Welp, a staff member likely has it. It could take up to 5 days for the test to come back, but he's had a mild fever on and off, slight difficulty breathing, dry cough, pain in his chest... just got off the phone with him... he is really laid-up.
I am now on my paid vacation, as I was in closest contact.
You wanna know what's fucked up? They're not telling anybody there. Keeping childcare open and everything. Because they don't know if he actually has it and don't want to cause panic... as though there's nothing to legitimately be concerned about in that situation. Just the fact that I am home right now say they know there is.
All I can say is they better pray he doesn't, because if he does, everybody has very likely been exposed and leadership gets to be the ones responsible for more people getting sick, because they told those people to keep coming to work under pretty reasonable suspicion of being exposed. I thought the orders were pretty clear. If you have directly been around someone who is showing symptoms, you cannot go anywhere, especially not work! It becomes a moral issue. There are people there now, who were in close contact with him yesterday, watching people's kids. Everybody but me and him are at work today, and if either of us are carrying it, I can name at least 4 people who probably are too, now. I tried to tell them people I have been around... they don't want to hear it.
"Well, they're not showing symptoms right now."
"Neither am I!"
You know it's a frustrating conversation when the person says "It could just be the flu... we don't really know."
Internally I was screaming "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THIS WHOLE SPRING?! That's not how any of this works you tool." I've got half a mind to start making calls myself, see if I can talk some sense into my co-workers myself. They haven't been told things that I know about the situation, directly from the suspected case. They might not be so happy and carefree knowing what they're not being told...
If he doesn't test positive, great. Everyone goes back to work in a couple of days. But if he DOES test positive, and you had days of warning, but chose to hide it... that just looks bad, because it means he probably won't be the only one testing positive. I am having a hard time watching that be put on the table, with really nothing to lose but the health and safety of those people. That's the thing... we could close to today and nobody loses their jobs. We won't lose parents.. hell, enrollment for summer is INSANE. The money is ALREADY there. Money from the government, money set aside, AS MUCH as we ask for is ours, straight from our parent organization. So why are those people still there taking that chance like there is no risk of exposure? It makes no sense to me.
Well, if you understand our leadership, it does. This is par for the course. "Decision-avoidance" tactics are the norm for them. They've gotten by because it's never been this serious. But it's like they don't see how this is different from the usual politics... that's kind of how they're treating it. Staff politics. Sometimes with staff politics you lose employees... but rarely do you lose them from the world.
I would be pissed, if I was still there now and found out later that my superiors knew I was at risk. So many bad things could happen and all the higher-ups can talk about is diffusing. This isn't a store or an office. We're down to daycare with a very small amount of kids. I'm glad I'm home, though honestly I wouldn't go if they asked me to come in. They're thinking 'bear minimum impact' and I do get that, but I'm not sure if they know what it means to be 'in contact'.
The secretary has been taking everyone's temperatures as part of the absentee principal's security theater. Safe to say if the other guy has it, she has it, as does probably everyone else...
Funny thing, I turned it down for that very reason. Just because YOU wear a mask and use alcohol on the friggin thing doesn't negate getting that close to people. Nono. Stay AWAY from me, with yer gettin all up on everyone ass.
All I can really say is "What a mess." These people are impossible. It's really easy for me to grasp... you can do all of the little measures you want, but you might as well not bother if you're going to ignore the big one... which is quarantine all people in contact of suspected cases. There are people there now who aren't doing that, and have been allowed to go to work, in spite of having been just as much 'in contact' as I. It's a mistake to play the guessing game, if you ask me. Out of my hands now. I don't envy anyone there.
One very good thing I can say about my employer, is getting paid has never been the worry. It could've been... for some twisted reasons, non-profits aren't required to pay in to basic employee protection, such as unemployment. How that's acceptable at all, I've never gotten. Do employees for non profits not have bills to pay? They don't deserve to be taken care of for their contributions to society as much as people working any other job? According the law, they don't. If you work for a non-profit organization, you're not entitled to unemployment. Which is basically the governments way of saying "Don't work for organizations that try to do good for people... you know, things like provide children with a positive environment and good education. Instead, go work for ones making the MONEY." I guess you're not valuable to the workforce if you do anything other than help people make money for their own benefit with your time and effort. *shrugs*
So really, us being out on our ass is really out on our ass, not that FL unemployment is good to begin with - it's one of the worst-paying in the country. I am grateful for being shielded from that... I don't have to worry about my bills, or affording necessities. I can't imagine what it's like for the people who actually are up in the air like that. All I've ever had to worry about was staying healthy and following precautions. Staying home is a no-debate scenario. I have no reason not to, and lose nothing by doing so. Which is how it should be for everyone, in a better world.
But then, we're really learning some hard lessons about our debt-based economy all around, aren't we? Pile on stuff like this with an economic model where recessions are an inevitable fact of life and you get waves of people with less income getting swept under. So that's kind of a BIG problem :/
fivethirtyeight.com
