COVID-19 (f/k/a "the Coronavirus")

[Benny B]

Rumor out of Italy, and France is that Anti Inflammatory drugs make this worse.  Consider not taking them if you or someone you know has symptoms.

Please do not give medical advice.  This is not against you personally, Hards, but a PSA to everyone:

Nobody should be giving any medical advice that is rumored, anecdotal, experimental, etc.  Unless you're directly quoting the CDC website (in which case, please provide a link), this really needs to stop.

[jficke13]

For those who are in an office setting... what have the policies/communication looked like from your company?

The company I work for has basically taken the stance that unless the authorities order offices to close, people are expected to come in. So far they are only allowing people to work from home 2 days/week if their job allows for it. I'm furious with our leadership on this. It's irresponsible and borderline dangerous.

Before I completely die on this hill at work, I'm just curious how common this is for companies (especially in MKE) to continue to expect people to work in the office.

I basically told mine I'm working from home effective tomorrow. Am being allowed to. My situation is probably kind of unique (small firm, lots of transition, I can manage clients with a phone and email, and courthouses closing en mas)

[#UnleashSean]

For those who are in an office setting... what have the policies/communication looked like from your company?

The company I work for has basically taken the stance that unless the authorities order offices to close, people are expected to come in. So far they are only allowing people to work from home 2 days/week if their job allows for it. I'm furious with our leadership on this. It's irresponsible and borderline dangerous.

Before I completely die on this hill at work, I'm just curious how common this is for companies (especially in MKE) to continue to expect people to work in the office.

Just got out of an annual infectious disease class with 50 other people. During this the instructor was talking about covid 19 and told us we shouldn't gather in groups over 10.

 

[Spotcheck Billy]

I asked our company president last week if they had any plans. His response was we can stay 6 feet apart so keep coming to work!

[Hards Alumni]

Please do not give medical advice.  This is not against you personally, Hards, but a PSA to everyone:

Nobody should be giving any medical advice that is rumored, anecdotal, experimental, etc.  Unless you're directly quoting the CDC website (in which case, please provide a link), this really needs to stop.

Obviously.  But I'm not telling people to take something.  I think there is definitely an in between here.

[mu03eng]

I work for a fortune 500 company and previous to all this I was in the habit of working from home whenever I felt like it. Obviously went in for in person meetings and briefs but most of my engagements were virtual anyway.

My boss told all his direct reports to work from home if desired but he nor the company have pushed it to a requirement, in fact any statements have always ended with "if it is necessary for you" or the like.

We had a bit of good luck that we had a project in the works to offload bandwidth from our VPNs (things like authentication of productivity tools and emails - Skype, Teams, Outlook, etc) that they deployed two weeks early and some short term capacity improvements that should enable all of us to work remotely. Without that I could see where there would be issues.

Tough decision point for companies, they have to keep the lights on but they may not have the capacity to go virtual so what do you do?

[skianth16]

For those who are in an office setting... what have the policies/communication looked like from your company?

The company I work for has basically taken the stance that unless the authorities order offices to close, people are expected to come in. So far they are only allowing people to work from home 2 days/week if their job allows for it. I'm furious with our leadership on this. It's irresponsible and borderline dangerous.

Before I completely die on this hill at work, I'm just curious how common this is for companies (especially in MKE) to continue to expect people to work in the office.

We got a global email on Friday that more or less said employees were expected to come into the office unless local authorities dictated otherwise. Apparently this didn't go over so well, and we received emails each of the last 2 days backing off that stance and trying to give local teams more autonomy to make decisions. As of now, it seems we are being encouraged to work from home if possible. Offices will remain open, but visitors will be limited and there was even talk of a temperature taking policy being instituted.

[MU11W]

For those who are in an office setting... what have the policies/communication looked like from your company?

The company I work for has basically taken the stance that unless the authorities order offices to close, people are expected to come in. So far they are only allowing people to work from home 2 days/week if their job allows for it. I'm furious with our leadership on this. It's irresponsible and borderline dangerous.

Before I completely die on this hill at work, I'm just curious how common this is for companies (especially in MKE) to continue to expect people to work in the office.

Not in Milwaukee, but Chicago. We received a mandate to WFH until further notice late Thursday afternoon - So WFH started on Friday.  Prior to that, we were encouraged to WFH if we felt unsafe due to our commute of just being in the office.

I feel like just about everyone I know with an office job in the Chicago area is WFH at least until the end of the month.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

I asked our company president last week if they had any plans. His response was we can stay 6 feet apart so keep coming to work!

While this made me roll my eyes, it also made me wonder: what are food rendering, processing, and packaging plants doing?

[GooooMarquette]

I looked into the pandemic response closure a little bit since I hadn't actually read any articles on that yet. So far, I've just seen the statement and took it as fact. What I found was.... no surprise, very conflicting accounts.

Beth Cameron , the former Senior Director at the NSC, says the team was dissolved and not replaced. But Tim Morrison, another former senior director at the NSC, says the NSC was reorganized, and the counterproliferation and biodefense office now has pandemic preparedness within its scope.

What's the average joe to believe?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nsc-pandemic-office-trump-closed/2020/03/13/a70de09c-6491-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/16/no-white-house-didnt-dissolve-its-pandemic-response-office/

If it didn't dissolve, they would have internal memos, minutes of meetings, pandemic preparedness plans. It would be pretty easy for someone in the office to show them to the public if indeed they exist. And if it still exists, the administration would have talked about when the outbreak occurred. Instead, we are only reading about it after the fact, when rumors surfaced that it was simply abolished.
________________

Edit: And Dr. Fauci at NIH - someone who would be in a position to know - told Congress that it was eliminated:

"We worked very well with that office. It would be nice if the office was still there," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on Wednesday.

https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-would-be-nice-trump-hadnt-scrapped-nsc-global-health-2020-3

Seems like Dr.Fauci is a person the average Joe can believe.

[mu03eng]

While this made me roll my eyes, it also made me wonder: what are food rendering, processing, and packaging plants doing?

Those plants are largely automated these days, especially the ones at scale. Typical processing plant might have 200 people in it but spread across thousands of square feet.

Generally speaking, manufacturing and distribution (plant floors) should be fine unless they get a rash of workers getting sick.

[GooooMarquette]

Please do not give medical advice.  This is not against you personally, Hards, but a PSA to everyone:

Nobody should be giving any medical advice that is rumored, anecdotal, experimental, etc.  Unless you're directly quoting the CDC website (in which case, please provide a link), this really needs to stop.

Generally agree, but in fairness to Hards, he did say it was a rumor. And the first thing I might have taken if I had a fever would be ibuprofen. For a little more substance, it looks like it came from France's Minister of Health, who acknowledges they need more data:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/anti-inflammatory-drugs-may-aggravate-coronavirus-infection

[BM1090]

For those who are in an office setting... what have the policies/communication looked like from your company?

The company I work for has basically taken the stance that unless the authorities order offices to close, people are expected to come in. So far they are only allowing people to work from home 2 days/week if their job allows for it. I'm furious with our leadership on this. It's irresponsible and borderline dangerous.

Before I completely die on this hill at work, I'm just curious how common this is for companies (especially in MKE) to continue to expect people to work in the office.

I work for a local Fortune 500 company and we've been encouraged to work remotely. Had our quarterly meeting today and it went fully remote. We're allowed to go into the office if we want but leadership has made it quite clear they would prefer us not to do so.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Those plants are largely automated these days, especially the ones at scale. Typical processing plant might have 200 people in it but spread across thousands of square feet.

Generally speaking, manufacturing and distribution (plant floors) should be fine unless they get a rash of workers getting sick.

Ok, makes sense on processing and packaging.  Rendering, however...I've been in a chicken rendering plant and...yeah. But I suppose that is a relatively small portion of the overall food chain.

[mu_hilltopper]

I work for a medium sized $800m company.   We started planning last week to get as many people to work from home as possible.   Spent most of the last two days setting people up with remote access, phones, etc at my 100 person office.   The warehouse staff will keep shipping, but all office staff starts from home tomorrow.

[jesmu84]

I work for a medium sized $800m company.   We started planning last week to get as many people to work from home as possible.   Spent most of the last two days setting people up with remote access, phones, etc at my 100 person office.   The warehouse staff will keep shipping, but all office staff starts from home tomorrow.

Dunder Mifflin?

[rocket surgeon]

A dental office In which I know the personnel, they are seeing patients as I still am following the ADA guidelines as much as we can, they are having patients rinse their mouths with peroxide pre-op...hmm, if anyone has ever heard of that one and what the....efficacy is there...I am all ears.

might as shut the office down for chriminey sakes

[rocket surgeon]

we've had patients do chlorhexidine before but not as a routine.  but peroxide?  because it's much cheaper?  if i'm a patient, can i have the cow urine instead?  about the only thing this accomplishes is further p!ssing off the patient imho of course.  i ain't having someone put something in their mouths that i wouldn't myself do...well almost all

[Pakuni]

A dental office In which I know the personnel, they are seeing patients as I still am following the ADA guidelines as much as we can, they are having patients rinse their mouths with peroxide pre-op...hmm, if anyone has ever heard of that one and what the....efficacy is there...I am all ears.

might as shut the office down for chriminey sakes

The Illinois Dental Association today recommended dentists see only emergency patients. I suspect that recommendation will spread nationwide.

[Hards Alumni]

we've had patients do chlorhexidine before but not as a routine.  but peroxide?  because it's much cheaper?  if i'm a patient, can i have the cow urine instead?  about the only thing this accomplishes is further p!ssing off the patient imho of course.  i ain't having someone put something in their mouths that i wouldn't myself do...well almost all

Today I was given a prescription strength mouthwash before they did anything in my mouth.

Don't know what it is, but I was okay with it.

[keefe]

I live in downtown Seattle. A couple weeks ago, the Bureau Chief of the LA Times told me that most everyone here had already been exposed to the virus.

Myself and many friends caught it. It's like a very mild flu - headache, body ache, low grade fever, dry cough, and lethargy.

We were all told that if there was a temperature spike or shortness of breath then get to a hospital. But otherwise, self quarantine while taking fluids and resting.

We all stayed home while continuing our work productivity. If you are fit, healthy, and maintain situational awareness it is the same as managing a cold. The elderly and those with immunity issues are the ones at risk.

The degree of hysteria around this is decidedly over the top.

[Hards Alumni]

I live in downtown Seattle. A couple weeks ago, the Bureau Chief of the LA Times told me that most everyone here had already been exposed to the virus.

Myself and many friends caught it. It's like a very mild flu - headache, body ache, low grade fever, dry cough, and lethargy.

We were all told that if there was a temperature spike or shortness of breath then get to a hospital. But otherwise, self quarantine while taking fluids and resting.

We all stayed home while continuing our work productivity. If you are fit, healthy, and maintain situational awareness it is the same as managing a cold. The elderly and those with immunity issues are the ones at risk.

The degree of hysteria around this is decidedly over the top.

nope.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I basically told mine I'm working from home effective tomorrow. Am being allowed to. My situation is probably kind of unique (small firm, lots of transition, I can manage clients with a phone and email, and courthouses closing en mas)

Everyone who can work from home will be doing so as of Wednesday through March 30.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I live in downtown Seattle. A couple weeks ago, the Bureau Chief of the LA Times told me that most everyone here had already been exposed to the virus.

Myself and many friends caught it. It's like a very mild flu - headache, body ache, low grade fever, dry cough, and lethargy.

We were all told that if there was a temperature spike or shortness of breath then get to a hospital. But otherwise, self quarantine while taking fluids and resting.

We all stayed home while continuing our work productivity. If you are fit, healthy, and maintain situational awareness it is the same as managing a cold. The elderly and those with immunity issues are the ones at risk.

The degree of hysteria around this is decidedly over the top.

Then why would you have to quarantine?

[forgetful]

I live in downtown Seattle. A couple weeks ago, the Bureau Chief of the LA Times told me that most everyone here had already been exposed to the virus.

Myself and many friends caught it. It's like a very mild flu - headache, body ache, low grade fever, dry cough, and lethargy.

We were all told that if there was a temperature spike or shortness of breath then get to a hospital. But otherwise, self quarantine while taking fluids and resting.

We all stayed home while continuing our work productivity. If you are fit, healthy, and maintain situational awareness it is the same as managing a cold. The elderly and those with immunity issues are the ones at risk.

The degree of hysteria around this is decidedly over the top.

How do you know you had it? Were you tested? If so, why, you do not fit any of the recommendations on who should be tested?

How did the bureau chief of the LA Times know this? He couldn't, nobody knows this.

The WHO, the rest of the world, every major health organization, and your friends at Fred Hutch say otherwise.