
San Francisco bans public events holding more than 1,000 people - maerF0x0
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/487047-san-francisco-bans-public-events-holding-more-than-1000-people
======
dang
There are too many of these shutdown threads for HN's front page to handle.
Let's at least collect the links from today.

Denmark:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22550108](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22550108)

Italy:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22550623](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22550623)
and
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22545430](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22545430)

E3 2020:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22546931](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22546931)

U of Dayton:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22547457](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22547457)

Warriors:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22548770](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22548770)

~~~
paulmd
Washington:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22548190](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22548190)

~~~
bobthepanda
To clarify, Washington the US state, not DC.

~~~
duluca
But also DC just published the same advisory. All events being cancelled

------
ilamont
The outbreak attributed to a Biogen meeting in Boston had just 175
participants. 70 out of 92 confirmed cases in Massachusetts are now connected
to that meeting: [https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2020/03/11/biogen-
cor...](https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2020/03/11/biogen-coronavirus-
outbreak)

I believe 8 have been hospitalized.

~~~
uberduper
What on earth were they doing there to infect so many?

~~~
ergothus
Probably just shaking a lot of hands.

If it survives for 12 hours on surfaces, you only need 1 person to have poor
hygiene to expose a LOT of people. And "normal" hygiene levels pass infection
around plenty. I wash my hands when I go to the bathroom or before I prepare
food. The rest of the time I'm just passing whatever I touch to whatever else
I touch. I've given up on not touching my face. I'm sure I'm not the worst in
these areas.

As I understand it, you'd have this sort of infection rate with the seasonal
flu if there wasn't some level of herd immunity, and you certainly have
roughly this level of infection with the common cold - "Con crud" is a thing -
it's just not much remarked upon as unexpected.

~~~
pengaru
The dude on Joe Rogan's podcast made it sound like the covid spread is mostly
just a matter of breathing the same air.

~~~
jjeaff
The CDC has also indicated that it can be spread through the air. But physical
contact is more likely.

~~~
pengaru
It's annoying, there's conflicting information on this front, like this
article about the CDC changing its recommendation on the type of face masks
hospital personnel should use [0].

They're claiming you can't get it by simply breathing the same air, and saying
surgical masks are sufficient.

[0] [https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-
medicine/articl...](https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-
medicine/article241103626.html)

------
pera
Seattle just declared a similar ban but for gatherings of 250+ people:

[https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/coronavirus-inslee-
announce...](https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/coronavirus-inslee-announces-
new-rules-nursing-homes-assisted-living-
facilities/XIDPHMLVOJAAREQ5YCL75367PU/)

~~~
Shivetya
changed text because asking a simple question about how similar numbers of
people does not impose the risk is met with down votes. it is bullshit dancing
around the obvious, no matter how you assemble the number the threat is near
the same.

employer, school, rock concert, or tech conference. which do you think would
exercise more care over the other?

seriously, get a fucking clue people.

karma to spare.

~~~
perennate
Here is the text, it does not include office:

> Gatherings of 250 people or more for social, spiritual and recreational
> activities including, but not limited to, community, civic, public, leisure,
> faith-based, or sporting events; parades; concerts; festivals; conventions;
> fundraisers; and similar activities

Source:
[https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/20-07%20Coro...](https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/20-07%20Coronavirus%20%28tmp%29.pdf)

~~~
hef19898
Spiritual is a good point. One such event in France is the reason the region I
visited family roughly two weeks ago got declared high risk today. So
quarantine at home until Sunday, turning our house into a co-working space
with attached school and day care (my wife, our two kids and myself)!

------
C19is20
N italy here: cops can now stop individuals for 'being out without good
reason'. and even going to work, or medical visits, needs printed (self)
permission that can be vetted by patrols. I saw a group of three people
outside a gelateria, today - morons. Any authority that allows any groups to
gather is being wrong. Hate to say it, but the italian government is doing the
right thing - minimize the risks. I do expect panics and social unrests early
next week, though, especially when the cops and carbs start getting sick.

~~~
RickJWagner
If they tried that in the US, the outcry would be deafening. (Especially with
the current president. There would certainly be people accusing him of
nefarious intent.)

I think it is probably a good way to decrease human interaction. But it's not
politically feasible everywhere.

~~~
enitihas
Everything becomes politically feasible once the public appetite is changed by
events. All the post 9/11 events in the US (Patriot act, Iraq war) would not
have been politically feasible pre 9/11.

~~~
notJim
Neither of those were things that affected the vast majority of people in a
perceptible way. A quarantine would be totally different.

------
PeterStuer
Over here, they did the same. Now 'organizers' are already advertising 999
person events. Talk about social responsibility.

~~~
kelnos
If city officials didn't want 999-person events, they should have set the
number lower.

At the end of the day you have to set the threshold _somewhere_. One could
argue that a 500-person event is still risky, but a balance has to be struck
between attempting to slow the spread of the disease, and not unreasonably
restricting people's activities.

In this case, what's reasonable is certainly up for debate. No measure will be
perfect, unless we want to start advocating for no gatherings whatsoever
(public _or_ private) and effectively putting people under house arrest. While
that would stop transmission of the disease, I think it's fairly
uncontroversial to say that would be an overreaction. But certainly it's up
for debate as to, say, whether a 100-person ban would be appropriate, vs.
1,000, 10,000, etc. They chose 1,000. It won't be a perfect number, but it
will help.

~~~
cactus2093
Jesus, what are you looking at that makes you so sure of this viewpoint?

I think it's fairly uncontroversial to say that we absolutely do need a
quarantine that keeps almost everyone in their homes, except for those
providing critical services (medical staff, police, national guard, plus some
needed amount of infrastructure for groceries, pharmacies, electricity, water,
etc.). For the next 2 or 3 months, I fully expect to only leave home maybe
every few days or week to go to the grocery store or pharmacy, like you see
today in most of South Korea. It's just a question of when at this point, and
the sooner we start it, the less disruptive it'll be in the long term and the
fewer people will die.

~~~
kelnos
It's funny to look at this retrospectively 11 days later, after both the bay
area and CA as a whole has been subject to a shelter-in-place order.

So you're right, of course.

------
owlninja
The warriors will play tomorrow night with no fans in attendance.

[https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/1237805678023999495](https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/1237805678023999495)

Also is there something significant about a limit of 1000 people? Why that
number?

~~~
jedberg
> the warriors will play tomorrow night with no fans in attendance.

To be fair, after being the first team in the NBA to be eliminated from
playoff contention last night, they probably weren't going to draw very large
crowds anyway.

Edit: Geez it was just a joke about how poorly the Warriors are doing.

> Also is there something significant about a limit of 1000 people? Why that
> number?

It's arbitrary. It's a "big" number.

~~~
blueline
>To be fair, after being the first team in the NBA to be eliminated from
playoff contention last night, they probably weren't going to draw very large
crowds anyway.

it would be shocking if several thousand people at the least weren't going to
show up. the warriors are insanely popular even during this down period.

you ever catch a knicks game on TV? they've been terrible for like an entire
decade and there are definitely plenty of people in the seats...

------
StreakyCobra
Same measures got taken everywhere, in Switzerland it was 12 days ago [1]

[1]
[https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/coronavirus_switzerlan...](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/coronavirus_switzerland-
bans-events-with-more-than-1-000-people/45585378)

~~~
config_yml
We‘re now down to 150 in most cantons. In the Ticino (bordering Italy) they
are closing down schools now.

~~~
StreakyCobra
Indeed, I wanted to point out that all countries seem to go through the same
process over time.

It's somehow like all countries are adopting the limitations gradually, like a
bit of denial that it will really happen. Wouldn't it make sense to skip some
steps and be proactive? At the end we all seem to take the direction of Italy
[1], maybe we should consider quarantine directly. It may be a bit more
brutal, but it will cost less lives and be over sooner.

The federal council is meeting on Friday morning if I'm not mistaken, I would
not be surprised to see new measures during Friday lunch.

[1] [https://ibb.co/gZDfgPy](https://ibb.co/gZDfgPy)

~~~
sydd
The issue is that this wont be contained anymore, it wont be over, we fucked
up.

Lets say that a country, for example Sweden with its 500 known cases and 10M
population goes into a total lockdown for. A few new cases emerge and after a
few weeks of no new infections they open up everything again. But since other
countries are still infected, they will be reinfected within days.

The only way to stop it would be if the whole world goes into lockdown for a
month or so, but that wont happen.

We will have to live with no mass gatherings for 1-2 years, until someone
comes up with a good vaccine

~~~
cameldrv
I don't think it's that dire. All we really need to do is get R0 below 1.0.

In Wuhan, they got it down to 0.3 with the huge lockdown and also aggressive
testing and out-of-home quarantine. We will need a period of that to get the
case count down to near zero.

Then it's possible to let up, but just a bit. People will need to wear masks
and wash their hands a lot, but if R0 is say, 0.8, each new case leads to just
a few more cases and then it dies out instead of exponentially growing. That's
the flip side of an exponential function.

~~~
sydd
Still not that dire? :(

------
punnerud
In Norway/Oslo every event over 100 have to apply a form and is banned up on
approval, and over 500 will not be approved. 1m distance in restaurants. The
tram don’t open the front door to avoid the driver from getting sick. In the
hospital all operations are cancelled the next weeks.

------
rmason
Michigan State University is banning all meetings of over a hundred. Today
they joined most universities in Michigan to go totally remote with no in
person classes. The stated reason was because the first two coronavirus cases
in the state were discovered last night.

------
silvestrov
Denmark right now:

\- events with more than 100 people forbidden

\- all schools will close

\- all non-critical employees must stay home.

\- all private employees as much as possible.

\- stay in your home.

\- don't travel to [many] countries, more restricts will come.

Tomorrow they will create the law which forbids all kinds of events.

Yesterday 262 cases, today 514.

Edit: All indoor cultural institutions, libraries, leisure facilities, etc.
are closed.

------
scottm01
But hey if you were selected for jury duty come on down to the courthouse!

[https://www.sfsuperiorcourt.org/divisions/jury-
services/jury...](https://www.sfsuperiorcourt.org/divisions/jury-
services/jury-reporting)

(To be fair, this morning they added a note saying call first if you are
"experiencing any acute respiratory illness")

~~~
wyattpeak
Jury duty's a pretty important function. It's not a particularly large
gathering and keeping people detained for longer without trial (as would be a
necessary consequence of stopping jury duty) is a considerable imposition.

It's not an inconceivable measure, but it's not one to be taken remotely
lightly - probably not until you ban all gatherings altogether.

~~~
scottm01
Agreed and clearly we start infringing on pretty basic american rights if we
wait until summer to stop convening jury's.

That said, reasonable people are avoiding being in closer quarters with
sub-1000 people, and it seems like some assurance besides "call if you're so
symptomatic you should see a doctor" might be prudent until a little more is
known about the virus.

Maybe I'm just salty that I have jury duty this week (:

------
yarinr
Israel just banned gatherings of 100 people or more. No fans in sport events.
I also wonder what would fill the vacuum of all the canceled parties and
nightlife, since it's pretty popular here.
[https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkOV11s8B8](https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkOV11s8B8)

------
steveklabnik
Austin has done the same, but for 2500 people
[https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavirus/large-gatherings-
banne...](https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavirus/large-gatherings-banned-in-
austin-through-may-1-city-says/)

~~~
ncallaway
Washington State has done the same in 3 counties for events of 250+ people.

------
Klonoar
Parts of Seattle/WA just did this for 250 people or more:
[https://mobile.twitter.com/govinslee/status/1237791115782131...](https://mobile.twitter.com/govinslee/status/1237791115782131712)

------
Cyberdog
I know the Constitution is already pretty much dead, but I'm still saddened
that _nobody_ in these threads is bringing up the potentially disturbing
precedent of this sort of thing yet. This is literally abridging the right of
the people to peacefully assemble.

It's not during times of crisis that we should be more willing to accept
abridging of our civil rights. It's during times of crisis where the state's
ability to continue respecting the civil rights of its citizens is most
important. Pandemic or not, we need to hold politicians accountable when they
erode civil rights like this.

------
burlesona
I'm glad they're being this assertive now. I've been concerned that many
jurisdictions in the US would wait for aggressive social distancing until the
case load was already into the thousands.

~~~
SheinhardtWigCo
This is not aggressive. It's an order of magnitude too lax and over a week too
late. This is a stunning abdication of leadership when we need it most. This
is what's needed:
[https://mobile.twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1237020518781...](https://mobile.twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1237020518781460480)

~~~
asdfman123
It's amazing we had so much lead time, but American exceptionalism and the
belief that ugly things only happen in other parts of the world caused us to
squander it all.

There's so much we could have done, but we aren't going to fully wake up until
the critically ill are packed in hospital hallways.

------
LeoPanthera
Santa Clara did the same, so, I guess that's the nail in the coffin for WWDC.

~~~
sroussey
WWDC is in June. That ban (currently) ends months before. They will likely
extend. But into summer?

~~~
Tepix
The peak of the pandemic is expected in Germany some time between June and
August.

~~~
mintmen
Curious, do you have an article that talks about that? I'm supposed to attend
a wedding in Germany in June..

~~~
Tepix
Here is a German podcast episode with Christian Drosten

[https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/info/Infektionen-werden-
weite...](https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/info/Infektionen-werden-weiter-
steigen,audio646360.html)

The prediction is very uncertain, for example it looks quite good in China as
of today. If we can copy their success we're good.

------
JMTQp8lwXL
How often do people attend public events of 1,000 or more people? From a
public health perspective, I'm sure the safest number is 0. But along the
curve of 0 to 1,000 -- is the risk increase linear? Exponential? It's hard to
say how effective of a measure this is in reducing spread.

~~~
munk-a
Not often - and that's why it's so risky. Events like concerts draw random
folks from diverse workplaces and communities with a shared interest that
otherwise wouldn't interact, as such it tends to be a good way for the disease
to break out into new communities.

~~~
Tepix
Quite a few people go to a sports match with tens of thousands of visitors
every fortnight.

------
tentboy
D.C. just made an announcement

[https://dchealth.dc.gov/release/dc-health-
advisory](https://dchealth.dc.gov/release/dc-health-advisory)

------
bryanrasmussen
Denmark - closing schools starting Monday, but if you have the ability to keep
kids home do so now (so last school day Friday) for 2 weeks.

Governmental employees unless necessary sent home from Friday for 2 weeks.

Arrangements with more than 100 people closed down.

on edit: Link to Danish news site [https://nyheder.tv2.dk/2020-03-11-alle-
elever-i-danmark-og-m...](https://nyheder.tv2.dk/2020-03-11-alle-elever-i-
danmark-og-mange-offentligt-ansatte-sendes-hjem)

~~~
duderific
Who is supposed to watch the children, if all the schools are closed but the
parents still have to work?

There's probably better child care options in Denmark; if they did that in the
US, it would be a catastrophe.

~~~
bryanrasmussen
People are going to be working home in one way or another. I suppose that some
people will be staying home to care for children. In the speech the Prime
Minister said obviously some people would end up losing their jobs based on
the current situation.

I didn't follow the speech very well myself because my daughter thought it was
fun to throw a one person party celebrating not going to school for two weeks,
my wife started yelling she couldn't understand what was being said because my
daughter was being too loud (wife being Italian has sometimes difficulties
following Danish language)

But anyway there are a variety of child care options in Denmark, one is thing
were a person watched 3 or 4 children during the day at their house, I don't
know how that is affected. I suppose it is affected the same as other services
but on the other hand it might be reasonable if that was left open because I
am expecting that to make the tedium somewhat manageable there will be a lot
of play dates for the next couple weeks - so essentially people will have 3-4
kids at their houses they just won't be getting paid for it.

------
dijit
Sweden did the same except more than 500 people. Wonder if that includes
things like going to work, my office holds 700 or so people.

~~~
tpmx
Probably not, but I'm not sure sure. There are explicit exceptions for things
like public transport.

I think long distance train operators should put measures into place to avoid
walking between railcars (like, shut down the restaurant car).

------
8bitsrule
In 1918 the town and county of Gunnison, Colorado quarantined itself (letting
in noone) against 'Spanish Flu', to considerable effect.

[https://www.gunnisontimes.com/content/gunnison-and-great-
inf...](https://www.gunnisontimes.com/content/gunnison-and-great-influenza-0)

------
lostgame
To all the folk talking ‘quarantine the states’ here - that’s the definition
of a band-aid, not a solution. Especially since COVID is already in the
states.

IMHO we will be exposed to this virus no matter what.

~~~
asdfman123
No offense, but please educate yourself. The point is to slow the spread of it
so hospitals don't get completely overwhelmed and people who need care can get
it, unlike what is happening _right now_ in Italy.

Check out flattenthecurve.com.

------
peter303
Do you personally know someone with covid? With flu or cold? Covid very
dangerous, but not widespread yet.

------
RickJWagner
Is this really changing anything? I suppose with over 1000 people there is
more chance of an infected person being there, and more people to be
interacted with.

But if that infected person is walking around anyway, is it really better for
them to wander the streets going to other random locations, infecting other
people?

I'm not sure it's an effective gesture.

------
qrbLPHiKpiux
I would like to see every thing related to this virus, every OpEd, every info
piece to be prefaced with:

"Please wash your hands frequently."

Hygiene is the most important thing to stopping it. Everyone needs to do it.

~~~
balozi
Turns out most adults don't actually know how to properly wash their hands.

------
RobertDeNiro
Kind of a half measure. Why not ban all public events? Or do we expect events
with less than 1000 people to not have any infected attendees ?

~~~
gpm
What is a public event? Is me meeting up with my friend in a park a public
event?

Also, banning all public events is _much_ more likely to be found
unconstitutional.

~~~
luckydata
yes, you shouldn't meet anyone. Stores should be all closed except for
pharmacies and grocery stores. Restaurants should be closed. Bars should be
closed. Offices should be closed. For about 4 weeks. This is the only way
we'll avoid hundreds of casualties.

[https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-
peop...](https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-
die-f4d3d9cd99ca)

~~~
uhoh-itsmaciek
Not that I disagree, but how many stores, restaurants, and bars can afford to
close for four weeks? And are they paying their employees during this time?

~~~
RandallBrown
Not very many at all.

Several bars in Seattle have already announced they're shutting their doors
and that's just because they've seen low business over the past few weeks.

Right now it's going to be businesses that were already struggling, but in a
month it's going to be a LOT more places.

------
starpilot
I wonder if anyone is trying to weaponize this to reach the GOP. Get infected,
go to a Trump event, shake hands with and cough on as many people as possible.

~~~
asdfman123
I know you're mad, I am too, but that kind of gloating will just push people
away and worsen the political divisions that are tearing the country apart.

~~~
starpilot
Not mad at anything, and there's nothing to gloat about. I'm really just
wondering if anyone is attempting this.

------
tanilama
but 900 people are OK?

We need to really think about this...

~~~
burlesona
I don't think that's the implication, they just have to draw the line
somewhere. I would think starting with 1000 is meant to have less dramatic
impact on things like schools and workplaces with ~500 people, giving them
more time to prepare before the limit goes down further.

------
pastor_elm
And let the layoffs of event staff begin

~~~
munk-a
It's at times like this that a well funded employment-insurance fund would be
pretty useful.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
Throw in some nationalized healthcare to keep these same now-uninsured people
healthy.

~~~
munk-a
If only, sadly it looks like that won't be happening in the near future due to
primary developments.

~~~
1MoreThing
It wasn't going to be happening anyways. Those types of programs need to come
from Congress, and there was zero coalition built to make them actually
happen.

------
new_guy
And just like that the world walks blindfolded into Martial Law.

~~~
ironmagma
You say that like it's a bad thing. This kind of situation is the only real
justification for it, and it's actually a pretty good temporary measure. Key
word being temporary.

------
waynecochran
How many homeless folks are in the largest "tent city" in SF?

~~~
jmcgough
"The Jungle" in San Jose had 175 at its peak, and that was the largest
encampment in the country.

SF does monthly tent counts, it's been less than 500 for a while.

~~~
waynecochran
There is not the best hygene in these areas... I imagine it would spread
quickly in homeless areas.

~~~
Mountain_Skies
To make things worse, most of the homeless already have chronic health issues
which will make it even more difficult for them to fight off or deal with the
symptoms of an infection.

~~~
waynecochran
Sounds likes SF is setting up RV's for quarantining homeless folks who have
been exposed (which should assume to be everyone right?).
[https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/03/10/sf-setting-
up-r...](https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/03/10/sf-setting-up-rvs-in-
presidio-other-locations-to-quarantine-people-exposed-to-covid-19/)

------
dheera
Why not ban events holding more than 10 people? Or even 5? Setting the bar at
1000 seems like a massive lapse of judgement in preventing exponential growth.

~~~
Tepix
There's a reason behind it. It depends on how what percentage of people of the
population are infected. As long as the number is quite low (say 0.005%)
having a meeting of 20 people will not be a great risk.

~~~
dheera
That's exactly the mentality that got Italy into their current situation. I
see people downvoting me here, but I guess that's America in a nutshell. Those
downvoters will be sorry in 2 weeks.

------
luckydata
A very good source that will help you understand why this measure is complete
nonsense.

[https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-
peop...](https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-
die-f4d3d9cd99ca)

The Bay Area is managed by leaders with no vision and no leadership, and this
is just one more instance of that.

~~~
unethical_ban
That article literally says to start practicing social distancing ASAP. How
does this directive challenge that notion?

The article assures us this will be bad, but it doesn't say "fuck it all, go
make out with everyone". It says to take precautions, like the one SF has
done.

~~~
SamBam
I think the parent post is sayin that this is too little, not that it is too
much.

~~~
luckydata
Correct. How is having gatherings of 1k people a good idea during a pandemic?
The internal meeting that generated 70 cases in Boston had 170 attendants.

~~~
unethical_ban
Ah, gotcha.

I think it is a matter of law vs. recommendation. It's really tricky.

------
LegitShady
Pretty sure contravenes constitution but whatever.

~~~
DoofusOfDeath
At least on its surface, I'm kinda okay with this 1000-person rule for several
reasons:

\- I've already accepted that fire codes can legitimately limit the number of
people in a building.

\- The rule is agnostic with respect to the purpose of the meeting. E.g., it's
not obviously being used to suppress political or cultural movements.

\- It has a real, plausible purpose for public safety.

That being said, I can also see some valid reasons against it:

\- It sets precedent, which is a powerful factor in the U.S. court system.

\- The 1000-person rule seems a bit arbitrary. I would think the number needs
to be much smaller for the effect to be meaningful. And I'm guessing something
more nuanced is what's really needed, for example spacing between persons, air
recirculation / flow rates, frequency of surface cleaning vs. # persons
present, etc.

\- It implicitly discriminates what kinds of groups can meet as before. One
salient example would be that Christian mega-churches and really large Roman
Catholic parishes couldn't meet as before.

\- It also potentially prevents mass protest marches, depending on the wording
of the ordinance, and how willing protestors are to ignore the ordinance.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
> One salient example would be that Christian mega-churches and really large
> Roman Catholic parishes couldn't meet as before.

This is one scenario where I wouldn't be surprised if there are groups that
refuse to uphold the order and file lawsuits over it infringing on their right
to practice their religion (and assemble, of course).

~~~
burlesona
It could happen, but at least in SF it's gone the other way. The Catholic
Schools were the first to close, all 90 schools are now shut down.

