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Maximus1
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Asymptomatic still spreads.
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CatholicBlobfish
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After having read Liberty’s rebuttal to the accusations that what they’re doing is unsafe, it seems like they’re not doing anything unreasonable. My public university still allows students to stay in dorms because a large amount of our students are international and do not have another place to stay, and returning to their home nation would generally be even more unsafe than remaining on campus and taking online classes from their dorms.
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Peeps
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Liberty University has a lovely synchronized skating team! Here’s a link:
www.liberty.edu
I pray that the students who are choosing to stay on campus will have protection from this virus. It truly does sound like the University is making every effort to provide a safe home for their students.
Liberty University Club Sports - Official Athletics Website
The official athletics website for the Liberty University Club Sports
I pray that the students who are choosing to stay on campus will have protection from this virus. It truly does sound like the University is making every effort to provide a safe home for their students.
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Maximus1
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They need to hire the Mardi Gras consultant if they really want to get the virus off the ground. These are all selfish and shortsighted acts.
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dvdjs
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Absurd. There are many universities that have made heroic efforts to provide for the safety of their students in this epidemic,. Liberty University has done essentially nothing.
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Nepperhan
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"So Mr. Falwell — a staunch ally of President Trump and an influential voice in the evangelical world — reopened the university last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. Eppes said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.
“Liberty will be notifying the community as deemed appropriate and required by law,” Mr. Falwell said in an interview on Sunday when confronted with the numbers. He added that any student now returning to campus would be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
“I can’t be sure what’s going on with individuals who are not being tested but who are advised to self-isolate,” said Kerry Gateley, the health director of the Central Virginia Health District, which covers Lynchburg. “I would assume that if clinicians were concerned enough about the possibility of Covid-19 disease to urge self-isolation that appropriate screening and testing would be arranged.”
After initial publication of this article, the university said it had asked four students who returned from the New York area and two of their roommates to self-quarantine, but none of them were referred for testing and none had symptoms. One student who returned from a county with a high number of cases was running a fever and had a cough. He was tested and elected to go home pending the results rather than self-isolate, the university said."
www.nytimes.com
“Liberty will be notifying the community as deemed appropriate and required by law,” Mr. Falwell said in an interview on Sunday when confronted with the numbers. He added that any student now returning to campus would be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
“I can’t be sure what’s going on with individuals who are not being tested but who are advised to self-isolate,” said Kerry Gateley, the health director of the Central Virginia Health District, which covers Lynchburg. “I would assume that if clinicians were concerned enough about the possibility of Covid-19 disease to urge self-isolation that appropriate screening and testing would be arranged.”
After initial publication of this article, the university said it had asked four students who returned from the New York area and two of their roommates to self-quarantine, but none of them were referred for testing and none had symptoms. One student who returned from a county with a high number of cases was running a fever and had a cough. He was tested and elected to go home pending the results rather than self-isolate, the university said."
Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too (Published 2020)
The decision by the school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., to partly reopen his evangelical university enraged residents of Lynchburg, Va. Then a student tested positive for Covid-19.
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Nepperhan
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" “We think it’s irresponsible for so many universities to just say ‘closed, you can’t come back,’ push the problem off on other communities and sit there in their ivory towers,” Mr. Falwell said on Wednesday on a radio show hosted by Todd Starnes, a far-right conspiracy theorist.
“We’re conservative, we’re Christian, and therefore we’re being attacked,” he said.
Michael Gillette, a former mayor of Lynchburg and a bioethicist now working with its hospitals on rationing scarce ventilators, disagrees.
“To argue that criticism of Liberty is based on political bias is unfounded and unreasonable,” he said. “Liberty just did not take this threat as seriously as others have.”
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, Lynchburg city officials and a growing number of Liberty students, parents and employees have urged Mr. Falwell to reverse course, but such pleas have only prompted a stream of often conflicting statements.
“Our messages did change throughout the week as the governor’s orders changed,” Mr. Falwell said. “We had to adapt.”
Mr. Falwell initially said only international students or those with nowhere else to go would remain. Then he welcomed back a much larger group of about 1,900 students to campus housing last week, in addition to faculty members and staff. Others returned to off-campus rentals in Lynchburg.".
“We’re conservative, we’re Christian, and therefore we’re being attacked,” he said.
Michael Gillette, a former mayor of Lynchburg and a bioethicist now working with its hospitals on rationing scarce ventilators, disagrees.
“To argue that criticism of Liberty is based on political bias is unfounded and unreasonable,” he said. “Liberty just did not take this threat as seriously as others have.”
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, Lynchburg city officials and a growing number of Liberty students, parents and employees have urged Mr. Falwell to reverse course, but such pleas have only prompted a stream of often conflicting statements.
“Our messages did change throughout the week as the governor’s orders changed,” Mr. Falwell said. “We had to adapt.”
Mr. Falwell initially said only international students or those with nowhere else to go would remain. Then he welcomed back a much larger group of about 1,900 students to campus housing last week, in addition to faculty members and staff. Others returned to off-campus rentals in Lynchburg.".
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ATraveller
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MSN presumably has the same article but without the paywall:
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/worl...nts-and-coronavirus-too/ar-BB11SEWS?li=AA524b
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/worl...nts-and-coronavirus-too/ar-BB11SEWS?li=AA524b
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ThinkingSapien
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Nearly a Dozen Liberty U. Students Sick With Coronavirus Symptoms After Falwell Reopened Campus
The evangelical school let 1,900 students back on campus last week.
www.thedailybeast.com
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meltzerboy2
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This is what my comment was based on.
Cathoholic, what about that last paragraph which states Jerry Falwell welcomed back a much larger number of students, about 1900, in addition to the immigrant population? Do you think the NYT got that wrong insofar as its sources are concerned, or that they are intentionally smearing the behavior of a conservative leader, Mr. Falwell?
Regardless, students, and I presume faculty as well, are coming down with the virus, and the immediate result of this is not too good for the off-campus residents in the community of Lynchburg, nor the state of Va., nor the country.
And what about the dorm life of these students, international or otherwise? Is there adequate supervision with regard to social distancing and the like? Or are students, misguided by their leaders, congregating in groups, studying together, praying together, or even having coronavirus parties? I’m all for the “continuity of learning,” a phrase which educators toss out to justify online learning for those students who want it, but NOT at the expense of the health and lives of students, faculty, and town residents.
Cathoholic, what about that last paragraph which states Jerry Falwell welcomed back a much larger number of students, about 1900, in addition to the immigrant population? Do you think the NYT got that wrong insofar as its sources are concerned, or that they are intentionally smearing the behavior of a conservative leader, Mr. Falwell?
Regardless, students, and I presume faculty as well, are coming down with the virus, and the immediate result of this is not too good for the off-campus residents in the community of Lynchburg, nor the state of Va., nor the country.
And what about the dorm life of these students, international or otherwise? Is there adequate supervision with regard to social distancing and the like? Or are students, misguided by their leaders, congregating in groups, studying together, praying together, or even having coronavirus parties? I’m all for the “continuity of learning,” a phrase which educators toss out to justify online learning for those students who want it, but NOT at the expense of the health and lives of students, faculty, and town residents.
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Nepperhan
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This just knocked me out. Jerry, Jr. has beat that drum too often. Wrong is wrong no matter who says it, Jerry.
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Theo520
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They sound very appropriate in their approach, the media gave them an unfair condemnation (Wow, who’s shocked at that!)
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meltzerboy2
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Are the students, all 1900 of them plus the immigrant ones, confined to their dorms? Can this be done with a large student population of young people, and who is in charge of the supervision, keeping the dorms sanitary, and ensuring proper ventilation? And is prayer solitary? These are some of the details I would like to know.
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meltzerboy2
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Meanwhile, at least one Presbyterian pastor has opened his Florida church to parishioners. The reason he gives is that people need to pray together during times of crisis such as this.
Another group I read about is a choral group of volunteer singers who met for their rehearsal. The result was that many in the choir, with a mean age in their 60’s, came down with the virus and some have died. I love singing but not risking one’s life for it!
In Israel, an Orthodox Jewish group went ahead with a funeral involving large numbers of mourners from the community, totally ignoring the guidelines of social distancing as well as Jewish law. Shame on them.
So you see Jerry Falwell is not the only one putting people’s lives at risk, and such behavior is not limited to conservative Evangelicals.
Another group I read about is a choral group of volunteer singers who met for their rehearsal. The result was that many in the choir, with a mean age in their 60’s, came down with the virus and some have died. I love singing but not risking one’s life for it!
In Israel, an Orthodox Jewish group went ahead with a funeral involving large numbers of mourners from the community, totally ignoring the guidelines of social distancing as well as Jewish law. Shame on them.
So you see Jerry Falwell is not the only one putting people’s lives at risk, and such behavior is not limited to conservative Evangelicals.
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Nepperhan
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Sure.
Pastor arrested for violating rules amid virus outbreak
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Florida officials have arrested the pastor of a megachurch after detectives say he held two Sunday services with hundreds of people and violated a safer-at-home order in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
apnews.com
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meltzerboy2
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Actually, the one I was referring to I believe is a Black minister. I’m sure there are several who are opening their churches to prayer and spreading the virus.
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Theo520
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You are comparing Apples, Oranges, and mangoes.
The choral group met before there were any known infections in their community, and before there was a directive for their community to social distance. It’s a very sad story.
Liberty isn’t putting the kids together in classes. The students paid for dorms and food, which the school seems to be enabling in a responsible manner to the minority of students who are living on campus. They are following State and Federal guidance.
The Presbyterian pastor doesn’t seem to be acting responsibly.
The choral group met before there were any known infections in their community, and before there was a directive for their community to social distance. It’s a very sad story.
Liberty isn’t putting the kids together in classes. The students paid for dorms and food, which the school seems to be enabling in a responsible manner to the minority of students who are living on campus. They are following State and Federal guidance.
The Presbyterian pastor doesn’t seem to be acting responsibly.
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Cathoholic
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meltzerboy2 . . .
With a memo?
An email?
A discussion on the campus concourse with appropriate distancing?
Or packed together in a large room?
He took Northam’s guidelines. Either the guidelines were faulty, or they weren’t.
The Universities around here are also having some students too.
Are they wrong too? Or is it just Liberty?
Welcomed them back how?
With a memo?
An email?
A discussion on the campus concourse with appropriate distancing?
Or packed together in a large room?
He took Northam’s guidelines. Either the guidelines were faulty, or they weren’t.
The Universities around here are also having some students too.
Are they wrong too? Or is it just Liberty?
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meltzerboy2
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In my view, at this point in time, any Governor, for example Gov. DeSantis of Florida, who is not issuing a stay-at-home order is at fault of poor leadership. Further, the President should take charge and issue a national stay-at-home order rather than leaving this up to the states. That would show real leadership. And any college president who allows and invites students on campus, especially those students who can go home, is acting irresponsibly and recklessly, and endangering the lives of the students as well as the lives of the residents in the community. No, it is not just Liberty that is at fault.
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Theo520
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I don’t think it’s that simple. Go to the below link and compare FL with the rest of the country, the crisis will hit there much later. I suspect the strategy is to lock down care facilities now but wait for the general lock down. Building some immunity in the healthy general public is a desired goal when you can’t lock it out completely.
IHME | COVID-19 Projections
Explore forecasts of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and hospital resource use.
covid19.healthdata.org
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