COVID-19 - How are we all doing?

[stonecutter]

Hey everyone.   I thought I'd check in.  

I've been absent more than I'd care to admit lately.  I have been part of my employer's response team to the pandemic crisis we are all enduring.  We worked a lot of long hours moving all operations of a college to on-line supports. Being part of the Facilities Management team here, we have spent a lot of time creating and imagining what it means to "Work from Anywhere" which for 90% of us means "Work from Home"  

My office is now my kitchen table.  Although the long hours continue, we are doing them in our kitchens and home offices. 

I'm sure that rings true for the lion share of all of us...

How is everyone coping? 

I hope you are all well.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

[leftyeric]

Hi, Trevor, I'm happy you are well. covid-19 has been creeping into my world. My daughter is a
presumptive case, but lives in nyc where it is not easy to get tested. She was in her twenties and
was very healthy and sick for not very long and now seems to be on the mend. A co-worker almost surely has it as well and he's older than my daughter and he was
better for a while but now went into that second dip you hear about -- he is sick again. He's been able to ride it out at home so far. I'm optimistic he will be able to
stay out of the hospital. I had a meeting in same room with him right before my office closed down. I'm
hopeful that enough time has gone by that I can feel more confident I didn't get it.
My wife and I are healthy so far. I spend a lot of time taking on phone and on Zoom, trying to get work done. When I do go out,
say to get groceries, I have a big advantage over ordinary people -- with only one hand, I figure I'm only half as likely to touch a contaminated surface and then touch my face!

I wish all of you well. Be careful, and be kind! I'm dreaming of getting through to the other side of this.
Eric

[stonecutter]

Is everyone managing to get what they need during the 'lockdown?' I have been on perforated sleeves since mid-march. I would like to stay away from my prosthetic office because they are situated in a rehabilitation hospital. Because my work-from home situation doesn't require as much movement - I am making do just fine. Wondering how the rest of us are managing.

[cherylm]

Hello there, Trevor...long time, no see! I'm more-or-less hanging in there even though the US Gov't response to the pandemic has NOT impressed me at all. On the more local levels, though, my state, region, county, and city powers-that-be have been doing a really FINE job of keeping folks safe and society (more or less) running through all this strangeness. In my city, we've only had FOUR covid-19 deaths in total. We're starting to reopen, slowly and cautiously, and we've seen a small uptick in cases...but it's still looking like we're going to be OK.

The one place that has remained open (and I've been able to visit throughout) is my CPO's clinic. They switched into "emergency mode" (Installing plexiglass dividers, staggering client appointments to keep the waiting room empty, delivering supplies to people's homes instead of asking them to come in, etc.) almost instantly and have been able to keep the business afloat.

I thank goodness for the various "essential workers" who have made sheltering in place possible for all the rest of us! They have been amazing!

[snowyh]

Hey, all! I've been retired for a few years now, so staying at home is a nothing new for me! My major volunteer activity as a 4-day-a-week tax return preparer for the AARP Tax-Aide program got cancelled mid-March, then they revived the program June 1st, changed to be assistance to taxpayers who wanted to self-prepare their own returns online. I declined to participate in the revised program because most of the returns I prepare are for folks who are not comfortable using a computer (or don't even own one), and I couldn't figure out how we could assure a correct return without seeing the source tax documents even though taxpayers could screen-share their tax software with us.

I'm in Texas, where we've had a spike in cases & hospitalizations the last couple of weeks. Sadly, our governor has encouraged the state to open up economically faster than the federal health experts' guidelines. We're currently at a SEVERE (highest rating) emergency health alert in my city, and they've rolled back some previously-relaxed restrictions on some businesses, but the governor has prevented cities from putting any teeth in the "must wear a mask in indoor public places" rule by banning any sort of punishment for individual violators.

I'm glad that I don't even know anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19, and thank our tireless essential workers for keeping the country functioning.