[FRIAM] Papers on asymptomatic transmission and serology

Mon Mar 23 12:43:46 EDT 2020

Here’s part of my friend's email. I think the differences between the US and NZ are clear. As a contrast to the example I pointed out, the SF schools closed with no preparation for online learning. After two weeks they are starting it using the pads they own,  Comcast hot spots and training for teachers.

_____

I’m writing with a short update on life in New Zealand in the time of this apocalypse.

People are concerned here, just like everywhere else in the world. However, the response is somewhat different and speaks to life and attitudes in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

At this point, we have 62 cases, no deaths, and it is not clear whether we yet have community transmission. So far, there have been no “lockdowns” but everyone is being asked to do their part and follow a few new rules to be sensible.

Gatherings over 100 are prohibited. Borders have been closed.  When we go to a restaurant or bar, we need to sign in and provide our email and mobile number so that they could do contact tracing if necessary. Schools are still open, but with different programmes focused on health, emotional support, and two government provided meals. Supermarkets have reduced hours, so that they have time to restock the shelves, but there is plenty of food to go around since we produce significant amounts of most foods here in NZ.

Politicians of all stripes have come together to do their best to support the response. 

This week at the University, we will be working, in person for as long as the rules allow it, to transition to online delivery of courses to our students.   Emails from our administration make clear that it is not enough merely to post things online and run the class as best we can.  The goal is to truly create a quality learning experience for students of all backgrounds, parts of which could create a better platform for future course delivery.

Here is a paragraph from an email we received from our Dean:

‘Being able to deliver online is not enough. We need to make the online experience engaging and inclusive, not just send out lecture captures. The week’s hiatus will give you the opportunity to redesign and adapt components of your courses and assessments to this new delivery mode.  I urge you to use next week to prepare. While I understand that preparing so quickly for online may result in compromises about what you deliver, this work could also potentially lead to innovations that will enhance your teaching long term.”

In short, the Kiwi response is less of panic and more of teamwork, kindness and opportunity.  This, it seems, captures the essence of NZ generally that I’ve noticed in my 9 months here.

_______________________

Ed Angel

Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory (ARTS Lab)
Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico

1017 Sierra Pinon
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505-984-0136 (home)		 	angel at cs.unm.edu <mailto:angel at cs.unm.edu>
505-453-4944 (cell) 				http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel <http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel>

> On Mar 23, 2020, at 10:29 AM, <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Ed, 
>  
> How do you read this?  It sort of seems like, even with all that sane preparation, they ended up in the same stupid stew we are in.  No?   I guess, we’ll see. The needed to put all the returnees on islands and send people out to the islands to live with and take care of them until the damn thing had worked its way through that island.  Tuberculosis colonies.  
>  
> I tell you one thing; I aint ever going on any damned cruise again.  That’s one lesson I’ve learned.  That’s one phase that’s changed. 
>  
> Oh.  Wait a minute!  Hang on!  I’ve never been on a cruise. 
>  
> Nick 
>  
> Nicholas Thompson
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
> Clark University
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com>
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/>
>  
>  
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com>> On Behalf Of Edward Angel
> Sent: Monday, March 23, 2020 8:48 AM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com <mailto:friam at redfish.com>>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Papers on asymptomatic transmission and serology
>  
> This weekend I received an email from a good friend in NZ. Unlike the U.S, NZ spent the last two months preparing for what is happening now. For example, the schools spent a lot of time preparing teachers to be able to teach effectively on line.
>  
> Ed
> _______________________
> 
> Ed Angel
> 
> Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory (ARTS Lab)
> Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico
> 
> 1017 Sierra Pinon
> Santa Fe, NM 87501
> 505-984-0136 (home)                         angel at cs.unm.edu <mailto:angel at cs.unm.edu>
> 505-453-4944 (cell)                                        http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel <http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel>
> 
> 
>> On Mar 23, 2020, at 8:36 AM, Barry MacKichan <barry.mackichan at mackichan.com <mailto:barry.mackichan at mackichan.com>> wrote:
>>  
>> The case count in New Zealand is at least 100. The early cases were from travelers who had been in Italy and Iran. Then the word went out that citizens needed to come back to NZ, and some cases were among this counter-diaspora. Then a group from a cruise ship went on a tour through Te Papa, a national museum in Wellington and infected a number of others on the tour. As of this weekend, they were at threat level 2 (I don’t know precisely what that meant) and with clear community transmission, they upped it to level 3 which means ‘You have two days to get ready for total lockdown’. After two days, they will go to level 4 — total lockdown. The schools are closed, university students have been sent home and classes are canceled for four weeks. When they resume they will be online.
>> —Barry
>> On 21 Mar 2020, at 13:09, Steven A Smith wrote:
>>> How, by the way, is NZ doing with this themselves?  I always think of
>>> them as a sort of safe-haven being as relatively isolated as they are
>>> yet with an anglophone first-world embedding.
>>> 
>>> - Steve
>> 
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