News Worldwide impact of the novel coronavirus (covid-19)

[DharmaGirl]

NY and other states electing not to contact trace

Where did you find that information, @The Albatross? The only thing I found was that they weren't going to use the tech, they were going to use people to contact trace. Can you give me a source? Thanks.

 

[whiteraven]

The only thing I found was that they weren't going to use the tech, they were going to use people to contact trace. Can you give me a source? Thanks.

Yeah, I'm seeing all kinds of recent reports that they are using people to contract trace.

 

[joeylittle]

New York State and New York City are contact tracing; however, there's controversy over how Mayor DeBlasio is handling it for NYC specifically.

From an article in The Guardian, May 20, 2020:

[Mayor] De Blasio, who is hiring his own team of 5,000 contact tracers – separate from the 6,400 to 17,000 being recruited by New York state – is facing mounting questions over its organisation...putting NYC Health and Hospitals (H+H), the city’s public healthcare system, in charge of contact tracing rather than the department of health and mental hygiene (DOHMH), which has historically done it – including for diseases like tuberculosis and HIV.

A group of New York politicians, including senator Gustavo Rivera, have called on De Blasio to reverse the decision...Avery Cohen, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said it was done to “prioritise continuity, speed and the ability to break down bureaucratic barriers” by “housing testing, tracing and isolation under a single, streamlined entity”.

Dr Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the former commissioner of the New York City health department...said the move was “a big mistake”. Adding: “Moving it to an agency that has no experience with it, no legal mandate to do it, no institutional memory of how to do it, will make something that’s very difficult even harder.”

 

[DharmaGirl]

So no one is electing not to contract trace. There is so much misinformation going around (not blaming anyone here) that a glance at a headline doesn't work like it used to. I like to fact check since I have a friend that spreads incredible nonsense. I fact check it for her. She says less now, which is fine by me.

 

[DharmaGirl]

There is a resurgence in the US. People are calling it the 2nd wave, but it is still the first wave. Some leaders have suggested that if we do less testing, we'd have less cases. How is that logical? We'd still have the cases, we just wouldn't know about them. In my state it has become mandatory to wear a mask. I wear one anyway, but I bought two more adorable chicken masks.

I was standing in line at the grocery, and a man in front of me got in my face to tell me wearing a mask was bad for me. I told him that I wore a mask for 6 hours during surgery, why would it be any worse now? Then he said it was all political. My son dragged me off into another line before I could give him some facts. I don't know how anyone could believe that the whole world got together to pretend there is a new virus that acts differently than viruses we are familiar with. Why? Does the whole world care about our politics enough to let a virus kill their people? Apparently so. Protecting others by wearing a mask is compassionate, not political. Yikes!

 

[lostforgottensoul]

My work had a Covid-19 training and in addition with masks everywhere but your desk being mandatory, there is also a checklist called "know before you go" that asks you questions. You must take your temp at the check list and they ask if you have any symptoms such as cough, running nose, body and muscle aches, or headache. Really? So if I have a headache, I can't go to work? And body and muscle aches? I have chronic pain for godsake! And lastly, they ask if you have been in contact with someone that has Covid-19. If you answer yes to any of it or have a temp above 100.1 (I think) then you'll be asked to go home.

I have no idea where this checklist will be. And if you have just a headache, lie. Cause, apparently you can't have a headache and work anymore. I mean, I understand it but they are being way too strict. And its a call center. Illnesses spread like wildfire. I get that but really?

I have no idea where this will be but if you have to actively take your temp, I think it will be someone at each of the entrance doors with a thermometer and asking you all of these questions before you can enter the building. Like a doctor's office does. Oh, and they have made doors entrance only and other doors exit only. Which means I have to walk half way around the call center to get out of the building and then walk to the other side of the building to get back in. It's a huge building. This will be a nightmare for me as I am using a cane and hope to have my service dog approved as a medical accommodation by the time I go back but that's on hold and I don't know if they'll allow a service dog with all of this covid-19 stuff and have to be sanitized at all times time-frame but who knows.

I am still working remote and it sounds like they plan to keep some of us working remote for a while as in the training it also said they have reduced staffing with remote work and so I don't think they will recall us all back in. I've been doing amazing while working remote. So much that another sup said that I am often talked about around the office as to how amazing I'm doing. So, they may keep me remote as they call others back in. I'm assuming that those excelling at remote work will be the ones they keep remote longer but who knows. No word yet of anyone being recalled back to the office. Just a training we had to take to advise of what's required if you are in office now or when you go back in office. Which I think is way too strict but that's just me.

 

[whiteraven]

they ask if you have any symptoms such as cough, running nose, body and muscle aches, or headache. Really? So if I have a headache, I can't go to work?

I've had problems with this since the beginning. I have chronic headaches, sinus issues/chronic cough, and I hurt ALL the time. I think I've tried as much as I can to disengage from all of this and just do what I have to do (and no more) because it all feels very dismissive to me. I'm sure that's not the intent and that for me this is just more of how I've been treated by medical folks, but the feeling is real.

they have made doors entrance only and other doors exit only. Which means I have to walk half way around the call center to get out of the building and then walk to the other side of the building to get back in. It's a huge building. This will be a nightmare for me as I am using a cane and hope to have my service dog approved as a medical accommodation by the time I go back but that's on hold and I don't know if they'll allow a service dog with all of this covid-19 stuff and have to be sanitized at all times time-frame but who knows.

You'd think accommodation would be made...smh.

I am still working remote and it sounds like they plan to keep some of us working remote for a while as in the training it also said they have reduced staffing with remote work and so I don't think they will recall us all back in. I've been doing amazing while working remote.

I think we will see the structure of work change over time as a result of this pandemic. I have not been working since March, but have certainly had time to think about what I want to do going forward. I can't imagine going back into an office. I'm doing so much better without being exposed to others on a daily basis. Some of that is just not wanting to work, but I think even that is related to having to be around other people. And I suspect others have discovered that working from home can be a lot less stressful. Not everyone, but a lot.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I think we will see the structure of work change over time as a result of this pandemic. I have not been working since March, but have certainly had time to think about what I want to do going forward. I can't imagine going back into an office. I'm doing so much better without being exposed to others on a daily basis. Some of that is just not wanting to work, but I think even that is related to having to be around other people. And I suspect others have discovered that working from home can be a lot less stressful. Not everyone, but a lot.

I don't think they plan on having remote workers forever. My sup has said that as has our manager (sup's sup). They have millions of dollars of equipment out there on the line. The entire computer (desktop, 2 monitors, mouse, keyboard, headset dongle, 50 foot ethernet cord and a brand new power strip times 872 (amount of remote workers) but I do think that the return back to the office will be gradual. Like maybe 20 one month, 30 the next and so forth. Just my prediction. My other prediction is those of us excelling while working remote will be the last to be recalled back into the office and I predict that I'll be working remote for at least the rest of this year. But, no one knows. I seriously doubt they will do this forever though.

I also cannot work remote forever either. I am 100% isolated now. And my therapist was not liking how isolated I was originally. He REALLY wanted me to get out to places and was hard at work trying to get me out of my house when not working when this pandemic hit. Now I go no where except to get food once a month and my pain Dr once every 3 weeks. Other then that, I go no where. Which isn't good. The longer and deeper I am isolated the harder it is to get me out of it and the longer it will take to get me out of it. It's like quick sand. The longer I am in it the further down I go and the more stuck I get.

Anyway, in normal times, work and seeing my coworkers helps me to a level of isolation that is not too bad. It helps me to see people.

That all said, my anxiety is way less because I am not around people. My biggest fear is people so my level of anxiety is way less while working which is why I think I am excelling at my job. And my service dog is with me while working now so that helps too.

 

[whiteraven]

I don't think they plan on having remote workers forever.

Probably most places don't, but it would not at all surprise me if some places switched or at least gave people the option.

I am 100% isolated now. And my therapist was not liking how isolated I was originally. He REALLY wanted me to get out to places and was hard at work trying to get me out of my house when not working when this pandemic hit.

Yeah, me, too. Of course, mine closed up shop earlier than anyone I know and is not back yet, so seems it actually wasn't *that* important.

The longer and deeper I am isolated the harder it is to get me out of it and the longer it will take to get me out of it. It's like quick sand.

I hear that. I have gotten to a point where I just don't care anymore. Not a great place, I guess, but nobody around here seems to care.

 

[Innordinate]

And I suspect others have discovered that working from home can be a lot less stressful.

and employers will soon discover/remember that if an employee can perform competently at their job remotely, they can probably outsource to a cheaper labour force across the ocean......

apparently all Americans have to do to vacation in Canada right now is tell the border guards they're going to Alaska.

The fines though, in my province, where a lot of them seem to be coming for vacation, are $1200 a person. Expensive vacation. Not even taking into consideration that lying to border patrol can be $750,000, jail time and a lifetime ban on travelling in Canada (which I also suspect can be gotten around by "travelling through" to Alaska)

:rolleyes: canadas stupid.

The longer I am in it the further down I go and the more stuck I get.

experiencing this now too

the world seems a hell of a lot more dangerous now. Not because im worried about catching covid but because i havent been out in it nearly as much as i was forced to be before.

 

[whiteraven]

apparently all Americans have to do to vacation in Canada right now is tell the border guards they're going to Alaska.

The fines though, in my province, where a lot of them seem to be coming for vacation, are $1200 a person. Expensive vacation. Not even taking into consideration that lying to border patrol can be $750,000, jail time and a lifetime ban on travelling in Canada (which I also suspect can be gotten around by "travelling through" to Alaska)

I'm sorry. If this was in response to something, I totally missed it.

 

[Innordinate]

I'm sorry. If this was in response to something, I totally missed it.

it wasn't