Universities Fall 2020

[natshar]

Obviously right now pretty much all colleges are online for this semester. Most colleges have also made all summer classes online as well (at least all the ones in my state). But for some Universities nowadays the bulk of their summer courses are online anyways. Also, most campuses don't have as many resources, events and campus life during the summer. 

But now the issue is the fall. Do you guys think Universities will back in person come fall? I am not sure how this will play out.

[Merlin]

Obviously right now pretty much all colleges are online for this semester. Most colleges have also made all summer classes online as well (at least all the ones in my state). But for some Universities nowadays the bulk of their summer courses are online anyways. Also, most campuses don't have as many resources, events and campus life during the summer. 

But now the issue is the fall. Do you guys think Universities will back in person come fall? I am not sure how this will play out.

Considering that experts are saying we're going to be dealing with Covid-19 (and physical/social distancing) through the end of 2020 and possibly into 2021, I would hope that traditional B&M colleges are scrambling to develop online and distance learning materials if they want to stay afloat.

When it is safe to be on campus, they will still have the distance learning options available in case they want to retain online courses as a permanent option for remote students. This seems like it would be a great money maker for some of the schools as well since it costs a lot less to host online courses and they can do so in addition to their in-person students. I think the biggest hurdle to some of the colleges is that they just didn't see a need to invest the time and money. Now they have that need.

Plus, a lot of the larger, traditional schools are already participating in the MOOC community, so it shouldn't be a huge stretch to enable students to take those courses for credit.

My wife is a college educator and her school has been hesitant to support online courses. They are dealing with this challenge right now and have moved all their ongoing classes online for the near term. They're using web conferencing software right now, but are also starting to develop purely online content as well. I think they expect to be back in class for the summer session, but they seem to be preparing for a longer run if needs be.

[bluebooger]

everything will be back to normal by mid-July
people will NOT social distance during the summer

right now the police are kicking joggers off beaches and stopping people for taking day trips in their car

there is no way people will put up with this when its 85 F (29 C) outside

this is Sheep's Meadow in Central Park
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep_Mead...04_004.jpg

the place is packed in the summer with people getting some sun, relaxing and just getting out of their apartments

New Yorkers may be putting up with this social distancing now, but just wait until new york city's hot and humid summer shows up

unless the government is willing to have the police and national guard shut down and monitor all the beaches and all the city parks and all the city basketball courts then this will be over in 3 months

[dfrecore]

everything will be back to normal by mid-July    
people will NOT social distance during the summer          

right now the police are kicking joggers off beaches and stopping people for taking day trips in their car  

there is no way people will put up with this when its 85 F (29 C) outside  

unless the government is willing to have the police and national guard shut down and monitor all the beaches and all the city parks and all the city basketball courts then this will be over in 3 months

I am SO over this, and if I am (as an avid indoorsman who loves nothing better to lay in bed and read), you can BET everyone else is too.  My kids will NOT stay in past May 1 for sure.  I say people will start rebelling by the end of April, and unless we are physically forced to stay home, people won't.

[bjcheung77]

India and a few countries extended their lockdown, I think it's not going to subside until end of the summer, some experts indicate it maybe 6 months up to 18 months until things get back to more of a normal...

[Merlin]

I am also an avid indoor person, but I haven't left my home other than to check mail and such in like 6 weeks. I'd love nothing more than to get out and back to normal. But, from all accounts, we're still 9-18 months away from an effective, properly tested vaccine. We're going to need that, or some other way to mitigate the contagious aspects of this disease, before we can reopen en masse.

Personally, I suspect most states will relax the restrictions a bit during the summer, but I doubt things will be back to normal by then. If people rebel against the restrictions we can expect a larger surge of infections during the fall/winter.

My family is prepared for things to remain as they are until the fall at least, but I'd welcome a reprieve if some miracle happens between now and summer.

[LongRoad]

There was an article about being on a ventilator during this pandemic. As an older, overweight woman with blood pressure that could be better, I can tell you it's scary. The dementia, the PTSD, etc. - and that's if you're lucky and recover. If you're not lucky, you die alone in a hospital. The staff is too overwhelmed to provide you with the care that they would want you to have. (And my heart goes out to them. When this is over, and they have time to think and feel, it will be devastating I think.) 

I'll stay home as long as it's necessary.

[dfrecore]

If this turns out to be not as lethal as they've been saying, people won't care, and won't heed the restrictions. So far, this isn't even as deadly as a bad flu season. There is something to be said for people getting back to work - suicide rates and "deaths of despair" will skyrocket if this goes on for much longer. They will be higher than the Covid-19 deaths.

[Merlin]

If this turns out to be not as lethal as they've been saying, people won't care, and won't heed the restrictions.  So far, this isn't even as deadly as a bad flu season.  There is something to be said for people getting back to work - suicide rates and "deaths of despair" will skyrocket if this goes on for much longer.  They will be higher than the Covid-19 deaths.

Well, the main reason the death rates have been as low as they are has been because of the effect of people isolating and flattening the curve. In places where that didn't happen, or didn't happen as quickly, we can see how the infection rates (and total deaths) are way higher.

The whole point of isolation is to keep the number of people needing critical care low enough not to overwhelm the hospitals (and medicine / PPE manufacturing capacity) until we can find a vaccine or treatment for the disease. If we stop isolating before those happen, we'll end up like Italy where people were dying because they couldn't get into the hospitals since they were all way above capacity.

Yeah, it's been less than two months and people are already losing their minds, and it is only going to get worse from here. So, I'm with you... we need to figure out a way to relax some of the restrictions without reversing them all together in order to get through this. It doesn't seem reasonable to assume that the number of suicides will exceed the number of unmitigated deaths from COVID-19, but I do agree that we need to address that as a people. Maybe start offering free crisis counseling or therapy for people while this is going on? I know there are a number of app-based therapy services now, so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to work with them to make this happen.