Replies to post #229117 on Biotech Values

[IanFromSI]

I'm less certain about what secondary schools will do because there's considerable (medically misguided) pressure from parents to keep them open.

I think there's an argument to be made for trying to protect the young, old and immune deficient from covid-19.

Nevertheless. I suspect it would be better if the vast majority of the population developed antibodies to it, thus preventing another massive pandemic.

I don't want to start another feud, so I'll refrain from responding to any tirades especially when the market is open. :-)

[10nisman]

Within the next week or so, I expect that essentially all US colleges and universities will be closed or converted to online-study only. I'm less certain about what secondary schools will do because there's considerable (medically misguided) pressure from parents to keep them open.

Fully agree, Dew. I've been in contact with most of the Big Ten schools and they are moving that way... Most will wait until after their Spring Break to implement the change. I've also spoken with a number of school districts in the Midwest and they are looking to implement home-school / online-study for 10-21 days.

[vinmantoo]

Within the next week or so, I expect that essentially all US colleges and universities will be closed or converted to online-study only.

You might be right. All seminars at Berkeley have been cancelled, at least for now, and you can be sure sporting events will soon be affected. Whether spectators are banned or merely the number of fans allowed in significantly reduced to allow greater spacing remains to be seen.

As testing slowly begins to ramp up, the number of infected patients will skyrocket. That will reflect both people who were previously infected and new cases indicative of community spread. Several TSA workers at San Jose Airport just tested positive for COVID-19 so who knows how many people they infected, both the general public and fellow employees.

As of today, well over 1000 people have been confirmed with 31 deaths but only 15 of the infected have been classified as recovered, so no telling how many more of this group will die. I wouldn't be surprised if the number of infected is well over an order of magnitude higher.

[BioCocktail]

I'm less certain about what secondary schools will do because there's considerable (medically misguided) pressure from parents to keep them open.

In Belgium one of the reasons not to close primary and secondary schools is that the children (certainly the younger ones) will have to remain at home under supervision of their grandparents, or they stay at their grandparents homes, as there are lots of dual income households.
Just taking out the infected children and quarantine them is still the guideline.

A related recommendation is also not to let children visit grandparents and vice-versa.

As of this morning gatherings/festivals/... of 1000+ participants are forbidden to slow the spreading of the virus as stopping it is regarded as almost impossible without a huge economic cost.
The focus is now on slowing the spreading of the virus to lessen the burden on hospitals and medical workers.

[biocqr]

My wife who is a teacher at Cincinnati Public Schools was instructed yesterday to create lesson plans for 30 days of home schooling. Parents will resist because k-8 schools in effect are baby sitters and it's very difficult for parents to rearrange work schedules to accommodate.