HashTagScouts

The way I expressed my feelings to my committee members and SM- these should be considered for helping the kid who is in the middle of working on a rank, but we shouldn't be pumping kids to start working on their next rank using these. It may be a few more weeks or months until we can have overnights, but no one should feel a rush.

The only rebuttal I would give is the virtual "tours" for MBs. Well, for some MBs anyway. Crime Prevention Mb is a prime one that I look at, that even under "normal" circumstances, a virtual component is probably better than the real thing in many cases. I've tried going the route using Scouter contacts that work for the MA DOC and Sherriffs office to arrange tours for Scouts at Ma prisons, and it is so limiting on timing, length of time involved to arrange them, and when successful to arrange them they last about 15 minutes and the Scouts don't experience a whole lot about the prison itsel

Before the BSA put this out, we had discussion on some ways of being flexible- parent filming the Scout on a cell phone as they built a fire in the backyard, learning knots via animated knots and then demonstrating it on a Zoom conference, taking a hike with a parent in an open area and using cell phone to capture pics of plants/animal signs. Also we agreed that family members could be surrogate patrol members for cooking requirements.Those I could get down with. Not actually having to navigate or truly demonstrate I am not down with. The concept of "they'll learn it later on, after the ran

I personally believe DEs are still very much a necessity. Their role should be allowed to be set, universally nationally, to be more of what the field directors do now. I've often been aggravated over how many unit leaders, and for me it has been disproportionally Packs, that EXPECT their De to come to all their functions. I see zero need for that- the DE is there to help solve problems, help with membership issues, gather applications to ensure they are processed smoothly. They are not there to glad-handle people at Blue and Golds or CoHs as "the face of Scouting"- that is what us volunte

Some scale at the national level I would say is still necessary- IT resources, especially those dedicated to Scoutbook. Let's be honest, that was taken over with it being only about 50% functional of what it should be, and even now is still less than 75% IMO. Some people dedicated to marketing (advertising mostly) would be nice- having documents and flyers and such that are uniform, and not council creations, would be helpful. This national team might be bigger than it is today, but then again, if they are truly answerable to the councils, some councils could eliminate their positions

Seems like a great group that is using a little ingenuity to solve a major problem. I haven't contacted them, but I wonder if others in the Maryland area might be able to organize a donation drop off in their town and get them to this group as a service project: www/facebook.com/BreastPumpVent

There is data, it just is being withheld. Part of the agreement between POTUS and health insurers was to give the insurers access to the data CDC was collecting. not that I have huge fear of losing my anonymity here, I'd like to not lose my job and share what we know in specific #s, but we do know the number of people tested, the zip codes they live in, ages, gender. CDC is coordinating the share of that between the state public health departments as well, but they are also not sharing that on with the public.

What that article references is lockdown type policy as used in China- where people were not allowed out of their homes for any reason, no roaming the city, all businesses shut down as it had been in Wuhan for 73 days, etc. That is not what is being done in MA or NY currently. We are at about the 25% mark here in MA under the current executive orders, and we have field hospitals that have been set up in the DCU Center Worcester and the Boston Convention Center, and two others are up and running or will be this week. Hospitals are like warzones here now, and we have not peaked. My employer

The reason to NOT encourage large gatherings, is the swell that would occur to the higher-risk groups. Hospitals are overwhelmed now trying to treat people, and that is with only 300k having the virus. Our health system would very much collapse if we had even a 15% increase to inpatient #s in many areas.

Fed guidelines, at all levels of healthcare, are to delay any elective medical visits, surgery, etc. In MA, step further, as part of the governors stay-at-home orders, elective procedures are required to be delayed until at least May 4th, or for as long as the order is in place. My sons physical was rescheduled to late June, and his dental cleanings was rescheduled until June as well.

I would say all planning right now is to open as usual, and have contingencies to cancel week-to-week as necessary. I don't know about anyone else's camp, but we have work weekends and then staff week to get everything setup, so if that gets cancelled then week 1 would already need to be cancelled to get that done. The "re-openning" from the pandemic is going to be very regional I would anticipate.

Because Covid-19 doesn't disappear once a government official removes stay-at-home orders. Until there is a vaccine, secondary/tertiary/etc. outbreak is a real threat. Gathering 250 kids together, with what is a best mediocre sanitation (we all have stories of having to drag kids to take showers) is a scenario that could derail the rest of the summer. I'm all for putting the efforts at planning, but I would not bank on summer camp happening.

Trying to setup video conferencing with many folks in nursing homes or rehab hospitals would probably be difficult- big question if the residents have the technology. Less from an individual "service hours" perspective, but from a group service project, nursing homes and rehab hospitals might be able to setup a smart-TV in a central location (i.e. dining room) that the residents may be able to gather, and you do a group conference with your unit over Zoom, and have the kids take turns sharing pictures they have drawn about what they most are looking forward to doing once the stay-at-home rest

Correct- the day they turn 18, they should have YPT and submit adult app with background check authorization. They are an adult at that point.

Considering 1/2 million retail workers from many various companies were put on furlough this week, I would say that anyone who isn't essential right now from National Supply straight on through the National office will also be furloughed.

That was my take as well. it's like they are arguing with themselves.

The likely scenario for some areas is it will come down to local authority as well. Here in MA, we've had some statewide mandates, but the Governor has given local health agents some flexibility for modification on what is "essential". Some towns/cities have closed parks, others have not. The state has closed some public parks, but not all. There is the other potential that our camps might be able to open, but with some modifications. Local Board of Health could allow the camp to open but require X # of sinks with hot water to maintain handwashing protocols for example.

Disposal is beginning to become an issue in my area. Local news and newspapers are ripe with reporting on people leaving used gloves and masks in shopping carts, or discarding in parking lots.

Our position for the past two weeks was to give everyone a break as we adjust to our new realities, whether it parents working from home that have not ever done that, to schools being relegated to online, etc. We let scouting not be on their priority list at this point, just gave them encouragement that if they had partials they could work on, they can feel free to do so. Going into next week, we will have a virtual meeting, but mostly for the scouts and/or parents to socialize for a bit, and ask questions on who the right person to help them with X MB is, which of our older scouts is availa

Agreed. The practicality of trying to keep them distanced and not touching each others items doesn't seem realistic. New York right now is an extreme, but it is the model that will likely be necessary in many other places, at any given time. Our understandings of this virus are changing by the minute, and secondary outbreaks are going to be the concern going forward.

Please do not go forward with this. The loss of scouting activities is hard on many of us, but the right thing to do is stay at home and social distance as much as possible. Areas like NY are now employing extreme social distancing- "groups" no larger than 2, maintaining 10 feet distance whenever possible. We are in for months of this, especially as more people do not comply. An activity such as what your SM is considering would require sterilizing rake or shovel handles between users, wearing masks, etc. Then there is the other aspect that for everyone to get there, that likely means usin

That is a good idea to hold off on payments. Camps/Councils are going to likely delay any ordering/invoice payment as much as possible until they feel very certain events will take place, so continue on with the discussion and the sign-ups, but money should not be the priority right now. Having family and friends in Florida, I know the situation there may not be quite on the same timeline as other parts of the US, and it could change very much very soon. Stay safe.

The biggest headaches to the process, for me at least, are: 1) the "online re-chartering" was/is nothing more than a form generator, that I have to print and obtain signatures on. In other words, it might save me some ink in my pen, but it still requires a lot of typing and clicking and so doesn't save me any real time. 2) the biggest one- the processes today assume that the COR and/or IH is daily involved (or at least regularly involved) in the scouting units business. I feel we've established enough through other threads that this is quite often not the case, and it is the challe

It would be unfortunate for some that they had the double whammy. I hold my fingers crossed that we are not all going to be locked indoors through the summer. If we are, I am hopeful that these kids are going to be so bent on finally being outdoors when this is over that we are going to have them begging to go camping every weekend as long as the weather holds out!

Have you seen the news reports of all the college students who have still showed up in Florida for Spring Break? At some point, major scaling back of services like the USPS, FedEx etc. may have to happen to alleviate the spread from one area to another. While in many areas restaurants are "take out only", that doesn't end the prospect of transmission, it just lessens it. Like I say, until a vaccine is developed, this will run a long course until humankind develops an immunity to this naturally.