Surge of Student Suicides Pushes Las Vegas Schools to Reopen | Hacker News Reader

Surge of Student Suicides Pushes Las Vegas Schools to Reopen

nytimes.com

20 pointsclcuc11 comments

I think history is ultimately going to show that children were at far more risk from school closures than they were from Covid-19.

History will probably show that poorly implemented lockdowns and incompetent, corrupt government making lockdowns drag out to be the real culprit.

Do you believe this is also true of the situation in Europe?

Seems like lockdowns are getting a real "no true Scotsman" pass, if they don't halt the virus's spread it's because they just weren't sweeping and severe enough.

I have not into how they have been handled in Europe, so I would not be able to speak to that. I am comparing the US to eastern Asian countries and Australia/New Zealand.

Have you looked at Japan lately? At their peak in early January they were seeing a new case rate that was the equivalent of about 20,000 cases per day in the U.S. Still a pretty far cry from our own rate of spread, but a pretty challenging data point to the idea that "competent lockdowns" are a silver bullet. Meanwhile you can't even get a deaths count from China and their standard for a "positive test" is very different from the Western countries'.

Australia and New Zealand have been in their summer months. Being relatively isolate-able islands perhaps they will be able to keep Covid "out," but NZ did just report its first case of community spread in months as their autumn gets started.

I find it laughable for anyone to suggest the US couldn't have done much better with the time and resources available.

We had a President who denied its very existence/threat. We have mega-churches and weddings of thousands of people. We have governors and other local leaders who STILL refuse to wear masks in public. We have states allowing large public sporting events. We have representatives and entertainment news networks pushing laughable conspiracy theories at an alarming volume - all of which empower and support the anti-mask movement. We have grown adults throwing temper tantrums in private businesses for having to wear a mask.

That masks and covid prevention measures became politicized at all will be one of the greatest shames of our generation.

> I find it laughable for anyone to suggest the US couldn't have done much better with the time and resources available.

Who suggested that?

Anyway, the idea that widespread pandemic denial or refusal to follow precautions is the reason for Covid's spread is just wrong: https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/23/put-straw-man-pandemic-d...

"The claim is a straw man: there is no epidemic of pandemic denial. Polls since March have shown that Americans overwhelmingly aren’t in denial: They believe the threat of Covid-19 is real, they are reasonably good at identifying medical misinformation, and they are largely complying with public health recommendations. Compared to their peers in Europe, Americans are more willing to get vaccinated against Covid-19, similarly likely to wear masks, and no more prone to believe common conspiracy theories about the pandemic’s origins.

The U.S.’s response to Covid-19 has been bungled in many respects, but widespread public denial doesn’t explain why."

12/23/20 . 9-12 months into the pandemic a poll shows people taking it seriously. 350k deaths into a pandemic a poll shows people taking it seriously. Show me a credible poll (is that an oxymoron?) 1-6 months where Americans took it seriously into the pandemic and i'll happily concede most of my point.

Related: For Japan, you can look at this [0] very detailed website. You can click on English to read it in that language.

[0]: https://covid-2019.live/

In my opinion, it’s going to highlight how society has shifted to a reality where the vast majority of parents can’t properly look out for their children.

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