Post by mustardseed2007 on May 14, 2021 9:17:03 GMT -5
What is your work place doing in response to the new CDC update? I'm sure most won't do anything immediately, but we're currently trying to think through this right now with our team members and its challenging. We want to be safe, fair, and we are looking at team members who are slow to vaccinate anyway.
We aren’t back in the office yet as our area isn’t yet open. But I’m 99% sure we will follow Cdc guidance. So whatever the CDC (or local health leaders) say will be what we adopt.
Post by mustardseed2007 on May 14, 2021 10:01:28 GMT -5
sandandsea, so since the CDC said vaxed people can generally go maskless, do you think your office will let vaccinated people go maskless and require unvaxed people to wear masks?
sandandsea, so since the CDC said vaxed people can generally go maskless, do you think your office will let vaccinated people go maskless and require unvaxed people to wear masks?
Would this be a HIPPA violation? Since then everyone would know who is vaccinated or not? I really need HR or legal to weigh in.
I will find out on Thursday. We don't go back in to the office until August as of right now. So I think it will be more back to 'normal' operations by then.
waverly , I'm not sure if it would or not. In healthcare facilities they require flu shots or masks, so somehow it's allowed to be a requirement in that way. I'd think you could do the same thing with the covid vaccine? (ETA, require for staff. It's something we deal with all the time for our nurses.)
We aren't fully reopening until September, so I'm not sure if they'll update the mask requirements for those few people who go in person right now or not.
I called the HR hotline, and they are waiting for IL state guidance for workplaces. They said mask until those state guidelines are released. Some states might already have them. Our governor alluded to it, but hasn't posted them yet.
Post by mustardseed2007 on May 14, 2021 10:53:28 GMT -5
Not a HIPAA violation. That applies to information collected when someone is seeking health care. It could have ADA or religious implications I think if someone tells you why they aren't vaccinated. But you don't have to ask why they aren't if the rule is that you can be without a mask if you are vaccinated. But again, they still might tell you why because then you have the information.
I would definitely rather not ask or know why. The CDC guidance though is pushing this decision point into employers hands, though.
ETA: we operate in several states that either do not currently have or never had a mask mandate so it's going to be a Thing.
Well Oregon is like California so I don't see masks going away. Law makers are trying to overrule OSHA permanent mask mandate and have the state follow CDC. But then 2 weeks ago the governor shut down 15 counties because case counts got too high in her mind. Now counties can open when we reach a % of the population vaccinated. My county needs another 26k as of last night's news.
Post by supertrooper1 on May 14, 2021 11:41:57 GMT -5
My agency just announced that they'll be phasing in employees in the DC area. Only people that want to go back to the office can go back, with a cap of 25%. Those that go back to the office require a mask if they cannot keep a 6 foot distance from other people, regardless of vaccination status. In the FAQs, they said when the reintegration expands outside of DC, state and local laws regarding masks will be enforced if they're different from my agency's policy.
My division director said she doesn't see my group going back to the office until masks and social distancing are no longer required. I hope I can WFH 100% from here on out.
sandandsea, so since the CDC said vaxed people can generally go maskless, do you think your office will let vaccinated people go maskless and require unvaxed people to wear masks?
We have offices in several states so we already have different rules in different places and they’ve held to the stricter of CDC and local rules. They’ve also casually encouraged people to get vaccinated so I do think they’d have different rules for different people. Idk the hr side of things and am guessing based on what they’ve done so far.
Nothing. We are continuing to require masking for everyone, indoors and out. Maybe next school year will look different (I can see not having teachers mask, for example, since were all vaccinated) and letting kids remove theirs outside but I think we will still require masks at least in elementary and middle since most of the kids are too young for the vaccine.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
Post by mustardseed2007 on May 14, 2021 20:33:24 GMT -5
Oh yeah, school. Our Kids' school just reiterated they were going to have masks outside and inside for the rest of the year so I'm glad about that. I hope by the time next school year rolls around both of my kids will be vaccinated. Our school is private and very pro masks which I support 10000%.
Our company hasn’t reopened yet and you have to get the approval of a senior VP even to go in to print something. So mask policy isn’t yet an issue. Our company has said they will not require everyone to be vaccinated, which I’m a little sad about, but considering we operate on every continent except Antarctica, I can see how that would be difficult.
My boss had his first Covid vaccine this week and had an intense adverse allergic reaction. Like his core body temp dropped to 94 degrees and his wife had to call the EMTs. So the poor guy isn’t going to be able to complete the vaccination. He’s the reason we need herd immunity. He would be fully vaccinated if he could be.
My boss had his first Covid vaccine this week and had an intense adverse allergic reaction. Like his core body temp dropped to 94 degrees and his wife had to call the EMTs.
This is so weird. I had my temp drop after the second shot. I’m usually low at 97.5 but dropped to 95.9 after the second shot. We hadn’t heard of anyone else having that side effect so I feel less crazy!
Well my school system just put out that we will continue the mask wearing until the end of the year (makes sense since it's only two weeks) and then this summer it will be optional for summer camp as long as the rates remain low. The school system is well below 1%. All teachers have had the ability to get the vaccine.
DD brought something up about masks the other day. She wanted to know if I was going to still wear my mask since she has to since she can't be vaccinated yet? Just wondering if anyone else's kids are asking these same questions.
I got some pushback on masks yesterday from clients. I just was honest and said we both just got our 2nd doses and that DD was here at the office doing school so they needed to wear their masks to protect her. They were fine with that answer but I don't know how long they will be. We don't see a ton of people over the summer so maybe I'm imagining worst case scenarios.
I will not wear my mask just because the kids need to. I need all the ammo I can get to convince her to get the vaccine when it’s her turn.
To be fair, I also don’t think young children should be required to wear masks, particularly outside. (My Tuesday confession that’s probably flameworthy depending on where you live)
I should add that in our house, we have a lot of rules that apply to kids, but not adults. Kids are not allowed to eat or drink on the couch. They're not allowed to swear. They're not allowed to drink alcohol. They're not allowed to stay up late. I don't see masks as being any different. I know some families will approach it differently (and that's okay), but in our house, that's how it will go.
I expect masks to continue to be required in the hallways/near others at work, and that's fine with me. We'll also continue to mask when we're inside with a bunch of strangers - like at Target. I've now gone maskless at my hair and eyelash appointments where I was in a small room with one other person.
k3am our family isn't masking outside anymore (when the kids aren't at school or someplace that requires it). That's getting to be the norm here. We had friends who live in Berkeley stop by over the weekend, and their kids were excited to be in SoCal where most kids don't wear masks outside. If we went someplace where we were tightly packed together with strangers we probably would, but that hasn't been an issue. I might feel differently if there were lots of COVID cases around, but yesterday there were 49 positives and 1% positivity in a county with 3.4 million people. So I'm feeling pretty safe.
My employer changed our mask policy this week to follow CDC guidelines. Vaccinated employees don't need to wear masks anymore and you need to show your vaccine card to HR. School is still requiring masks for the rest of the school year because they can't manage a vaccine card program this late in the game. We are no longer wearing masks outside (soccer) but still wearing them in stores if they require it.
I’ll still wear a mask indoors when I’m with my kids. And I’ll likely wear a mask indoors a lot even when I’m not with my kids. The mask doesn’t bother me, and I think it’s polite since other people have no way of knowing whether or not I’m vaccinated.
We don’t wear masks outdoors. Our kids’ school has never made the kids wear them while outdoors. It’s never been the norm in Texas. Masks outside never made sense to me unless you were in a crowd. Like we wore them at the zoo where you’re in closer contact passing people, but we have never worn them at the park. Very few people do. We just all move to give each other ample space.
This doesn’t change much for us. I’ll still wear one at work because my employer doesn’t have much interest in auditing its 100K+ workforce for vaccine cards. Hell the governor probably wouldn’t let them. My kids are young and so they’re still required at school/camp (and I hope will be for a while). We don’t wear them outside anyway unless in a crowd and we don’t go to crowds. So I am left with the grocery store. I trust my my fellow grocery customers as far as I can throw their Trump-flag-carrying-F150s, so my children will remain masked indoors and I will too for moral support if nothing else.
Post by mustardseed2007 on May 18, 2021 16:39:12 GMT -5
Certain kinds of things I'm not masking. Like I'm not masking outside now either but my kids probably aren't either. But we also aren't involved in a lot of group activities outside. An exception though was for a bike a thon (outside) last weekend. DS and DH did it and did not wear a mask.
DS is going to go to camp this summer and their rule is masks inside unless you're with your own cabin pod. It's a crapshoot.
We have our masks handy if we are hiking, bike path walking, or at the beach to put them on if it is crowded or we pass people on narrow trails but most of the time we choose the more off the beaten path spots so less people. Gymnastics is indoor and everything we have gotten for the meet this weekend says masks for all at all times which I'm 100% okay with and probably will be sticking around at least through summer. I'm guessing DD will just start staying home on her own more instead of running errands with me which is fine. I'm probably going to stick to wearing masks in the stores for now. I've also developed some major anxiety with shopping in a crowded store which just sucks.
Are we really saying Alabama is being the reasonable one? It's Alabama we aren't supposed to be the reasonable one. I mean we aren't Florida or Louisiana, but jeez.
We have had the governor step in on a few things like the state wide mask mandate and guidelines for reopening, but we had the guidelines and then it was on the counties to follow. I would say my county has been a little more strict, but we are also a bigger city (don't laugh it's big for AL) so easier to spread and overwhelm hospitals. After the initial summer peak, we changed the guidance given from how many positive cases to hospital occupancy. Had to go through another minor shut down at the holidays for about 6 weeks
Schools have been open with proper safety measures since September full time. Hybrid at the holidays. The only outbreak at the schools was in highschool and it was the football team before they even went back.
Masks will be worn at school until the summer, but they removed the plexiglass from the desks.
I just think our governor lifted the mask mandate in schools with 7 days left to go in school (and zero days in several districts) to win himself political points. He's not accomplishing much for anti mask people other than a feeling of victory. And in turn he's opening the schools up to no masks when there isn't any kids other than a handful of over 16s who have received their second shot. It doesn't hurt anything to keep it in place and then consider what you're going to do for next year. It's silliness.