
Whitmer: Michigan closing all K-12 school buildings - newtoday
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/education/2020/03/12/detroit-area-schools-close-plan-online-classes-coronavirus/5031113002/
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meritt
Forget how they're going to learn remotely, who is going to watch and feed
those kids? A very significant portion of US lower and middle income families
depend on the public school system do those exact things while the parents
work. They quite simply do not have a parent who can stay home with the kids
unless they want to lose source of income.

The severity of the impact on the livelihood of these people and the residual
impact to the economy cannot be overstated.

~~~
robbrown451
I don't disagree that it will have an economic impact and cause a lot of pain
in the short term, but this is also very likely to stimulate some positives
economically as well as environmentally.

Some parents are now going to be working at home, side by side with their kids
attending school at home. While this may not be ideal all the time, it's not a
terrible thing to make all of this work. We're all going to be set up for
telecommuting and online education going forward. If nothing else, it's less
fossil fuels being burned.

Just like WW2 got us out of a depression and started us on a huge economic
upswing -- and yes, at an immense cost -- this might have a similar effect,
albeit on a smaller scale. I would not be surprised if 6 months from now, with
the virus gone and a whole lot of disruption behind us, we'll find it
stimulated the economy more than it hurt it.

~~~
onion2k
I think you're trying to put a positive spin on what is clearly an appalling
situation, but I think it's important to remember that at the heart of this
people are going to die. People are going to lose parents and grandparents.
The UK prime minister literally said that in a statement yesterday ("many more
are going to lose loved ones before their time",
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-51862282/coronavirus-pm-
say...](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-51862282/coronavirus-pm-says-more-to-
lose-loved-ones-before-their-time)). Talking about how you believe it'll be
good for the economy within 6 months is both a bit heartless and possibly
_very_ wrong.

~~~
robbrown451
Ok, well lots of people talk about its impact specifically on the economy, so
I'm not sure how it is heartless, but ok. Can I only talk about the negatives?
That feels dishonest, I'd think the HN audience can handle both sides of that
particular part of the picture.

And late comedians are making jokes about the whole situation right now. Not
about the deaths, but about other aspects of it.

~~~
onion2k
$11.5 trillion dollars has been wiped off the stock market in the past few
weeks[1]. That's not just the virus because there's an oil price war going on
too, but it does seem like suggesting it'll be back to normal in 6 months
implies you don't understand the scale of the problem.

[1] [https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-
market...](https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-
outlook-2016-trump-win-gains-erased-coronavirus-risks-2020-3-1028991585)

~~~
speedplane
> suggesting it'll be back to normal in 6 months implies you don't understand
> the scale of the problem

No one knows the scale of the problem. It's the uncertainty that's driving the
volatility.

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MuffinFlavored
If the US trajectory for COVID-19 is anything like Italy's, we are 6 days away
from going from 1k cases to 15k cases.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_I...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Italy)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_t...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_the_United_States)

~~~
ComputerGuru
Not if there aren’t 15k test kits, it’s not.

~~~
tehlike
Reminds me of the show Chernobyl

~~~
Nuzzerino
Ouch, I fear that this may unfortunately turn out to be the case

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robbrown451
Seems to be happening everywhere. They just announced an hour ago that they
are closing schools in my daughter's school district (Burlingame California),
and switching to online learning. That was quick...I am honestly a bit excited
to see how online kindergarten works.

I'm also wondering if the internet infrastructure will handle this well, with
so many people working and going school remotely, with a really fast ramp up.

~~~
ComputerGuru
I’ve been making K-12 plans for three weeks. You shouldn’t be excited. It’s
one thing for people to prepare and plan and develop a curriculum that is
suited for online learning. It is another to be told at a moment’s notice to
shut down schools and turn to online learning.

And the internet is going to be fine, although individual sites with a sudden
increase in traffic (Zoom, Skype, Office 365, etc) might have issues.

~~~
robbrown451
Why shouldn't I be excited?

I'm not saying I'm happy this is all happening, but I can be interested in
seeing how all this works and see the positives, can't I?

Should I tell my kindergartner to be all grim and sad, or tell her that this
is an adventure?

~~~
ComputerGuru
For kindergarten, sure. But juniors and seniors? They don’t need excitement,
they need stability.

~~~
robbrown451
Technically I was saying I, as a parent, am excited to see it.

I don't know that older kids really need stability so much. I mean, maybe
overall, but I don't see why this is a big deal for them. (for the parents,
trying to juggle work and this? sure)

Kids adapt to stuff like this fine. If they really need stability so much,
maybe we should get rid of vacations...?

------
eries
If anyone is struggling with being an involuntary homeschooler (especially if
you are WFH and doing childcare at the same time), please reach out. I’m
trying to compile resources to help

And if you don’t have kids but want to help out, hit me up

~~~
daxfohl
Yup, I'm in Kirkland where it hit first in US. My sister in Cincinnati was
asking for advice on what things to stock up on. I said "nannies".

Fact is, everything is slowing down because everyone is in the same boat. It
seems like an unsurmountable problem at first, but after a few days of
everyone recognizing it's for the long haul, you quit worrying about it.

That said I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg and we'll look back
and wonder how we worried about such petty things.

This is going to hit small businesses hard because they can't just stop
hibernate for a while and survive. IDK what they'll do. I have a feeling this
recognition will hit and we'll realize how deep the economic dire straits we
really are in the next few days. And that's before we even start talking about
the medical part.

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bcrosby95
Several bay area school districts announced closures today too:
[https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/school-districts-around-
th...](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/school-districts-around-the-bay-area-
announce-closures-affecting-tens-of-thousands-of-students/ar-BB117f9D)

I live in southern California, and today the 4 school districts near us
announced 2-5 day closures for next week, with status updates coming
afterwards.

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evan_
Oregon just closed schools through March.

