and our new daily deaths curve is unique. And both times the operative expression is “uniquely bad.”
What must worry policymakers is that the age of the people dying is trending younger, in part because it’s a younger demographic that is getting infected. It’s not a dramatic shift, as younger folks still have a much better chance of surviving. But, there are many 35-65 year olds in the new death tallies across the South and Southwest. And even some very young people – teens, 20s.
As I said in a post a couple of weeks ago, the data from Mexico suggest that the 35-65 year old bracket are disproportionately impacted by death and morbidity. My guess is that many of the deaths occurring in Arizona and Texas are among Mexican Americans.
Litigiousness in America has always bothered me. I side with my Republican friends when it comes to the need for tort reform. Yet, Republican Governor Kemp is suing Atlanta Mayor Bottoms for imposing a mask mandate. I must say I’m baffled. But then again, this is America. If you don’t get your way, you sue. Or so it seems.
Law suits are rare in the Netherlands, and would simply not occur if the governor of a province had a conflict with a mayor. He and she would debate the issue, come to a compromise and move on, unless of course what the mayor was doing was harming citizens’ health or safety.
On a more local level…that is what folks making the decision to reopen schools face. If you don’t cater to those who want all in school…..sue. If you open and God forbid the worst happens..sue.
You could not pay me enough to sit on the groups who decide ….and most are not paid
There are no words. But yep….let’s keep putting our kids and our teachers and staff in harms way.
https://www.wcvb.com/article/testing-mix-up-puts-summer-school-staffer-in-classroom-with-students/33332369#
I understand and sympathize with libertarian viewpoints. And so when Baker repeats his opposition to mandatory quarantine, or Kemp says cities and counties in Georgia may not impose mask requirements, I get it. To a point. But, we’ve gone beyond that inflection point where principles of individual liberty and public health and safety collide. It’s why we have seat belt laws and many other measures that infringe upon our individual freedom. No principle should be absolute. And when our exercising individual liberty potentially impacts another person’s health negatively, a balancing act is needed to calibrate appropriate public policy responses.
Great comment! Viewing the world in an all-or-nothing binary way can lead to, well, what we are seeing.
Can you please drill that into the heads of the anti-mask
bozos!!!!! Thank you.
They won’t listen.
I heard on yesterday’s evening news that some teachers nationwide are actually making out wills for the first time or updating them.
It does appear now that many teachers out there are truly frightened regarding returning to the classroom.
It seems every national newscast (am or pm) gets more scary every day. No promising news whatsoever any more lately. Very very sad.
With trump now taking control of case numbers and all reporting, will MA still know it’s numbers? I am not clear on where the state gets them.
The White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded to a question on President Trump’s push to reopen schools: “The science should not stand in the way of this.”
I must say that statement may be the most appalling yet. Yes, worse than the insults and barbs from the President.
Science should always drive our public policy decisions. Sure, there should be discretion as to how the data is interpreted and how schools and public institutions, as well as private, implement safety measures and protocols. But, ultimately, if we’re not guided by science then we’re in voodoo land.
This is an Administration with blinders on, unwilling and unable to see anything but the goal of reopening at full throttle, come hell or high water – the economy, churches, schools. This isn’t merely anti-science, it’s wilful ignorance.
And, I don’t understand it.
As you all know, I very much want schools to reopen. But, there are at least a dozen states in this country where it’s not possible to do so without undue harms. Here, I’m thinking more about the staff and administrators than the children, even though there are risks to children as well. In Florida, for example, where test positivity in some counties is over 30% you can’t reopen the schools. Period. Same in Southern California, Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and several other states. Unfortunately, that list will likely grow by next week as the numbers of new cases rises sharply in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Oregon, and Oklahoma.
I saw that comment it my stomach literally turned. Joshua, We are past help and I ask one person to have the courage to explain how this is acceptable. I promise to listen. And I promise to be respectful.
We all want schools to reopen. But they need to open safely and with today’s news of a teacher who was positive but got a false negative being in the classroom with children and teachers…..it underlined how impossible this is. Even with a negative, she went to school feeling ill. Think on that a second.
Also, I listened to
Dr Kristin Moffitt, division of infectious disease, Boston children’s hospital, on WCVB tonight. Her words….
Kids may have milder symptoms and seem to be a cold or cough
Anyone with those symptoms should begin isolating
If around anyone compromised, testing needs to be done Immediately
Cold symptoms. Every kid has cold symptoms. And every single parent sends them to school with cold symptoms. I will bet every cent I have that will not change.
We absolutely cannot open safely. And sadly history tells us we will debate this rather than take the time needed to create a robust in home plan
Joshua…if I am wrong and you or anyone sees a way to open safely, please let me know. I would welcome some positive thoughts on this
The closest metaphor I could think of is weather and flying. Would McEnany tell air traffic controllers and airports to make sure airplanes fly, regardless of what meteorology is telling them.
It’s January 6th, 2021. At Boston’s Logan airport it’s been snowing heavily for several hours, visibility under a tenth of a mile, sustained northeast winds at 26mph, with gusts up to 38mph. Meteorologists reporting to Logan’s air traffic controller indicate conditions will worsen in the coming hours. McEnany to the air traffic controllers: “Don’t let meteorology and the weather stand in the way of flying. Gotta get the airplanes on their way.”
Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education, said in regard to potential coronavirus outbreaks in schools (this is NOT fake news): “You can’t plan for something that hasn’t happened yet.”
Maybe I spent too long in the Netherlands. But, I remember learning in high school in Holland that one of government’s main functions is to “plan,” to have “contingency plans,” to “prepare for a range of possibilities,” and to “organize and coordinate accordingly.”
Judging from DeVos’s Dutch name – she is of Dutch extraction – I would have expected her to know the meaning of the word “plan.”
“You can’t plan for something that hasn’t happened yet” makes me both laugh and cry. It sounds like something that Yogi Berra would have said, but he was smart enough to recognize the twisted logic that he used.
🙁
* No Swanboats this season in Boston’s Public Garden for the first time in 145 years. Will return in 2021.
* Head of the Charles Regatta cancelled. Virtual race only.
What’s next?…Thanksgiving dinners?Christmas tree lightings? Boston First Night? New Year’s Eve Ball Drop (Times Square)?
🙁
I suspect all. And it sucks.
My mom took us as kids to the swan boats. She took my kids. I have ducking photos all over. Memories of my mom are intertwined with the swan boats.
And I absolutely know she would want them cancelled so the kids and adults who ride them will be here when they can open.
I have the highest regard to school committees. My daughter is a school committee member. Their hands are tied. They see the irony
Every SC of maybe 5-7 people is meeting via zoom to discuss sending kids back to school…..because it is not safe for the SC to be in a room together.
As a nation we went over 1,000 deaths yesterday for the first time since June 9th. We got close last week (992). This week the uptick continues. The slope is more gradual than the increase we saw at the end of March, beginning of April. Nevertheless, it’s a trajectory NO other industrialized nation has taken. Our new daily cases path is unique, and our new daily deaths curve is unique. And both times the operative expression is “uniquely bad.”
What must worry policymakers is that the age of the people dying is trending younger, in part because it’s a younger demographic that is getting infected. It’s not a dramatic shift, as younger folks still have a much better chance of surviving. But, there are many 35-65 year olds in the new death tallies across the South and Southwest. And even some very young people – teens, 20s.
As I said in a post a couple of weeks ago, the data from Mexico suggest that the 35-65 year old bracket are disproportionately impacted by death and morbidity. My guess is that many of the deaths occurring in Arizona and Texas are among Mexican Americans.
Litigiousness in America has always bothered me. I side with my Republican friends when it comes to the need for tort reform. Yet, Republican Governor Kemp is suing Atlanta Mayor Bottoms for imposing a mask mandate. I must say I’m baffled. But then again, this is America. If you don’t get your way, you sue. Or so it seems.
Law suits are rare in the Netherlands, and would simply not occur if the governor of a province had a conflict with a mayor. He and she would debate the issue, come to a compromise and move on, unless of course what the mayor was doing was harming citizens’ health or safety.
On a more local level…that is what folks making the decision to reopen schools face. If you don’t cater to those who want all in school…..sue. If you open and God forbid the worst happens..sue.
You could not pay me enough to sit on the groups who decide ….and most are not paid
How the US has handled the Pandemic….
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/17/politics/donald-trump-leadership-coronavirus/index.html
Dr S or anyone who may know. Do we have an extension on car inspection stickers? Mine runs out end of July
C-19 for 7-17 is up…