My dh is currently reading Infinite Jest by Wallace outloud to my 19 and 16 year old sons. This was my 19yo's request because he is back from MIT and remembers so fondly his dad reading to him. The book he chose, however, is quite a doozy! So last night dh read for 2 hours while my older constructed a very complex origami bird and my younger practiced sword fighting with a 2 meter long fabric tube! He only hit the hanging light twice, which was pretty good for 2 hours of movement!

My sister is an engineering prof at a CC in Virginia. And she has worked very hard to get her department aligned to the UVA's engineering school so that all of her department's engineering courses are directly transferable to UVA

We opened back up 2 weeks ago with a max group size of ten and 1 meter social distancing still required. (Bars had an additional restriction that all patrons must be seated.) We open up to groups of 100 starting Friday midday which will now allow religious groups to meet. What I have found so far is that even in a safe place (3 new cases in 14 days, 97% of all cases recovered), people are only slowly coming back to the city (we live in a downtown neighborhood). It is taking people some time to remember what they used to do and to start doing it again. No masks here as the Director General of Health has not recommended them for NZ, but people are still walking a meter apart. I've seen people in restaurants and nightlife did start up again just a bit last weekend. I have also definitely noticed a huge reduction in the number of people using our local park during the day as they are now at work and their kids at school. Also, public transit is running at only 40% so there are still people working from home, which also reduces the number in the city obviously. Trains were completely down yesterday due to the earthquake (Did you guys see the Jacinda on live TV? -- seems to be all over the world news haha. Our building is concrete, so we did not even feel it, but she was in a building with base isolators which allow for LOTS of movement).

Short stories by Borges (Argentina) are excellent, and some of my older boy's all time favorites. He also LOVED Crime and Punishment, and it is not as long as other Russian classic works. We have never read Camus (France) but he was next on our list. If you've got the time The Luminaries (NZ) is outstanding and a great yarn. They are currently making the miniseries. But it is long!

We had lots of colors of construction paper to chose from, and each time he wanted to add a link, he had to pick the color, cut it out, and stand on a chair to staple it on. So the effort to add the link (way more than just a sticker), reinforced the effort it took for him to earned it. And strangely, standing on the chair to reach the chain was quite symbolic because he was reaching up. Also, the planning of *how* to make the chain go around the room, from bookshelf, to art, to curtain, etc, was also symbolic of planning how to achieve his goals. And while he was planning the chain's future location and color, he would simultaneously plan how to earn more links. There was a reason why he kept adding to the chain for so over a year. And even after he quit adding to it, it stayed up for at least a year longer. ETA: I just talked to younger ds, and he remembers the paper chain quite fondly a decade later. 🙂

I'm glad you like it! I made it up!

When my kids were younger, I focused on self-assessment. We created a paper chain that stretched around the family room ceiling, very publicly displayed. My son (age 6-8) could add a new link whenever he felt he had achieved a goal. It was a goal of his making (and obviously some influence by me as the parent, but he always considered it *his* goal). Each link was worth about 10 minutes of effort. Although we never made that rule, it just became the norm. When people would come into the family room, they would ask about the chain, and he could talk about how he had earned every link, and how he planned to make it grow longer. He was *very* proud of this chain, and he kept adding to it for over a year. Most days he judged himself worthy of 2 to 6 links. It was the best approach I ever found to deeply instill the desire to be the person he wanted to be, and to rely on his own judgement for a job well done rather than seek external reinforcement.

Haha. Not an official stand. One kid attaches his phone to a desk lamp. One has it cantilevered on top of a large vitamin bottle. Another has put it on top of a cereal box. It takes them about 5 minutes to come up with something, and I advise them on lowering/raising it or changing the direction because of shadowing etc. It has been pretty funny how unique each setup is. I did say *low* tech and cheap! 🙂

I tutor kids one on one. They only have a phone and a laptop. I simply have them design/construct a stand that can hold their phone about 8 inches away from their paper and point their camera down. Then, I can then see what they are writing while they are writing and give feedback. If I need to show them something, I point the camera to my paper rather than my face. Low tech, cheap option if all they have is a phone.

Excellent news! Congrats 8!

Buses and trains here are running at 40% occupancy, with seats blocked off. Because of this, many people are choosing to still work from home even though almost all workplaces are open. .

My guess is that it will be an emergent phenomenon rather than a coordinated decision. Everything I have read seems to point to people not trusting constantly changing government advice, so I think many will simply ignore it. So in my mind the national covid result will be the sum of 400 million people's individual choices, and these choices will be based on perceived risk in their area. So my expectation is that most elderly and immunocompromised will continue to stay home as much as possible, and people in hard hit cities will stay home. Not because the government tells them to, but because they don't feel safe going out. In localities where the risk is low (urban or rural), people will go out to work, shop, and play. This will continue in their location until there is a rise in cases, and then people will get scared, and stay home. My guess is that the time delay in this decision making will cause the hospitals to be overwhelmed for a time in that locality, because by the time people are scared, the growth rate will be on the steep part of the exponential curve. But I think this individual decision making will be done city by city, state by state, based on an evaluation of individual risk and individual needs -- so the poor will continue to go out to work longer than the rich. I am not convinced that once people are out of state mandated lockdown that they will ever do it again. I do not think that in and out will be accepted and complied with; however I do think that individuals will make the choice to stay home, and individual business will make the choice to control spread by behavior modification that their customers expect - for example each universities is making its own decisions, not coordinated by anyone. Basically, I see the American response as very American -- individual choice and freedom is all important. It may not be the most effective/coordinated course of action, but it reflects American values. I anticipate that covid will simply work its way around the USA for two years, peaking in different localities, until enough people get it or there is a vaccine that has been widely distributed.

Just a funny story about lockdown here 🙂 Social distancing rules under Level 2 has limited the number of people that can get into cafes and restaurants. For many people, that means having to wait outside for another patron to leave before they can get in for their favourite snack or caffeine fix - even if you're the Prime Minister. Jacinda Ardern was spotted waiting outside Olive Cafe on Cuba St on Saturday morning. Speaking to Stuff, a manager from the cafe said the Prime Minister had showed up without a booking, and waited outside with some other customers. "It was just a couple minutes, she was all good," he said. A diner at the cafe said they and some friends had just been seated when they saw Ardern, fiance Clarke Gayford, some friends and a bodyguard arrived. "But one of the workers had to awkwardly say it was full and there were no tables, and they left, and we were wondering if we should give them our table. "Mercifully it seems a group was then clearing out and one of the staff chased them down and they were seated."

We moved from Ohio to NZ 22 years ago for a two-year adventure, and never left. There was culture shock, and it lasted a full year. But we adapted, and decided to make this place our home.

Not me. The Director General of Public Health here has been doing continual evaluation of the research as the press has pushed him most days on why he is not recommending masks like many other nations. I trust him and his team as he has led us through this crisis with hardly a single error. He has said that in *our* situation (low risk) the use of masks is neutral, so he won't recommend them for the public. But I'm going to bow out of this conversation as I think I am just muddying the waters.

Maybe I am misunderstanding what is happening in the US. My understanding is that many localities are saying you need to wear a mask in public. No matter how long you are out. And then ktgrok said she wasn't even sure how effective they were. I was simply adding one point to the discussion. Masks are less effective if wet. That is all I am saying. And I personally have not seen that point made very often when people are talking about wearing masks. I am not commenting on policy nor on public transport.

Thinking more about public transport, maybe all public transport should require masks, but then you take it off and dry it out.

Right now our public transport is not full. My point was not about public transport, my point was that masks are ineffective if wet. So if you have one surgical mask, and need to wear it for a good part of the day (like for 4 hours), it could lead to harm as you can be more likely to get illness through a wet mask than no mask at all. I'm no doctor, just saying what has been discussed many times by our Director General of Health. He has said that in our situation (low risk area), the research suggests that the negatives and positives balance, and masks are neutral. The problem in the US, is that you really need to have one message, not a nuanced message, if you hope to have it followed. So I think that is why they are just saying masks for all regardless of the case numbers in an area.

My understanding is that they are not effective if they get damp, and can actually lead to more infection. Apparently disposable surgical masks need to be changed every hour due to the wetness caused by exhaling. This is why NZ (which has very low case numbers) is not recommending the public wear masks (even on public transport), but is requiring masks for workers whose job puts them in close contact with others (e.g., hair dressers, chiropractors, plumbers who come into your home, etc). The proper use of masks and the number of masks required for hourly changing, means that in a low risk area the government is providing them to only certain people. So the benefits of mask wearing depends on density of the virus in an area and if there are enough masks for regular changing.

Interesting. I could see how the news stories could be interpreted that way. But as far as I know, she has NO power for an executive order. In fact, there is no Executive branch here. She has one vote in the legislature, just like all other ministers. She is just the voice of the coalition government which is currently made up of 3 parties (2 of which are in the cabinet, the Greens are outside of cabinet).

She is acting as the voice. She does not have any more power really than any other minister, except a leadership role. There are around 20 ministers with portfolios (finance, environment, etc), and they form the 'cabinet' (not the same as the US cabinet because they are elected officials here not appointed). The current cabinet includes 2 parties - Labour and NZFirst (who has formed a collation with both conservative and liberal parties). This group of 20 makes the decisions, and our PM likes for all decisions to be unanimous, which means that Labour must compromise with NZFirst. However, the cabinet meetings are kept quiet, so we don't see the compromise in action. Our opposition party was asked to head the committee to evaluate the Covid response. Their role is to oppose, challenge, question. Their meetings have been public, and well publicized in the press. So it is a bit of a misrepresentation to suggest our PM has more power than say, the US president. It is just that here there is a single voice by design.

Interestingly, during the past 7 weeks is the first time I have seen true patriotism in NZ. A couple of random thoughts: I do think that it is the parliamentarian system here that has allowed for a coordinated response. There are pros and cons for different types of government, but in a pandemic a single voice has made for a calm, clear message. Because the parties in power vote as a block, no compromise is required with the opposition parties to implement policy. (NZ has 5+ parties, and runs an MMP system) There is obviously a problem with NZ's elimination approach if no vaccine can be found. But when the decision was made 2 months ago, there was huge uncertainty, as there still is. So while we wait, we wait in safety. Also, the one thing this approach has allowed for is a clear strategy for opening up the economy and our social life (which are happening at different times, economy first). NZ is small. I think that America has always had a problem because the density of the virus varies widely, so there needs to be different rules for different localities at different times. This is very difficult for the public to understand, support, and implement. It is just a really tough situation. 😞

Not anti-christian. This rule applies to ALL gatherings where the goal is socializing and only applies for 2 weeks, not forever. So my dh's martial arts class (which typically has 30 people) cannot have more than 10 people attend, because they all know each other so would be more likely to interact. Our homeschool swimming cannot meet because we have 30 kids who know each other, but the swimming pool can open for 100 people to swim if they don't know each other. The *key* differentiation is whether friends are gathering or whether strangers are sharing a facility. Also, when I said 'churches' that was a general term, not a christian term. So it applies to christian, jewish, muslim, hindu, and even atheist 'churches.' At movie theaters, people don't know each other and have no interest in interacting. This is not true at churches, sporting clubs, weddings, etc. The PM's point was that it would be hard to be apart for 7 weeks and then get together without some affection and physical contact. Churches were consulted, and agreed to continue online for 2 more weeks like many other groups. We will not sacrifice our hard won gains. We will not sacrifice our economy for 2 weeks of getting together. The focus here at this exact point in time is on opening up the economy NOT opening up our social life. Churches don't make money, so they fall into the second group. Keep in mind that NZ is going for the elimination strategy, so we need to be way more careful than the USA here at the beginning of a two year-long effort, so that we then can open up *completely* and interact normally because there will be NO virus here.

NZ opens up today. Business: All businesses are allowed to operate as long as they can meet social distancing rules of 1 meter. If they can't (hairdressers, chiropractors, etc) then they must use PPE which is available to them through the government, and follow strict cleaning rules. Pools, badminton halls, libraries, etc will be open but with numbers limited to size of facility with social distancing. Schools: All schools will open Monday. The Ministry of Education is currently working with schools to lay out individualized plans. Social: Five categories have been used. 1) If the goal is to stay with your own group and not interact with other groups (movies, restaurants, etc). These can open. Group size restricted to 10, but the facility can have as many people as allowed under social distancing rules. So you could have 100 people in a movie theater because the individual groups don't desire to interact with other groups, and they will be socially distanced. 2) If the goal is to socialize/interact with friends or acquaintances. (Churches, Weddings, birthday parties, etc). Group size restricted to 10. This means that churches can't open (unless for just 10 people) because the goal is to be *with* others and interact/socialize with them. The churches are on board with this. 3) If the goal is to socialize with strangers (bars). These are currently forbidden. When they open next week, they must follow the 3S rules: patrons must be seated, separated, and single server. Group size restricted to 10, but bars themselves can have multiple groups as long as 3S rules are followed. 4) Sports: Contact sports restricted to 10. Non-contact sports require social distancing. 5) Funerals are a separate group because these life events cannot be delayed. Group size restricted to 50, but with VERY strict social guidelines in place. Things like no food or drink, staggered viewing, social distancing, etc. One more thing: The entire public has been asked to keep track of who they are in contact with. And all stores, cafes, restaurants, etc must keep a register of all people who are in the facility each day. With a strict disposal schedule of 3 weeks. These policies will be reviewed in 2 weeks.

Seems to me that the number of contact tracers required has more to do with the number of cases being followed than the size of the population. NZ was able to contact tract a max of 80 cases/day with 200 contact tracers. That is a LOT of contact tracers required for some American states that seem to have like 2000 new cases a day. NZ has upped the contact tracing capability now that we are leaving lockdown to over 10,000 phone calls per day. But in addition, contact tracing requires access to other databases to find people - like police, immigration, health. When you are tracing people a positive person has come in contact with, clearly you call the people they know they have been near, but then you also have to figure out all the people in the restaurant they ate at, and all the people in the train when they went into work, and the shop clerk for the store they were in, etc. This is a very time consuming process, and requires lots of people to both call and to investigate.