Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

To be fair, we weren't allowed to celebrate Christmas for what, eight years? :)

We were able to celebrate, but there was clearly a war on it.

Jeff said:

And there is zero guidance about how we conduct ourselves during the holidays.

Honestly though, what guidance do you need?

The less you gather and the more you take precautions (like masks, handwashing), the better off you are.

It really isn't a mystery at this point.

Really? Because as I said, observed behavior today casts that all aside, and now we're going to layer in grandparents crossing straight lines and kids coming home from college, all while some kids are going to school in person where they're reminded daily to stop taking their masks off (or in our case, two high schools have already had to temporarily close). Mystery isn't the problem, it's leadership to say, "You should do this," instead of shouting in all caps to "liberate" Michigan.

So you think the problem is that people just don't know that distancing and precautions are preferrable to lack of those things?

Maybe I just give people too much credit.

At this point, if you're ignoring it, it's not a lack of guidance or information.

If one side says "you should do this", the other side says that's an attack on their freedom and liberty and goes against what they perceive as their constitutional rights.

If the other side says "you should do this", let's be honest, that means you probably shouldn't do it.

At this point I think it's a preaching to the choir situation. Anyone that needs to hear it won't pay attention and will intentionally go out of their way not to follow the guidelines. And those of us that are already doing it don't need to hear it.

'Merica

Well, I'm not even thinking in the political vein of choosing sides.

We're six months in. Trump's stupidity is not what's leading people to choose whatever degree of risk they are at this point. People's actions during the upcoming holiday season will be exactly what it would be with any leadership advice in place. No one is oblivious to the risks or the mitigation procedures. At this point in the program, we've all decided what we're comfortable with given what we all know.

Honestly, if someone at this stage in the game changed their actions based on some public official's advice, I'd be alarmed at the level of stupidity exhibited. There's no excuse not to understand the situation heading into October of 2020.

I know. You know. We all know.

Trusting people to use their common sense to get us through this is a nice idea...but lack of common sense is partly what got us into this mess.

There will need to continue to be government/bureaucratic decisions to help us mitigate this. Ohio State canceling spring break is an example. They can do a lot to try and keep kids safe on campus but they will lose complete control if this kids all run off to Cabo (or worse, Ft Lauderdale) for a week.

Towns canceling Trick-or-Treating, skipping the candlelight vigils this year, no Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and other aggressive, albeit disappointing decisions will need to be made in the months ahead to try and keep this at bay.

1. Covid-19 is a false pandemic purported by the Deep State to ruin Trump's economy. Q will show us the way.

2. This is just a flu. If I die, I die. Don't tread on me.

3. There is no "real" science that shows masks work to block anything. It's a false protection designed to control me.

Pick one. Pick two. Or pick all three.

There is a very large proportion of our population that believes a combination of 1, 2, and 3. There is nothing you can do or say to change their minds, because the only people telling them the "truth" are the people feeding their confirmation bias.

We are way too far down the rabbit hole.

That's pretty much my point, it shouldn't be political, but some people actually believe that it is. That problem originates at the top. I don't care that Trump is a Republican, I care that he says things like the pandemic is no big deal and the brown people are coming to destroy the suburbs. The big box of stupid out there believes stuff like that and it's bad for everyone.

wahoo skipper said:

Trusting people to use their common sense to get us through this is a nice idea...but lack of common sense is partly what got us into this mess.

One man's lack of common sense is another's acceptable risk.

I mean it just is. There's nothing you can do about it. There's nothing I can do about it. I think it's funny that anyone thinks more preaching will change anything or that the absence of that is the issure.

I can get on board with the idea of more restrictions being potentially useful, but then again, I still see people already behaving in ways that go against things already put in place, so I'm not sure how the answer is more things.

And while I read your examples of and find it hard to disagree, I still find myself typing this post because I've seen this posted on Facebook too many times:

So, yeah. I still have a hard time with the suggestion that lack of leadership or guidance is a problem at this point. We all know. We're making decisions.

And I'm further pissed that I get stuck taking this side and looking like I'm defending this mentality, because I'm really not. I've said this before but the group here is the most, umm... (I hestitate to use "scared" because I know it gets a defensive response, so...) - the most conservative social group I interact with in terms of the virus. So I find myself in the position of playing a side that I don't totally agree with. To most of my social circles I am you guys in comparison.

I dunno. I don't think you guys are wrong (and I don't really disagree fundamentally) in your caution for the most part, but I often find the reasoning to be completely off base.

wahoo skipper said:

Towns canceling Trick-or-Treating...

I've been pretty cautious throughout this whole thing, but I don't understand why trick-or-treating cannot happen this year. Especially if people are willing to wear masks and aren't fondling strangers, I don't see where there's significant risk. Am I missing something?

I have talked with people in the last month or so who haven't left their house since March. No visitors. No shopping. No haircuts. No carryout food/eating on patios. Food delivered to them. Couple of them complained about friends and family going to the grocery store once a week or so (masked and distanced) as selfishly endangering everyone.

Also know other people who have gone to work every day the entire time. Many interacting with the public 8+ hours a day. And going to any of a number of the various businesses that are open. And FWIW, none of them said anything about Ohio Stater's 3 points listed above. Not saying noone believes those things. Just that not everyone who isn't holed up in their basement does.

At various times in my life I have found myself talking/interacting with someone on a given issue and thinking we must live on different planets. But its rare the time when I see how people are living their every day lives, all day, every day and think that.

This is in the category of things where consistent advice matters, and when it changes constantly under political duress, it's not helpful.

Not saying noone believes those things. Just that not everyone who isn't holed up in their basement does.

I would certainly hope it's a vocal minority, but then again isn't there an outspoken "Q" follower who is currently a frontrunner for a senate/house seat? The name escapes me...

And to Jeff's link, this is the policy our school adopted. If anyone was in close contact with anyone actually diagnosed, it's an instant quarantine...

...and then you get tested the same day and wait. Since week 1, I have a had a consistent rotation of at least 4-5 students out because they had to get tested/quarantine. The latest was due to a roommate's mother testing positive, which led to the entire women's volleyball team (who isn't playing but they do live/interact with one another) getting taken out. And of course the tests take 3-4 days, so it's a frustrating cycle for the students.

GoBucks89 said:

I have talked with people in the last month or so who haven't left their house since March. No visitors. No shopping. No haircuts. No carryout food/eating on patios. Food delivered to them. Couple of them complained about friends and family going to the grocery store once a week or so (masked and distanced) as selfishly endangering everyone.

This. I still have a notable number of social media acquaintances from past jobs, college, etc that are in this boat. I also have a few co workers that have opted to work from home at a reduced pay rate and cash in all of their PTO to not come back into work. One still notes that outside of a few late night walks around the block they have not physically left the inside of their home since March. And anyone that dares to do more is selfish and not understanding that we are in the midst of a pandemic.

Also know other people who have gone to work every day the entire time. Many interacting with the public 8+ hours a day. And going to any of a number of the various businesses that are open. And FWIW, none of them said anything about Ohio Stater's 3 points listed above. Not saying noone believes those things. Just that not everyone who isn't holed up in their basement does.

And this is me. Outside of a 4 week period in April when we could not come into the office, I have worked my normal schedule, gone to restaurants, visited friends and visited amusement parks. What's interesting is that I feel like my behaviors are very similar to Gonch. He feels like he's the cautious one in his social circle. And with the same to similar behavior, I'm the selfish rebel endangering Grandma in much of my social circle.

Some cities establish a city-wide night for trick or treating. Some don't. Down here a lot of cities have actual events for safe trick or treating (in non-Covid years) that may be canceled as a result of the current situation. I do think every City is different. I'm in an urban area where I can get hundreds of people showing up at some pretty elaborate home made haunted houses. Probably not a good idea this year.

Fall is just arriving and the numbers are not going in the right direction in a lot of the country. Anything we can do today or in the weeks ahead to prevent us from having to go back towards lockdowns is worth considering in my opinion.

Don't know what I will do personally about Halloween. My kids are pretty much aged out of trick or treating. I've seen some interesting ideas about safe candy delivery so I may try and come up with something. Perhaps I will get a slingshot and launch candy at kids.

I've seen the pics of people making candy slides and stuff... I just don't know that there is any need for "safe candy delivery" beyond a masked person dropping a Reese's Cup in the sack of a masked kid.

Does anyone else see the hilarity in canceling the one event of the entire year during which wearing a mask is actually something everyone would want to do or at least buy into?

I get it, cancel the mob fests, but trick-or-treating? Thankfully it's still on in our small town for the kids.

I to have felt the "you're part of the problem" vibe coming at me from some fellow faculty who opted to go online this semester and likely put themselves on house-arrest. Many of them were 100% convinced that the semester would last 2 weeks tops, and here we are at week 5...I'm actually enjoying the quiet of having the entire department to myself.

Cancelling Halloween again feels like something that “feels” right rather than actually being right. No one is going to catch covid passing someone on the street or walking up to a house and accepting a piece of candy, ESPECIALLY if masks are involved unless accepting that candy involves having a 30 minute interview in a poorly ventilated space.