All things COVID-19

[Stan]

I imagine most schools have not fully addressed the technology aspects for all students to do full remote teaching. Not everyone has home internet access and a computer. Even supplying cheap laptops only partially addresses the issue. Given that, it's like you're punishing kids for their situation.

[akiva]

[Mike]

[Kyle]

[Stan]

Thanks for fleshing that out, Kyle. I thought that's where you were going and that's my position as well.

[Mike]

That makes way more sense. Thank you. I agree with a lot of that. And again, we're very privileged here to be in an area that is NOT suffering the worst of this pandemic (only a single confirmed case in our county so far). I'm sure attitudes and policies will change if/when things get worse.

[Phoebe]

My situation is about as good as it can get, in terms of every type of resource available - access to technology, pleasant environment, financial stability, people who know all the stuff and can help you do it (except for the high schooler who knows way more about half the subjects taught than I do already, e.g. comp sci, physics, music theory, math... good luck kid, I'm clueless) - and it is still absolute mayhem in terms of people getting stuff done for school. Absolute mayhem. And these are generally pleasant and cooperative kids. Like there are two people trying to do their full-time jobs while this is going on, even under the absolutely optimal conditions. I get a small window into what's happening with other people who have sub-optimal conditions and I just can't even imagine how they're getting anything done.

[Phoebe]

I got so excited about all that that I forgot to say, none of the schools here are counting grades for any of this time. but they are extremely enthusiastic about putting their best efforts into Learning and Caring for the well being of the students.

[Kyle]

[Phoebe]

I encountered a group of anti-vaxxers in the wild, who don't like Trump but feel his remarks about injecting light and stuff were grossly and unfairly misunderstood by everyone, because obvs we should be injecting hydrogen peroxide for things. IMAGINE being anti-Trump in general but FINALLY finding shared ground and sympathy with him over the desirability of filling yourself with UV rays! I am done reasoning with other people. It is MORNING!

[Kyle]

[Phoebe]

Millennials ruin everything, lol! No I'm just kidding. A generation is being economically destroyed through no fault of their own. I sympathize with that first impulse that the antivaxxers have:
It often feels like medicine as an industry wants our money more than it wants to help us.
We know that we don't get the truth about a lot of things that could be dangerous to us, sometimes not until decades later when the damage is already done.
We're really worried about our kids and want to keep them safe, and we know that one size fits all medicine doesn't always work for our kids.

And then you look at the evidence about how vaccines save lives and what the actual risk involved is. You consider how much more likely you are to kill innocent people if you don't get vaccinated rather than if you do. And that's where we should come to an end to it, but I think people just find it very hard to shake the fears that are associated with those other impulses, and sometimes a weird kind of sense that their intuitions and knowledge are so much more insightful and better than actual experts. I find that just weird. I wonder if the reason that happens is people sometimes have limited exposure to others that they know are actual experts. If you are encountering experts a lot and get used to the standards of evidence and patterns of reasoning they deploy, maybe it becomes a lot easier in general to distinguish the wheat from the chaff of medical nonsense. Otherwise what's the experiential difference between a random chiropractor who thinks that he can shine his fancy light on you and cure your cancer, and legit doctors trying experimental treatments that they really just don't know will work for you? Maybe that feels quite similar to many people, I don't know.

I don't know why I'm in a forgiving mood today. That seems like a bad plan. I can't get soft with some kind of compassion for humanity.

[Stan]

[Phoebe]

Finally we have some views about death rates. As expected, the spike in death rates is much higher than what we would have expected from the known cases of virus.

[Phoebe]

The death rate may spike in my home because my husband wants to get a haircut from someone other than me.
His desire to do this is understandable and not by itself a problem; we're going to have to reason through many difficult cases as the coming year brings us new challenges and this situation continues.
However, it's the reasoning together about things that carry a life or death risk! One of us is a fairly anxious and fearful, yet fundamentally truth motivated reasoner. The other has no fear and is motivated solely by outcomes based reasoning, by which I mean that the objective is selected in advance based on motivations that may or may not be reasonable, and then the facsimile of reasoning is deployed to press toward that pre-chosen end.
I am unable to deal with this with great patience on a good day; when I'm being asked to risk the life and health of all of my loved ones because a crazy objective has been chosen, and crazy reasons are being given to me, I am ... Frustrated.

[Stan]

Shave his head in his sleep. Then it's fait accompli and what's he gonna do?

[Phoebe]

It's just not happening - like, this is not a battle I will lose because of the stakes. But it's the Process that really sucks.

Meanwhile, most of my community has decided that they are done with distancing after this week. Like it was nice, and saved lives, but we are bored of it now so shall be done. I just don't have words for this. I really don't like the other people.

[Phoebe]

I have prevailed in my endeavor but I feel like everyone would be better off and happier if I didn't have to attempt and then prevail!

[Eliahad]

Alright, I don't know what happens if people do not get their beef, pork and chicken. I don't. I understand that food riots have happened in past crises. I haven't read up on them.

However, is it worth ordering these people back to their jobs where they are absolutely putting their lives at risk for these products? Are they going to get raises? Are they really going to have the safety standards in place to be able to meet the social distancing requirements put down by the administration that is going to send them back to work?

Is at least going to be at reduced production so they can have space?

I know this is all coming from the pescatarian, I get it.

[akiva]

I woke up feeling crappy. So of course I'm now worried that I have COVID-19. I'm sure I don't, but that shows the quarantine mindset.