wifeisafurd said:
sycasey said:
TandemBear said:
sycasey said:
71Bear said:
sycasey said:
71Bear said:
sycasey said:
Big C said:
sycasey said:
nwbear84 said:
Nevertheless, New York City will reopen elementary schools, a sign that city officials believe schools are not a major source of new cases. Rhode Island has also kept many schools open, while closing gyms, bars and movie theaters. You would think that elementary school classes are fairly high density, with much more limited testing and monitoring, and that unlike adult athletes, it is a lot harder to control young children or to monitor there contacts, especially with working parents. What this represents is the difference between lazy regulators with a shut down mentality, and regulators that actually take a close look at specific activities and evaluate risk.
NYC was more proactive than just evaluating risk, they upgraded the HVAC systems in their schools.
something I haven't seen done in California with property owners mainly crying "Woe is me!" but not taking proactive measures to increase air turnover in indoor spaces.
One environmental mantra I have grown to hate is "Dilution is not the solution!" which has morphed into do nothing till we have a 100% solution. Cleanup in some places has been delayed decades; which allows time for accidents involving higher concentrations of toxic substances. One fairly recent finding with Covid-19 has been that greater exposure (time with concentration) increases the likelihood and severity of the disease. With indoor dining, turning the outside air over five times an hour will reduce the Covid threat, that is the basis for airline claims of increased safety; also true of local Indian casinos. But down here in the state of Denial this hasn't been suggested for schools, public buildings, office complexes, indoor venues attached to outdoor venues. Because of pre-existing school overcrowding, it was promulgated that classroom space needed to be tripled, to return to 'normal'. Putting the HVAC system on "HYPERDRIVE" would be cheaper, and may eventually be part of a long term solution of 'diluting the airborne virus'.