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LOL, getting low, darn it. Gonna have to get my rear in gear soon.
I've had my issues with academia for quite some time now.
I just checked the graduation rates and apparently it now takes 6 years to get a BA. The graduation rate for 4 years is 33% and 6 years is 57%. Less than half of the students who pay for a college degree actually graduate and receive the diploma. The college keeps their money of course. And the degree that most college students receive is merely a certification. It's not like they learned much. You can tell by just talking to them. They don' know anything - they just managed to stick it out for 4-6 years without dropping out. Ask 'em about literature or philosophy and you get shallow defensive answers. College has two purposes. One, to teach a profession. Two, to teach a well-rounded humanities background, so that you'll appear to be intelligent and well read, to know what the Greek muses were - maybe even name one or two of them. History can be very useful to an adult, but I can't find a college graduate who knows much of it.So if this virus can shake things up, I'll be pleased. But ...
I love to crunch numbers, so I watch our daily counts closely and search for answers when I have questions. The State has just updated their reporting page and they've added data such as what percentage of "hospitalized" patients are in ICU (about a third). They track positives and deaths by age group, daily. They report daily tests, both unique and repeat, and track the positive ratio on a graph. Lotsa data to look at.
And for the past 6-7 months, it's the people 20-40 yrs old that show the most positives - about half of the total, and it's the old people that die. In the 20-40 group, 2 people have died. In the 0-20 group (students) ... none have died, and only 5 were ever hospitalized. So out of 200,000 tests of unique individuals and 10,000 positives, 2 people under 40 have died. Two. I repeat ... TWO under 40 years old. TWO.
The 70+ group represents only 18% of all positives, yet 107 have died Statewide. That's out of a total of 138 deaths. That's 77% of all deaths from just 18% of the population!
I repeat - TWO of them under 40 have died.
The numbers are vague but it appears that for young people, the flu is 5-10 times more deadly. And in my entire life, I don't ever recall anyone dying of the flu.
Opinions are opinions and feelings are feelings, and I wouldn't want to interfere in any of that, but I keep watching the numbers month by month and they don't change. Students are in NO danger at all from this virus. None. It's the kiss of death for the very old. BIG difference. Unlike other viruses, this is especially safe for the young and especially deadly for the old. Out of 8300 positives under 60 yrs old, 15 have died. Fifteen under 60 yrs old. In 8 months. 15 out of 8300. For those over 60 yrs old, 123 out of 1700 positives have died.
I don't expect politicians to tell us the truth, but it's disturbing that academia won't either. Smart, well-educated educators would have checked it all out and firmly explained to (taught) people that's there's absolutely nothing to fear. (This is where the "experts" work, right?)
Anyone over 60 should be very careful about exposure to the virus. Younger people should be very careful about exposing the elderly to the virus. But the faster it runs through the younger population, the faster we can return to normal. It doesn't kill them. Period.
TWO people under 40 out of 10,000 positives. TWO. Under 40. Under 40 have been 70% of all positives. TWO deaths from 70% of the positives. 136 deaths from the 30% over 40. That's somewhere around 100 times more deadly for those over 40.
Jus' sayin' ...
Maybe I could teach 'em how. Oof, can you imagine that conversation? It's almost worth giving it a try. Given the choice of excuses between stupidity and venality, I'm always startled when people choose stupidity, as if that's any better. Nah, I should call it ignorance - they can't actually be that stupid. Ignore-ance. They ignore the truth.
I had to carve a new one for mine.