Having to go back to office and facing Covid risk

[2HOTinPHX]

So I was one of the lucky ones, working from home for many years before Covid was a thing. We usually go into the office a few days a month. When Covid first started showing up locally I started worrying about being in the office. Well sure enough got a text message from boss on a Sunday night to stay home until further notice as someone in the office had come down with Covid... They wouldn't tell us who for privacy reasons but did tell us it was in my department.

So we have been working from home for most of the Pandemic. The few times I had to go into the office everyone was still required to wear mask until recently when mask mandates were dropped. Now we are back to a few days a month and hardly anyone with a mask. I still wear a mask in the office to lower risk for wife and MIL. We were scheduled to go in to the office yesterday and today but Monday our supervisor cancelled cause she was not feeling well. Now today the person who was supposed to be training me in person if we were in the office today sends me an IM and she is not feeling well and has just tested positive for Covid.... .

ARGGGGGGGGG....this is exactly why I don't want to go into the office where everyone else has moved on. Sure wife, MIL and I are all vaccinated and double booset now but I sure feel like I dodged a bullet this week. I am thinking of telling my boss I won't be in the office anytime soon..am I crazy for feeling this way?
Think of pulling the plug at the end of the year...waiting to see if any of the craziness settles down. Or maybe just take the plunge now...

 

[COcheesehead]

My wife and I are vaxxed to the max and still got Covid in the last few weeks. Its not the end of the world that we all once felt it was.

 

[skyking1]

I would agree that it is as good a reason for an early bailout as any.

 

[kgtest]

So I was one of the lucky ones, working from home for many years before Covid was a thing. We usually go into the office a few days a month. When Covid first started showing up locally I started worrying about being in the office. Well sure enough got a text message from boss on a Sunday night to stay home until further notice as someone in the office had come down with Covid... They wouldn't tell us who for privacy reasons but did tell us it was in my department.

So we have been working from home for most of the Pandemic. The few times I had to go into the office everyone was still required to wear mask until recently when mask mandates were dropped. Now we are back to a few days a month and hardly anyone with a mask. I still wear a mask in the office to lower risk for wife and MIL. We were scheduled to go in to the office yesterday and today but Monday our supervisor cancelled cause she was not feeling well. Now today the person who was supposed to be training me in person if we were in the office today sends me an IM and she is not feeling well and has just tested positive for Covid.... .

ARGGGGGGGGG....this is exactly why I don't want to go into the office where everyone else has moved on. Sure wife, MIL and I are all vaccinated and double booset now but I sure feel like I dodged a bullet this week. I am thinking of telling my boss I won't be in the office anytime soon..am I crazy for feeling this way?
Think of pulling the plug at the end of the year...waiting to see if any of the craziness settles down. Or maybe just take the plunge now...

Don't succumb to the pressure. I was coerced into going in last Tuesday, and on Wednesday got the text the lady that was sitting next to me had tested positive not even 24 hours after being in contact...and sure enough, three day's later I tested positive. I had coached my son's baseball game and inadvertently passed COVID to my 71 yr old Dad and Mom, 3 of the kids on the baseball team and one of the other coaches. Now, 10 days after my exposure my 2 yr old who already has breathing difficulties and is on a nebulizer just tested positive. Poor girl has been sleeping it off, sleeping MUCH more than she normally does, but other than that literally no other symptoms.

We have been paying for daycare since last week and had to keep little one home. Son missed some school quarantining but teacher recommended per school guidelines we send him back since it was last week and they had some end of year educational assessments to complete with him.

It's been a nightmare logistically...sure I got sick, it sucked. Dad was sicker than mom, who ironically has COPD. It basically just keeps wreaking havoc on the people around me. All because I went into the office for the first time and only time in well over 2 years.

I was a fool. Fool me once...fool me twice. I'm DONE going into the office. I will literally take a reprimand and find a new job before I ever return to an office. I could give a rats --- about all the team comradery bs. Family comes first.

 

[kgtest]

My wife and I are vaxxed to the max and still got Covid in the last few weeks. Its not the end of the world that we all once felt it was.

This is true, I was sick and miserable for a day or two. The bad part is the cramp on the lifestyle. We have all these half protocols in place now that even though we are following, I still managed to infect a bunch of other people because I wasn't testing positive and had no symptoms until a week after I was actually exposed but still seemingly and unknowingly spreading it around. I was a literal dumbass and should have wore my mask more vigilantly and taken some extra precautions...but I will admit this strain that is now running around is not nearly as destructive as the ones in past.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

Don't succumb to the pressure. I was coerced into going in last Tuesday, and on Wednesday got the text the lady that was sitting next to me had tested positive not even 24 hours after being in contact...and sure enough, three day's later I tested positive. I had coached my son's baseball game and inadvertently passed COVID to my 71 yr old Dad and Mom, 3 of the kids on the baseball team and one of the other coaches. Now, 10 days after my exposure my 2 yr old who already has breathing difficulties and is on a nebulizer just tested positive. Poor girl has been sleeping it off, sleeping MUCH more than she normally does, but other than that literally no other symptoms.

We have been paying for daycare since last week and had to keep little one home. Son missed some school quarantining but teacher recommended per school guidelines we send him back since it was last week and they had some end of year educational assessments to complete with him.

It's been a nightmare logistically...sure I got sick, it sucked. Dad was sicker than mom, who ironically has COPD. It basically just keeps wreaking havoc on the people around me. All because I went into the office for the first time and only time in well over 2 years.

I was a fool. Fool me once...fool me twice. I'm DONE going into the office. I will literally take a reprimand and find a new job before I ever return to an office. I could give a rats --- about all the team comradery bs. Family comes first.

Wow sorry to hear about your Covid troubles, hope everyone gets better soon. Thanks for sharing your story.

I will be telling my boss that I am uncomfortable with returning to the office anytime soon. It was one thing when it was just a couple of us in for training and everyone was wearing mask. But a full office of unmasked persons yapping it up just makes me very uncomfortable. I think they will be understanding as they were pretty good about the whole Covid situation. At 59 gotta do what I gotta do. Like you said family first.

 

[pacergal]

Hope your boss allows you to return at home work.
If you have to be out and about in office or elsewhere , wearing a N95 or KN95 tight fitting mask is your best option, along with as much distance from others as possible.

The vaccines don't prevent you from getting Covid, but hopefully keep you from severe illness and out of the hospital, similar to Influenza vaccines.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Any chance that they may let you go if you refuse to go back and they insist that you do?
In that case you might qualify for unemployment for the rest of the year.
Just something you might want to consider and look into just in case it comes down to that.

 

[youbet]

I was a fool. Fool me once...fool me twice. I'm DONE going into the office. I will literally take a reprimand and find a new job before I ever return to an office. I could give a rats --- about all the team comradery bs. Family comes first.

Agreed. This is why we need more programs so that folks who can’t work from home can receive generous benefits indefinitely if they choose to stay home and not work. I’m thinking of workers in factories, restaurants, stores, agriculture and on construction sites. Etc. There’s no more reason for a stock picker filling delivery orders at a grocery store to be there than for a data analyst to be in the office.

 

[ivinsfan]

There is so much of this around that it could have been your office contact or another friend or someone next to you at a baseball game. My 11yo GD went out Saturday morning ran a 5K where she kicked butt, came home and since her other GM has cancer tested before going to cousins grad party..Yes positive..
But you certainly can decide you don't want to work in person. DD has a please come into work policy and last week over 70% of workers either never came in or came in for one day.

 

[mountainsoft]

I've always worked from home, so no real risk on my part.

My wife was working from home during the pandemic, but is now mostly back working at the office. For a while masks were required but that's no longer practiced. There have already been a few COVID cases in her office over the last couple months. Due to privacy concerns they only notify those who may have had contact, but it wouldn't take much to pass it from person to person even indirectly. She is certainly at risk of being exposed.

Technically she's only supposed to work at the office half time, but due to heavy workloads and covering for multiple people she's usually there every day now.

We are both fully vaccinated and double boosted, and so far we have managed to avoid it. Only time will tell if that continues.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

So i decided to wait until we get the next email regarding days we will be needed in the office. I will reply back to just my supervisor with something like Sorry I am uncomfortable with working in office at this time. Hopefully it will be acceptable that I continue to work from. Probably just leave it brief and see what kind of reaction I get. I think she will be understanding.
Supervisor was logged on to the matrix for a bit this AM but I didn't want to ruffle any feathers as she was probably playing catch up since she has been out sick. She logged out sick a few hours later. The employee training me was also out sick today. I texted her with a quick question and she called me back instead and she sounded pretty sick. Hopefullly she gets over it safely. As I always say about work "The fun never ends"...

 

[skyking1]

If they called DW back to work out of the office it would be a career-ending event, and her management has some sense of that.
What you are describing is nightmare stuff.

 

[skipro33]

This COVID thing is far from over. In the past month we (wife or I) have lost a brother, father, mother, 2 cousins, an uncle who was admitted last night and already intubated, and another 8 who tested positive. I, myself was in the ICU for a week and just getting off oxygen in the past 3 weeks. All in the past 30 days. All vaxxed and boosted to the max. This variant isn't affected by the current vaccine. Moderna has a new formula due to be released in July that is touted to be 8 times the effectiveness of the current vaccine for Omicron variant. And then what? What's after Omicron and how fast will science come up with a vax that will have an effect?

 

[skyking1]

skipro you have our condolences. That is the nightmare I was referring to.

 

[skipro33]

skipro you have our condolences. That is the nightmare I was referring to.

83% of all people in the USA over age 5 have at least one vaccination. With the positivity rates increasing, 14% and rising in California, as well as hospitalizations and deaths, it's pretty clear that vaccines are no longer as effective, if they ever were effective, as we were lead to believe. The virus has mutated and the vaccine isn't keeping up with it.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

I'll keep wearing my N95 masks although I swear I'm the last person in California to do so. I don't get out in public much, but what I see is no one wears one except me. When I do go out, it's at the store opening in the morning. I figure there's less germs on things like keypads, carts, merch that has been handled and returned to shelves, etc.
I recall every grocery store had someone wiping down everything like cooler handles, etc. Now, nothing. I was hoping folks would keep up with the healthy and sanitary habits, but I was wrong.

 

[skyking1]

that vector is called fomites, and it is generally considered to not be the big problem. being there early hopefully means less people, because That *is* the problem.

 

[skipro33]

that vector is called fomites, and it is generally considered to not be the big problem. being there early hopefully means less people, because That *is* the problem.

Someone coughs, sneezes or wipes their nose before touching that keypad probably every 3rd customer. More if it's moms shopping with their little germ factories in tow. And somehow I'm in doubt of anything I'm being told from those who tell us things like fomites are not a problem. I recall diagrams of water droplets from breath traveling over isles and contaminating everything, how COVID could live on cardboard for over 24 hours, stainless steel for days. I trusted that science, then what? Science wasn't being honest? Science wasn't science after all? Science wasn't as well educated as they told us they were? None of us have a lot of choice in this matter when it comes to COVID. Trusting the science was the one thing we were told repeatedly we could trust. But now it keeps changing the rules and I just can not keep up. Too many people are getting this virus and are getting very sick or dying, and too many people have given up trying to protect themselves or others when they do test positive or have symptoms. Do you think folks who test positive or have symptoms stay home? From work, sure, but not from other public activities. They'll still go shopping and otherwise out into the public, convinced they are not the cause of the spread. But how else can this virus spread if infected people are not out in public?
I am not the only one totally confused about what guidelines I should be listening to, who I should be listening to and from what time window their guidelines have for expiration when they realize they were wrong and need to update.

I have tickets for game 4 of the NBA finals in Boston tomorrow, Friday and game 5 in SF on Sunday. This was before the funeral on Saturday. I'll be home watching the game and the memorial service instead.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

This COVID thing is far from over. In the past month we (wife or I) have lost a brother, father, mother, 2 cousins, an uncle who was admitted last night and already intubated, and another 8 who tested positive. I, myself was in the ICU for a week and just getting off oxygen in the past 3 weeks. All in the past 30 days. All vaxxed and boosted to the max. This variant isn't affected by the current vaccine. Moderna has a new formula due to be released in July that is touted to be 8 times the effectiveness of the current vaccine for Omicron variant. And then what? What's after Omicron and how fast will science come up with a vax that will have an effect?

Very sorry for your losses. This is heartbreaking to hear. I wish everyone would wake up and take this virus more seriously but I feel like they have all given up and moved on....

 

[pacergal]

83% of all people in the USA over age 5 have at least one vaccination. With the positivity rates increasing, 14% and rising in California, as well as hospitalizations and deaths, it's pretty clear that vaccines are no longer as effective, if they ever were effective, as we were lead to believe. The virus has mutated and the vaccine isn't keeping up with it.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

I'll keep wearing my N95 masks although I swear I'm the last person in California to do so. I don't get out in public much, but what I see is no one wears one except me. When I do go out, it's at the store opening in the morning. I figure there's less germs on things like keypads, carts, merch that has been handled and returned to shelves, etc.
I recall every grocery store had someone wiping down everything like cooler handles, etc. Now, nothing. I was hoping folks would keep up with the healthy and sanitary habits, but I was wrong.

We still wear masks everywhere, and I keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse to use in stores, plus I have wipes in my car. Not just for covid, but for colds/influenza, etc.
As a Public Health RN, I am well aware of studies that show folks don't wash their hands! I have carried sanitizer for years, before covid.

 

[tb001]

Add us to the list of vaxed and boosted with covid. DD picked it up at school and it’s taken the whole family down. DH has been the sickest I’ve ever seen him, despite getting his second booster at the end of April. Both kids down. Thankfully it was the end of school and I’m not working, so we’re not scrambling for childcare. But they’re mostly better now and DH and I still in rough shape.

 

[Badger]

My wife and I are vaxxed to the max and still got Covid in the last few weeks. Its not the end of the world that we all once felt it was.

Yet it was for more than a million people in the US.

Cheers!

 

[Badger]

We still wear masks everywhere, and I keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse to use in stores, plus I have wipes in my car. Not just for covid, but for colds/influenza, etc.
As a Public Health RN, I am well aware of studies that show folks don't wash their hands! I have carried sanitizer for years, before covid.

There are a few career paths that are more dangerous than most and yours is one of them. Masks, distancing, wash hands, using sanitizer, avoiding crowds, avoiding enclosed areas, etc. collectively give the best chance to prevent infection. I wish you continued luck. Another dangerous career that places someone in jeopardy from Covid is classroom teaching. I'm just glad I retired before all this started.

Cheers!

 

[Chuckanut]

Many people in many different jobs have worked all through Covid and continue to work today. Others were home for many months but are back to work on site.

We want the clerks, teachers, police, nurses, factory workers, truck drivers, janitors, etc. all to come to work and risk Covid. But, some of us don't want to risk it ourselves. Something's got to give. Right?

 

[2HOTinPHX]

Many people in many different jobs have worked all through Covid and continue to work today. Others were home for many months but are back to work on site.

We want the clerks, teachers, police, nurses, factory workers, truck drivers, janitors, etc. all to come to work and risk Covid. But, some of us don't want to risk it ourselves. Something's got to give. Right?

I would like them all to continue to error on the side of caution but I understand the majority have moved on and are willing to accept the risk for some sort of normalcy. That is their choice now. I hope all stay safe.
I will continue to do what I feel I need to do for my families safety.