Who else is on COVID lockdown?

[dr.girlfriend]

Schools here are closed for the next two weeks, and the hospital I work at is cancelling any visits that aren't urgent so I get to stay home as well.  To keep this MM, my husband's entire job relies on him giving talks at conferences, and about half his conferences are cancelling and the others are going full-virtual, so I think he will likely get let go soon.  It was a new position they created just for him and these first four months were supposed to be a test run.  Fun times!

[babsbunny]

dr.girlfriend, could your husband's company throw together a virtual training package to sell? Some companies might have to pay people to stay home who cannot do their normal jobs remotely so maybe they would pay a small amount for some really useful training that can be done from home.

[dr.girlfriend]

Mar 13, 2020 17:29:26 GMT -5 babsbunny said:

dr.girlfriend , could your husband's company throw together a virtual training package to sell? Some companies might have to pay people to stay home who cannot do their normal jobs remotely so maybe they would pay a small amount for some really useful training that can be done from home.

That's a really good idea, I'll ask suggest it to him!

[madisen]

My company tested 10% of almost every department working from home this whole week. We have offices in three locations and all have now been hit with school closures. So today was spent identifying who would be working from home as of this coming Monday due to having to care for children, care for someone else, sick themselves, or self-identified with a high risk category, and making sure they were set up from an IT systems and hardware perspective.

I’m working from home for the next two weeks at least. My sister was admitted to the hospital yesterday with pneumonia and is being considered a ‘person of interest’. Crazy though, the hospital has tested her for the flu (negative), and another 15 panel test, also all negative. They said they would test her for coronavirus after that but are now trying to discharge her without testing her.

[k3am]

Kids are out for at least 3 weeks.

DH is WFH until 4/10 at least.

I’m WFH for two weeks (probably at max).

It’s a recipe for disaster, but at least we continue getting paid (and paying for daycare and aftercare we won’t use.)

[aprilsails]

@@@ DD is out of school for 3 weeks minimum.

I’m not working right now due to maternity leave so I will be home with the kids.

DH is approved to WFH. I think he’s going to use it for at least the first week since both him and DD have come down with what I suspect is Flu B as of Thursday/Friday. They both had flu shots so it is pretty mild and really just annoying. So our family is on double quarantine! Woot! Unless their symptoms become severe we will not bother going in for testing as we have no desire to further tax the medical system at this time.

[aprilsails]

madisen if your sister is stable (does not need oxygen or more direct medical treatment) the best place for her is at home for 2 weeks. Staying in the hospital for the sake of a test only is putting vastly more people and staff at risk. The test is also taking up to two days to receive results in many cases due to lab backlogs and lack of testing kits. Having an actual diagnosis does not change the treatment protocol. If she lives with others they should all self-quarantine if they’ve been around her.

My Mom is a virologist and while testing is important from the perspective of making public health decisions (closing schools, etc) once they know the virus is circulating in the community it doesn’t change the approach to test individual people. Those who have the possibility of infection need to do their part by staying home. It’s the best way to curb the spread.

I’m in Canada and the testing approach here has been quite different since we’ve had test kits from the start. However the two day delay meant that results weren’t back anyway so everyone was treated as presumptive. We now have test kits that can be completed in hours. Still doesn’t mean someone should wait around in the ER.

[wildrice]

I guess I am. H and I are both working from home for at least the next 2 weeks, though I have to go in for a couple of hours on Wednesday morning to do orientation for new employees. We have 4 people set to start, and the decision was made not to delay them. I actually think we could have figured out a way to leave me out of it had the decision been made earlier in the day yesterday and I had been involved in the conversation... I don't process them, I just "host" their orientation and tell them about parking. But at the same time, I'm sure it's fine. It's a small group and I'll just be careful.

We had planned to visit Gettysburg today (day trip from our home) but I decided at the last minute not to. My H is not thrilled about it, but I was feeling a lot of guilt about going somewhere that we don't absolutely have to. I have a few social things scheduled over the next week but I am guessing those should be cancelled too.

We have plenty of food/supplies so we might just stay home. I hope my H stops thinking I'm overreacting!

[melmel48]

We are closed for a week; thankfully my boss fought for us and got our parent company to agree to pay us.

[sandandsea]

Yep. Kids are home for 3 weeks. I’m working from home and dh is supposed to work from home but has to go in to the lab for part of his job so he’s still in limbo.

I set up a rough schedule last night for the kids to have stuff to do while I work. I’m going to print some worksheets for them, have them do reading, math, writing, abcmouse, outside play, free play, exercise dvd, other computer learning (Osmo and pebble go) and learning movies (planet earth) so I can hopefully get some real work done. Praying it works.

[Pom]

My H flew to West TX Monday to visit his offices there re: preparedness, drove to San Antonio to meet with the office there and then came home to Houston Tuesday night, two days early. He is work from home since corporate is now shut down until further notice. My sister and I are both high risk, so we are hunkered down for the duration. Our county has confirmed four cases.

I sincerely hope that social media becomes a sharing community device during this time. Check on each other. Call your elderly relatives. Make sure they have what the need or call resources in their area like Meals on Wheels or Council on Aging if you are far away. Encourage them to avoid physical contact or going to the store as much as possible. Order groceries for pick up for them if that is available in their area. Phone calls still keep them engaged.

My thoughts are with everyone during this crisis.

[covergirl82]

School is closed until April 6, which is the week spring break was scheduled. So we'll see what happens there. DH and I are still decided what we do about our plans...we are supposed to go to WDW, but with it closed until March 31, and we fly there April 1, we're worried about a last-minute park closure extension.

DH and I should both be able to WFH while the schools are closed. If for some reason we have to go back in the office before the kids go back to school, my parents should be able to help out with child care. (Or plan B is to check with any of their friends' parents who are teachers.)

Kids will have a schedule and to-do's each day, which includes a couple hours a day of academic work/learning. Hopefully we can have friends over once in a while so they don't have 3 weeks of no friends.

From an MM perspective, there is no impact to our income for us to WFH. We will receive a refund for before/aftercare we've already paid for that falls during the school closure period. We'll also save money on gas and put way fewer miles on our vehicles. However, I've bought more groceries this week 1) because we'll be home all day and also eating out much less and 2) I've been stocking up in case we get locked down and can't leave.

[madisen]

Mar 14, 2020 6:26:46 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

madisen if your sister is stable (does not need oxygen or more direct medical treatment) the best place for her is at home for 2 weeks. Staying in the hospital for the sake of a test only is putting vastly more people and staff at risk. The test is also taking up to two days to receive results in many cases due to lab backlogs and lack of testing kits. Having an actual diagnosis does not change the treatment protocol. If she lives with others they should all self-quarantine if they’ve been around her.

My Mom is a virologist and while testing is important from the perspective of making public health decisions (closing schools, etc) once they know the virus is circulating in the community it doesn’t change the approach to test individual people. Those who have the possibility of infection need to do their part by staying home. It’s the best way to curb the spread.

I’m in Canada and the testing approach here has been quite different since we’ve had test kits from the start. However the two day delay meant that results weren’t back anyway so everyone was treated as presumptive. We now have test kits that can be completed in hours. Still doesn’t mean someone should wait around in the ER.

Yeah thanks. She wanted to go home and quarantine after her oxygen looked good and she was stable but the hospital didn’t let her. They told her there was a mandatory 2 night stay for pneumonia which we also thought was ridiculous. My sister tried the same logic with them.

Additionally she is an FBI agent and her agency is making a test for her mandatory whether they do it at the hospital or if they send her directly to a designated clinic for federal agents. So the test thing is out of her hands. The hospital/her doctor had initially told her she would be tested if the panel came back negative which it did. But now they are trying to not administer the test. She’s just trying to comply with what her agency is requiring of her. And since it had been offered to her there, going to another facility snd potentially being in contact with more people for it seems unwise.

[aprilsails]

madisen that is a hot mess and I’m sorry for your sister. I really hope she is feeling better soon.

[Mushe]

Schools here closed for up to 3 weeks, and that takes us to spring break. It’s unclear when we’ll go back. H’s employer is encouraging WFH, so that’s good. I’m on our Exec team and we are working to get as many people as possible poised to do emergency telework. I can easily do most of my job from home; it’ll just be the chaos of also having everyone else there! We are beyond lucky that this is the case.

[WOT?*]

Our schools are closed for six weeks (through April 24.) Initially, our district was closing one school at a time for cleaning and disinfecting as cases were discovered, and then we'd *just* gotten notice that we were shutting down for two weeks when the governor announced a six week closure for King County (Seattle) and the two neighboring counties, then announced statewide closures as more cases were being found across the state.

My husband *finally* got the main office to permit WFH and to pay salary to those who are hourly and unable to WFH, but that's likely because NY has finally gotten hit and they're seeing what we've been going through for the past four weeks and it's hitting home for others. We're at the epicenter in Seattle so things are being taken extremely seriously as we're ahead of the curve for spread. (We had patient 0 and the Life Care nursing home with 22 deaths, among other things.) There's talk of shutting down the airports and downtown and keeping people home/quarantined because they're not doing it their own damn selves. Folks aren't quarantining because it's just *stupid* to do so. They're not reading about the spread out in Europe because that's just different from what we have out here. Things are under control!!!11! It's just like a flu and more people die of the flu than are dying from this silly little virus. State/local government is trying to follow what's going on in Italy, Spain, France to keep our numbers from spreading to what we're seeing over there and keep our medical facilities from being hit, but when people are idiots, there's no help for it. Our government, according to too many, is just a bunch of liberals overreacting and we just need to see that life goes on. Que sera sera. (This is being typed with a shitton of snark.) We may have been exposed so we're being extremely cautious. (DH and I are both diabetic, which is a complication with heart and lung issues, and one granddaughter has asthma. Right now DH is showing flu-like symptoms and today was having chest pains. I've had a light cough and granddaughter is ill with a kidney infection that includes a fever and cough so it's tough to differentiate. We're following flu/pneumonia protocol just in case, self-quarantining and all that fun stuff.)

Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others have been WFH for the past one to two weeks. DH's commute has gone from 60-90 minutes to 30 minutes max. Restaurants are closing for lack of business (Tom Douglas closed 12 of 13 of his restaurants); there have been a few that have pivoted (brilliantly, I might add) to drive-through/pick-up service. Hotels are at 5-30% capacity rather than 70% where it typically would be. One of DH's attorneys is seriously considering renting a home outside the downtown core (they bought a condo downtown a few years ago) so they're not caught in a lockdown situation.

(Just giving y'all a glimpse of what everyone else has to look forward in about 1-2 weeks if you're not there yet.)

[carmenere]

Our area is not locked down yet - most schools closed, but no other restrictions. We are both WFH and avoiding going out. I work in nonprofit fundraising and it’s not a good time to be asking our donors for money, so I’ll be looking for ways to fill my work time.

[kimibrighteyes]

Our schools will likely be closed until September.

[mbcdefg]

I WFH anyway so my situation hasn’t changed. MH’s schools (FT day job, PT adjunct job after school) are both doing online learning for at least two weeks so he’s WFH. And not enjoying it.

We pulled DD from daycare to minimize exposure and also lighten their load a bit, and we will reevaluate as things progress. I’m grateful that she’s easygoing and young enough to not really notice what’s going on, although we’ve had to refuse her requests for the playground or to see her friends.

Our town has at least one positive case at the moment. Our state has shut all restaurants except for takeout/delivery, and there’s an 8pm curfew. I’m not going back to the supermarket until we’re out of milk and coffee. I’m still a little wary of takeout, and at the same time I’m really upset thinking how hard of a hit this is for some of our favorite places.

We don’t have horribly social lives so we’re not really missing out on TOO much, but it’s a drag not being able to do anything, and we’re only on Day Three. And it’s really infuriating that this is going to drag on even longer than needed, and hurt a lot more people, because of the people who just cannot help themselves from unnecessarily going out.

[dutchgirl678]

Schools are closed until April 28. Two kids at home aged 8 and 11. Luckily they can keep themselves entertained with reading and online programs like Dreambox. DH is WFH until at least April 1. I already WFH but moved my office to our master bedroom and gave my office to DH. We are making it work. We are fully stocked for food and can go outside for walks and everybody is healthy, plus we both are still working FT.

[idahome]

Our offices are closed with everyone working remotely. I’m grateful to be able to work from home, but it’s hard for me to stop working at a reasonable hour since it’s “here.”

Governor just closed all K-12 schools (including private which is a huge deal) until at least May 1st.

Multiple confirmed positive cases in our county.

[mommin]

Everywhere but the grocery store and Costco are pretty much a ghost town. We had our first three confirmed cases yesterday. I've been leaving the house once a week to go to the grocery store and a few nights a week to walk with DH. That's about it.
The kids' schools are closed through at least April 14 but likely through the end of the school year. My kids are Kindergarten, 2nd, 5th, and 8th and they all have distance learning to work on. Right now it is basic work provided by the district but next week they will begin to get work from their specific teacher. In all honesty, it isn't as bad as I expected to do the distance learning. I was pretty much dreading it but with the teachers doing the work of creating the curriculum all I have to do is help them like I would with a large batch of homework. We are on a pretty good schedule and the work is only taking us a few hours.
The problem is that we have all this free time and nowhere to go. We were told yesterday by the govenor that we are to stay home except when required (grocery shopping, medical appointments, essential work) so I'm not quite sure what to do with the kids. I got some new puzzles and movies, we have board games, books, art supplies, and a backyard but that is going to get boring for them pretty quickly. We also have a lot of websites and apps that the teachers recommended but we have more kids than electronic devices.
DH is set up for wfh already so that is helpful. He is able to do about 50% of his work here and only has to go 2-3 days a week. He works in telehealth so things have really ramped up the last couple weeks because of the demand for seeing possibly infectious patients without having them leave their homes.