Social Distancing

  • After Iowa State won the Big 12, a Cyclone made a wonderful offer to We Will that now increases our match. Now all gifts up to $400,000 between now and the Final 4 will be matched. Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
    This notice can be dismissed using the upper right corner X button.

Should Parents Let Their Kids Hang Out With Friends During This "Break"?

  • Yes

    Votes: 27 14.3%
  • No

    Votes: 125 66.1%
  • Maybe Just 1 Friend

    Votes: 37 19.6%

  • Total voters
    189

jsb

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 7, 2008
30,263
32,718
113
Just as long as it is the same 4-6 people Everytime and that's all they do, I don't see an issue. But if it's 4-5 people today and a different 4-5 people tomorrow then it'll balloon pretty quick.

That's not really how it works. Your kid plays with their friend "Sue". It turns out that your kid has it, but has no symptoms. She gives it to Sue. Sue's parents are idiots, so they host a quarantine party for 10 people. Sue gives it to her dad's friend "Bob". Bob then gives it to his wife who is a nurse.
 

CloniesForLife

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Apr 22, 2015
13,710
17,318
113
Question: Me and my siblings (plus a couple SOs) have hung out a couple times. 5 people total. All working from home and only doing necessary shopping (trying to limit that as well). Should we stop doing that? None of us are hanging out with anyone else. I thought that would be fine but this thread has me re-thinking that.
 

cycloneG

Well-Known Member
Mar 7, 2007
15,056
15,041
113
Off the grid
Question: Me and my siblings (plus a couple SOs) have hung out a couple times. 5 people total. All working from home and only doing necessary shopping (trying to limit that as well). Should we stop doing that? None of us are hanging out with anyone else. I thought that would be fine but this thread has me re-thinking that.

If you're all shopping at different places and times, then you're circle of possible infection is quite large.
 

CloniesForLife

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Apr 22, 2015
13,710
17,318
113
If you're all shopping at different places and times, then you're circle of possible infection is quite large.
That is a good point. We were trying to be smart but I suppose we should limit our interaction to video chats for now.
 

madguy30

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2011
49,738
46,474
113
Question: Me and my siblings (plus a couple SOs) have hung out a couple times. 5 people total. All working from home and only doing necessary shopping (trying to limit that as well). Should we stop doing that? None of us are hanging out with anyone else. I thought that would be fine but this thread has me re-thinking that.

If it's in question, I'd think the answer is yes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CloniesForLife

Stormin

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
44,412
12,614
113
Question: Me and my siblings (plus a couple SOs) have hung out a couple times. 5 people total. All working from home and only doing necessary shopping (trying to limit that as well). Should we stop doing that? None of us are hanging out with anyone else. I thought that would be fine but this thread has me re-thinking that.

Is the circle exclusive? Except for the same ones every time? There is some risk because of the chance that one could become infected randomly and infect the group. But as long as everyone remains only exclusive to the group then you could be okay.

We have one friend that comes over for coffee for 20 minutes. He is locked down otherwise. Maybe gets groceries every 7-10 days. He is older. Has no other family in area. We maintain social distance and clean table when he leaves. Willing to take risk but exercise safety. And if we do get infected then our contacts are easy to trace. As long as everyone remains true to only the circle you might be okay.
 

Cycsk

Year-round tailgater
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Aug 17, 2009
26,951
14,835
113
I've been keeping to the under 10 rule. We've still been hanging with people. Before anybody goes off on this, it's exactly what has been recommended by the government and is right in line with articles I've read in the NYT.


I read in the paper about the Ames School District running its buses in order to pick up groups of 10 kids at a time in order to bring them to schools to pick up grab-n-go lunches. That can't be right, can it?
 

mynameisjonas

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2019
6,305
8,291
113
Our kids have been outside a lot this past weekend. I did pick another kid up and we went and practiced for baseball. They still need social interaction vs just phones and physical activity. It’s under ten so I see nothing wrong with this.
Smfh
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: Macloney

isucy86

Well-Known Member
Apr 13, 2006
7,747
6,291
113
Dubuque
Seems to me 4-6 weeks of inconvenience prevents this from becoming a 3 month problem. So people need to limit person-to-person interactions, unless necessary.

IMO too many people view this as an "old" people issue. While they might be impacted more severely, the demographics of cases in Iowa indicate it is an equal opportunity pandemic:

0-17 yrs - 1%
18-40 yrs -26%
41-60 yrs -34%
61-80 yrs -34%
81+ yrs - 4%
 

SayMyName

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2017
808
1,298
93
ABQ
Saw this posted elsewhere, and thought it relevant to this discussion.

tl;dr summary - yes, every single external exposure matters!

"Hey everybody, as an infectious disease epidemiologist (although a lowly one), at this point feel morally obligated to provide some information on what we are seeing from a transmission dynamic perspective and how they apply to the social distancing measures. Like any good scientist I have noticed two things that are either not articulated or not present in the “literature” of social media. I am also tagging my much smarter infectious disease epidemiologist friends for peer review of this post. Please correct me if I am wrong (seriously).

Specifically, I want to make two aspects of these measures very clear and unambiguous.

First, we are in the very infancy of this epidemic’s trajectory. That means even with these measures we will see cases and deaths continue to rise globally, nationally, and in our own communities in the coming weeks. Our hospitals will be overwhelmed, and people will die that didn’t have to. This may lead some people to think that the social distancing measures are not working. They are. They may feel futile. They aren’t. You will feel discouraged. You should. This is normal in chaos. But this is also normal epidemic trajectory. Stay calm. This enemy that we are facing is very good at what it does; we are not failing. We need everyone to hold the line as the epidemic inevitably gets worse. This is not my opinion; this is the unforgiving math of epidemics for which I and my colleagues have dedicated our lives to understanding with great nuance, and this disease is no exception. We know what will happen; I want to help the community brace for this impact. Stay strong and with solidarity knowing with absolute certainty that what you are doing is saving lives, even as people begin getting sick and dying. You may feel like giving in. Don’t.

Second, although social distancing measures have been (at least temporarily) well-received, there is an obvious-but-overlooked phenomenon when considering groups (i.e. families) in transmission dynamics. While social distancing decreases contact with members of society, it of course increases your contacts with group (i.e. family) members. This small and obvious fact has surprisingly profound implications on disease transmission dynamics. Study after study demonstrates that even if there is only a little bit of connection between groups (i.e. social dinners, playdates/playgrounds, etc.), the epidemic trajectory isn’t much different than if there was no measure in place. The same underlying fundamentals of disease transmission apply, and the result is that the community is left with all of the social and economic disruption but very little public health benefit. You should perceive your entire family to function as a single individual unit; if one person puts themselves at risk, everyone in the unit is at risk. Seemingly small social chains get large and complex with alarming speed. If your son visits his girlfriend, and you later sneak over for coffee with a neighbor, your neighbor is now connected to the infected office worker that your son’s girlfriend’s mother shook hands with. This sounds silly, it’s not. This is not a joke or a hypothetical. We as epidemiologists see it borne out in the data time and time again and no one listens. Conversely, any break in that chain breaks disease transmission along that chain.

In contrast to hand-washing and other personal measures, social distancing measures are not about individuals, they are about societies working in unison. These measures also take a long time to see the results. It is hard (even for me) to conceptualize how ‘one quick little get together’ can undermine the entire framework of a public health intervention, but it does. I promise you it does. I promise. I promise. I promise. You can’t cheat it. People are already itching to cheat on the social distancing precautions just a “little”- a playdate, a haircut, or picking up a needless item at the store, etc. From a transmission dynamics standpoint, this very quickly recreates a highly connected social network that undermines all of the work the community has done so far.

Until we get a viable vaccine this unprecedented outbreak will not be overcome in grand, sweeping gesture, rather only by the collection of individual choices our community makes in the coming months. This virus is unforgiving to unwise choices. My goal in writing this is to prevent communities from getting ‘sucker-punched’ by what the epidemiological community knows will happen in the coming weeks. It will be easy to be drawn to the idea that what we are doing isn’t working and become paralyzed by fear, or to ‘cheat’ a little bit in the coming weeks. By knowing what to expect, and knowing the importance of maintaining these measures, my hope is to encourage continued community spirit, strategizing, and action to persevere in this time of uncertainty.

- Jonathan Smith, Yale University
March 19, 2020"
 

demoncore1031

Well-Known Member
May 18, 2008
12,389
5,142
113
Albuquerque,NM
theslaughterhouse.freeforums.net
I have chosen to keep my kids on lock down while they are out of school. Am I being unreasonable?
You're not being unreasonable. Better safe than sorry. I took my kids out of school few days before they shut it down and I haven't let them go out too much. Kids don't like playing outside these days since they have all these electronic gadgets, so that works I guess.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: adjl

Angie

Tugboats and arson.
Staff member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 27, 2006
28,183
12,852
113
IA
I read in the paper about the Ames School District running its buses in order to pick up groups of 10 kids at a time in order to bring them to schools to pick up grab-n-go lunches. That can't be right, can it?

They are making everyone sit 6+ feet apart, and aren't allowing in big groups. Once they hit 10 people, they don't pick anyone else up.

It isn't ideal, but getting kids fed is a huge deal when school is out.
 

madguy30

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2011
49,738
46,474
113
Seems to me 4-6 weeks of inconvenience prevents this from becoming a 3 month problem. So people need to limit person-to-person interactions, unless necessary.

IMO too many people view this as an "old" people issue. While they might be impacted more severely, the demographics of cases in Iowa indicate it is an equal opportunity pandemic:

0-17 yrs - 1%
18-40 yrs -26%
41-60 yrs -34%
61-80 yrs -34%
81+ yrs - 4%

Nobody can't get it.

The 'old' thing is the concern that they are more prone to die, along with anyone at any age with pre-existing conditions.

I know old people though that are acting more similarly to what the young people are being painted as. They seem to think that if they only see a few people they're somehow blocked from it. Scary.

It's going to be more than a 3 month problem.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Halincandenza

BCClone

Well Seen Member.
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Sep 4, 2011
61,413
55,959
113
Not exactly sure.
Nobody can't get it.

The 'old' thing is the concern that they are more prone to die, along with anyone at any age with pre-existing conditions.

I know old people though that are acting more similarly to what the young people are being painted as. They seem to think that if they only see a few people they're somehow blocked from it. Scary.

It's going to be more than a 3 month problem.


Around here, the 17 and under and the 70 and over are the worst. They young say they won’t get it. The old say I didn’t hear anybody cough so they are fine. It’s nuts.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: madguy30

BCClone

Well Seen Member.
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Sep 4, 2011
61,413
55,959
113
Not exactly sure.
That's right.
Apparently, it's an Iowa thing that the meals can't be delivered, so this is the attempt to make lunch available.
Think it would be best for all to use the school minivan and say these are the pick up times and the country will be the bus route times and all items will be dropped off at the end of driveways or tossed to kids at bus pick ups.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: NWICY

CycloneErik

Well-Known Member
Jan 31, 2008
105,615
49,388
113
Jamerica
rememberingdoria.wordpress.com
Think it would be best for all to use the school minivan and say these are the pick up times and the country will be the bus route times and all items will be dropped off at the end of driveways or tossed to kids at bus pick ups.

Maybe a fleet of vehicles. It would overwhelm what one minivan is going to accomplish.

Can't use bus route times for lunch, because that's nobody's lunchtime. Using the bus pick up points would be the same personal congestion as handing them out at school.

There's another food program through the schools using a drive-thru approach. That's the best look to me.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: BCClone