August 18th, 2020 at 5:26 PM ^
That just means more time at the bars.
August 18th, 2020 at 5:40 PM ^
That just means more time on the RCMB
August 18th, 2020 at 8:20 PM ^
They announced that RCMB posting now counts for full credit
August 18th, 2020 at 6:31 PM ^
I'm sure they'll be closed here.
August 18th, 2020 at 5:28 PM ^
So did Notre Dame, but just 2 weeks to start.
August 18th, 2020 at 6:48 PM ^
MSU, ND, UNC all go online, but FUCK WE NEED FOOTBALL TO BE PLAYED - 'CUZ 'MERICA!!!!!!
/s
August 18th, 2020 at 7:54 PM ^
PEOPLE WHO QUESTIONS OTHER PEOPLES DECISIONS THAT AFFECT THEIR LIVES ARE STUPID AND IRRESPONSIBLE. WE SHOULD JUST BLINDLY ACCEPT WHAT WE ARE TOLD AND NEVER TO FACILITATE DISCUSSION. IM CONTRUTING SO MUCH TO THE COVERSTATION. I AGREE WITH EVERTHING YOU SAY. PLEASE LIKE ME
/s
August 18th, 2020 at 8:04 PM ^
Username does not check out.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:53 PM ^
To all the "we don't actually know what's going to happen once students are back on campus":
This was the easiest "I told ya so" of all time
August 18th, 2020 at 5:29 PM ^
Sad times we are all living in right now. I even feel sorry for the Sparty kids.
August 18th, 2020 at 5:44 PM ^
Don't. They suck.
August 18th, 2020 at 5:30 PM ^
Staee home.
August 18th, 2020 at 5:35 PM ^
Nice.
August 18th, 2020 at 6:50 PM ^
This is so epic!
August 18th, 2020 at 5:36 PM ^
Can't imagine having this shit during my HS / college years. Hoping it's a 1 year thing for this generation and life gets back to normal sooner rather than later. A shame we couldn't do better as a country to tackle this thing.
August 18th, 2020 at 6:00 PM ^
It’s pretty dramatic how many kids that age are going through anxiety and depression right now. They are certainly getting a shitty deal and missing some pretty wonderful milestone experiences.
August 18th, 2020 at 6:05 PM ^
From a study that came out this week:
One in four Americans between the ages of 18-24 have considered suicide in the past 30 days
- 16% of respondents ages 25-44
63 % of 18-24 reported an anxiety or depressive disorder.
- 40% for ages 25-44
August 18th, 2020 at 6:25 PM ^
Would you please share the source?
August 18th, 2020 at 6:32 PM ^
I find those numbers to be disturbingly high.
Now, people will commit suicide even in the best of times. It cannot and will not be reduced entirely. But it can be reduced partially. Giving people a sense of purpose and joy in their lives is a way to reduce suicides and improve mental health.
Many of our current solutions as regards CoronaVirus are responsible for stripping people of a sense of purpose and joy and decreasing mental health. If we have even one CV case, we default to absolutely NO college sports, absolutely NO classroom experiences, absolutely NO Church services, etc
The lack of acknowledgment by many as regards stripping people of purpose and joy --- that angers me. The cure has become worse than the disease, IMO.
August 18th, 2020 at 7:00 PM ^
Oh, so you're not "done with this blog," you're just "done" having real interactions and doing some real thinking about things. You're not "done" making shit up and screaming incoherently.
August 18th, 2020 at 7:11 PM ^
I acknowledged the following day that I was emotional on that given Monday. No, I did not give up the blog.
As a reminder as to why I was emotional that given Monday, it was because my friend committed suicide and the depression and struggles he was facing because of the shutdown.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:04 PM ^
I'd argue that as with everything else, COVID19 is providing a stress-test that amplifies a bunch of problems that already existed pre-pandemic. I strongly suspect that for many people, lack a sense of purpose is not a new problem in the last 5 months.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:35 PM ^
The converse to that: COVID19 is presenting a stress-test that amplifies a bunch of physical problems that already existed pre-pandemic.
If we're being fair, COVID19 disproportionately kills those with pre-existing physical problems. That makes COVID19 dramatically unlike the 1918-19 pandemic.
Now, we're (rightfully) doing some things to protect those folk. But I'd also argue the mentally weak and those who struggle under mental pressure deserve just as much consideration as the physically weak and those whose bodies are most susceptible to disease.
August 18th, 2020 at 9:34 PM ^
They have been given a very clear purpose: stay home to stop the virus. They can't possibly lack a purpose. What they lack is free healthcare and money to live on until this is over.
August 18th, 2020 at 9:53 PM ^
So, would it be fair to say that their purpose could also be described as this?
"Stay at home, while neither being allowed to earn money nor being allowed to realize the pride that comes with supporting yourself and your family. And do this for possibly months on end, until some indefinite date in the future. That date is unknown."
Perhaps you find that a meaningful purpose in life. I don't. I think many don't.
August 18th, 2020 at 10:35 PM ^
This type of binary argument is representative of what has created the divide in our country. Who wants people to be out of work? Who wants to see families struggle? No one I know.
I also don’t want to see people needlessly die or have long term health issues.
It would be great if our politicians could get over themselves and their party loyalties to work together for all Americans. At this point, I have no illusion of that happening. The responsibility falls on us. The path forward requires we start believing we actually care about each other and put aside divisive arguments for the sake of trying to prove a point.
August 18th, 2020 at 10:44 PM ^
To be fair, my response was as regards someone who implied that "stay at home" is good enough as regards one's life purpose.
I'm not one who wants 100,000 people at a Dallas Cowboys game anytime soon. I DO want us to realize that eradication is impossible anytime soon, and for us to realize there will be some baseline level of infections that is inevitable. And I want us to show the resiliency and courage (yes, courage) to take some steps forward despite that, in order to protect people beyond simply CV infection.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:59 AM ^
It's good enough as a purpose through February 2021. It's unfortunate that the end won't come sooner, but holding out until American history's greatest homegrown threat to American democracy is defeated is also a good purpose.
Nobody should be so self-centered as to be proud of taking unnecessary risks that will sicken and even kill their compatriots. Much better to be proud of taking part in a civilization that provides for and protects its members.
August 18th, 2020 at 11:42 PM ^
November 3, 2020. Things will be much different after that date.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:35 PM ^
Yes that's why we should be giving them more support and tackling the virus instead of just opening up. Do you think suicides are up in New Zealand? I doubt it.
August 18th, 2020 at 9:32 PM ^
Suicides are about flat in New Zealand in 2020, FWIW.
What more should we be doing to "tackle the virus?" Are you proposing more lockdowns? Wouldn't that make the mental health crisis even worse?
August 18th, 2020 at 8:10 PM ^
My wife, the mental health queen in their 7 provider pediatric clinic who sees more of these kids than all the other providers combined, states that Prozac prescriptions are becoming increasingly difficult to fill-sometimes having to wait 4 to 7 days.
August 18th, 2020 at 9:09 PM ^
I see a bunch of credentials (PhDs, etc.) at the front of that CDC article, so it's not garbage, but ...
Anecdotally: I ran this by some mental health professionals (psychiatrist, psychologist, a couple of social workers in that field) in my extended social circle at a recent *outdoor* event. They acknowledged that stress has increased for many but mostly thought that the suicide numbers were bullshit. They guessed that question was asked in a way that would yield unrealistically high numbers.
Side note: People who in the past wouldn't give a shit about the idea of mental health are suddenly concerned about suicides.
August 18th, 2020 at 5:39 PM ^
Indefinitely?
August 18th, 2020 at 5:42 PM ^
Letter says fall semester.
August 18th, 2020 at 6:21 PM ^
It will be for the spring too. I'd bet on it.
The metric of success has implicitly become "zero cases allowed", though nobody is willing to explicitly state that.
August 18th, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
You keep pushing that narrative
Notre dame was on pace for half of their student population before October
there’s a difference between a 0 tolerance and a 5,000 tolerance policy
August 18th, 2020 at 6:58 PM ^
It's not a narrative if there are signs it is true.
Take, for instance, the Cincinnati Reds. My favorite baseball team. In playing baseball, they likely have less interaction with folk than your average college student.
One Cincinnati Red, however, tested positive for COVID on Friday evening.
Since then, the Reds have now had games postponed on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. Monday was already an off-day.
This is for ONE case.
If that's not zero-tolerance, what is it?
August 18th, 2020 at 7:01 PM ^
Then go to a Reds blog and cry at them.
Fuck off.
August 18th, 2020 at 7:19 PM ^
Why are you angry with me?
August 18th, 2020 at 7:32 PM ^
NittanyFan Derangement Syndrome is my bet.
August 18th, 2020 at 7:54 PM ^
Because people like that can’t handle the fact some people don’t see things their way. In their eyes that makes you a bad person.
August 18th, 2020 at 9:24 PM ^
Just a guess: It could be the flagrant dishonesty you exhibit in so many of your posts.
Really, you seem halfway smart and reasonable. Why not state your case plainly and use good arguments to back it up? They're available if you look.
August 18th, 2020 at 10:22 PM ^
I don't believe that I have been flagrantly dishonest.
But I am open to hearing you out.
Can you provide 2 explicit examples of my flagrant dishonesty?
I've been accused of promoting a narrative of "zero cases tolerated" --- but then when I provide examples of such in real-life, I get no thoughtful responses that at least acknowledge the example I provided.
I'm sorry, but I think that's weak as far as a conversational tactic, and I don't think me bringing up the Cincinnati Reds example was dishonest in any way.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:01 PM ^
It is a narrative, and you bring it up daily.
What does a baseball team have to do with a college not wanting the virus to spread exponentially on their campus? 0 tolerance would have meant school would have never opened at all
August 18th, 2020 at 8:44 PM ^
I bring up the Reds because they and MLB are a real-life example of "zero tolerance."
If it wasn't "zero tolerance", they would have played a baseball game on Saturday. (1) Sit out the one guy who was positive (everyone had an idea who the guy was anyway), (2) mandate the Reds and Pirates don't do anything at all outside of the hotel and ballpark, and (3) emphasize as much as possible the mask mandate for the guys playing in the game.
The game could have been played. Instead, we're at a point where each Red needs 3 consecutive negative tests before we can move on.
It does look like Cincinnati will play Wednesday. But --- now Atlanta has a scare. If they miss a game, Wednesday will mark the 24th consecutive day that at least one of the MLB teams has an issue.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:22 PM ^
People were clamoring for ND to close when less than .5% of the students tested positive before classes started.
August 18th, 2020 at 5:47 PM ^
I'm sure what happened at UNC is going to make a lot of schools reconsider
August 18th, 2020 at 5:48 PM ^
How do you learn about animal husbandry remotely?