Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
At least one person from my department has been asked to stay home and self-quarantine, as they've been to China recently. I just got some emails asking to cancel a meeting today, because a significant chunk of a certain group is out with the flu.
I'm currently sitting in a deparment-wide meeting where just around everyone is struggling not to cough, and it's visibly obvious. There are some just outright, repeated coughs and sniffles too.
Things are about to get really bad. I'm full tilt filled with anxiety right now.
Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
And JUST now, I got an email that amounted to "Sorry I didn't get back to you over the last two weeks, I was out sick! Let's get together now..."
Jesus, no one is taking this seriously. Two or so weeks, and SF is going to be a disaster area.
re: Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
@Phorm From what I'm reading I suspect your odds of survival are pretty good. :) But I still agree with you 100%, corporate cultural is all in all a HUGE goddamn threat to public health.
FWIW, my employers have shut down all travel to and from China and told us all to DO WHATEVER WE NEED TO in terms of health leave hours and working from home... so it is profoundly likely that yes your employers are just objectively irresponsible pieces of shit. >__< But you knew that.
(This might not be an appropriate time or place for this, but: THIS IS WHY YOU NEED A WORK-APPROPRIATE BUSINESS CASUAL BALLHOOD. NOW MORE THAN EVER. They do make them with one-way visors now, you know. We can just print your SSN over it so they know who you are/were. ^___^ )
re: Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
@Phorm We're definitely gonna lose some people to this flu. :\ I'm thinking "not bad" compared to, say, 1917 here, not bad as in "good." >__>;;
re: Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
@zebratron2084 Yeah :(
I'm pretty worried about my parents on this one .
re: Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
@Phorm Oh shit, I hadn't thought about the kind of damage this would do my stepdad... Yikes. Fortunately, they don't spend a lot of time in crowded places these days and my mom takes EXCELLENT care of him. (He's quite lucid and still fairly mobile, he's just... an old man from Ohio and has that idiotic "I'll be fine, I'll just power through, don't mind me" attitude...)
re: Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
@zebratron2084 And sorry to bring my anxieties aroud here. I know it's not pleasant.
re: Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
@Phorm *hugs* These are valid anxieties and a valid place to share them, dear.
re: Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
@zebratron2084 *Hugs* Thank you.
Given my line of work, I find this all terrifying.
The AMA just published a paper saying that about 1/4 infected have required intensive care. That feels pretty dang bad.
re: Work, Health, Anxiety (~-)
@zebratron2084 Looking at the stats, it seems inconclusive to me. I see a lot of people dismissing it as being only dangerous to the old or inform, but the first US case put a 30 something in the hospital to the point he needed assisted breathing. He only improved after being administered experimental antivirals.
Furthermore, a lot of people just flat out refuse to accept that it's over here. Like... Yeah, given how quickly it's spreading? There are a lot more than 12 people infected right now.
The scariest thing is that people are unknowingly spreading it, and the symptoms are mild... Until they are NOT. A week or two into symptoms, and suddenly pneumonia and rapid respiratory deterioration.
I think it really scares me because it sound EXACTLY like what happened to Jim Henson. How many more will we lose out of nowhere, because we don't take it seriously?
(Also, thank you for the ballhood thoughts. I agree, and I needed some good things to think about.)