Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

Question for math ppl.

The Hill just ran an article that said Omicron is 36% more transmissible than Delta, and said that's a contrast from when they said 2-5 times more transmissible.

Isn't that two different measurements? 2-5 times doesn't mean "2-5%" as far as I knew

I honestly have no clue what those numbers mean. Delta was supposed to be "8x more transmissible"...does that mean you're 8x more likely to get it when in contact? or that it spreads on average to 8x more people? a percentage I can kind of understand at least. it definitely seems like this is the most contagious strain so far.

Well that seems a good assumption

It ultimately doesn't matter but the Hill's framing confused me as to if it was saying it was worse or better

Talked to some people who send their kids to the super bougie private school here, and the school is giving every student a rapid test on Monday and Wednesday.

berkeley pubic school district sent two rapid at home tests home with every single student before the break and they had to test and upload results before returning today. I kind of took it for granted that this was common practice. eek.

(xpost) The key, as I understand it, is being on the right side of the x-times more contagious/y-times less severe (meaning hospitalization) relationship. 36% sounds like a good number--less than the number for how relatively less severe Omicron is than Delta.

yeah i think many (most?) school districts in the US are doing some kind of on-campus PCR testing and/or home rapid testing. the "you have do do PCR, you have to arrange it yourself, and the you can't come back until you get the results" thing our daycare is doing is new to me though.

"transmissable" is usually a euphemism for R(t) or R(0). i have no idea what the hill means.

that daycare policy is psychotic

So far all of our 11 elementary schools and our giant high school are opening as planned, but one of the two middle schools is delaying their opening until Thursday because of staffing issues.

Talked to some people who send their kids to the super bougie private school here, and the school is giving every student a rapid test on Monday and Wednesday.

berkeley pubic school district sent two rapid at home tests home with every single student before the break and they had to test and upload results before returning today. I kind of took it for granted that this was common practice. eek.

Sorry, I forgot to pluralize the days here -- they're going to do it EVERY Monday and Wednesday moving forward, for the near future at least.

:thumbsup: to that from me. should be happening in every school in the country.

School here was supposed to reopen today, but didn't because sno. Tomorrow? Also no because sno.

There has been a two-week "pause" on activities like sports, theater, and chorus. I don't know what that means for my child, who does a sport, is in the school musical, dances, and has chorus as an actual *class.*. Like, are they just supposed to stare at each other silently for 45 minutes? Scatter throughout the school and do Zoomsinging? Face in random directions and think about music?

I wish there were ways that the general public could more easily get these tests rn. testing in my area = LOL u come back 5 days from now and maybe we test you. except for one place I know of that's a well-kept secret, but yesterday due to snafus, they were an hour backed up and I had to give up my spot.

managed to snag four at home tests over the last weekend, which was a minor miracle, only to have to give away two of them to the sick friend. my folks get PCR tested tomorrow, and I need some for them too for the days after that (if I wind up getting it).

I'm quarantining like I have it, and they rarely leave the house anyway, but for dad's sake I'd like to know for certain if they have it as my dad can't tell us his symptoms other than replying "yes/no" to things.

guess I'm going to have to rely on the place nearby and hope they got their recent issues fixed. have also managed to snag a few as local stores have gotten them this week, but that was dumb luck.

another PSA from former ilxor kate78, who is an RN in Seattle:

PSA: If you're doing an rapid test, don't forget to swab your throat for 15 seconds before swabbing your nose.

There's a growing body of literature (and anecdata) suggesting that omicron virally sheds earlier in throat and saliva, relative to nasal secretions. I have told numerous folks to try this after testing negative with just a nasal swab and they've all tested positive with the throat.

oops meant that for the main thread, sorry

helpful here too

Oh, should say that athletes are the only ones at the high school *required* to test weekly. And thanks to the events/advances of the last two years, there are no more snow days, afaict. They'll just become remote days, should we get significant snow.

LAUSD just announced they are requiring weekly testing for the month of January, to be reviewed for February.

Kid 1 gets tested daily by virtue of being in the cast of the musical ("Little Shop of Horrors," a fun twist of fate for these times)

Kid 2 is starting voluntary weekly testing (not a condition of attendance, just something that is offered)

Little Shop, little shop of virus

Bop-shh-bop, get the shot

First day at a new university job and also first day working in an office since March 2020. Students were already restricted to virtual attendance for the first two weeks of the quarter (also starting today) so I wouldn't have had much exposure anyway, but the chair of my department has already taken the further step of deciding that I and another assistant with whom I share an office will be alternating days in the office rather than being cooped up together every day. And this in a building that (afaict) is pretty much entirely empty of faculty atm. And we have COVID testing services literally across the street which we can employ as often as we want/need, free of charge. It's like the absolute ideal conditions under which I would have felt comfortable returning to in-person work atm and about a zillion miles from where my 'butts in seats, I don't know what a pamdimmick even is' former employer is at.

sounds like my setup exactly

I am many years removed from dealing directly with bosses, but it seems to me the managerial class has faced something like an existential challenge in the past 21 months… is it not true that some if not many managers end up as such because they are disposed or driven to manage or rather control —or to be charitable "guide"— the managed… and so it would follow that the managerial class is super super pissed that the managed are not only not showing up to be directly supervised/subjugated, but that the managed are also getting away with doing the bare minimum, slacking, trying to get away with shit, not only compromising the ability of the enterprise to function and produce revenue, but are actively undermining the natural order… I would be really interested if anyone had any anecdotes re: how managers are out of their minds angered that the managed are getting away with being paid and not submitting to their authority in person… and then there's the great resignation…

Little Shop, little shop of virus

― they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Monday, January 3, 2022 10:44 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

no shot, Sherlock

it would follow that the managerial class is super super pissed that the managed are not only not showing up to be directly supervised/subjugated, but that the managed are also getting away with doing the bare minimum, slacking, trying to get away with shit, not only compromising the ability of the enterprise to function and produce revenue, but are actively undermining the natural order

i think there's also a greater underlying fear is that this has shown everyone that everything they said was so important - meeting, structure, "management", being in an office, etc - actually HASN'T had an effect on the company's performance, profitability, or productivity. that, in fact, as much - if not more - is getting done even as people are more flexible and devote less time to work (time which they got back from not commuting and going through all the motions and rituals of the office)

this is an existential crisis for the management class, showing that many of them are no help at all and are, in fact, a hindrance

our company had a great year and our leadership (who to their credit are very flexible and forward thinking) says they have been pleasantly surprised with how well it's gone and there is never going to be a mandate to come back to the office

and clearly there's an entire generation of ceos etc that literally are dying that they can't be the big man on campus anymore, wearing a suit and striking fear into people

ugh scratch that literally haha

booming post, veronica

my gf's ceo dressed and came to work EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 2 1/2 years and worked in a totally empty office

such inspiring leadership!

and the ceo made sure everyone knew it, too!

almost everybody I have ever worked with at my company, me included, was way more productive working at home. and distractions were nbd because you could just flex time and make up lost time later.

yeah, I get distracted now and then, but when I was a requirements analyst, I routinely beat all of my deadlines by a week or more. in office, I usually still did, but people coming up to talk to me, and not being able to take mental breaks cos I knew I had a finite amount of time to work, usually made me slightly slower.

and the ceo made sure everyone knew it, too!

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, January 4, 2022 10:41 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha oh yes he did

all my salaried jobs have been 8 hrs/day with, i'll be honest, maybe an hour of actual work each day. having to playact in a cube or office like you're busy was so fucking bad for me and my mental health. and i'm just plain more productive at home. it's been absolutely wonderful to have flexibility, and i negotiated to continue to have flexibility based on a very positive review after some were asked to come back in. orgs/companies who can't keep up with this or understand will be the losers in the end i think

I mean honchos and execs think they know all, always, right?

there was a time where I had a salaried role and we were a shared service that processed request tickets. We were told we HAD to work 45 hours a week, that "studies" (no citation) showed that people who work longer hours are more productive.

I refused initially, until my boss gave me shit. so I did what everybody else started doing - just started working slower. Because I was already finishing my work early in a 40 hour week, and I was sitting bored in the office.

The practice ended quickly - but not because we proved to them it was useless.

Nope - the company got sued and agreed we should never have been salaried, and were made hourly.

suddenly, we were FORBIDDEN to work over 40 hours! productivity, who cares?!!! we can't pay OT!

xpost lol before I was a trainer, which complicates things (and my living sitch), I used to take trips out of state to go to concerts.

one time went to ATL to see Mayhem and worked out of my hotel the next day.

accidentally didn't put the right security on the video of me drunk at Mayhem, and my domain manager saw it.

and was like "someone went to a cool concert last night, I see" and teased me for how drunk I was in the video

> productivity, who cares?!!!

but the "studies"!

i had a manager who was fond of CORE HOURS - everybody had to be in the office between 10 and 4. so flexi-time was allowed, for some value of flex.

except it turned out it didn't apply to him and he'd fly back to scotland every friday at 12.

i've worked remotely in tech for 4 years. there's a ton of pro and con bullshit about "async" in this field. 100% agree that most of the con stuff is motivated reasoning disguising managers resenting the lack of control.

fwiw i highly recommend https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673782/out-of-office-by-charlie-warzel-and-anne-helen-petersen/ for a vaguely leftist post-covid perspective on this stuff.

i think there's also a greater underlying fear is that this has shown everyone that everything they said was so important - meeting, structure, "management", being in an office, etc - actually HASN'T had an effect on the company's performance, profitability, or productivity. that, in fact, as much - if not more - is getting done even as people are more flexible and devote less time to work (time which they got back from not commuting and going through all the motions and rituals of the office)

Our office has had the most productive two years ever, but suits are still worried about the lost magic of "watercooler collaboration"/"just being able to pull someone into a meeting!"

I hate meetings. fuck meetings.

also being in an office is how I got more assignments, when I didn't have time to do them. the head of our dept would just have an idea and would be in my vicinity and say "Hey, Neanderthal, just thought of something I want you to work on....".

really though, it's more the hour or more back in my day, the gasoline saved, and ability to go to the fucking doctor or run errands and still work that make me like WFH

what about the magic of nobody being able to pull you into a meeting?

I’m back in 5 days and very happy about it. I missed the routine and the people and the separation of home and work.

Also I’m much more productive in an office. I just can’t focus otherwise.

As much as it pains me, I think 'async' would suck for my job, remote was fine but there's sort of a constant need for people to ask each other questions and pass info back and forth.

Sorry, I forgot to pluralize the days here -- they're going to do it EVERY Monday and Wednesday moving forward, for the near future at least.

― change display name (Jordan), Monday, January 3, 2022 4:57 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

:thumbsup: to that from me. should be happening in every school in the country.

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, January 3, 2022 4:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Sure, the problem is that it's only the rich private schools who have the resources to do it.

LAUSD is doing it (weekly, not twice weekly) 🤷🏻‍♂️