social distancing
Mon Mar 16 03:23:01 EDT 2020
Currently, my life has a lot of social distance. There are days I don't see anyone else.
Weekdays I usually just go to work and come back home, possibly with a late stop for groceries. I commute on a bike, so I'm not in speaking distance with anyone, except threading a path through the tourists at the White House, and perhaps with pedestrians at red lights or crosswalks.
I don't see many people at work; I enter through an underground parking garage and go up to my basement office. There's workspaces for about 50 people in my office, but I arrive late and leave later, and there's generally not many people there. My office was arranged to maximize occupancy (and minimize individual space), so it is abysmally poor for social distance. I think our workspaces are 30" (0.762m) wide, so there's no way we can be 2m apart. The workspaces on the other side of the aisles aren't far away either. But the desks left and right of me are empty, assigned to people who work from home. (That's still not 2m to the people on each side, and less than 1m to the person behind me (across the aisle).)
And since last Tuesday (3/10) we've all been working from home, so the office layout is moot.
Weekends I don't usually do anything sociable. I don't go out; I don't see people. Perhaps I might go for bike rides, but again, minimal interactions with anyone else.
I don't go to restaurants, bars, sporting events, movies, museums, dances.
So all these pandemic closings aren't having much affect on my activities.
My last inter-city bus trips were 5 years ago (to test-ride and buy my bike).
Last air travel was for a previous job, so 12+(?) years ago.
Last inter-city rail may have been back in college.
I'm worried about the few events I would be likely to attend - assuming they happen this year:EventDateLocation
Bike to Work DayMay 15Washington, DC (dispersed)
FSGW Washington Folk FestivalMay 30-31Glen Echo, MD
Pennsic War 49Jul 24 - Aug 9Slippery Rock, PA
All of these are outdoor events. Large numbers of people with little separation.
B2WD is likely to self-select for people in better health, although there could be pre-symptomatic attendees.
Pennsic tends to have a lot of older people and people with health problems.
Social Distancing is not a change for some of us.
Monday 15:17
Hmmm, nominating conventions?
Should the Republicans have their convention at all? They're not selecting a candidate.
The Democratic selection may be a mere formality by then.
Monday 15:46
Dr. Debra Birx (coronavirus response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force) just said that the US is at an "early state" in this coronavirus infection. This has been going on for weeks. Just because we haven't had numbers (from test results, because we weren't (and still aren't) testing people) doesn't mean people haven't been getting infected - and infecting others - here in the US.
Given that this pandemic will probably go for months, this is an early state, but I think her comment was suggesting that federal government's responses have been appropriate because the novel coronavirus has not been in the US long.
Monday 20:00Trump urges older people to stay home, and everyone to avoid groups of more than 10
Racing to stall an expected surge of coronavirus cases, the White House on Monday released a series of sweeping guidelines that for the next 15 days will temporarily rewrite the norms of American society.
President Trump, employing a newly somber tone about the crisis enveloping the globe, urged all older Americans to stay home and everyone to avoid crowds and eating out at restaurants. The president for the first time acknowledged that the pandemic may send the economy into a recession and suggested that the nation may be dealing with the virus until “July or August.”
The guidelines were released to an uneasy country. The stock market had its worst day since 1987, America’s largest school system shut its doors and questions remained about the administration’s ability to test for the virus and provide hospital space for those who fall ill.
Among the new recommendations: Over the next half month, Americans should not gather in groups of more than 10 people, schooling should be at home and discretionary travel and social visits should be avoided. If anyone in a household tests positive for the virus, everyone who lives there should stay home.
I wonder how one can test positive when it's still so hard to get tested at all?
Tuesday 03:55
It's a good time to be an introvert. (Well, it's not a good time for anything, but) You don't mind being by yourself, and staying away from others isn't entirely a hardship. Particularly fortunate, maybe you chose employment that doesn't require a lot of interaction with other people. Many of the jobs that involve frequent (or constant) face-to-face contact put people on the front lines for virus transmission, and those jobs are now suddenly on hold. A lot of people are going to be out of work for months, probably. More likely, these will be people who don't have much saved to pay the bills while there's no income. And as this goes longer, businesses are going to fold and some of those jobs won't be there later.
The computers aren't going away, and if your job is taking care of those computers, your job isn't going away either. With many more people suddenly working from home, some of those computers are more important now.
Being home all day will be a lot harder for the people who aren't working from home. I've got work to keep me busy for 8 hours. (Not that I couldn't entertain myself.)
Tuesday 17:59
Some people are hiring.
Restaurants don't have diners, but people still eat, and some are buying more groceries. So grocery stores need more staff. Their supply chains are busier, and some need more drivers.
And e-tail is positioned to take our money while the brick-and-mortars are closed. e-tail delivery chains are hiring too.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/1130461.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
Currently, my life has a lot of social distance. There are days I don't see anyone else.
Weekdays I usually just go to work and come back home, possibly with a late stop for groceries. I commute on a bike, so I'm not in speaking distance with anyone, except threading a path through the tourists at the White House, and perhaps with pedestrians at red lights or crosswalks.
I don't see many people at work; I enter through an underground parking garage and go up to my basement office. There's workspaces for about 50 people in my office, but I arrive late and leave later, and there's generally not many people there. My office was arranged to maximize occupancy (and minimize individual space), so it is abysmally poor for social distance. I think our workspaces are 30" (0.762m) wide, so there's no way we can be 2m apart. The workspaces on the other side of the aisles aren't far away either. But the desks left and right of me are empty, assigned to people who work from home. (That's still not 2m to the people on each side, and less than 1m to the person behind me (across the aisle).)
And since last Tuesday (3/10) we've all been working from home, so the office layout is moot.
Weekends I don't usually do anything sociable. I don't go out; I don't see people. Perhaps I might go for bike rides, but again, minimal interactions with anyone else.
I don't go to restaurants, bars, sporting events, movies, museums, dances.
So all these pandemic closings aren't having much affect on my activities.
My last inter-city bus trips were 5 years ago (to test-ride and buy my bike).
Last air travel was for a previous job, so 12+(?) years ago.
Last inter-city rail may have been back in college.
I'm worried about the few events I would be likely to attend - assuming they happen this year:EventDateLocation
Bike to Work DayMay 15Washington, DC (dispersed)
FSGW Washington Folk FestivalMay 30-31Glen Echo, MD
Pennsic War 49Jul 24 - Aug 9Slippery Rock, PA
All of these are outdoor events. Large numbers of people with little separation.
B2WD is likely to self-select for people in better health, although there could be pre-symptomatic attendees.
Pennsic tends to have a lot of older people and people with health problems.
Social Distancing is not a change for some of us.
Monday 15:17
Hmmm, nominating conventions?
Should the Republicans have their convention at all? They're not selecting a candidate.
The Democratic selection may be a mere formality by then.
Monday 15:46
Dr. Debra Birx (coronavirus response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force) just said that the US is at an "early state" in this coronavirus infection. This has been going on for weeks. Just because we haven't had numbers (from test results, because we weren't (and still aren't) testing people) doesn't mean people haven't been getting infected - and infecting others - here in the US.
Given that this pandemic will probably go for months, this is an early state, but I think her comment was suggesting that federal government's responses have been appropriate because the novel coronavirus has not been in the US long.
Monday 20:00Trump urges older people to stay home, and everyone to avoid groups of more than 10
Racing to stall an expected surge of coronavirus cases, the White House on Monday released a series of sweeping guidelines that for the next 15 days will temporarily rewrite the norms of American society.
President Trump, employing a newly somber tone about the crisis enveloping the globe, urged all older Americans to stay home and everyone to avoid crowds and eating out at restaurants. The president for the first time acknowledged that the pandemic may send the economy into a recession and suggested that the nation may be dealing with the virus until “July or August.”
The guidelines were released to an uneasy country. The stock market had its worst day since 1987, America’s largest school system shut its doors and questions remained about the administration’s ability to test for the virus and provide hospital space for those who fall ill.
Among the new recommendations: Over the next half month, Americans should not gather in groups of more than 10 people, schooling should be at home and discretionary travel and social visits should be avoided. If anyone in a household tests positive for the virus, everyone who lives there should stay home.
I wonder how one can test positive when it's still so hard to get tested at all?
Tuesday 03:55
It's a good time to be an introvert. (Well, it's not a good time for anything, but) You don't mind being by yourself, and staying away from others isn't entirely a hardship. Particularly fortunate, maybe you chose employment that doesn't require a lot of interaction with other people. Many of the jobs that involve frequent (or constant) face-to-face contact put people on the front lines for virus transmission, and those jobs are now suddenly on hold. A lot of people are going to be out of work for months, probably. More likely, these will be people who don't have much saved to pay the bills while there's no income. And as this goes longer, businesses are going to fold and some of those jobs won't be there later.
The computers aren't going away, and if your job is taking care of those computers, your job isn't going away either. With many more people suddenly working from home, some of those computers are more important now.
Being home all day will be a lot harder for the people who aren't working from home. I've got work to keep me busy for 8 hours. (Not that I couldn't entertain myself.)
Tuesday 17:59
Some people are hiring.
Restaurants don't have diners, but people still eat, and some are buying more groceries. So grocery stores need more staff. Their supply chains are busier, and some need more drivers.
And e-tail is positioned to take our money while the brick-and-mortars are closed. e-tail delivery chains are hiring too.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/1130461.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]