The Coronavirus Panic Thread

[Cai1987]

I'm vaccinated and boosted. I recently relocated to a rented room in Boston - the rest of my household is staying back until the end of the school year, but my new job wanted me now. Well, guess what? I was here 2 days - hadn't even made it into the office yet - when my new roommate got sick, followed by me getting sick. Since I'm vaxxed, I figured it was just a head cold but stayed home anyway. Nope, roomie tested positive; I didn't test (no way to get to a testing place without using public transit) but I can't imagine I am not also positive since we had the same symptoms.

Everyone I know keeps asking me "how's Boston?" I don't know, I haven't left my room in a week!

[Food Lady]

Aw, I'm sorry. It's getting so frustrating.

[Arcus]

As someone that walked around downtown Boston in the middle of February I can say this... It's a beautiful place full of history, but go walking when it's a little warmer. I do recommend going to The Green Dragon Tavern for a drink/meal. It's a fun little place full of history. It's been open since 1654 and played a part in the War of Independence.

[Ghel]

I'm back to work after COVID and quarantine, and I'm the only one wearing a mask. I've been getting some askance looks from customers and coworkers, but fuck them. 3 of the tellers are coughing and sniffling today, and I'm fine. Whether COVID or no, I don't want whatever germ they're passing around.

Before, I would take off my mask when it was just me in my office, but I thought about the airflow in the lobby. There isn't any. We have hot water baseboard heat, so there's little to no air circulation. Any viruses hanging around in the air are going to be there an awfully long time. So I only take my mask off when I'm eating or drinking. I might actually be a bit dehydrated during the day because I think twice before taking my mask off to drink my coffee.

[Dreamstalker]

I know I'm probably a bit dehydrated during the day. Even though I'm able to take my mask down relatively easily when not shopping orders or otherwise engaged (the pickup room is long and narrow so I can retreat toward the back), there's always the risk of an SC stepping into my area and demanding help. Sorry lady, I'm not a robot. If you think it's such a travesty that I'm daring to drink water you can take your ass over to the desk to get help (although not the type of help you actually need, none of us are qualified to do that). I'm well within the rules of "mask off only when actively drinking".

A customer complained to C (she first came to me; I made sure she was ok then paged C) about one of our contract employees from the service that resets/merchandises the shelves. The guy wasn't wearing a mask (violation of town law to begin with), and the customer asked him to put his mask on when she was in the aisle. The worker apparently then started yelling at her that "Covid is nothing. It's going to go away!" and then tried to grab her phone Luckily the worker didn't actually touch her--although grabbing for the phone could be considered assault--and she wasn't hurt. I'm pretty sure the guy was sent home on the spot by his manager; I made sure that the customer did not come in contact with him again when she was in the store and my supervisor walked her to her car.

[Victory Sabre]

I got word from Delta airlines that my credit from my canceled vacation in March 2020, that was due to expire in March of this year, has now been extended till December of 2023.

That's all well and good, but as long as they keep up their cult like mask rules, there's no way in hell I am flying anywhere. I will not condone, or encourage their bad behavior. I will not torture myself to fly. They can kiss my rear.

[KuariKaydrith]

I got my first booster shot yesterday. My first two vaccinations were Pfizer and the booster was Moderna. Thankfully, I'm only dealing with a bit of pain around the injection site, but it's not achy like it was when I got my first shots. Because I'm considered high-risk my doctor has me on her list of first-called patients for any boosters, especially because I work in a spa/clinical environment.

Work has scaled back operations so that the spa is only open three days a week right now. It sucks because it means fewer hours, especially because EI is paying me based on my previous salary, and not my current one ( I make $2.50 more per hour than I did when I last had a claim open). However, because I can work pretty much anywhere in the company (hotel, housekeeping, etc) I'm picking up shifts so that I get at least 32 hrs a week. Any less than that and it's not worth me working at all.

I got my paycheque yesterday and saw that I'd been shorted 3.5 hrs - I know *exactly* where the blame lays here so I went above the spa manager's head to the general operations manager over the pay issue. If it happens again the spa manager will no longer be permitted to submit any hours for payroll and all payroll calculations will come back to me. I'd only stopped dealing with the payroll because when the spa manager came back and things were thrown for a loop it was decided that I 'had too much on my plate' so the spa manager took over that responsibility...I have since gone back through my paystubs since she took over payroll, and submitted a missing pay request to the accountant and big boss. I reported my pay shortage to the accountant but didn't hear back, so I reached out to the big boss - she took care of the pay issue as she knew that due to losing so many hours and EI being a shitshow that I was in a position that I was essentially screwed for trying to 1) buy enough food to get me through until my kid gets paid next (we get paid opposite weeks), and 2) ensure enough was paid on bills to not lose internet or power (my daughter works from home and we very much need both utilities to remain on).

In my conversation with the big boss yesterday, she has requested that I don't give up hope of us going back to full operations for all businesses under our banner. Especially as there are big plans for me due to my reliability, work ethic, and versatility that has been displayed since I got hired here close to two years ago now. It's known that I can step into any role here and be successful, and that I am also the person that everybody feels comfortable going to for any reason - I keep the employees happy, even when my hands are tied. So, now it's just a matter of hoping things go back to normal soon. Or as normal as can be expected.

In the meantime, I'm trying to stay positive, and keep busy. I'm taking writing classes with a local writer/publisher who has already expressed interest in the book I'm writing as part of these classes. I've also started hand sewing again as it keeps my hands busy while I'm watching movies or Netflix, and isn't as heavy as crocheting an afghan like I did during the first shut down. So far it's just masks made from scrap fabrics I've had laying around for ages, but eventually I'm going to move onto bigger and more complicated items. And I'm trying to do more selfcare on my own - I've got all the goodies at home that I need, so why not? More foot soaks, and bubble baths, and actually reading books for a change!

But COVID can still kiss my left ass cheek with how badly it's screwed things up for so many people, not just myself.

[Dreamstalker]

Our town mask mandate was dropped yesterday. I'm glad to be rid of masks in general during a shift, but will wear one if asked/required--most stores here still have individual mandates so I have one on my person anyway. If I know the store is crowded and/or customers coming to my register/SCO are masked, then I'll put it on (lots of elderly patrons, as well as potentially immunocompromised peeps being as we are so close to the medical district). I also still want to be careful in crowded stores because of my mom--yes we're both fully vaxxed, but you never know especially since we had a lot of people going unmasked in the thick of this thing and there are antivaxxers in town.

We're all getting raises as part of the new contract...and to compensate of course they're cutting everyone's hours. Us fulltimers can't be dropped below 40, so we get Sundays (typically the busiest day for online pickup) cut short. As my co-facilitator says "we just work here". Already our receiver has put herself as Unavailable on Sundays because she worked out that even at "premium" pay, the minimum shift barely covers gas/commuting costs.

[MadMike]

I went back and looked over this thread today, and realized we've been through a lot. Back when this started, a few people posted that this was going to be a big nothing, which I'll admit I thought as well. It was two years ago today that I was out doing some shopping, and I overheard that Starbuck's was closing all their stores for two weeks. I don't drink coffee, but I could tell this was a huge deal. Tomorrow will mark two years that my job sent us all home.

Things are looking a lot closer to normal now. After shattering several records in late fall and early winter (we hit 20,000 cases in PA, and then 30,000 shortly after that), the cases are bouncing around between the low and high hundreds. It's frustrating that it's been going on this long, but we're doing a lot better than we were a year ago. Last year at this time, we were still at around 3,000, and we didn't drop below a thousand until late May. Most of the places that had mask requirements have dropped them and even taken down their signs, including some places that have held out all this time or re-imposed them after the spike we had at the end of last year. My job dropped the requirement, as did the pet store where we volunteer. In fact, their vet office even stopped doing curbside pickup, and their signs are telling people to "come on in." Not sure if my vet is still doing this or not, since the last time I was there was a month ago, and none of my cats are due to go back until the middle of summer.

So far, none of the supermarkets that were previously open 24/7 have resumed their normal hours, but the product availability is pretty much back to normal, except for some reason they're limiting quantities on poultry. I think most, if not all restaurants have finally reopened their dining rooms, including a few that had them closed since this whole mess began. My wife's job still hasn't returned people to the office, and now they might not, or they might go with a hybrid schedule like mine has. They're going to be remodeling the building over there to make their workspace smaller, and lease the remaining space out to someone else. I still get annoyed on the days I go in, seeing her being able to stay at home, but at least now I don't have to put that damn mask on. And in 2 1/2 years I'm planning on retiring and being done with that place.

[Ironclad Alibi]

And in 2 1/2 years I'm planning on retiring and being done with that place.

I retired 18½ years ago and I will tell you it has not been a piece of cake. But it sure beat working.

[Kittish]

So, this might not fit exactly in this thread...but has anyone else noticed that China is back in Covid lockdown? Conveniently for them, JUST when they'd have to actually pick sides in the war that Putin started. So, since they're locked down, China can't supply Russia with the weapons, supplies, and probably additional troops that I'm quite sure Putin has been counting on (and has been rather loudly demanding), especially since his invasion hasn't gone even a LITTLE bit according to his original plans. And China CANNOT be seen to side with Russia with the current political climate, they've seen how Russia's economy went almost instantly into free fall and can't take the risk of being shunned by the rest of the world like Russia is getting. I wonder how many assassination attempts there have been so far? Alas, probably the only one we'll ever hear about is the one that succeeds.

[csquared]

Round 5. Ready? Ding!
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-...ry?id=83501592

[XCashier]

Even though the mask mandate is over here, I'll still wear one. Not only are we heading into Pollen Season (and masks are very helpful then), there is yet another new variant of COVID making the rounds. I'm double vaxxed and boosted, but I'd still rather not risk getting sick if I can avoid it.

[Monterey Jack]

New variants can blow me. I've been maskless at work since late May of last year, and I ain't caught the 'Rona yet, dagnabbit...!

[Arcus]

I and my family rarely go out (dad has health issues) yet covid still got into our house.