Stats Hold a Surprise: Lockdowns May Have Had Little Effect on COVID-19 Spread; Most Parents Have No Idea How Badly Online Schooling Is Hurting Their Kids, and other C-Virus Updates
Stats Hold a Surprise: Lockdowns May Have Had Little Effect on COVID-19 Spread:
Data suggest mandatory lockdowns exacted a great cost, with a questionable effect on transmission.
In 1932, Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis famously called the states “laboratories of democracy.” Different states can test out different policies, and they can learn from each other. That proved true in 2020. Governors in different states responded to the COVID-19 pandemic at different times and in different ways. Some states, such as California, ordered sweeping shutdowns. Others, such as Florida, took a more targeted approach. Still others, such as South Dakota, dispensed information but had no lockdowns at all.
As a result, we can now compare outcomes in different states, to test the question no one wants to ask: Did the lockdowns make a difference?
If lockdowns really altered the course of this pandemic, then coronavirus case counts should have clearly dropped whenever and wherever lockdowns took place. The effect should have been obvious, though with a time lag. It takes time for new coronavirus infections to be officially counted, so we would expect the numbers to plummet as soon as the waiting time was over.
How long? New infections should drop on day one and be noticed about ten or eleven days from the beginning of the lockdown. By day six, the number of people with first symptoms of infection should plummet (six days is the average time for symptoms to appear). By day nine or ten, far fewer people would be heading to doctors with worsening symptoms. If COVID-19 tests were performed right away, we would expect the positives to drop clearly on day ten or eleven (assuming quick turnarounds on tests). —>READ MORE HERE
Most Parents Have No Idea How Badly Online Schooling Is Hurting Their Kids:
Parents need to persuade educational and political leaders to fully reopen schools before the negative effects on their children leave permanent scars.
In most public school districts, it remains uncertain if schools will reopen completely, or at all in coming weeks. In cities like San Francisco and New York City, parents have been told that students will have the option to attend school in person, only to later find out schools will stay closed. Instead of fully reopening, many districts have opted for a staggered approach that prolongs the threat of COVID-19 indefinitely.
Even in districts that have allowed in-person learning — what used to be known simply as “school” — campuses are required to follow onerous restrictions to minimize contact: masks at all times; desks kept at least six feet apart and disinfected after each period; prohibitions on paper materials and books; one-way hallways, and bathrooms monitored to ensure only one student enters at a time.
While it’s debatable whether these restrictions do much to stop the spread (outbreaks still happen), they do remove many of the benefits of physically attending school. This leaves the other option for students: virtual learning.
Unfortunately, virtual learning still presents significant challenges for students, parents, and educators. Numerous issues remain involving inadequate infrastructure, troubles logging-in, and the challenge facing teachers still hoping to take proper attendance or maintain genuine accountability and oversight. With motivated students, the virtual learning experience is awkward and incomplete. With unmotivated students, it’s nearly impossible. —>READ MORE HERE
Follow links below to related stories and resources:
Former Leader of Black Muslim Temple Charged in $22 Million PPP Fraud Scheme
USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
If you like what you see, please “Like” us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.
Comments are closed.