Really glad I left my food service job at the hospital last October. Wishing all my old coworkers the absolute best though, and I’m checking in with a few from time to time.
I’m now (major career reset) a phlebotomist at the hospital which will see most of the COVID-19 cases in the state…more that half are in the same county, and any difficult cases get sent here. We have the state’s only level I trauma center, for example. We are ground zero for medical care in about 150 mile radius.
The total number of confirmed cases in this state is still under 100. (but approx. doubling each week) It is actually very slow at the hospital for the time being. Speculation follows: All elective procedures have been postponed. Commuter traffic is down, so fewer car accidents, Bars are closed, so fewer assaults. Businesses are closed, so fewer industrial accidents. And people are probably thinking long and hard if they REALLY need to go to the hospital. Docs seem to be working to send people home ASAP, so there are more empty beds than usual. They are 1) Moving people out of possible infection risk, and 2)making room for a possible onslaught.
The COVID positive patients are lumped into a couple of cohorts, depending on needed care level. One nurse per shift, and they don’t visit any other rooms, or even nurses stations…working from desk in hallway. These nurses do the blood draws for us, as well as housekeeping, meal delivery, etc. They are the biggest heros in this mess, as far as I am concerned. Hopefully it won’t get to the point that 1:1 care isn’t feasible.
I’m fairly resigned to the fact that I will likely become infected with the virus at some point. Watching for symptoms and taking all available precautions to avoid it, and also to avoid passing it to patients before I have symptoms. I’m isolating when not at work, as I figure I am a likely vector for community spread. I need to get groceries today and will glove-up to protect my neighbors.
We are a bit short staffed…perhaps some single parents staying home with kids out of school, maybe some just freaking out. A couple with medical conditions that put them at elevated risk. So there is a bit of overtime, and people covering multiple floors that would normally be 1 phleb per floor. So that increases the odds of nosocomial spread.
It is down to one visitor per patient. Only two entrances are open, and LEO are on hand at each to enforce rules. None of the food vendors in the lobbies are open so the only lunch options are brown-bagging it, or the hospital cafeteria, which is very slow, as the steam table has been shut down. (hence my required grocery run)
If you see medical staff wearing a cloth or paper mask, they are doing it for patient protection, not their own. Nobody with confirmed COVID-19 is working, but it can be asymptomatic, and the limited testing capacity needs to be reserved for those with symptoms.
My state has extremely low population density, so I am hopeful that this will slow the spread. Also our governor is well ahead of the national trend of shutting things down, so that should help also.
I work for a pharmaceutical company, so we’re deemed essential.
Official word received today. I’m working until I get Covid-19 or until this is over. Glad I have something to do everyday and don’t have to deal with unemployment.
Is the unemployment requirement to look for a new job waived for the duration?
I’m a home health nurse in Chicago. We don’t have enough PPE, so we discharged every patient we possibly could into the care of their families. I’m still calling those weekly to check on them, just not getting paid for it. My caseload is down to about half normal, so my pay is getting slaughtered. If it weren’t for my patients, I’d ask the boss to just lay me off so I could collect unemployment and go back home to my kids (I’m not living with them right now for fear of bringing it home to them.) But I have some of the most difficult patients in my agency, and I don’t trust the staff we have remaining to take good care of them if I leave.
It is in Wisconsin. I imagine it will be in every state, too great a chance every election will be won by the challenger in any state that doesn’t. Probably going to be federally mandated to suspend the requirement anyway.
BTW, anyone want to come over for beer and an outdoor fire? Just moved into my new place Sunday and lonely as fuck!
In Wisconsin. I work in a food plant, thus essential. My two sons at home work in food plants also. My wife works at assisted living place. All are essential. High school daughter was useless (even helping at home.) Thankfully a guy I work with needs someone to watch his tweener daughter so he can work so I guess she now qualifies as essential also. My daughter babysat this girl a few summers ago so their is a small bond. My son not at home has been working remotely for a few weeks now. His gf works at Target.
I read through the governors statement and don’t know who is not essential besides bartenders, nail technicians, and barbers.
Wife is a banker. Her department was considered so “essential” to their firm that they were all separated into different buildings to ensure no infections passed around. Unfortunately, she still has to drive into work every day. Fortunately there’s almost no one else there, so no person-person contact.
Son works for a cargo company which has pivoted to mostly medical supplies for the duration. Essential of course.
Daughter is college student, at home doing classes online.
I’m retired and therefore bound to stay at home, by law, and to drink beer and watch Netflix. I take my duties seriously, and have moved a large cooler next to the hot tub to ensure continuity of task.
I’m essential, but working from home as much as possible. As a Public Works Department employee, we’re all required to be disaster responders, but during outbreaks we’re only on the county disaster response list for emergency building and traffic control.
Our county is up to 68 confirmed cases.
I’m not an essential employee. (Well, since I work for a business credit organisation, I might be able to plead that I’m in the exempted ‘financial services’ category. 
Right now in attending a webinar called Managing the Credit Function During an Emergency.) Working from home means I don’t have a 230-mile round-trip to the office twice a week.
Mrs. L.A. is an RN, so she is exempted as an essential employee. She started her own business as a visiting foot care nurse last year. She doesn’t consider her services ‘essential’ (though her elderly patients do need medical foot care). She’s letting patients decide if they want her to come.
Primary care physician, seeing sick patients all day. Yeah, I’m considered essential. Considering my health risks I’ve been offered leave to do admin tasks and work from home to reduce my chances of death. But while doctoring is what I do and NOT who I am, I still have a sense of duty to my patients. If not me, who will care for them?
Strange days, indeed. Most peculiar.
<<sigh>>
Yeah, my-sister-the-doctor who is in her late 60’s and has significant heart problems is still going to work. Also has an advance directive to NOT put her on a respirator should she get that ill but rather give it to someone younger and healthier. I can’t fault her logic - given her health situation the chances of her surviving that bad an infection are pretty damn low anyway - but she’s my sister…!
She hasn’t told me to stop doing my job, I’m not going to tell her to stop doing hers, but damn I wish I could see her again. I fear I may not.
Thanks to “essential employee shopping hour” at a grocery store this morning I was able to not only see but purchase toilet paper for the first time since all this started. There were even several packs left when I checked out. Then when I got home I found out my FIL had dropped off some he bought during his senior shopping hour.
I’m a cardiologist at an academic hospital so it’s been busy. COVID-19 dases so far have been manageable with the usual staff but there’s a general consensus that it’ll be all hands on deck soon. For my outpatient clinic we’ve switched to doing mostly telemed visits. We weren’t really set up for that so for about two weeks it was all pretty much free telephone visits. Routine work is significantly reduced so all our incomes this year will pretty diminished, although that clearly pales in comparison to those in other sectors who are furloughed or just gone under already.
On the plus side, my commute has been a dream.
As a security analyst for a “globally significant financial institution,” they seem to think I’m essential. Fortunately I’m already a full-time telecommuter, so it’s been business as usual for me, keeping the bad guys out and being sure the good guys can get in.
More usefully to you, I help make sure your money is doing what you expect it to do, whether that’s to pop out of an ATM, get credited to your mortgage or car payment, or just sit there and earn interest.
I’m a fire systems inspector in Illinois. We’ve been deemed essential so I’m still out there doing my thing. The only thing stopping me from doing my job is if a business is closed and I can’t get in. I’ve been surprisingly busy this week.
I work in IT for a large city in the DFW Metroplex. Although they sent all the “non-essential” workers home on mandatory paid leave today, they informed us (the IT dept) that we’re first-tier essential, and that we have to keep on working from home. Which isn’t as bad as it sounds; the mandatory paid leave for non-essential people lasts a week or so, and past that, it’s sick-time and vacation time, or leave without pay. Or reassignment to support roles for first-responders and other essential departments, insofar as they can create positions to do that.
That said, I’m going on a week at home now, having only left to do a grocery pickup (one of those deals where they load it in your car). Having work to do is probably better than not having it to do, I’d say.
I work in IT for a large healthcare provider (multiple hospitals, clinics, etc.). Other than working from home full time since the 16th, nothing has really changed for me from a work perspective; I support the back-end systems, so I can do 99.44% of my work from home.
I am reminded on pretty much an hourly basis these days how lucky I am to have the job that I do. I have no doubt about whether or not I’ll have a paycheck next week, or next month. In fact, considering the money I’m saving by not commuting every day, the current situation is probably having a net positive impact on my bottom line. We’re trying to put as much of that “unexpected windfall” back into the community as possible by supporting local small businesses wherever we can…but it’s a very strange feeling…
Locomotive engineer in the N.E. I’m in transportation so considered essential. I know that if I get infected it will be though my job. I have chosen to stay home for as long as I can after seeing my job’s inadequate response to this crisis.
I’m not getting paid but I’d rather keep me and my loved ones alive. That includes my elderly parents that I’m not willing to sacrifice for the economy.