I am presently working from home. My employer sent out an email night before last authorizing anyone who so desired to work from home so that’s what I’m doing. I’m way over 60 so I guess I’m among the most vulnerable group. I’m in very good health, generally. There’s nothing wrong with me that hasn’t been wrong for 20 years or more. I have a strong immune system—I rarely get sick.
I’m not particularly nervous. What will be will be. But I am washing my hands a lot more and am now curtailing travel.
One thing I wanted to pass along is that employers in India, at least in the big cities, are taking precautions similar to those being taken by employers here. I suspect that in due course we’ll learn that India has had quite a few cases of COVID-19 but as of now they haven’t reported many. Maybe it’s the heat.
That’s good to hear. My job is all remote, so nothing has changed for me. Today is, however, the last day of school for my entire county and most of the state for at least the next two weeks.
My best friend here got tested for Covid last night. He had the flu in February despite getting the flu shot. That turned into bronchitis and then yesterday pneumonia. Went to the ER and tests for everything came up empty, so that is enough of a trigger here in CO to get a Covid test at the state lab but the results won’t be available until probably Monday or Tuesday. He’s in his late 40’s.
Fortunately for me, I haven’t had any direct contact with him for the last week.
I’ve worked from home for the last several years, so this doesn’t change much for me. The birthday bash we were planning to have this weekend was cancelled out of concern for elderly grandparents and an abundance of caution.
My wife and daughter are going back to college to get her stuff out of the dorm next weekend. My daughter is heartbroken about this end to her freshman year. She has on-line classes, but she’s also applied to work at Target.
A lot of the things that my son is involved with in high school (soccer, stage crew for show choir, and band) appear to be at least temporarily cancelled or in jeopardy. Schools appear to be staying open with no reported cases in the county, but people seem to think they will close with the first case.
Since my wife works for an affiliate of the hospital, she’s been ordered to notify personnel before she leaves the 40 county service area, and call them when she returns, so they can determine whether to instruct her to stay at home for two weeks. So the trip to the dorm will be interesting.
I do wonder if this crisis accelerates a trend towards working remotely — i.e. some people may try it out and find they like it and will not want to go back.
Especially with companies pushing open-space, which in hindsight is rather unhygienic.
Has anybody suggested that Congress should look into “tele-hearings”, and “tele-votes”?
I’ve been suggesting that off and on for nearly 20 years.