Voicelessness and Emotional Survival > Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Coronavirus
Twoapenny:
Oh, Skep, is that 8 out of 23 because everyone else is sick? Or isolating, which I guess amounts to almost the same thing. I hope whoever has it that none of them are too seriously unwell with it. It's such a difficult one to deal with, it just seems to be so easy to catch. I hope there is more positive news coming. I think you're right not to change your approach; we're still going to be staying home as much as possible and taking precautions if we do go out but I have to say it was nice to see the kids walking past on their way to school this morning. We can all only keep our fingers crossed; I do hope you get some better news soon xx
Hopalong:
--- Quote ---the VP who refused to wear a mask at work
--- End quote ---
God, I'm sorry. Weaponized ignorance can kill oneself and others.
This is really tragic. When scientific, public health measures first were manipulated into politics, rather than being explained as right and rational responses to a natural disaster, so many death notices were signed.
Makes me sick at heart. I hope most of your employees will remain well, and their families. I can't imagine how you must be feeling about that VP. I know you'd never be cruel enough to ask: Was his "independent thinking" worth the price?
Right now, I would be. We don't need to lose our adventurous, entrepreneurial, aspirational national spirit. But we sure as hell need a little of New Zealand and Japan in us. America is in the last destructive throes of its wild adolescence. We're just not mature as a nation and it's breaking us in pieces. Not so exceptional after all.
We once were. I hope we might be again. But our collective experience is not going to turn into collective wisdom in our lifetime, if ever, and that's a very sad thing.
hugs,
Hops
sKePTiKal:
Tupp the breakdown goes like this:
2 80-somethings; bookkeeper just had her second vaccine. No reaction. Other one sent home for a week to keep him safe while everything else sorted out.
In the 50-65 category - one with a history of health issues sent home for a few days; and to get tested to be sure. Both shipping personnel out for a few days getting tested. Negatives. Two home sick; mild cases. One home sicker than she's ever been - but not considered "severe" enough for hospitalization. One out positive - and her sister is sick.
Guy in charge didn't sound good when I talked to him; his test results come in on Wednesday. The VP is in this category too. So far, his O2 is good - and he's been on oxygen a bit to stave off pneumonia; so far 2 doses of Remsdesvir - however it's spelled.
So, masking & distance isn't foolproof at stopping an infection. Handwashing likely helps a LOT. And it's not political to try to protect yourself/others during a pandemic - despite the clear attempt to make it political. Not entirely sure just what basis there is to claim this is restricting people's freedom -- the shutdown of certain businesses & schools seems a better candidate for that. But I totally get the logic behind closing the schools! Even though my campus had dedicated janitorial staff - we took it upon ourselves to go the extra step and clean door handles, phones, desks & keyboards ourselves AGAIN during flu season.
As for my VP, he's never been my favorite person. He is, however, very qualified and good with the people side of the business. So I find his irresponsibility for the crew puzzling, to say the least. Even if he was skeptical of any benefit to masking, it was a risky choice - one the huge unknowns is still why some people are hit are much harder than others. It seems irrespective of underlying issues and age - except statistically.
Hol said I should've mandated masks. But that's not my way; I assumed that people would do whatever they were comfortable with in a responsible fashion without being told they had to. Fortunately, I haven't been forced to alter the health insurance benefit very much. He's just learned a very expensive lesson. My fingers are crossed that guy in charge is negative and that it's just the cumulative gloom and widespread economic slowdown, that's got him down.
Twoapenny:
Gosh, Skep, that sounds like a lot of juggling and balls to keep in the air. I hope everyone recovers and isn't left too badly affected by their own experience of it, it just sounds like such a variable virus that does little to some and a lot to others. They have said here all along that masks etc aren't foolproof and I've heard of people who've taken all necessary precautions and still caught it. It seems to be a slippery little bugger to deal with. I don't know if your laws are similar to ours but here, even with emergency laws rushed through Parliament and the law being you must wear a mask unless exempt, there's no legal obligation to prove exemption and you can't be forced to wear one in any practical sense. I only mention it because I doubt that you mandating masks would have made any actual physical difference to anyone who didn't want to, for whatever reason. What could you have done to enforce it? You can't physically pin someone down and glue it to their face, and you wouldn't want to sack the guy when he's good at his job. Hindsight's easy so I hope you're not whirring that round in your head. I confess to not having a business head on my shoulders so I'm not fully understanding of the various things you've had to deal with in regard to it, but you've sounded to me like you've 'done a Skep' on it and burrowed through a whole load of problems with the best outcomes for the staff in mind. There aren't many bosses that would do that (especially with the farm and the Buck situation to deal with as well). So I hope you're giving yourself a good pat on the back and I hope everyone there recovers soon xx
sKePTiKal:
Thanks Tupp - as usual, you've hit the nail on the head about the virus/masks quandary. Succinctly, too. I still don't have an opinion about "what's right" one way or the other - just my own personal choice, and even that can vary on different days, in different circumstances.
I think everyone would've been better off if just the basic "verified known facts" about the virus had been published broadly & loudly, and then let people make their own decisions. Yes, the public health policy should've RECOMMENDED best practices. But this became a political issue, in this country -- and that's just infuriating to me. The two schools of thought seemed to break down into: the gov't can't/shouldn't force people to do anything... versus those who accused the non-mask wearers of wanting people to die. Then, there was a ton of encouragement to choose a side.
Which is when I decided it was time to walk away from that false dichotomy and make my own rules. Dualities usually are insufficient to address all the issues - just like black & white thinking. No, I wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on by mandating that employees (who never interact face to face with the public in the course of their work) must wear masks. I left it to each person to choose what they were comfortable with. Some who wore masks got sick too.
It's that variability in who the virus affects and the physical impact severity variance that makes my head hurt, when trying to think about "what we know" about the virus. To date, the absolute facts that can be proven as common to all cases, just ISN'T THERE. Even the docs who've treated people through the worst of the surges in localities, are saying this. So until the "key" or "pattern" is discovered about it, I operate on the premise that almost everything we know or think we know, could be true. It COULD become a seasonal bug, just like flu; but no one will KNOW, until it happens.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version