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Comment by pera | Hacker News Reader

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

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/coronavirus-inslee-announce...

I was hoping they'd limit it to 100, or even 50. I don't see what 200+ gatherings they believe are safe to the public at this point.

There's little downside to decisions like this- healthcare is most likely going to be overwhelmed even with these changes, may as well do everything you can.

Be a leader. Make the tough decisions now.

Even under 250 needs special precautions and plan

They did.

All public gatherings are banned without special precautions. All larger than 250 are now banned even with special precautions.

The entire country of Denmark has just ban gatherings of more than 100 and basically shutdown the country.

Not just Seattle. All of Washington.

Everything I've read says the Seattle area; specifically, King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. Do you have a source for "all of Washington" state?

You’re correct. I’d delete my previous comment but it’s stuck there, etched in stone

That seems more reasonable.

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.

This one also came just a few minutes ago:

https://kuow.org/stories/seattle-public-schools-closes-for-t...

My understanding is that the ban also excludes work.

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...

Gotta feel for any people getting married this weekend...

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)!

It doesn't affect large employers or schools because those things aren't "public events".

The idea here is to reduce, not eliminate, large numbers of people coming together, especially cases where it's going to be a one-off grouping of people who may not normally be in the same place at one time. Depending on the event, it could also involve people traveling from somewhere else, which is also useful to reduce. (Corporate campuses and schools don't fall into that bucket.)

It's a trade off. Saying "no more large employers and no more schools" just isn't feasible from an economic or public education standpoint. Individual organizations can decide for themselves whether or not they want to shut down.

It's a continuum. On one end there's "everyone is hereby confined to their homes and may not leave", and on the other it's "we're making no changes; everyone just do what they usually do". The first one is way too restrictive, and the second one ignores the reality of the situation. The sweet spot is somewhere in between. Picking and choosing what types of gatherings of large numbers of people to allow can help slow spread. Could they restrict more? Sure, but a lot of people (myself included) might consider that unreasonable.

Does the outbreak need to be larger million+ or deadlier for you to consider it reasonable?

> How does that affect employers with more than that number on campus at any one time?

Is a day in the office a 'public event'? No. So I guess it doesn't effect affect it.

The way I do it it is.

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