Are parents having their kids social distance in your area?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Sometimes, when people simply will not do the right thing for the greater good, social shaming is our only way of fighting back.

Social shaming works, but it has to be directed and it has to be personal. Too many people today are afraid to shame others. But social shaming is actually helpful to our society overall.

Glass houses and all that. Social shaming is perfect..when one is perfect as well

I'm not normally a fan of social shaming especially in this situation with exception to breaking true real quarantine (14 day because you've tested positive or are considered presumptive positive).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't think it takes anything even close to perfection for this to work - just everyone (or a high enough percentage) trying. Every bit of distancing reduces the R0, imperfect though it may be.

Reading a lot of people's posts and social media posts a good number of people really do expect full compliance, perfect adherence to the orders or behaviors CDC or public health officials have suggested (which have changed, flip flopped, isn't the same throughout the U.S., etc), etc. Purely my opinion but I believe many are doing their part. Not everyone agrees with what part that is though hence the back and forth and frustrations and posts on social media, etc.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Glass houses and all that. Social shaming is perfect..when one is perfect as well

Nope - don't have to be perfect to shame someone if they are doing something morally reprehensible.

 

[mombrontrent]

My three kids ages 13-20 have been hanging out with their friends again in small numbers, mostly outside.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Reading a lot of people's posts and social media posts a good number of people really do expect full compliance, perfect adherence to the orders or behaviors CDC or public health officials have suggested (which have changed, flip flopped, isn't the same throughout the U.S., etc), etc. Purely my opinion but I believe many are doing their part. Not everyone agrees with what part that is though hence the back and forth and frustrations and posts on social media, etc.

I agree - every model builds in some degree of imperfection in our implementation of social distancing policies. It only falls apart when a certain mass chooses to ignore them.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

I believe the stay at home orders primary purpose was to alleviate stress on the medical facilities. We have done that. If the facilities become stressed again, we have a new stay at home order. We can not stay at home forever.

Life goes on.

Seven weeks is forever? Here's the thing. You're threatening the hospital staff who are NOT staying home.

Just to address your point - the mortality rate is only part of the story.

They are finding that if the virus isn't fatal, it IS causing long term lung damage. And they are still investigating the blood clotting issue that seems to accompany younger people contracting the virus, but that has dangerous implications as well. That is in addition to the fact that the lockdown was never meant to STOP the spread, just slow it enough that hospitals wouldn't become overwhelmed. They are still overwhelmed in MANY parts of the country (mine included). Maintaining social distancing and wearing a mask around other people contributes to keeping the flow of new cases and the hospital loads at manageable levels. Opening things back up and then locking down again if hospitals become overwhelmed again is akin to sticking your finger in a dam full of cracks - it's not an "IF" scenario.

What is going to mitigate this in the future is a vaccine and a better handle on treatments that get people healthy again with minimal long term damage (we're not there yet but there's progress every day). In the meantime, maintaining social distancing and doing our part to keep our germs from spreading to others IS slowing the spread enough to keep medical resources from drowning and buying us precious time - which means if people listen and follow guidelines, things CAN reopen slowly sooner than later. If people don't listen, it's literally going to drag things on longer.

Thank you! While I've seen the blood clotting making the news, the necrotic lung damage is what everyone working directly with the patients is talking about. Neither situation is an ideal way to live.

I have no doubts that there are still plenty of unknowns.

Based on the current data, I believe the risk to myself and my kids to be extremely low. Will that change in the future? Perhaps. Not long ago I thought based on the current data that the risk was extremely high.

In my area the hospitals were never overwhelmed and the stay at home orders have been lifted.

By venturing out we are not breaking any rules. When required we wear a mask. I still don't make unnecessary trips.

Everyone runs their own internal risk analysis. Mine says I am good to start living life again.

Do you not understand that the hospitals in your area were not overwhelmed because of the precautions taken? I'm sorry but everything I'm hearing from you is that as long as you are not tragically effected, everything is fine.

 

[leebee]

Here's the thing... it's not about the risk to you and your kids, it's about the risk to EVERYONE as a whole. It's too bad people won't just wear their masks, keep their distance, and not gather in groups. These things seem to be effective in mitigating spread of the virus. Yes, you'll still be vulnerable, but the more time towards a vaccine we can buy, the less chance there will be of getting sick because there will be a vaccine available. I believe that if people would follow those three guidelines, we could open things back up. Unfortunately, it's become abundantly clear that people won't follow these suggestions, so I believe it's going to get far worse before we find a vaccine or a treatment.

 

[kdonnel]

Seven weeks is forever? Here's the thing. You're threatening the hospital staff who are NOT staying home.

Do you not understand that the hospitals in your area were not overwhelmed because of the precautions taken? I'm sorry but everything I'm hearing from you is that as long as you are not tragically effected, everything is fine.

We are not going to agree.

You are speaking in exaggerations.

I did what was asked of me with the stay at home order. I am doing what is asked of me now that it has been lifted and the rules changed.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

We are not going to agree.

You are speaking in exaggerations.

I did what was asked of me with the stay at home order. I am doing what is asked of me now that it has been lifted and the rules changed.

I know we are not. But perhaps you should spend a day with someone on the front lines. They are still asking you to take precautions.

 

[Tink9721]

We just had the first really nice weekend up here in RI, and I definitely noticed a lot of extra people in the neighborhood, both adults and kids. Our stay at home order is supposed to be lifted on Friday, but the governor said that people needed to stay home over the weekend to make that happen. If the rest of the state looked like our neighborhood, I think we're in for another two weeks of lockdown.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Nope - don't have to be perfect to shame someone if they are doing something morally reprehensible.

Morals by principle are dependent on what someone's morals are.

I think, IMO, most agree on the quarantine aspect. Other things fall into areas not everyone will agree on.

I've mentioned it before about my friend I know who harps on people doing this or that and yet also says she went to 4 or 5 stores in the same day to get all she needed (for groceries). That's the kind of situations I think play out a lot.

 

[siren0119]

Based on the current data, I believe the risk to myself and my kids to be extremely low. Will that change in the future? Perhaps. Not long ago I thought based on the current data that the risk was extremely high.

To you and your kids - the risk may be low. But the distancing and mask measures are to prevent you and your kids from putting someone else in danger. That's the fallacy present in a lot of arguments I hear about why it should be ok to gather, open up, and basically remove precautions. Ultimately you and yours may be fine, but you and yours could also inadvertently infect hundreds of others, of which some may die and some may suffer long term damage. That's not meant to drive fear, but understanding. Temporary measures executed by the general public can and do ensure that spread is slowed and people who need medical intervention are able to get it in a timely fashion.

In all honesty I think it's disingenious (and that's not a dig at you) to continue with the mantra "if people would only listen" because clearly that is not driving the decision making. You'll also have people convincing themselves they are complying with the order or the spirit of the order and yet they exhibit behaviors that aren't. Very few of us I think can claim we're perfect throughout this whole thing.

True - not everyone is doing it perfectly, and even "perfectly" is changing as we get more information and learn more. But being perfect isn't necessarily the bar when some folks are opting to decide that making an effort isn't even worth their inconvenience.

We just had the first really nice weekend up here in RI, and I definitely noticed a lot of extra people in the neighborhood, both adults and kids. Our stay at home order is supposed to be lifted on Friday, but the governor said that people needed to stay home over the weekend to make that happen. If the rest of the state looked like our neighborhood, I think we're in for another two weeks of lockdown.

A friend was down in Narragansett on Saturday and was appalled at how many people were out without masks. Walking in close proximity, nobody bothering to distance from other walkers. Sometimes New England grit is a good thing, sometimes it's the pin in the grenade.

 

[RapunzelIsMyHomeGirl]

Yup! If I look at things objectively, and not based on being upset at the rule breakers, everyone around here is doing awesome!!! Parents are keeping their kids home. I don't see the normal friend groups together. I see things like 2 friends sitting 12 feet apart on the sidewalk with masks on. Or 4 cars in the school parking lot 15 feet apart in a square with the kids sitting on top of their car. But those are the (great!) outliers. Otherwise there really aren't that many out. Obviously I can't see in homes, but I feel like everyone is working really hard. I could find rule breakers everywhere but I can outnumber them with rule followers I see. Great job everyone!!!!

 

[soccerdad72]

Overall, I think most families around us are following suit. Of course, we happen to have two neighbors who in the past few weeks seem to be the 'hangout' place for teens. One family behind us has had a number of kids all hanging out and jumping on their trampoline throughout the day. Another house across the street from us apparently is hosting sleepovers - at least based on the number of cars parked outside their house throughout the night.

It's a little frustrating when you tell your own kids that they can't get together with their friends but look out their back window and see a group of kids doing that very same thing. And in the one house's case, the mom is a nurse who I know is in a high-infection rate hospital, so I don't know if having other people's kids over there is the best idea.

 

[FigmentSpark]

The problem with the kids is that the parents may be at risk, not the kids. We had to explain that to our teens early on. They may feel invincible, but we are not and further, the parents of their friends are not. They got it pretty quickly when we put it that way... particularly when I showed my older DS where we kept the wills and gave him the phone number for his aunt, in the event of our deaths.

 

[Colleen27]

Ppl were here a first but now ppl are over it. More & more ppl are letting their kids play together.

Same here. Particularly with the weather getting nicer, it is just such a constant fight to keep an active kid indoors and away from friends that I think many have started making exceptions out of fatigue.

Sometimes, when people simply will not do the right thing for the greater good, social shaming is our only way of fighting back.

Social shaming works, but it has to be directed and it has to be personal. Too many people today are afraid to shame others. But social shaming is actually helpful to our society overall.

It also has to have roots in well-established and widely-accepted norms, which we don't have in this situation.

My problem with the shaming is that in many cases, in my area at least, it isn't based on science or on local lockdown rules but rather on what the most self-righteous true-believers think we should be doing. The things I'm seeing people shamed for right now are allowed activities that the shamers don't think should be allowed - hiking, for example, or socially distanced visits with neighbors/family - not things that are actually breaking rules or putting people at risk.

 

[LSUmiss]

Same here. Particularly with the weather getting nicer, it is just such a constant fight to keep an active kid indoors and away from friends that I think many have started making exceptions out of fatigue.



It also has to have roots in well-established and widely-accepted norms, which we don't have in this situation.

My problem with the shaming is that in many cases, in my area at least, it isn't based on science or on local lockdown rules but rather on what the most self-righteous true-believers think we should be doing. The things I'm seeing people shamed for right now are allowed activities that the shamers don't think should be allowed - hiking, for example, or socially distanced visits with neighbors/family - not things that are actually breaking rules or putting people at risk.

And social shaming would not work on me. Sorry. I don’t care what anyone thinks about anything I do for the most part. Plus here, most ppl are over it...at least the ppl I see out & that I come in contact with. So, I’m not sure who would do the shaming.

 

[Tink9721]

A friend was down in Narragansett on Saturday and was appalled at how many people were out without masks. Walking in close proximity, nobody bothering to distance from other walkers. Sometimes New England grit is a good thing, sometimes it's the pin in the grenade.

Yup Good thing RI beaches and parks are still closed or this weekend would've been so much worse.

 

[Colleen27]

Yup Good thing RI beaches and parks are still closed or this weekend would've been so much worse.

Would it? Or would the people who want to be out have had more space to spread out? A common thread with the packed parks is that most have been in places where some are open and some are closed - the OC beaches, for example - so everyone flocks to the limited spaces that are open. Would thousands of people go to the same place if there were other parks/beaches open? Would more people come out if more were open, or would the numbers be fairly constant and the demand more spread out?

 

[Kittyblue]

I've seen groups of teens hanging out together at the park, which is also closed. On one hand it has to suck being away from your friends/bf/gf at that age, but on the other hand there's so many ways to connect through social media and video calls.