Happy to hear the update!!

That all sounds wonderful! Was the pinning ceremony virtual? I think it will be really nice to have the summer to lay low!

Anyone else have a college senior graduate this spring? My "homeschooled pre-K to 12th" had her online ceremony a couple weeks ago, graduating with high honors with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a certificate (her school's version of a minor) in Chinese Language and Culture. She won a couple of awards that came with cash, which was useful as she enters adult life with all its expenses. She has struggled with health issues for the last year, so it was great to see her finish on time and with bonus achievements too. Originally she had hoped to go to grad school this year, but the health stuff interfered with her pulling it together to complete the GRE and take on applications. The companies that were showing lots of interest pre-Covid, and seemed strong options for employment stopped hiring for now. So, she is living with her sister in the Southwest and doing a remote 3 month job and feeling pretty lucky to get that. Their area is still quite locked down, but hopefully other possibilities open up, and in the meantime she is prepping for grad school apps, doing a lot of running, and living on the cheap 🙂 I'd love to hear about the other grads.

If he only sent a couple of requests, I would be surprised if he had found a match. Baylor is a huge school, and I think it's going to be really hard to generalize how things will go from early online interactions. Add to that that people are probably being really cautious about making commitments in regard to school not knowing how things will play out. Once school starts, no one is going to be thinking about whether his housing situation is the result of an random, school-arranged roommate assignment. Do you feel like he is well prepared for life with a roommate, and all its frustrations? From the way you have described him, it might not be a bad idea to check into singles. The room could be an oasis for him, and he can wander out to meet friends. As others have said, clubs, other sorts of groups are going to be the most likely source of relationship. For my oldest, it was a church group called Wesley Club. For my recent college grad, it was running club. worship team, and academic departmental relationships.

If a person is not coughing/sneezing, it makes sense that casual contact with that person carries a low risk of transmission. There are probably factors that compound the risk though: very close physical contact, sharing a small enclosed space, possibly singing or another situation where air is being forcefully exhaled in an enclosed space. This does not surprise me at all. I've been through two rounds of (confirmed by testing) diagnosed flu with my teen daughter in the last two years. I am not vaccinated, but have yet to get the flu, even with an active case in the house. We are not a very physical/touchy family though (for better or for worse).

Functional Neurological Disorder is another possibility. I've had to learn quite a lot about the condition after my daughter suddenly developed limb tremors last May. It presents in many ways. I've come to realize that the "seizures" my mother had were likely symptoms of FND. It can present as muscle weakness, paralysis, brain fog, tremors, respiratory issues...a variety of ways. Here's a link: https://fndhope.org/

The YouTube video I was using to set up a website suggested this one. A low res logo is free, though they do offer the opportunity to purchase a high res version for a reasonable price.. Low res works fine for online use. https://logomakr.com/

I am going to be no help, but I can tell you what our experience was...unsuccessful :-) JH does have AP Chinese and my daughter qualified as far as SAT score, BUT, there is also a pre-test for AP Chinese, and they did not think she qualified after taking it. There was no way around the test, and I suppose it probably makes sense. It is probably somewhat challenging to drop into the 4th year of an ongoing class. My daughter ended up doing a semester of Chinese at the local university that year, but then the second semester class was cancelled. She decided at that point to go back to her Chinese tutor and prep for AP Chinese that way. It is the only AP test on which she scored under a 5 :-) She just graduated with a minor in Chinese though, and knew enough to place into second year Mandarin when she got to college.

The governor did make that “80%” statement, but ultimately it did not prove to be true, at least as far as the initial arrests.

I’m so glad you posted. I lived on Longfellow many years ago (my friend that owned the house just sold it in the last month)and have been following this news closely. I was back in the area in December. It had become so vibrant and this is a heartbreak.

I’ve seen them online, not in use in the community. I can’t imagine that wearing plastic on the face for any length of time is comfortable/healthy, though I guess I’d have to see them in person.

My husband has had an antibody test along with a couple of Covid tests. No Obvious symptoms but his work wanted these. Testing is plentiful in our state. All of his have been negative. Our state has a very low number of cases in general.

It’s a difficult situation for deaf/HOH who rely on lip reading too

My husband is involved in testing mask sterilization methods for a local hospital. You can do it in the oven at 170F for 30 min, though some home ovens don't maintain a consistent temperature. A rice cooker is a simpler home option with the steam effectively sterilizing the mask.

Google the Get My Payment IRS link and have her plug in her info. it was wonky for a while but I think it is working pretty well now.

My understanding from reading the various local articles and community discussion (I went to college for nursing in the Twin Cities and still have a number of connections there) is that elective surgeries were recently started up again. There was a big backlog, not surprisingly, and those cases are filling the ICUs, along with Covid patients. The situation in the ICUs does bear watching, but it would be a mistake to attribute it entirely to Covid (past the fact that the closures created this delay of surgeries.)

Yes, two of mine, so far. Pretty significant familial history of depression/anxiety, though I have been spared. My oldest had a serious suicide attempt, 6 years ago, at age 19 (ended up on ventilator.) She is doing great! After the attempt, she spent about 2 1/2 months in a couple of facilities, and then there was a partial hospitalization program. It took about 6 months after that to find the right therapy program, but once we did, she stuck with that for a couple years. She graduated college, got married to her high school sweetheart, and is now in a new location (where she has been on a waiting list for a therapist for over a year, unfortunately.) She is working and starts grad school in the fall, with a graduate assistant position. She was on antidepressants for quite a while, but now is just on ADHD meds (which she was not on at the time of the attempt, but probably could have used.) My second daughter got hit hard with depression during freshman year of college, and started meds the next summer. Made a huge difference for her. Then halfway through junior year, she went off meds on her own. It did not work out well. She developed a functional movement disorder (essentially stress converts to movements; for her, this was primarily in the arms and legs, though there has been some respiratory involvement.) She got back on meds and went to a specialized therapy program directed at the movement disorder. The movement problem is well controlled now. I would not say her depression is perfectly managed, though she is stable enough. She had to go to a new state when college closed, and it has been no small thing finding a doc to help her. Very limited mental health services due to the closures.

I haven't really run into anyone too worked up about online school here, but I think it is because the local schools set the bar super low. Elementary kids had their year essentially end in March. No expectations for schooling. Similar for middle school. High schoolers do have online work, but as long as they regularly sign in/engage, they are guaranteed the same grade that they had at the end of third quarter (they can improve that grade though.)

Likely it is more because you are politically inclined to dislike him than because of your and your husband's degrees :-) But, granted, he is obnoxious and clearly a narcissist, and not a scientist.

Agreed. That is what is interesting to me in the whole backlash again HCQ. He really did not speak strongly in favor of using the drug or tout it as a miracle cure. He mentioned it as a possibility that was being researched, in what appeared to be an attempt to inject some optimism into the discussion. Which is really fine/appropriate for a non-physician to do. And people lost their minds over it.

It does seem that, given the potential weakness of various metrics for admission, it would make sense to want to view as much information as possible about any given student. It also seems that the increased focus on GPA is going to lead to a lot of pressure on teachers to inflate grades.

It's truly unfortunate if political bias slows down the development of a promising treatment. I don't see any conspiracy, but hopefully one does not find themselves under the care of the doc who doggedly refuses to consider a particular med in order to avoid lending credence to a political figure.

Individual docs/scientists offer all sorts of opinions that are not necessarily accurate.

With all due respect, and speaking as someone with a healthcare background who is close to people working in the field, the "science" is far from settled. I do understand the anxiety that a perceived "free for all" provokes. Humans have a strong need to "do something" when faced with crisis. It is likely that many of the measures put in place will prove to have been of little value, and even possibly/probably harmful as far as many measures of health.

I'm not sure they are rejecting that precisely. Some may be, certainly. They may be uncertain that the mask wearing is the best way forward. Again, perhaps there is value to the possibility of herd immunity. It may be better for younger people to get the virus now rather than suffer more severe consequences with becoming infected in their senior years.