Question for corporate workers - about COVID (US)

[Brownie]

Update from yesterday: Work from home if you can. If we travel overseas, we must stay home upon return for 14 days. If we meet with someone who is visiting from overseas, same thing. With the new rules being put in place for travel most of this is now superseded.

 

[Stanga]

I one beef with the situation is that it has severely affected my photography. I normally take public transport, including the London underground, to get around the city. But as someone with a weak lung I am having to stay indoors and get bored.

 

[RichardC]

I one beef with the situation is that it has severely affected my photography. I normally take public transport, including the London underground, to get around the city. But as someone with a weak lung I am having to stay indoors and get bored.

Can we look forward to your entries in the post processing challenge? I'm stuck too. Not many bugs to photograph in Sutton Coldfield in March.

 

[Sleepy Capybara]

Day 4 of working from home for me. For some this is the second week of working remotely. This is in Seattle, center of covid-19 pandemic in USA. Employer has advised us to WFH for next 3 to 4 weeks. Gets pretty boring tbh. I desperately need a home office with multiple screens.

 

[BosseBe]

Here in Sweden they banned all public gatherings of more then 500 people yesterday.
I'm kind of glad for that because I was going to a Dianne Reeves concert on Friday night and hesitated about going, now the decision is out of my hands (and I get my money back).

At work we have had people working from home since the end of January, that is people who had been to China and more recently Italy, they are told to work from home for 14 days so they can see that they are not ill or carrying the virus. The same applies if you are feeling a cold or maybe influenza coming, work at home for 14 days.
The first that went into home quarantine are now back at work in the office (none of them was ill).

I hope all of you all over the world stays healthy!

 

[CyVan]

Welp. We got our first confirmed imported case from the UK Tuesday and there was panic buying because she was out and about for awhile before she became really sick. Then Wed there was another confirmed imported case again from the UK but worked at the US embassy. So by today the govt has, for the next two weeks at least :

• Suspended all licenses for outdoor gatherings and revoked existing ones
• Cancelled the biggest sports meet of the Jamaican Calendar , Champs, Its were all the high schools send their athletes to compete. It was where Usain Bolt and all our other international athletes were discovered.
• Close all primary and secondary schools
• Closed Tax offices and non-essential govt organisations (with suitable deadline extensions)
• Postponed local exams for students
• Called on all passengers who were on her flight to self identify so they can be tested
• Exploring a possible ban on travel to/from the UK
• Aggressively prosecuting a person who broke quarantine and escaped for a couple hours before he was recaptured by the Police.

Also:

• US Embassy has suspended operations
• Banks branches the women visited have closed
• Techs from the local Telecom that were at her house have been sent home in quarantine
• One of Our Universities has cancelled Carnival for this weekend and closed two of their campuses
• One of our Rum producers has shut down its distribution center in downtown Kingston because of contact
• Nearly all conferences have been cancelled or postponed
• Local chemical manufacturers are ramping up production of cleaning products, hand sanitizers etc
• Supermarkets have institued rationing of certain products to prevent bulk buying with a goal of reselling for profit.
• Many businesses are putting up Santizing stations and spraying customers' hands when they walk in

and worst of all:

• My local Photographic Society has cancelled all meetings and field trips for the rest of the month

Again , Monday , everything was normal .. this is just within the past 2 1/2 days and we only have TWO (2) confirmed cases

Quite the robust response. But there are about 100+ ppl in observation so the Govt is trying to reduce community spread.

 

[InlawBiker]

I'm in the next town over from Kirkland WA, so the center of the Washington State panic zone. Kids are home from school, I am home from work, cabin fever is becoming real. We go to the store or park as normal. I figured Internet would be too slow to use for work, but it seems to be fine so far. I work in tech so I had a home office for remote work all set up already. I cancelled travel plans for two trips already.

My kids were sick at one point or another over the last month but they're over it. Was it the virus? There's no way to know I guess. I never caught anything. It seems like we could go about our normal lives if we needed to behaving the same as we do in flu season, but the reaction could end up positive for people like my Mom who are immunodeficient.

I don't see how photography would be affected, you can still walk the streets or go into the hills and shoot.

 

[Amin]

Welp. We got our first confirmed imported case from the UK Tuesday and there was panic buying because she was out and about for awhile before she became really sick. Then Wed there was another confirmed imported case again from the UK but worked at the US embassy. So by today the govt has, for the next two weeks at least :

• Suspended all licenses for outdoor gatherings and revoked existing ones
• Cancelled the biggest sports meet of the Jamaican Calendar , Champs, Its were all the high schools send their athletes to compete. It was where Usain Bolt and all our other international athletes were discovered.
• Close all primary and secondary schools
• Closed Tax offices and non-essential govt organisations (with suitable deadline extensions)
• Postponed local exams for students
• Called on all passengers who were on her flight to self identify so they can be tested
• Exploring a possible ban on travel to/from the UK
• Aggressively prosecuting a person who broke quarantine and escaped for a couple hours before he was recaptured by the Police.

Also:

• US Embassy has suspended operations
• Banks branches the women visited have closed
• Techs from the local Telecom that were at her house have been sent home in quarantine
• One of Our Universities has cancelled Carnival for this weekend and closed two of their campuses
• One of our Rum producers has shut down its distribution center in downtown Kingston because of contact
• Nearly all conferences have been cancelled or postponed
• Local chemical manufacturers are ramping up production of cleaning products, hand sanitizers etc
• Supermarkets have institued rationing of certain products to prevent bulk buying with a goal of reselling for profit.
• Many businesses are putting up Santizing stations and spraying customers' hands when they walk in

and worst of all:

• My local Photographic Society has cancelled all meetings and field trips for the rest of the month

Again , Monday , everything was normal .. this is just within the past 2 1/2 days and we only have TWO (2) confirmed cases

Quite the robust response. But there are about 100+ ppl in observation so the Govt is trying to reduce community spread.

Very robust response. My area hasn't taken it as seriously yet despite the fact that we have over 100 confirmed cases already. But my kids' school did close today and will remain closed for two weeks or longer. I am thankful for that!

 

[CyVan]

My kids were sick at one point or another over the last month but they're over it. Was it the virus? There's no way to know I guess. I never caught anything. It seems like we could go about our normal lives if we needed to behaving the same as we do in flu season, but the reaction could end up positive for people like my Mom who are immunodeficient.

I don't see how photography would be affected, you can still walk the streets or go into the hills and shoot.

Yeah this is my primary concern , I'd most likely be fine but I have friends with immunodeficient kids or huge families with a whole generation of treasured elderly. We're doing this for them.

Re photography. These trips were gonna be in large groups in a bus and same with the meetings.

 

[daleeight]

No travel. Those that are remote, stay remote. Those that are office peeps and have a laptop, work from home.

I don't get the US being so pounded for no test kits. What do we need them for? So people can pay to be tested for something that has no cure? if you have a fever, normal smarts is you stay in bed. If you have Coronavirus you are supposed to stay locked up for 14 days. But there isn't a police car outside the house in case you leave. So...

If you are sick, stay alone and isolate. If you aren't sick, wash and be smart, as smart as you should be for any Flu season. Just because you get a flu shot doesn't mean you can't get the flu. You still have to avoid those with the flu. So be smart.

And for thousands and thousands, good luck keeping your job because a whole lot of people will be "let go" because everyone wants to protect the public from themselves, but don't want to pay them while they protect them.

it is a bad bad world and I'd suggest people use their cameras and shoot still life and macro images inside their homes

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I was at the local hospital twice this week (not for any virus problems) and it was very pleasant there. They aren’t allowing visitors or children (unless for appointment). There was hand sanitizer everywhere, and it also seemed relaxed. I had to go to the grocery store at 7:00 this evening and it was a zoo. Not a single shopping cart available, and all check outs open with huge lines. The shelves looked like a herd of rapid monkeys had been through the store. The poor store employees looked trashed.

 

[Linh]

I don't get the US being so pounded for no test kits. What do we need them for?

data. we need to accurately assess how widespread this is if we can. Also, some people just won't listen without something saying "you have this, go home and stay there".

 

[stratokaster]

Ireland went from 0 to 70 confirmed cases in less than 2 weeks, now schools, colleges, museums etc are all closed until at least 29 of March. Government advice is to work from home and that’s what we’re going to do starting next week.

 

[CyVan]

Yeah and we're now up to 8 since finding the first one on Tuesday. However this now includes 2 cases of Community Spread but luckily they're directly traceable back to Patient Zero. The other 4 were imports. But we'll see how many were affected by these 2 local ones.

 

[drd1135]

Our company has had no impact. They still force me to work at home. I'd quit if I weren't one of the directors…

BTW @stratokaster, I see by your photo that you are not touching your own face, which is good for not spreading COVID19, but the photo shows that you don't fully understand the concept…

It's tough when those idiots charge won't support you.

 

[Bytesmiths]

I am having to stay indoors and get bored.

Time to get out the macro gear and explore the microcosm!

Fabrics, food, wood, even artifacts, all look different (and often, more interesting) when looked at up close.

Here's a small (about 1x1 cm) section of an abalone shell. It was taken some 30 years ago with an Olympus OM-4Ti and the OM Zuiko 50mm ƒ/2.0 macro lens, with the wonderful OM T-10 ring flash:

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While not exactly a macro, here is a bokeh study, done with an OM Zuiko 55mm ƒ/1.2 with a speed booster. I manually set the focus to minimum distance, and moved back and forth to focus on the otherwise-boring subject:

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There's lots you can shoot while "self isolating!"

 

[Bytesmiths]

Our company has had no impact. They still force me to work at home.

Well, I take that back.

Yea, I still work from home as a market farmer. But BC has restricted gatherings of more than 250 people, and a market we were supposed to do on Saturday has been cancelled.

In addition, about 30% of our income comes from our local Saturday Market, which is supposed to begin April 4. We've just heard that the market committee is meeting soon to assess and we've been told to prepare for at least a delay of the market season.

Even if the market is open, there's the question of who will come, since in the high season, it's about 80% tourists from off-island.

On the other hand, we sell a lot through stores, and people will still need to eat.

Being self-employed and diverse, we're lucky in that we can take a 30% income hit if necessary. Employees are more digital: they may have a full paycheque… until they don't have any paycheque.

 

[Julia]

We're a small tech company and most of us work from home anyway (Germany, France, Czech Republic), and now our boss told us not to commute to the office anymore, simply to reduce risk of exposure.

Schools in most states in Germany will be closed starting Monday to limit exposure and slow the spread of the virus. Most sporting events have been canceled – including the archery indoor nationals (for which I had qualified, sigh).

What sort of amuses me (in a very dark and sardonic kind of way) is that everyone's running shopping right now. Just a few days ago, neighbors and club mates scolded me for taking this "too seriously".

 

[Phocal]

For those who can't find toilet paper

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[Mack]

Got an email yesterday from Samy's Camera which is in Los Angeles with four stores. They say they are going to wipe down any demo equipment before a customer handles it and again once they are done playing with it. You can also arrange to stay in your car and have them walk it out to you too if you buy it online.

The Easter Mass in the Vatican City in April will be interesting. Pope on large TV and big separation of people on the grounds - if they are even allowed in.