OT(?):UConn send warning email to transition to online classes/ closing campus.

[Edward Sargent]

Considering that college age kids rarely have anything except mild cases of coronavirus it seems to be an abundance of caution. The focus needs to be on nursing homes and assisted living.

The problem is that the younger asymptomatics can act as carriers and spread the virus to their parents and grandparents who might be at higher risk of more adverse effects. Quarantine is meant to reduce the spread of the virus. If we had a vaccine or even treatment we could prevent the spread by vaccination. Take the flu for example. The flu like coronavirus hits elderly and infirm harder than young and healthy. Every year a flu vaccine is made from the previous years strain. In evaluating the effectiveness of the vaccine, we look at coverage which is a measure pf how effective the vaccine is in preventing the flu. In most years it is pretty good at 60-70%. It is never 100% which is why you will hear "I am never getting the flu shot as it doesn't work anyway". Last year the virus mutated in January and the coverage went from 60% to less than 10%. Even after vaccination in November I got the flu in February. I had what was described as a mild case probably mitigated by vaccination. It still resulted in a vicious cough that led to double hernia which I had repaired later in the year. I am 68 I do not want to get coronavirus at this stage of my life. Without a vaccine for coronavirus we have no coverage so the only way to prevent spread is to reduce contact. That is what we are doing by cancelling large gatherings, closing schools etc. I was supposed to go to the Society of Toxicology meeting next week in Anaheim however it was cancelled. I had already made the decision not to go. I actually think maybe more schools will find online learning better than the classroom and maybe just maybe the overall cost of an education can be reduced. I also hope that companies will find the relaxed work from home policies will also reduce the cost of maintaining large office buildings. You never know necessity is the mother of invention!

 

[andy34]

The whole scare tactic is a scheme by white collar workers so they can work from home and for industry to show why automation is safer than humans in factories. Machines don't catch and spread corona. This is class warfare using "health" as a conduit to affect change in industries. Needless to say those whose skillset requires them to physically show up to work will be most affected by this scare.

On a less serious note, I expect close to 100% of all high school and college students to fully support online classes and 100% of working parents to support sending kids back to school. 8-10 hours per day of tax payer funded daycare is a helluva social construct we have going right now.

I disagree that the pandemic is a "scare tactic" given how most of our media, especially the media outlets who are the most business/industry-friendly have consistently downplayed the danger. But you're right that it has revealed a class divide in terms of who gets to (and can afford to) work from home and who gets to take paid sick leave. And you're right that it will likely have some impact on the transition towards automation in certain industries, though there are many forces already pushing in this direction.

Most colleges will probably try to move to online classes, but there are many professors who are not ready to make this change and don't have the technical know-how to really manage a class online. It'll be a rocky transition. It'll be even tougher for public schools to do this - some high schools will be able to, especially ones that have a 1-to-1 technology program (each kid has an iPad, for instance), but many won't for various reasons. Either students won't have a suitable device for online schooling (a phone alone isn't really enough), won't have consistent, high speed internet access, or won't have a home environment suitable for productive study. Some public school teachers can manage online classes, but many just can't, especially older folks. And obviously most elementary and middle school students need constant supervision to be productive - online just isn't an option.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I disagree that the pandemic is a "scare tactic" given how most of our media, especially the media outlets who are the most business/industry-friendly have consistently downplayed the danger. But you're right that it has revealed a class divide in terms of who gets to (and can afford to) work from home and who gets to take paid sick leave. And you're right that it will likely have some impact on the transition towards automation in certain industries, though there are many forces already pushing in this direction.

Most colleges will probably try to move to online classes, but there are many professors who are not ready to make this change and don't have the technical know-how to really manage a class online. It'll be a rocky transition. It'll be even tougher for public schools to do this - some high schools will be able to, especially ones that have a 1-to-1 technology program (each kid has an iPad, for instance), but many won't for various reasons. Either students won't have a suitable device for online schooling (a phone alone isn't really enough), won't have consistent, high speed internet access, or won't have a home environment suitable for productive study. Some public school teachers can manage online classes, but many just can't, especially older folks. And obviously most elementary and middle school students need constant supervision to be productive - online just isn't an option.

There are a lot of professors who don't manage an in room class either!!