Corona virus, what's different for you.

yep, I always have my mask even though I'm vaccinated because some businesses/offices still mandate mask wear - which is their legal right and I respect that. Mask use is hit-or-miss on the military base though, because since the Covid vaccine doesn't have official FDA approval the military can't force their members to get it - so you better have your mask with you and wear it pretty much everywhere.

I just can't wait until all the store clerks and office workers nation-wide can take off their masks. Surly low-talking clerks wearing a mask and behind the plexiglass means all I hear is a muffled version of Charlie Brown's teacher. I'm seriously thinking about getting a shirt made up that says DEAF - DON'T BOTHER TALKING TO ME until Covid is completely over.

This is my wife's job situation now. Her company's lease recently expired and while they didn't shutter their office (they do need a place to securely store FDA files and other sensitive material) they did halve the amount of space, using only a quarter of the office building floor that they used to lease.

I've had a home office/study since we bought our house in the late 90s (and my wife used it for a time when she worked for another company) but now she's turned our youngest daughter's former bedroom into her work-from-home office.

On Friday I went to an auto parts store and a convenience store (both national chains, BTW) and for the first time since before the pandemic even the employees weren't wearing masks. There was a total of one customer wearing one.

I think there is something like 3000 people who work for my company just here in Lake County, IL (there is over 40K globally), and many of the buildings in which we work are leased. Prior to Covid, the company had been scaling back on the leased buildings and moving everyone into Abbott Park buildings. Not sure what the leasing arrangements are there, but now there are more AbbVie people there than Abbott - or at least Jan 1, 2020.

Anyway, I work in one of the leased buildings and it’s one of the few that have a cafeteria in it. So, the decision was made that that building would be one of the last that we close. And we just paid to have the workspaces updated (haven’t been since the early 90s) and the bathrooms and the cafeteria …. So, they aren’t going to end that lease anytime soon.

But, that doesn’t mean *I* need to be there. They can put someone there that need … to secure paperwork or licenses or … whatever.

Went to the local Chinese place by me, haven't been there since January(?) of last year. They are not fucking around with precautions. Still no dining in, and the door on the left, there's a door on the inside that you can hear them lock after they put your food in there. And they also have a small hole, about 3"x5" cut into the plexiglass by the register, which has a block of wood they slide open and shut when they take your payment along with a speaker system in the plexiglass wall.



And the food was shit, the pork was dry, overcooked and chewy as hell. The rice was greasy as fuck, the eggroll was also overcooked and greasy. Every other time I got food there, it was pretty good. Another place I won't be back to.

How was the raw bat?

Ate out for the first time in a year yesterday. People there and in stores mainly unmasked. Church allowed us to be unmasked if we're vaxxed, only one couple wearing masks there.

I was asked last week how often I'd like to go into the office and I replied, "how about never?"

And my employer said, "yeah, that shouldn't be a problem."

rub rub rub rub rub

Also, this thread title has pissed me off for the past year.

@Mods, can we please change the title to the proper nomenclature of "coronavirus" (one word)?

Maybe Ed knows something we don't.

Many things, I would think.

All of which could lead to criminal charges. Many of which could lead to an amusing night out. Only a small percentage are fatal but of those I'd say 87% are how most of us would like to go.

No.

It’s the ‘shared knowledge’ part that worries me.

Somebody fixed it.

Now it's the name of a terrible disease, not a terrible beer.

I present for you my newest piece of art:

I'm sorry you lost your job

Yes, I just realized my post could be interpreted that way.

But no, my employer is totally cool with me working from my home office. My job used to involve a lot of travel (pre-COVID) so it's not like I was in the actual office all that much anyway.

So I have finally made it out of florida for the first time in over a year. Even my grandmother who cannot remember her own name sometimes knows that is probably the longest in my life i have remained within a 50 mile radius considering My parents brought us on a number of vacations.

That has been the strangest thing to not have been on a highway for months.

So i got to GA and they have strict mask laws in place. I forgot florida relaxed them. I have started, like a week or two ago, to start to get gas without my mask being fully vaccinated. Even then I have issues because I do not want to be an anti-masker, but the employees actually started asking me if I was not vaccinated like I was an anti-vaxxer. Most everyone else is wearing one. I feel uncomfortable and disrespectful not wearing one. Which is not a bad thing.

I am just glad to be on the road again. The drive has been nice so far. It will be good to have an anime weekend. I am hoping AWA will happen again this year.

Huh? What is this "ga"?

Gator Alley.

It has great anime conventions, but also lots of gators.

Okay, so last year all our audits by customers were done via FaceTime (since who wants to travel during the middle of a plague). This year, we're back to in-person audits, and management has gone bugfuck crazy. Not only are they having us spend hours scrubbing and rescrubbing the outside sidewalks, but they have guys on the roof, scrubbing the roof. I talked to a guy who's been there for 20+ years, and he said that the only time they ever had an inspector check the roof during an audit was when we were bought by another company, ages ago. That's it. Obviously, management is paranoid that the inspectors will be extra strict after not having been in our facility for over a year.

audits for a clean roof?

I've had what I've been assuming is a cold* knock me on my ass for the last 5 days. Got a 'rona test this afternoon, results in 48-72 hours. Really the congestion and phlegm wouldn't be so bad if it didn't include this off and on headache. SpO2 at 95% yesterday. That's 3-4% low for me. Not gonna lie, I'm a little worried. Delta is a scary motherfucker, and after the latest news out of Israel (Pfizer being only 64% effective), I'm going back to N95 respirators once I'm feeling better.

*Evidence for cold over COVID: lots of sinus and nasal involvement, lots of sneezing, temperature hasn't gotten above 99.

Update on this: The auditor who showed up, was the same one who's done the audits for the past three years (and they knew it was going to be her), looked like a life size Minion. Ain't no way that bitch was going to be climbing a ladder, so WTF???

Had 2nd AZ jab yesterday. No side-effects as of yet.

Well, possibly snakedick but it's hard to tell at this range.

Oooooo. Snakedick.

That could be fun at the next dept meeting.

I decided to reassess masking at the end of June, but this delta thing has me keeping the mask on a while longer. I am more lax about e.g. wearing it to/from the car though.

So my company announced a change to their mask policy.

As of today, even vaccinated people have to wear one when moving about the building.

Since my second Moderna shot, I've worn a mask exactly one time. There's a bubble tea/noodle shop near my house and one of the employees is immunocompromised. I usually get deliveries from there, but the one time I picked up food to go I had to put the mask back on (and happily did so).