How COVID-19 is affecting society

[danielravennest]

A very dear friend of mine retired from full-time teaching a few years ago, but continued as a part-time adjunct in teacher education at a local college. Just last week she made the decision to quit teaching altogether. She's in her late 60s, asthmatic, and her husband is in his 70s and has lung damage from a previous case of pneumonia. She didn't trust that she could stay safe under the current conditions in schools, and trying to coach student teachers virtually just wasn't worth the risk.

This one anecdotal story, but I'm betting that an entire generation of teachers in their late 50s and 60s are strongly considering early retirement rather than putting themselves at risk under conditions that make effective teaching so difficult. That expertise is being lost prematurely, and it's a loss that will effect education for years.

Well, Fulton County, GA (population 1.1 million) schools just decided to go all online when classes start Aug 17th. They had previously offered parents a choice of online vs in person, but cases have spiked so much locally they changed their minds.

 

[Romana]

Kayleigh McEnemy says the science shouldn't stand in the way of sacrificing children and teachers. Or something.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The Columnist's thread of definitions of "pandemic" is worth a read.

 

[Archer]

This and climate change.

 

[Free]

Russia is trying to steal coronavirus vaccine research, U.S., U.K. and Canada claim

The U.K. said it was "completely unacceptable that the Russian intelligence services are targeting those working to combat the coronavirus pandemic."

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Discrimination by a bloody communist!
Amber Lynn Gilles, 35, wanted to get some coffee in a good old Starbucks. She went there without face mask and the communist barista Lenin Gutierrez, 24, refused to serve her anything.

So she went home and vent off some steam on Facebook and exposed her "mistreatment" by Lenin to the public: "Meet lenen (sic) from Starbucks who refused to serve me cause I'm not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for cops and bring a medical exemption."

The result? People started to collect money, over 100.000 US$ of it - for Lenin, who is quite happy about it!


Guess who now wants half of that cake and thinks she's entitled to get it? Right: Amber Lynn Giles! Why? Because "it was discrimination, and everybody is OK with it and enabling and rewarding that behavior."

San Diego woman wants half of $100K raised for Starbucks barista following mask dispute

Amber Lynn Gilles, 35, posted a photo last month of the 24-year-old barista, Lenin Gutierrez, and blasted him for not serving her.

www.kiro7.com

 

[Arkady Arkright]

Russia is trying to steal coronavirus vaccine research, U.S., U.K. and Canada claim

The U.K. said it was "completely unacceptable that the Russian intelligence services are targeting those working to combat the coronavirus pandemic."

www.nbcnews.com

I suspect not so much 'targeting', as 'desperately trying to steal something to help their own covid problem'.

 

[Romana]

Discrimination by a bloody communist!
Amber Lynn Gilles, 35, wanted to get some coffee in a good old Starbucks. She went there without face mask and the communist barista Lenin Gutierrez, 24, refused to serve her anything.

So she went home and vent off some steam on Facebook and exposed her "mistreatment" by Lenin to the public: "Meet lenen (sic) from Starbucks who refused to serve me cause I'm not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for cops and bring a medical exemption."

The result? People started to collect money, over 100.000 US$ of it - for Lenin, who is quite happy about it!


Guess who now wants half of that cake and thinks she's entitled to get it? Right: Amber Lynn Giles! Why? Because "it was discrimination, and everybody is OK with it and enabling and rewarding that behavior."

San Diego woman wants half of $100K raised for Starbucks barista following mask dispute

Amber Lynn Gilles, 35, posted a photo last month of the 24-year-old barista, Lenin Gutierrez, and blasted him for not serving her.

www.kiro7.com

The Yiddish word for that is "chutzpah".
She wants to go to court on the strength of a note from a chiropractor?
If she does manage to get enough money in her GoFundMe to do so from her fellow anti-maskers, she's in for a big letdown. And the barista's court costs should come out of her GoFundMe, not his.
As a matter of fact, he should sue her for defamation. Or harassment. Just because his name is Lenin doesn't mean he's a communist, and if he is, so what? She paints him as evil because of it.
Either way, I hope the more she pushes, the more money he gets.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I despair.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Boris Johnson's plan for 'return to normality' met with scepticism

PM accused of making policy ‘on a wing and a prayer’ and passing the buck to business

www.theguardian.com

 

[Free]

 

[Sid]

Boris Johnson's plan for 'return to normality' met with scepticism

PM accused of making policy ‘on a wing and a prayer’ and passing the buck to business

www.theguardian.com

The virus starts popping up here and there in Western Europe again.
My worries/guess is that it won't take long before the second wave arrives.
Opening up for vacation travel and activities will turn out to be a not so smart move IMHO.

 

[Free]

Puerto Rico rolls back openings amid spike in COVID-19 cases

Puerto Rico’s governor has announced major rollbacks including the closure of bars, gyms, marinas, theaters and casinos and restricted the use of beaches as the U.S. territory is hit by a spike in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

apnews.com

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Someone should molest Kemp with a rusted iron cactus....

 

[Arkady Arkright]

When I tried to view this tweet, I first got "something went wrong" followed by "Twitter, sorry you are rate-limited". I've never seen that before, is it new, or have I just been lucky ?
I got round it by clearing my Twitter cookies, anyway.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

'The virus doesn't care about excuses': US faces terrifying autumn as Covid-19 surges

The breathing space afforded by lockdowns in the spring has been squandered, with new cases running at five times the rate of the whole of Europe. Things will only get worse, experts warn

www.theguardian.com

 

[Arkady Arkright]

'The virus doesn't care about excuses': US faces terrifying autumn as Covid-19 surges

The breathing space afforded by lockdowns in the spring has been squandered, with new cases running at five times the rate of the whole of Europe. Things will only get worse, experts warn

www.theguardian.com

The raging virus has prompted speculation in some corners that the only way out for the United States is through some kind of “herd immunity” achieved by simply giving up.
Why does this ring a bell with me in the UK ?

 

[Sid]

'The virus doesn't care about excuses': US faces terrifying autumn as Covid-19 surges

The breathing space afforded by lockdowns in the spring has been squandered, with new cases running at five times the rate of the whole of Europe. Things will only get worse, experts warn

www.theguardian.com

Now, four months into the pandemic, with test results delayed, contact tracing scarce, protective equipment dwindling and emergency rooms once again filling, the United States finds itself in a fight for its life: swamped by partisanship, mistrustful of science, engulfed in mask wars and led by a president whose incompetence is rivaled only by his indifference to Americans’ suffering.

We are talking about the country with six (!!!!!!) universities in the top 10 of the world's best universities.
There should really be enough brainpower available in the US to get far better results than this.