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Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

Blue in Munich said:
Am I; not sure how you have jumped to the conclusion that we have the space to give up? The ground floor is pretty much open plan, and my office is the kitchen; when the Mrs is working she is restricted to when she can use the kitchen due to phone calls & Teams/Zoom calls. On her day off she hasn't got the freedom to use the ground floor of the house as she would like because it's my office.

Mrs. BiM is working from a bedroom dressing table, so as you say, not good at all.

Our home has been to a degree taken over by both our employers to provide their office space and we are in effect living at work 24/7. Taken over space might have been a better description than given up, but it amounts to the same. The whole working from home caper has also highlighted who works & who doesn't, who is a team player & who isn't. I think a lot of people still going into work don't appreciate how lucky they are.

Don't get me wrong, I know plenty of people have had it worse, and I appreciate the fact that we both still have jobs. But it comes at a cost, and we are coming to the way of thinking that it is not one worth paying.
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I am with you on that, so lucky that I work at what has been derided as an old school, even out of date firm. Whilst other firms moved to open plan and hot desking, we stayed in our traditional old building where most people have their own office and, as such, we have all been able to come in to work through most of the pandemic.
 
SocketRocket said:
I wouldn't consider you working from home giving up a great deal, ok it's an inconvenience but you can meet up with friends, go to a pub or restaurant, go on holiday in the UK etc. Like I say it's an inconvenience but it's not exactly life in the trenches is it and I'm sure you could live with it a bit longer. I'm not suggesting we continue with restrictions for ever, all I'm saying is we need to get these increased infection rates under control.
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You don't consider something I have never wanted to do, and actively dislike doing, a great inconvenience? To you it might not seem it, to me it is a huge imposition. we weren't great pub goers, so going to those isn't a huge attraction, similarly we didn't eat out that much. Friends are mainly spread far and wide so seeing them not quite as easy as you suggest. What we did spend time doing has been severely curtailed if not completely stopped so it's a little more than a slight inconvenience to us, and living with a little longer might be a bit harder than it seems from your high horse.
 
I think I've made my point enough times now. There's not much point in me reiterating it, I've heard other contrary views but they've not convinced me that I should change it. I appreciate others feel different about where we go next and I understand why they might think that way but it's just not for me.
 
Blue in Munich said:
You don't consider something I have never wanted to do, and actively dislike doing, a great inconvenience? To you it might not seem it, to me it is a huge imposition. we weren't great pub goers, so going to those isn't a huge attraction, similarly we didn't eat out that much. Friends are mainly spread far and wide so seeing them not quite as easy as you suggest. What we did spend time doing has been severely curtailed if not completely stopped so it's a little more than a slight inconvenience to us, and living with a little longer might be a bit harder than it seems from your high horse.
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I didn't say it wasn't an inconvenience, I said it's not giving up a great deal and in the way of things it's not.
 
Tashyboy said:
BBC News - Asda to allow permanent hybrid working for offices
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57693065

It seems even companies are split on whether it is better for folk to continue working from home. At least ASDA are giving its employee's a choice. I don't think one shoe fits all.
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I think a lot will depend on lifestage. In my 20's I lived in a flat and the thought of working at home doesn't bear thinking about plus I thoroughly enjoyed the after work drinking and the social aspect of being in an office. I guess for many as they get older, have a bit more space indoors and don't really miss having a London commute the thought of WFM becomes more appealing and after work drinking is less of a draw!!
 
Personally I have zero interest in going back to working in an office. I can perform the role I currently have, more easily and effectively working at home. The business get more work from me due to not having to travel up and down the country.

But that doesn't suit everyone. Some of our office based staff are desperate to get back to the office full time.
Most of the people working in my business are site based and cannot work from home. That puts the business in a difficult position when making a decision on where predominantly office based staff work from.
 
I am the other way around, I need a work/life separation and so, whilst I will work late etc to get things done, my work never comes into my home and my work emails never go to my personal phone or computer. I have a personality that means I would feel compelled to look at files and emails at nights and weekends if they were in my house. Work understand that they have access to me whilst I am in the office but not in any way once I leave.
 
GB72 said:
I am the other way around, I need a work/life separation and so, whilst I will work late etc to get things done, my work never comes into my home and my work emails never go to my personal phone or computer. I have a personality that means I would feel compelled to look at files and emails at nights and weekends if they were in my house. Work understand that they have access to me whilst I am in the office but not in any way once I leave.
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I am lucky that I have learnt to switch off from it. I have separated work & personal phones. So the work laptop and phone get turned off when I finish for the day.

I'll often get up and start work early, but I never email or message anyone at work before 8:30.
 
BiMGuy said:
I am lucky that I have learnt to switch off from it. I have separated work & personal phones. So the work laptop and phone get turned off when I finish for the day.

I'll often get up and start work early, but I never email or message anyone at work before 8:30.
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Wish i could do that. If there is work in the house then I feel a compulsion to deal with it. Guess that would go over time if I worked from home more but a nice twenty minute drive between home and the office is perfect to get me in and out of work mode.
 
road2ruin said:
Updated figures (as of yesterday) showing that things are still going in the right direction despite the increase in infections....note how much higher the rise is in infections when compared with the 2nd Wave but the Hospitalisations and Deaths are far lower.
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That is wrong, I believe. In Look at the number of tests being carried out now vs January and December and the percentage of people testing positive. If the testing done today would've been the same back then, those numbers would've looked even worse. UK is doing close to 140% more tests today compared to back in December and 55% more than January.

Numbers below are taken from:

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/testing

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases


1625239810921.png
 
Lilyhawk said:
That is wrong, I believe. In Look at the number of tests being carried out now vs January and December and the percentage of people testing positive. If the testing done today would've been the same back then, those numbers would've looked even worse. UK is doing close to 140% more tests today compared to back in December and 55% more than January.

Numbers below are taken from:

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/testing

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases


View attachment 37348
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This data is difficult to interpret, because what we really need to know is (a) the number of people with symptoms tested and % positivity, (b) contacts of cases tested and %, (c) targeted surge testing and (d) other routine tests in schools and workplaces, epidemiological studies and %.

The highest % positivity rate will be in (a), but for the purposes of longitudinal comparisons, which is what these trend lines are good for, we could stick to that as a metric rather than drowning out useful info with all the LFTs being done now. Obviously the overall number of positive cases is down anyway you look at it, but it would be interesting to know which categories they came from.
 
GB72 said:
I guess the point is now that those who are still suffering because of the restrictions are those who have been hardest hit throughout including those who still cannot work. If I was being selfish, I could quite happily say that I could live as we are for the foreseeable future. Aside from a nice holiday and being able to stand at the bar and chat in the pub, everything else is pretty normal but I am lucky because of that. Again, being selfish, I am happy at the moment as we are as I feel safer because of the restrictions but I know that this cannot go on forever and the day has to come when we try and live normal lives. As such, I support removing restrictions even though they make no difference to me and, in some cases, are detrimental. There are people who need restrictions to lift to keep going and I think the time has come to take them into account.

On the bigger picture, I know that there will be variants and potentially more pain and suffering but I am not sure what more we can do to alleviate that. We cannot stay as we are indefinitely and, however hard a pill it is to swallow, there has to be a time where we decide that nothing more can be done and that we have to live with covid being around.

That said, I can see a semi freedom day coming with some restrictions and some mask wearing still in place.
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You capture the perspective of the many ‘we’ve managed and done OK’ and understand the situation and dire circumstances of the ‘fewer but still many‘ absolutely perfectly....those who have been hardest hit by the pandemic are now getting completely ground into the ground. Its as if they are simply a difficult nuisance in the great scheme of things dealing with the pandemic, and as they have been so ground down then a few months more isn’t going to make any difference for them.

And so and even given my previous preference for a risk averse and cautious approach - at this time and given the status of the vaccination programme - for the 19th I say UNLOCK!
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
You capture the perspective of the many ‘we’ve managed and done OK’ and understand the situation and dire circumstances of the ‘fewer but still many‘ absolutely perfectly....those who have been hardest hit by the pandemic are now getting completely ground into the ground. Its as if they are simply a difficult nuisance in the great scheme of things dealing with the pandemic, and as they have been so ground down then a few months more isn’t going to make any difference for them.

And so and even given my previous preference for a risk averse and cautious approach - at this time and given the status of the vaccination programme - for the 19th I say UNLOCK!
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Apart from face masks UNLOCK is already with us judging by the way things are happening in the SW.
 
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