Covid-19 lockdown check-in

[merithyn]

You tell them life is really hard right now, and it has made you sick.  Sick days are given and to be used, in my opinion.  At where I am UC unless it is multiple days in a row or affecting the overall team there are no questions asked.

As some words of advice, this is not the time to take on more things.  Slow down the MBA, take mental health days, and find something wildly distracting.

I've told my advisor that due to real-life stress, I'm going to work at "typical" speed for the time being. If it takes me two years to complete the MBA, then that's what it's going to take. I simply can't push myself on that right now.

As for mental health days, those will be few and far between due to work deadlines but the moment that I can swing an afternoon off, you can bet your ass I'm going to do so. Maybe load the dog up and head east to breathe.

Meri, does your job provide an EAP? I know ours is through a third party that's been paid up-front, so it takes away the perverse incentive for them to steer you back to work when things get tough, as opposed to trusting HR who are there to look out for the company first and the employee as an afterthought.

Yes, but I don't think you understand.

We are a small team of three. I am the only one on my team that understands what we do. It is our "busy season" with over 150 extensive, highly technical, and stupidly manual reports due before December 31. Taking time off would force us to miss multiple contractual deadlines.

Yes, I could take time off, but that will just cause more stress rather than less.

[DontSayBanana]

Yes, but I don't think you understand.

We are a small team of three. I am the only one on my team that understands what we do. It is our "busy season" with over 150 extensive, highly technical, and stupidly manual reports due before December 31. Taking time off would force us to miss multiple contractual deadlines.

Yes, I could take time off, but that will just cause more stress rather than less.

You're reading too much into my question- I'm suggesting EAP as an alternative to just taking a mental health day, not as a quick way to get one.

I totally understand the pressure. My job shifted amazingly fast from "the tech support guy" to "IT manager" for a 350-person office like that [snaps fingers]. I'm involved with plans to expand the office, I'm the messenger between our office and corporate IT, and they insist on coming to me for approvals on things no matter how much I try to stay out of the office politics. To a lesser degree, I'm also having to get creative at just being functional enough to do my job under the current stress levels.

[Tamas]

One of my home village's kindergarten teachers back in Hungary is in isolation after she tested positive. She also happens to be the wife of the village's only GP, so considering the number of people they are in contact with daily I am quite certain like half the bloody village has it by now.

[Barrister]

My neice (brother's daughter) came down with symptoms over the weekend, and then so did my other neice (ages 6 and 1).  So everybody in the family was isolating.  My mom who looks after the girls during the week suddenly couldn't come over.

Thankfully she got a negative test result last night.  It did manage to ruin my mom's 70th birthday yesterday though.

[Iormlund]

We're bringing everyone back. All who remained where those who deal with stuff through phone or email. Logistics, Finance, Change Management, that sort of stuff.

It's going to make things a lot more crowded, and I'm losing my private office.

[Zanza]

My employer currently calculates with a 65% maximum attendance rate for offices, i.e. there will only be enough desks for 65% of the employees. You have to pick a desk in the morning and completely clean it in the evening. Your personal stuff goes into a locker. They are already decreasing office space by ending rental agreements.

There will be much less demand for office space in.the future. The landlords already start their "socialize our losses" campaign. Same as the owners of now too expensive high street shop spaces.

We're still at 25% in any area (e.g. by floor). But they're starting to ease the restrictions so you don't need very senior approval to go into the office (from October), just approval based on capacity levels. Apparently no expectation that anyone'll be back in the office this side of December unless they really need/want to be (and I wouldn't be surprised if we're all in full lockdown again come December).

The 65% are the planning for the post-Covid time in my company, so they already cut office space (previous rule was 80+%).

Right now, my employer has a general policy to work from home where possible. But you can go to office if there is a reason (a meeting, poor work conditions at home, feeling lonely etc.) as long as capacity is available. The buildings were all prepared to allow for that. You just have to put your name into an online list the day before. I have been a few times, but the length of the commute, ease of WFH, lack of colleagues actually onsite for meetings, and the closure of the can find and coffee shop make going to the office a bit unattractive. 

[derspiess]

I tested negative last weekend

At least, negative enough for me to work the game.

Son's football team has completed half their season.  Fingers crossed for the last 4 games...

[Valmy]

I tested negative last weekend

At least, negative enough for me to work the game.

Son's football team has completed half their season.  Fingers crossed for the last 4 games...

Negative enough? Huh I guess I thought the test tended to produce rather binary results

Hope everything continues to go well for your son and you doing great work for the Bungles.

[Barrister]

Very excited / terrified because kids hockey is going into full swing this weekend.  It's always an exciting time when the kids meet their new teammates for the first time.  My winter months the last few years have the weekends spent almost entirely at hockey rinks, so it's kind of fun to get back into that routine..  It's also a blast being out there on the ice with the kids.

But... Covid-19.  Edmonton's numbers are increasing.  Schools are back.  And while they're taking steps to minimize risk (masks everywhere except on the ice, put your gear on at home to minimize time in the locker room) it's going to inevitably increase the potential for exposure.

The club manager mentioned to my wife today that she kind-of expects us all to be shut down again by December.

[derspiess]

Negative enough? Huh I guess I thought the test tended to produce rather binary results

Yeah, well it would have been nice for them to tell me when they got my results.  It's a "no new is good news" kinda thing.  I got into the stadium, so I presume I'm negative.

Hope everything continues to go well for your son and you doing great work for the Bungles.

Though technically I work for the league.

[crazy canuck]

What is it like to work in an empty stadium?  And what effect do you think it has on the players - not having to deal with crowd noise on the road is a big plus for the offence but I wonder if the lack of a crowd is noticed in other ways.

[Tamas]

Sensing that this might not only be the last weekend of summer-ish weather but also the last lockdown-free one for a bit, we went for a stroll in a forested park close to our previous home and not too far from our current one either, that we used to frequent (the one between Saville Gardens and the Virginia Water lake for those in the know).

I am not sure how busy it's been the last few months but I'd assume we were not the only one with this train of thought because it was PACKED. The main parking lot I aimed for was closed already for being full, the other one was still just 3/4 loaded. The main, paved walking patch was crammed, we walked around the non-paved one where you could keep a decent distance as there were far less people on it. But nobody really seemed to care. Best I can tell is that nobody actively tried to get close to us. People were perfectly fine to pass next to each other and us as close as pre-pandemic. God forbid they take a sidestep when it's only us on a road wide enough for a car.

So, getting out was nice and I am 99.99999999999% sure we did not get infected, but the general behaviour does not bode well for things to come.

[mongers]

Sensing that this might not only be the last weekend of summer-ish weather but also the last lockdown-free one for a bit, we went for a stroll in a forested park close to our previous home and not too far from our current one either, that we used to frequent (the one between Saville Gardens and the Virginia Water lake for those in the know).

I am not sure how busy it's been the last few months but I'd assume we were not the only one with this train of thought because it was PACKED. The main parking lot I aimed for was closed already for being full, the other one was still just 3/4 loaded. The main, paved walking patch was crammed, we walked around the non-paved one where you could keep a decent distance as there were far less people on it. But nobody really seemed to care. Best I can tell is that nobody actively tried to get close to us. People were perfectly fine to pass next to each other and us as close as pre-pandemic. God forbid they take a sidestep when it's only us on a road wide enough for a car.

So, getting out was nice and I am 99.99999999999% sure we did not get infected, but the general behaviour does not bode well for things to come.

I had the exact same experience this evening at the fairly quiet beach, me standing close to the railings on the promenade, which is about 8 ft wide, so couples are walking past, not moving at all and passing within a 1-1.5ft of me standing at the very edge. It's like they don't care. 

[Sheilbh]

Sensing that this might not only be the last weekend of summer-ish weather but also the last lockdown-free one for a bit, we went for a stroll in a forested park close to our previous home and not too far from our current one either, that we used to frequent (the one between Saville Gardens and the Virginia Water lake for those in the know).

I am not sure how busy it's been the last few months but I'd assume we were not the only one with this train of thought because it was PACKED. The main parking lot I aimed for was closed already for being full, the other one was still just 3/4 loaded. The main, paved walking patch was crammed, we walked around the non-paved one where you could keep a decent distance as there were far less people on it. But nobody really seemed to care. Best I can tell is that nobody actively tried to get close to us. People were perfectly fine to pass next to each other and us as close as pre-pandemic. God forbid they take a sidestep when it's only us on a road wide enough for a car.

So, getting out was nice and I am 99.99999999999% sure we did not get infected, but the general behaviour does not bode well for things to come.

But is there any evidence yet of outdoor transmission. I thought the evidence was that the chances of transmission outdoors are really, really low in everyday life. It does happen but it needs to be for an extended period of time, very dense and sort of people moving around - basically like an outdoor gig or, say, the marathon (now cancelled I think)?

[Tamas]

Surely the chance of infection when a carrier is inches from you is larger than zero. In which case I think it can be considered common courtesy and survival instinct to take a step to the side.

Plus when you have a bunch of people closely together I don't think it can matter that drastically that they are not indoors.

Finally, I am no expert but wouldn't it be far harder to prove and trace an outdoor transmission than an indoor one?