Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

So Much For United Airlines’ Pledge To Block The Middle Seat

Seriously? Geez!

Obviously, this is United seeing a chance to fly a full plane and jumping on it at the expense of everyone involved. However, is it also the kind of attitude we're going to see concerning masks? I think when governments open stuff up and say wear masks, an awfully lot of people think, "I'm safe. I have a mask." - and my experience is that an awful lot of us are either wearing a fabric that isn't doing crap or the mask incorrectly in a way that does equal levels of crap. (It's personal security theater an awful lot)

I'm pretty far from being worried about Coronavirus, but I still understand the risk and use common sense. The photo that heads the linked article above makes me cringe a little...especially given the lip service so many businesses are giving about measures put in place. (like Disney's virtual queue talk that arguably puts everyone together on the midway instead of storing them at safe distances in queues)

I do believe we can more forward in relative safety - especially for the less vulnerable. But this ain't it.

For the mask point mentioned above...I'm not sure if this has already been posted, but the World Health Organization has been consistent in their recommendations for masks during this whole time. In part, directly from the WHO:

There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit. In fact, there's some evidence to suggest the opposite in the misuse of wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly.

In the community, we do not recommend the use of wearing masks unless you yourself are sick and as a measure to prevent onward spread from you if you are ill.

Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.

I've seen several other recent studies that have also come to the same conclusion. The media narrative is much different, and I think many more people right now are acting on what they see in the media. Fear is a powerful motivator.

There is no "media narrative." The media is not some secret cabal setting random agendas for giggles. US health officials from the feds to local counties have been recommending masks for a long time. That's where it came from.

https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-do-face-masks-work.html

I just realized I got distracted an hour or two ago when I shared that link and didn't post the follow up message with my thoughts.

The argument people are giving about not needing masks always gives outdated info from March. Anyone I see saying "but Fauci said" or "but the CDC said" are sharing information published when I was still going to Epcot after work and was set to be at Cedar Point yesterday for the 150th kick off.

That said, with a mask being worn correctly, do we think some point soon we can we ease up on the "six feet" rule. Being able to relax that with a mask on is a lot more practical and appealing to me than keeping six foot spacing with no mask.

The best I understand it is that it comes down to limiting the spray of the airborne virus, particularly by asymptomatic carriers. That's the bit that makes me not want to be part of the experiment over the next few weeks.

If people were generally staying put in their communities, I think I would be less concerned, because it can burn itself out in contained areas where people are careful. But another one of those cell location tracker stories was reported again, implying people are moving around a lot, then that packed airplane, and yeah, that seems suboptimal.

This is the current WHO information on their view of masks. The line I quoted earlier (Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water) came directly from their website:

WHO Masks FAQ

Even after the CDC reversed course on their "masks aren't necessary" stance in early April, the WHO didn't substantially modify their own stance. It turns out that it's also possible for coronavirus to infect you through your eyes. Per the Annals of Internal Medicine website:

We found that ocular fluids from SARS-CoV-2-infected patients may contain infectious virus, and hence may be a potential source of infection. These findings highlight the importance of control measures, such as avoiding touching the nose, mouth, and eyes and frequent hand washing. A related implication is the importance of appropriate use of personal protective equipment for ophthalmologists during clinical examination, because ocular mucosa may be not only a site of virus entry but also a source of contagion.

So it's possible for someone to wear a mask that will theoretically filter out 100% from reaching your nose and mouth and for you to still have the virus infect you via a part of your face.

Regarding Jeff's comment about there being no media narrative, I respectfully disagree. The media, collectively, is a business. It also happens to be a business that is seeing record ratings:

Record Cable News Ratings

The goal for most media outlets is to keep eyeballs/views on their product. A study that was released last year states something for which many people had a hunch:

Journalism in the U.S. has become more subjective and consists less of the detailed event- or context-based reporting that used to characterize news coverage (from RAND Truth Decay Article)

I have seen this article before, but since it was referenced in the NYT this morning I guess that gives it some credibility. Pretty straightforward quantitification of the risks of some common activities. If nothing else it made me feel better about my weekly early morning trip to the store.

"The media" and "the press" are not the same thing, and they're still not a collaborating body of entities coordinating a "narrative."

Lord Gonchar said:

So Much For United Airlines’ Pledge To Block The Middle Seat

Seriously? Geez!

It's all 'smoke and mirrors' anyway, in terms of protecting you by eliminating a middle seat. You can’t go on an aircraft and expect social distancing. Its just not realistic.

Being in an airliner is probably one of the worst places to be in, if you are at all concerned about coming down with some type of infectious virus. Eliminating the middle seat is just a way to make people feel better, but in reality does little to nothing. Then of course you have the entire process from arriving at the airport and getting to/from the gate. Security, bathrooms, a bunch of other people, etc... I mean, come on now.

Regardless if you fill the middle seat, or not... Within 6ft of most airline seats, you are within approx. 14 people if you are sitting at the window. Eliminating the middle seat removes 5 of those people. So it does help to some extent, but does it really matter?

Typical seat pitch (point-to-point distance between two seats) is 30". So that means from your COG, you have someone 30" in front of you and 30" behind you. Your 6ft radius would look something like this on a typical 737 with 30" pitch, sitting at the window:

If you sit on the aisle, you are within about 23 people at any given time (not including FA's). Eliminate middle seats, that reduces to about 14.

At the end of the day, if you fly anywhere you would theoretically be at high risk. I don't care what airlines try to do with sanitation, how they claim their HEPA/filtration works, etc... It's preventative, sure, but it's still a very high risk no matter what you do.

That being said, when most aircraft start their engines, the air conditioning packs are shut off in order to start the engines. For a few minutes, there is ZERO air circulation occurring. Somebody coughs/sneezes, there is no 'wall' of filtered air moving from top to bottom in your seat 'zone'. Some aircraft even disable the packs for takeoff, depending on weight, runway conditions, etc... So there is another block of time without filtration or air movement occurring. At the gate, in many cases, there won't be fresh air circulating in the cabin if the APU is not running and/or ground service has not connected an air conditioning unit if weather is decent enough outside.

Eliminating middle seats is nothing more than a marketing attempt IMO to get people to feel comfort in flying right now. Just like the 6ft rule coming to amusement parks, sanitation of ride vehicles, etc... It's not really going to help in the grand scheme of things, but will make people feel warm and fuzzy inside, I guess. If a park opens and someone willingly goes, they understand the risk and chances that they will likely be in contact with something during their visit. Simple as that.

I agree with that. If parks decide to only load every other row of a coaster train, the only thing they will have accomplished is doubling the wait time. Nothing can convince me that it will do anything to help keep me safer or healthy. If I am willing to take the risk to go to a park (I am) and ride a coaster (I am) keeping an empty row between me and the strangers in front of me does nothing and doesn't make me feel safer. But just like the one way grocery aisles, it will likely make enough people feel safer to make it something they feel they need to do.

I think the plane issues will present a bigger challenge for the destination parts (with large percentages of guests coming via plane) versus regional parks with larger numbers of people driving there. Cheap flight prices notwithstanding, I think there will be a large number of people with little/no interest in getting on a plane for several hours (at least for a period of time -- maybe until a vaccine is available).

So, an update from the world of academia.

We just got an update this morning that for the fall we will be implementing what is being called the "Social Distance Learning Model". It is a hybrid of face-to-face and remote learning. Basically, it works like this:

Let's say you are enrolled in a class that meets every Tuesday and Thursday. The class gets divided into two "teams"; 12 students on team A and 12 on team B. On Tuesdays A is face to face and remote on Thursday, and vice versa for Team B.

I have no ****ing idea how I am going to pull this off for my three classes (not to mention the one that gets taught on M, W, and F)...but at least we know now and have time to prepare.

Then again, maybe some homeless dude will cure cancer AND create a vaccine by June. I'll give him a quarter if he does.

OhioStater said:

Then again, maybe some homeless dude will cure cancer AND create a vaccine by June. I'll give him a quarter if he does.

Oh, there's a crazy homeless dude out there somewhere that has all the right ideas, but he's more concerned about yelling at the grass or counting rusted bicycle tire spokes or some ****.

Our best and brightest aren't always necessarily in the roles of our best and brightest.

If I were getting ready to enter college I would seriously be considering taking a gap year. I doubt tuition prices are going to go down for what will end up being a severely modified college experience.

Then again - 12 years (to the date tomorrow) after graduation, I have my own thoughts on the value and importance of a college education and how the process sucks. But that's for another day.

There's an upside to that, for sure. I don't think college even solves the right problems, and we have to decide if the point is to train for a job (I hope not) or train for critical thinking and a lifetime of learning.

Don't forget about math!

I was led to believe that college was all about spring break parties.

Antibody testing has shown Coronavirus has now been in Ohio since 'at least January'

My hope is that most of us have already been exposed to it, between the excitement of not having to root against the Patriots at Superbowl parties to swapping love juices amongst non-married couples during Valentine's Day, that could have given some ample time to spread.

We simply won't know until there's more antibody testing, or that the number of new cases level off. *shrug emoji*

At our local community college, the class I was teaching was suspended prior to spring break and we are working on resuming next Tuesday with some 'interesting' social distancing guidelines. My class only has 8 students, so having it in person will be easy, but I won't be permitted to leave from my 'box' and I'll have to wear a mask for lecture and lab. Thankfully my mom has been making masks non-stop for local hospitals so I get fun masks that include Spider-man and Star Wars.

We were not able to move classes to an online format, despite the content and PLC hardware already being available remotely for other classes. The reasoning is that this specific class is for Electrician Apprentices that require 'in person instructional time.'

That would be nice... provided that gives me some immunity. I was in Orlando the first week of February so that would give me a good amount of exposure. :)