I have been in multiple business meetings where I shake someone’s hand and sit in a closed door room with them … only to have them cough repeatedly and relay that they are fighting the flu. These were meetings that could have easily been done over the phone or been delayed a few days.
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Sick policies are virtually nonexistent for a large portion of the US work force and most people are under so much pressure to perform they come to work anyway. It’s sad really.
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And I’ve been that person! But that was a decade ago, and there really was an expectation to come to the office if you could possibly manage it. Hopefully this will push a culture change on that front where it’s needed!
(I was 100% capable of doing my job from home and already telecommuted part time, but there was an “expectation” I be in the office for certain things.)
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This is me, 100%. I think it’s really easy to forget that many of us have kids that can’t be vaccinated yet. It will be a long time before my family will go mask free.
Same, 100% I’m never going to forget being in a business meeting with a customer who coughed all over me. I got upgraded to first class for my first time ever, but while on the plane, I started feeling bad and didn’t get to enjoy it at all. I had caught the flu from the guy sitting next to me. And then of course, I exposed the people next to me on the plane.
Because we don’t commonly have paid sick leave in the US, there’s definitely a resistance to staying at home when sick. I’m hopeful this pandemic will change our behavior.
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I agree this is a problem. But it’s also a culture problem. The companies I’ve worked for have always had paid sick leave, and yet we still feel like we have to work when we’re sick! I’m in accounting and it’s full of type A workaholics.
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It goes beyond this. Pre-covid, I wouldn’t have thought too much of people coming to work with bad colds as long as they didn’t shake hands and covered their mouth when coughing. It is very easy to say (I did it myself) – “I have a cold so I’m not shaking hands today”. Obviously, Covid changes things a bit in terms of what a bad cold means.
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I have pretty severe allergies. Even when fully medicated, I am constantly blowing my nose and sneezing to the point that there is a large box of tissues and a mini trash can on my desk. I routinely tell others that are new to our seating area at work that I am not contagious and they have a pass on saying “God Bless You” since I sneeze constantly.
Then COVID hit.
We were closed almost immediately with everyone working remotely but they started opening at 35% capacity in September. It was very clear that I was not expected (nor wanted) in the office. They knew that my sneezing would make people nervous and to be honest, I had no eagerness to sneeze all day w/ a mask on!
I am not sure what a vaccinated office will look like. My thoughts are that I will probably stay remote as long as they are still requiring masks, but we will see what happens.
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You must love those forms at doctors’ offices these days that ask if you have had a runny nose in the past 14 days.
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It is usually not actively running…more of a congestion, back of my throat thing so the forms aren’t too bad. 
Mold and Dust Mites are year round…but the grass is horrendous for me spring through fall. I have already gone through a full series of allergy shots which makes it so prescription/OTC meds actually work. My allergies used to be far worse and included allergic conjunctivitis that required steroid drops. I am thankful that is hasn’t been that bad in a while!
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This is totally me! Thankfully I have my own office where I can close the door and seal myself in, but I literally just sneezed and blew my nose. Darn allergies! 
Navigating post-Covid nerves in the office will be tricky.
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I just got off the phone w/ the CDC… they called for a national survey they are conducting around Covid-19. They asked, age, income, race, when/if vaccinated, how many in family are vaccinated, mask use, ease of access to vaccinations. there were a lot of questions around attitude toward… When I said I was in FL and unhappy w/ how hard it was to get a shot here he said, “ohhhh… no comment”. I was jovial and joking around w/ him. He was clearly nervous and had other negative experiences b/c at the end when I wished him luck and only happy ppl calls he thanked me and said he needed all the luck.
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This message popped up on my phone on Saturday while at MK. They are trying to respond to FL governors changing policies
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This was actually in the updated CDC guidance I just ran across. Not sure if this has been posted here yet?
“Although infections through inhalation at distances greater than six feet from an infectious source are less likely than at closer distances, the phenomenon has been repeatedly documented under certain preventable circumstances. These transmission events have involved the presence of an infectious person exhaling virus indoors for an extended time (more than 15 minutes and in some cases hours) leading to virus concentrations in the air space sufficient to transmit infections to people more than 6 feet away, and in some cases to people who have passed through that space soon after the infectious person left.”
Many people don’t seem to get this. A friend thinks it’s absolutely safe for her and her cubicle mate to be unmasked as long as their chairs are 6’ apart, even though they are there all day, rather than except the offer to move one of them to an empty conference room.
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FDA just authorized the Pfizer vax for 12-15 year olds!
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This has been super frustrating for me too. I know this is how we have had transmission at my work. People sat at least 6’ apart, but then unmasked and proceeded to talk and laugh and joke with each other for extended periods of time. And then - shocker! - 3 out of a 4 person work group were out with Covid at the same time. Another co-worker was masked but in a meeting for most of the day with several who were not masked, or at least not all the time. She got Covid and couldn’t figure out how or where. But then found out one of the people in that meeting had a serious case of Covid. In her case, she didn’t present with symptoms for 10 or 11 days and had a mild case, so maybe wearing a mask did help her but couldn’t overcome the hours she spent in the room with him. And possibly they both got it from someone else in that meeting who was asymptomatic. But if I had a dollar for every time someone said, but we’re six feet apart, as if that was the golden ticket …
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Fantastic news! Now for the littles to be approved!
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CDC advisory panel meets on Wednesday and then the CDC director has to sign off before we can get our kiddos shots in arms!
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OK… so I was at the dr. office today and one of the reception ppl (behind a partial/useless plexiglass) kept removing her mask or using it to support her chin and it was all I could do to not yell at her. I didn’t want to be there in the first place and you expect a dr. office w/ signs all over about mandatory masking to wear them properly.
I wanted to say something to the dr. in the exam room but maybe I should call back tomorrow. They really should know better.
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Thank you for sharing this piece of information I glossed over, as I’ve been refreshing the pharmacy COVID appointment page like I’m trying to get a fourth fastpass+.
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I’m pleased that it is becoming easier to get the vaccine. It took all of my Liner skills to get appointments for DH and I when our eligibility opened.
I was concerned how DS20 was going to get the vaccine since he doesn’t have a car at school. I thought he would have to wait until he comes home for the summer.
He went grocery shopping at Albertson last Friday and saw a sign saying it was taking walk-ins for vaccination that afternoon. I was super proud that he walked back to Albertson in the afternoon and got his first dose of Pfizer. His second dose was automatically scheduled.
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