Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus

[bd139]

I don't think we're addicted to the smartphones as such. We're addicted to communication as a species and they enable that.

[nctnico]

Pfff, I had to get a webcam for video conferencing but it seems they are low in stock at many shops.

[bd139]

Yep all gone here as well.

[Zero999]

Electronics shops are closed here. Some supermarkets normally sell webcams but, being non-essential item, I don't know if they'll sell them, even if they have stock.

Looking online is the obvious solution, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're difficult to get now.

[SiliconWizard]

I don't think we're addicted to the smartphones as such. We're addicted to communication as a species and they enable that.

Yeah. A lot of empty communication though, with limited interaction. We're "addicted" to feeling part of society/a community, certainly  and I think this is more what it's all about. Communication is one enabler for that, but as I said, I think it's become a lot emptier when using those tools. Ultimately, I don't think we're really that interested in communication itself (as in, sharing and discussing thoughts and information), but we just don't want to feel alone, something smartphones help us achieving (even when it's relatively virtual.)

[Stray Electron]

  And yet there are those that claim that there aren't any Tech jobs available. This pandemic is already creating numerous opportunities for anyone with any skills.

[SiliconWizard]

Looking online is the obvious solution, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're difficult to get now.

You can find some on Amazon but stocks are very low.
Whether we can consider webcams essential is debatable. Whereas anything helping people work and keep in touch in times of confinement should be considered essential IMO, you can do that with voice only. And for deaf people, via online chats/instant messaging...

[james_s]

  And yet there are those that claim that there aren't any Tech jobs available. This pandemic is already creating numerous opportunities for anyone with any skills.

They are out there, but they are hard to find. It's the uncertainty that is paralyzing everything, we are busy but my company has implemented a hiring freeze, the last thing we want to do is onboard a bunch of people and then lay them off in a few months when everything comes crashing down.

At this point I'm not sure why companies all over aren't rushing to mass produce medical equipment and supplies, quite a few companies could be repurposed for the duration, we will need people to man every stage of the supply chain.

[langwadt]

  And yet there are those that claim that there aren't any Tech jobs available. This pandemic is already creating numerous opportunities for anyone with any skills.

They are out there, but they are hard to find. It's the uncertainty that is paralyzing everything, we are busy but my company has implemented a hiring freeze, the last thing we want to do is onboard a bunch of people and then lay them off in a few months when everything comes crashing down.

At this point I'm not sure why companies all over aren't rushing to mass produce medical equipment and supplies, quite a few companies could be repurposed for the duration, we will need people to man every stage of the supply chain.

you don't just make medical things, there is tons of red tape involved, for good reasons

[Stray Electron]

[

you don't just make medical things, there is tons of red tape involved, for good reasons

   Really? My step father was an orthapedic surgeon and he had many instruments the he designed and that were custom built for him. A good number of them are now standard instruments in that field including the bone drill that is used to drill holes in bones so that pins can be installed. A friend of mine is a dammed good mechanical engineer and owns his own small machine shop and he's built dozens of specialty devices for various doctors and hospitals.

[langwadt]

[

you don't just make medical things, there is tons of red tape involved, for good reasons

   Really? My step father was an orthapedic surgeon and he had many instruments the he designed and that were custom built for him. A good number of them are now standard instruments in that field including the bone drill that is used to drill holes in bones so that pins can be installed. A friend of mine is a dammed good mechanical engineer and owns his own small machine shop and he's built dozens of specialty devices for various doctors and hospitals.

you can also makes an electronic DoThat,  for evalution only use in a lab, not for sale, etc. 

but if you intend to sell it as a product you will need do all the compliance testing and get all the approvals

[EEVblog]

you don't just make medical things, there is tons of red tape involved, for good reasons

   Really? My step father was an orthapedic surgeon and he had many instruments the he designed and that were custom built for him. A good number of them are now standard instruments in that field including the bone drill that is used to drill holes in bones so that pins can be installed. A friend of mine is a dammed good mechanical engineer and owns his own small machine shop and he's built dozens of specialty devices for various doctors and hospitals.

That's why they call orthapedic surgeons, carpenters 
But yes, probably nothing wrong with having a tool commissioned for you, but selling that tool to others is a whole other world.

[Nusa]

But red tape can be either cut or ignored when the situation is sufficiently dire and the choice is between uncertified equipment or letting people die.

For instance: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2020/03/19/talking-with-the-italian-engineers-who-3d-printed-respirator-parts-for-hospitals-with-coronavirus-patients-for-free/#2698329978f1

[EEVblog]

But red tape can be either cut or ignored when the situation is sufficiently dire and the choice is between uncertified equipment or letting people die.
For instance: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2020/03/19/talking-with-the-italian-engineers-who-3d-printed-respirator-parts-for-hospitals-with-coronavirus-patients-for-free/#2698329978f1

Yes, but that is rare. Try do it at any other time, you can't. The current situation is almost unprecedented.

[james_s]

But red tape can be either cut or ignored when the situation is sufficiently dire and the choice is between uncertified equipment or letting people die.

For instance: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2020/03/19/talking-with-the-italian-engineers-who-3d-printed-respirator-parts-for-hospitals-with-coronavirus-patients-for-free/#2698329978f1

That is my thought exactly, in an emergency when the alternative is many people dying it's acceptable to cut corners.

During WWII we designed new aircraft, put them into service and started mass production in all sorts of factories in an insanely short period of time. Often while the design was still being polished and without any of the red tape and certification processes that would normally be required to build an aircraft. All of that legal stuff can be short circuited, you don't just let a bunch of people die over bureaucratic nonsense. You do it properly when you've got the luxury to do so, but if this virus pandemic is as dire as people say it is then we don't have that luxury, just build stuff, make it as cheap, simple and easy to build as possible and build a whole bunch of them. When we're done with them and replace them with properly built, tested and certified medical equipment they can be scrapped or donated to the third world. 

[AndyC_772]

Case in point: the Swedish Work Environment Authority threatens to sue a 3D printing company for donating face shields:

https://twitter.com/erikcederb/status/1242467321555202048

[rdl]

I read about this first on Hackaday.

https://e-vent.mit.edu/

[rsjsouza]

But red tape can be either cut or ignored when the situation is sufficiently dire and the choice is between uncertified equipment or letting people die.

For instance: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2020/03/19/talking-with-the-italian-engineers-who-3d-printed-respirator-parts-for-hospitals-with-coronavirus-patients-for-free/#2698329978f1

That is my thought exactly, in an emergency when the alternative is many people dying it's acceptable to cut corners.

During WWII we designed new aircraft, put them into service and started mass production in all sorts of factories in an insanely short period of time. Often while the design was still being polished and without any of the red tape and certification processes that would normally be required to build an aircraft. All of that legal stuff can be short circuited, you don't just let a bunch of people die over bureaucratic nonsense. You do it properly when you've got the luxury to do so, but if this virus pandemic is as dire as people say it is then we don't have that luxury, just build stuff, make it as cheap, simple and easy to build as possible and build a whole bunch of them. When we're done with them and replace them with properly built, tested and certified medical equipment they can be scrapped or donated to the third world.

Not defending the "legal" and bureaucractic process in any way, but would you buy a N95 or a ventilator from Banggood or Aliexpress? Certainly the cut corners criteria would be met.

Sure, a N95 mask is a passive piece of gear, but when there's talk about car manufacturers making ventilators the game is changed. This becomes especially worse if the shortcut is somewhat deliberate due to the lack of proper or tested materials - a gear that has weaker material and can't withstand a 24hr operation, or a lubricant that has toxic components on it, etc.

For us engineers that understand the limitations of design and materials, that is more or less second nature. The issue is when all this is settled and the news organizations get wind of some of these decisions and blow or distort all this to the general public with the consequential outcry and ensuing lawsuits. By this logic, a company would be better off to "donate to the third world" instead, since their ability to sue the company is virtually zero.

The manufacturers and general population just have to live with the reality that a fraction of people will die of equipment failure. Not many will live with that. 

[SiliconWizard]

[

you don't just make medical things, there is tons of red tape involved, for good reasons

   Really? My step father was an orthapedic surgeon and he had many instruments the he designed and that were custom built for him. A good number of them are now standard instruments in that field including the bone drill that is used to drill holes in bones so that pins can be installed. A friend of mine is a dammed good mechanical engineer and owns his own small machine shop and he's built dozens of specialty devices for various doctors and hospitals.

Please don't share any more info about him, as he might get in trouble and the doctors implied as well.
 

[james_s]

Not defending the "legal" and bureaucractic process in any way, but would you buy a N95 or a ventilator from Banggood or Aliexpress? Certainly the cut corners criteria would be met.

If the choice was between that and dying? Absolutely, it would be better than nothing. I mean I was reading that some hospitals are fabricating gowns out of trash bags and cutting face shields out of soda bottles, people are improvising and doing what they need to do in order to get by.

[Stray Electron]

Case in point: the Swedish Work Environment Authority threatens to sue a 3D printing company for donating face shields:

https://twitter.com/erikcederb/status/1242467321555202048

  Read the rest of the article. They have since backed off of that threat.  Also a doctor in Spain has been using 3D printed face shields for weeks and he's very thankful that people are making them and donating them to the hospitals.

[Stray Electron]

[

you don't just make medical things, there is tons of red tape involved, for good reasons

   Really? My step father was an orthapedic surgeon and he had many instruments the he designed and that were custom built for him. A good number of them are now standard instruments in that field including the bone drill that is used to drill holes in bones so that pins can be installed. A friend of mine is a dammed good mechanical engineer and owns his own small machine shop and he's built dozens of specialty devices for various doctors and hospitals.

Please don't share any more info about him, as he might get in trouble and the doctors implied as well.
 

   Stop throwing out bull shit to defend your position.  He was one of the top surgeons in the US and has an outstanding reputation. He's also one of the people that hospitals, other doctors and medical associations come to for expert advice.  He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and had his medical training at Georgetown University, one of the top medical schools in this county and he was in the top 1% of all of the gradates in the US. He interned at Bethesda Naval Hospital near the end of WW-II treating soldiers and sailors that had been wounded during the war and has treated everything kind of injury and wound imaginable. He was one of the first to use steel pins for splinting bones and that's where he came up with the idea of a bone drill.  Maybe not in the EU, but here in the US doctors routinely choose their own instruments just as a fine woodworker or you electronic geeks would.  They also have instruments modified to suit their taste. As long as the doctors are successful in their pursuits, no one asks who made their tools.

   BTW during my brief hospital career I repaired all kinds of medical equipment and even modified some of it and no one other than my immediate boss was looking over my shoulder and no approvals were necessary.  The hospital that I was in made a small but significant improvement in neonatal respirators after they noticed that infants that used one particular respirator had better results than infants on any of the other respirators.  They tore it down and found that one valve wasn't opening fully and it maintained a slight amount of positive air pressure. They modified the other respirators to do the same and found that all of them gave a better survival rate. Since then that modification has become standard in all neonatal respirators.  That's how progress is made, not by waiting for a bunch of EU type regulators to approve things that they know nothing about.

[TheNewLab]

interesting using a 3D printer. Only I don't get how something made of hard plastic will work. A frame for the cloth or N95 material?

I DO like the creativity!

For my part, I have started going around my building wiping down door handles, rails, and other surface our tenants would typically touch. I am using a dilute Bleach mixture. It is mostly to reassure everyone in the building. It may be lame, however, tenants do feel reassured and that what counts...uh, beside all the recommended steps and hygiene.

I am seriously curious how the masks are being created.I my mind, I imagine some huge space helmet. 

[Kasper]

I've worked from home for a while and avoided crowds most my life so this makes very little impact to my schedule, aside from making more efficient grocery store trips and wasting less money at restaurants.

My wife just started working from home and it is quite entertaining listening to her interrogate people over the phone.

My neighbor is also off work (again) and has been working on his truck outside all week.  His favorite tool is the angle grinder and he somehow manages to find hours upon hours of work to do with it.

[Red Squirrel]

They are still beating around the bush at my company, but from what I'm gathering what will happen is whoever is on 8h shift will get to work from home, and whoever is on 12h shift will still need to go to the office.  They insist that the office needs 24/7 coverage, which is BS really.  It is true that this would be the first time in history that this building has had nobody in it, but really, it's not that critical that someone is there.  We monitor over 1000 buildings and most of them are unmanned.

So really we'll still be getting exposed as due to scheduling it can't just be only 2 people that do the day/night rotation as it just does not logically work out, so it will be all of us on rotation basically, as normal scheduling goes.  To make matters worse our schedule can be sporadic, you can work 1 8h, 2 12h's, 1 8h, be off for a day, go back on 12hs etc... that will mean dragging equipment back and forth a lot.

But at the end of the day, I'm just happy I work in something considered essential so at least I still HAVE a job, and I'm getting paid.  Sad to see so many companies using this as an opportunity to do mass layoffs.   Lot of people are going to be jobless after all this is done.