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Old 13 March 2020, 10:20 PM   #1808
uscmatt99
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Chicago
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Savage View Post
The Governor of Michigan just closed all our public schools for the next 3 weeks.
I'm sure this was a tough decision, but I think it was the right call.

On the one hand it will force parents to stay home with their kids who were usually at school while they worked. In one way this is bad, especially if they are health care providers. However, that will also decrease that adult's exposure so they will be ready when needed. The other issue is there are a lot of poor children who rely on school meals for sustenance. I hope that communities quickly put together ways to distribute these meals en masse with financial support from state or federal coffers.

On the other hand, it will go a LONG way towards flattening the curve. We are in worse shape than Italy in terms of available hospital beds per citizen, protective gear, ability to test, etc. At this point I don't think we can be too aggressive with the approach of social distancing, as it's the best tool in the arsenal. If it's successful and we don't have people dying in the hallways, I'm sure there are people who will gleefully spout off "told you so, overreaction for nothing, look at the economic impact, blah blah blah" and so be it, I'll be able to sleep at night.
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