Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus

[paulca]

I think it's a good idea, but the implementation will be doomed.  Especially if it's a government project.

[bd139]

I'm not sure it's even a good idea myself. The opportunities for it to go wrong are larger than the ones where it may go right

Managed to lift some free Cisco kit on the way to the skip so the earlier comments about Cisco vs Microtik is solved! Got a couple of 2900 ISRs and a couple of 802.11AC AP's so home network fun time once I've worked out what I've actually got . Going to stick the kids on their own VLAN and QoS them to hell, which is really the primary issue with working from home I've had so far

[james_s]

The test is simple:

Put your nose deep into an aged organic waste bin.

If you smell nothing it's covid-19.

This is one or my customers from Munich reported me..

I've had chronic allergies my whole life and can't smell much under the best of conditions so I'm not sure how reliable that is. Also Covid seems to have wildly different effects from one person to the next. I had something last month that ticked a lot of boxes symptom-wise but it was very, very mild and lasted only a few days. My partner had all the same symptoms but a bit worse, and hers started and progressed about a day ahead of mine. I'll likely never know what we had. Fever, then sore throat, then turned into what felt like a cold combined with several days of being extremely tired.

[2N3055]

I'm not sure it's even a good idea myself. The opportunities for it to go wrong are larger than the ones where it may go right

Managed to lift some free Cisco kit on the way to the skip so the earlier comments about Cisco vs Microtik is solved! Got a couple of 2900 ISRs and a couple of 802.11AC AP's so home network fun time once I've worked out what I've actually got . Going to stick the kids on their own VLAN and QoS them to hell, which is really the primary issue with working from home I've had so far

Yeeee! Good news. 2900 ISR should be enough..

[bd139]

Yes. However another rabbit hole I probably shouldn’t be going down 

The ISRs have switch and serial modules and cables (!). Just need a VDSL EHWIC now. And there we go 

[Electro Detective]

Yes that’s about right. Had that. Also ridiculously high temperature for a week and the cough of doom. Fortunately not enough doom to get me.

The lack of taste was horrible. Coffee and chocolate tasted like snarfing an ash tray for a week.

Apologies if inadvertently hosing down any C survivor thunder      but those are bog standard common cold or generic bug flu symptoms.

Been there many times over the years, and the ash tray snarfing vibe is worse for ex-smokers,
because you get the returning urge during all that rattle headed runny nosed phlegm work, for that one last last LAST    cigarette or diy rollie, 
to seal the 'final' willpower deal on 'giving up forever' 

The good news is your immunity levels are now higher, so little risk of catching those sniffles again for a while 
nor any floating or handballed fear flu nasties that many 'misinformed' Jack and Jill newbie hypochondriacs are freaking over,
whilst under voluntary house detention
with a guaranteed 'outbreak' of unemployment and bankruptcy just around the corner, to really make them feel ill. 


 

 

[bd139]

Yep aware of that. Probably will never know if it was that or not based on the lack of progress on antibody tests as well.

Never smoked never will. My entire ash tray experience was from an acquaintance of mine who’s room smelled and looked like a volcano had exploded.

Honestly I’m rather enjoying this shit. No one is harping on about coming into the office more often (i worked from home before mostly), I have an massively unfair advantage over new home workers, the shop queues give me a few minutes to listen to some music, the pollution has gone from my street, zero unemployment risk, no school runs to do, car fuel bill has gone to nothing, spend less as a whole, no aeroplanes flying over me (live near Heathrow) and when I go out for a walk or run all you have to do is look at someone and they piss off 

[Electro Detective]

..and when I go out for a walk or run all you have to do is look at someone and they piss off 

Same sort of deal here too    but noticed lately on cloudless sunny days, it's not me they are fleeing from, 

it's their shadows chasing them  ___ ___ ___

No shyte 

[SilverSolder]

[...]  when I go out for a walk or run all you have to do is look at someone and they piss off 

Try pretending to cough, and see what happens!! 

[maginnovision]

Haha, I went to a lab today and even with a mask on everyone stopped what they were doing and watched me after I coughed a couple times.

[Electro Detective]

Recently in Bunnings 'open' timber yard and got a face full of wood dust and floor crap from a freaky wind gust,
plus the usual healthy dose of petrol and diesel fumes from the tradies and home coronafied DIY wannabees driving in and out,

do you reckon I would dare to cough and clear my throat with all the 24/7 panic mode suckers shoppers around me,
with bored security staff nearby      waiting for   anything      to happen to make the time pass 

I wasn't in any mood for drama or explanations so I just manned up and spluttered up back in the car later, and sorted out the dust tar crap in the nose with tissues

Car windows fully wound up of course, with sun shade in place,
in case some masked idiots just happened to come past right then on the combo of 'deadly'    cough ups and nose honks 

[SiliconWizard]

People will want to get back to this routine as soon as possible, and the longer they aren't allowed to do that the more pissed of people are going to be. They don't want a "new normal" and will not accept it in the long term, you'll see.

Of course. And as I said already, how could they not? If this "new normal" that some are talking about is just switching to a society where you're being constantly told what to do and when you can do it, it looks a lot like home detention. Already said that, but that's currently what we are subjected to. Home detention. Even people under real home detention have more freedom than we currently do. Who would want to live like this forever? Seriously? It's mind-boggling to me that some people seem to see it as OK or even desirable. Please help me understand.

Well, you are in France where they want everyone to stay at home. Such a situation cannot continue. But there are alternatives which are just as effective and don't require people to stay inside. Over here everything is OK for as long as you keep a distance and don't gather in groups (3 is a crowd). This effectively means over here we can still do most of the things we always did.

Confinement is not just in France, FYI. Similar situation in many countries currently. But sure this can't be lasting and will have to end (although it may very well be decided again in the future, much more frequently than it ever did.)

But that's not just what I'm talking about. I was talking about everything people put behind the term "new normal", and everything that we can suppose might be.

"everything is OK for as long as you keep a distance and don't gather in groups (3 is a crowd)."
Do you call that normal? Seriously? Do you want to live in a world in which you can't be more than 3? In which you can't get close to anyone, meaning everyone is now a potential threat to anyone else? In which you may have to ask anyone to show you a certificate before getting closer than 1 or 2 m? Seriously?

I'm sure some of you have not thought this through really well, or are just reasoning as though ALL of this was temporary (which we can all hope for really), but here we were talking about what could be *permanent* after that.

You have to seperate 2 things here:
1) Working from home: It is likely a lot of people will like this and won't return to going to the office everyday.

2) Keeping distance is not going to be a new normal. That is temporary. And yes some countries are more strict than others. Last week the weather was nice so I met with one of my swim-friends at a beach. Ofcourse we kept a 2m distance but we could still have a normal conversation. OTOH my wife and I don't go shopping together (kinda take turns) and I'm staying away from my parents and older family members just to be sure.

Edit: one addition to distancing: I'm sure this can be done in shops and restaurants too with some extra care like cleaning the chairs, tables and menus after every visitor. Tables and chairs could be covered with a disposable sleeve too. Not ideal but not impossible to do.

I think you may have missed the point of what some are calling "new normal". As I said above, you seem to be reasoning as though the current changes are only going to be temporary, except for things that we can consider as positive, such as less pollution, more work at home, etc.

This looks overly optimistic, and anyway probably NOT what people willing things to get back to "normal" have a problem with. Who would be against less pollution and the ability to work at home if they so wish (as long maybe as it's not MANDATORY, because some people may actually have a problem with being FORCED to work at home if they don't like it)? OTOH, some people are fearing that some of the restrictions we are experiencing now may become permanent (of course in a lighter way as they are now, but still objective restrictions). As I said, I have no clue whatsoever what is going to happen, but from experience and what we can see now, this is not unlikely to happen at all. A very likely scenario is up to a few more months (till the end of 2020 basically as many already say), which is already a pretty long time. But it could last longer than this depending on how we manage to find a cure/vaccine, and other factors.

Now of course this may be all related to what anyone calls temporary. Even a few decades long event is temporary in the grand scheme of things... so yeah.

See how things are evolving and how what I said earlier can already be witnessed: people seeing anyone else as a potential threat. Recent posts show this. You think this is going to magically end from one day to the next?

Point is, you can't really blame anyone for not willing a "new normal", as this new normal is rather likely to be more annoying than fun for the average person. Not that there necessarily is any alternative to that, just a thought.

[coppice]

Recently in Bunnings 'open' timber yard and got a face full of wood dust and floor crap from a freaky wind gust,
plus the usual healthy dose of petrol and diesel fumes from the tradies and home coronafied DIY wannabees driving in and out,

do you reckon I would dare to cough and clear my throat with all the 24/7 panic mode suckers shoppers around me,
with bored security staff nearby      waiting for   anything      to happen to make the time pass 

I wasn't in any mood for drama or explanations so I just manned up and spluttered up back in the car later, and sorted out the dust tar crap in the nose with tissues

Car windows fully wound up of course, with sun shade in place,
in case some masked idiots just happened to come past right then on the combo of 'deadly'    cough ups and nose honks 

I notice people desperately trying not to clear their throats before talking. I find myself doing it, too. Could we all end up talking in a croaking style, so we never clear our throats at all? 

[rsjsouza]

IMHO the "new normal" will be this disease becoming endemic and the medical aspect evolving in two fronts: earlier/more effective detection and cheaper/less resource-hungry treatment. Vaccines only have so much effectiveness (see flu) and at this point it would be hard to convince people to be injected with a novel and highly contagious pathogen on a fast tracked approval process.

Given that some reports are showing comparatively large amounts of asymptomatic people among the general population, and it only takes one person to re-start the process again, no amount of quarantine and isolation will ever be enough. The psychological aspects are starting to show up and some local news are starting to report higher suicide rates and domestic violence in addition to (and sometimes because of) duress caused by economy disruption.

[Nusa]

And in a few more generations, when the few living memories of 2020 are no longer in power, the cycle will repeat with some other event the world is unprepared for.

[nctnico]

People will want to get back to this routine as soon as possible, and the longer they aren't allowed to do that the more pissed of people are going to be. They don't want a "new normal" and will not accept it in the long term, you'll see.

Of course. And as I said already, how could they not? If this "new normal" that some are talking about is just switching to a society where you're being constantly told what to do and when you can do it, it looks a lot like home detention. Already said that, but that's currently what we are subjected to. Home detention. Even people under real home detention have more freedom than we currently do. Who would want to live like this forever? Seriously? It's mind-boggling to me that some people seem to see it as OK or even desirable. Please help me understand.

Well, you are in France where they want everyone to stay at home. Such a situation cannot continue. But there are alternatives which are just as effective and don't require people to stay inside. Over here everything is OK for as long as you keep a distance and don't gather in groups (3 is a crowd). This effectively means over here we can still do most of the things we always did.

Confinement is not just in France, FYI. Similar situation in many countries currently. But sure this can't be lasting and will have to end (although it may very well be decided again in the future, much more frequently than it ever did.)

But that's not just what I'm talking about. I was talking about everything people put behind the term "new normal", and everything that we can suppose might be.

"everything is OK for as long as you keep a distance and don't gather in groups (3 is a crowd)."
Do you call that normal? Seriously? Do you want to live in a world in which you can't be more than 3? In which you can't get close to anyone, meaning everyone is now a potential threat to anyone else? In which you may have to ask anyone to show you a certificate before getting closer than 1 or 2 m? Seriously?

I'm sure some of you have not thought this through really well, or are just reasoning as though ALL of this was temporary (which we can all hope for really), but here we were talking about what could be *permanent* after that.

You have to seperate 2 things here:
1) Working from home: It is likely a lot of people will like this and won't return to going to the office everyday.

2) Keeping distance is not going to be a new normal. That is temporary. And yes some countries are more strict than others. Last week the weather was nice so I met with one of my swim-friends at a beach. Ofcourse we kept a 2m distance but we could still have a normal conversation. OTOH my wife and I don't go shopping together (kinda take turns) and I'm staying away from my parents and older family members just to be sure.

Edit: one addition to distancing: I'm sure this can be done in shops and restaurants too with some extra care like cleaning the chairs, tables and menus after every visitor. Tables and chairs could be covered with a disposable sleeve too. Not ideal but not impossible to do.

I think you may have missed the point of what some are calling "new normal". As I said above, you seem to be reasoning as though the current changes are only going to be temporary, except for things that we can consider as positive, such as less pollution, more work at home, etc.

This looks overly optimistic, and anyway probably NOT what people willing things to get back to "normal" have a problem with. Who would be against less pollution and the ability to work at home if they so wish (as long maybe as it's not MANDATORY, because some people may actually have a problem with being FORCED to work at home if they don't like it)? OTOH, some people are fearing that some of the restrictions we are experiencing now may become permanent (of course in a lighter way as they are now, but still objective restrictions). As I said, I have no clue whatsoever what is going to happen, but from experience and what we can see now, this is not unlikely to happen at all. A very likely scenario is up to a few more months (till the end of 2020 basically as many already say), which is already a pretty long time. But it could last longer than this depending on how we manage to find a cure/vaccine, and other factors.

Now of course this may be all related to what anyone calls temporary. Even a few decades long event is temporary in the grand scheme of things... so yeah.

See how things are evolving and how what I said earlier can already be witnessed: people seeing anyone else as a potential threat. Recent posts show this. You think this is going to magically end from one day to the next?

Point is, you can't really blame anyone for not willing a "new normal", as this new normal is rather likely to be more annoying than fun for the average person. Not that there necessarily is any alternative to that, just a thought.

A few points:
1) I don't think a few posts from a few people here are a good measure for the paranoia level of the general public.

2) The number of people being forced to work from home while they don't want it might be equal to the number of people wanting to work from home while they where never allowed to. Likely some people who wanted to work from home end up not liking it and people who didn't want to work from home ended up liking working from home after all. In the end you can't satisfy everyone  It's hard to predict what they outcome is going to be in the long run.

3) Temporary is likely until somewhere in 2021. But I would be surprised if the house arrest they have in place in several countries in Europe lasts longer than a couple of weeks. The effect on the economy is just to big. Some Americans don't seem to care at all about their elders and go out to protest against the lockdowns.

In general: we are cold-turkied into a new situation. Radical changes in society takes much longer when they can evolve organically. It is natural that there is friction against change but is the end result going to be really worse? Or is that just in our minds? For example: In the Netherlands we have a children's tradition called Sinterklaas which involves black Petes (people with their faces painted black). Now some people call it racist and their voices have become louder during the past decade. Due to that the black Petes are gradually changing but there are fierce & violent protests from both sides. BTW Modern day Christmas is modelled after the Sinterklaas tradition by Coca-Cola; imagine people start to claim the elves are repressed.

To all: Sorry for keeping the long post and adding relatively little but I couldn't snip anything without preserving the context.

[Electro Detective]

...Some Americans don't seem to care at all about their elders and go out to protest against the lockdowns...

I can't speak for those 'Some Americans' but will say this based on experience and observation:

The elders are more likely to cash out before their allocated time due to Corona induced STRESS, WORRY, LONELINESS and PANIC (in no particular order or context)
especially from 24/7 news media carnivals, way before any corona sniffles, current maladies, accidents due to lowered concentration, or old age expiry takes them out

I could add if their diet, fluids and meds are monitored less, or not at all due to Will waiters family neglect, carer panic/social distancing etc
this won't do them any favors either

I can only assume those 'Some Americans' are on to that too, 
and well within their reasoning ability and justifiable rights to demand an immediate end to this preposterous ongoing global fear vending fiasCo

[SilverSolder]

I know several people who have had this thing now.  It got pretty ugly for some of them.

The social distancing is working - R(0) has fallen drastically.  The problem is - what happens as we start to interact again?

[rsjsouza]

...Some Americans don't seem to care at all about their elders and go out to protest against the lockdowns...

If you are referring to the recent protest in Michigan, careful with the Kool-Aid. People are not chest thumping "ma first amendment" (or whatever it is from the bill of rights) just for the sake of it, but instead against absolutely ridiculous measures that bear no resemblance to anything that could be effective against social isolation (lock sections of a department store? Close hardware stores? Blocking the sale of seeds? Forbid people from fishing? Really?).

A judge in a nearby county released a court order authorizing police arrest and fine if you have more than two people in your car. Also, they have to be masked. To me these people are drunk with power. 

Also, New York seems to be encouraging people reporting others to the police due to social distancing and other violations. Germany was in these hot waters 80~90 years ago.

[nctnico]

...Some Americans don't seem to care at all about their elders and go out to protest against the lockdowns...

If you are referring to the recent protest in Michigan, careful with the Kool-Aid. People are not chest thumping "ma first amendment" (or whatever it is from the bill of rights) just for the sake of it, but instead against absolutely ridiculous measures that bear no resemblance to anything that could be effective against social isolation (lock sections of a department store? Close hardware stores? Blocking the sale of seeds? Forbid people from fishing? Really?).

A judge in a nearby county released a court order authorizing police arrest and fine if you have more than two people in your car. Also, they have to be masked. To me these people are drunk with power. 

Also, New York seems to be encouraging people reporting others to the police due to social distancing and other violations. Germany was in these hot waters 80~90 years ago.

You analogy is so very wrong. It is a big mistake to underestimate the impact the Coronavirus can have. For your sake I hope you are not confronted by hospitals which are overrun with patients and are not able to provide care for everyone. Yes, some measures may look drastic but they are working. The US is behind so they can learn from all the other countries which are further along 'the curve'. I wrote it before: if there is one time to shut the f*ck up and just do as being told in your life then this is the moment. The sooner people comply, the sooner the measures can be relaxed. In the end it is up to the people themselves to do the smart thing. If not then measures will have to become more harsh and being enforced more harshly.

[SiliconWizard]

...Some Americans don't seem to care at all about their elders and go out to protest against the lockdowns...

The elders are more likely to cash out before their allocated time due to Corona induced STRESS, WORRY, LONELINESS and PANIC (in no particular order or context)
especially from 24/7 news media carnivals, way before any corona sniffles, current maladies, accidents due to lowered concentration, or old age expiry takes them out

I could add if their diet, fluids and meds are monitored less, or not at all due to Will waiters family neglect, carer panic/social distancing etc
this won't do them any favors either

Those are good points and currently a source of major concern, albeit still relatively quiet, as the Covid-19 is the enemy to fight and everything else is put on hold, heavily advertised as futile and anyone mentioning them more or less seen as committing high treason.

Many people are going to die from anything else than Covid-19 during, and after this lockdown period, for various reasons including lack of, or very reduced care, high stress, etc. Those will probably be seen as indirect (and unavoidable) casualties.

There's also currently the case of schools reopening which is highly debated. But if it lasts for too long, a significant fraction of kids may become school drop-outs.

That some people are protesting is not necessarily without any sense, and when they see how the crisis was handled worldwide on average (ie.: badly), they don't have many reasons to trust authorities either at this point. It may just be the beginning, as any lasting reduction of individual freedom (as I already talked about) is likely to trigger further protest movements.

[GlennSprigg]

Australia is one of the safest places at the moment. An English friend 'stranded' in Qld is not able to travel now, but I think she is in a 'better place' at the moment, than if she was back in the UK !! with their relative thousands of current deaths!!!

Australia is big. The state of Western Australia is also big!  W/A is going through the SAME isolations as the rest of Australia now.
As such, W/A is divided now into 'regions' too, where travel across such inter-W/A boundaries has been stopped.

The 'thing' that we have not really heard about, is WHERE the virus has spread??? (Within W/A).
OBVIOUSLY, the major numbers will be in PERTH, (our Capital), but of all the numbers found/quoted, I can't recall any numbers quoted/found in the numerous REGIONAL areas???  We have many hundreds if not thousands of Kms to various regions of W/A. If say Bunbury/Bussleton/Margaret-River had NO cases, then 'isolation' would mean NO-ONE there WOULD!!!  Bring on the vaccine!   

[james_s]

The ban on fishing sounds ridiculous except when you dig a bit deeper it was found that a majority of people who fish travel from other parts of the state to do so, stopping at stores along the way for supplies. The issue is not the fishing, it's the traveling and it's very difficult to enforce a ban on traveling, the state does however have the power to ban fishing.

All of the requirements are there because people demonstrated that they could not be trusted to follow instructions on their own, which is the reason the US has been leading the world in infections and deaths for some time now.

[SiliconWizard]

The ban on fishing sounds ridiculous except when you dig a bit deeper it was found that a majority of people who fish travel from other parts of the state to do so, stopping at stores along the way for supplies. The issue is not the fishing, it's the traveling and it's very difficult to enforce a ban on traveling, the state does however have the power to ban fishing.
All of the requirements are there because people demonstrated that they could not be trusted to follow instructions on their own,

Yes. Not specific to the US. Many of the restrictions were decided due to an inherent difficulty to enforce lighter restrictions.

which is the reason the US has been leading the world in infections and deaths for some time now.

Well, taking the numbers per 1M people, the US is not doing that bad compared to Europe.

[rsjsouza]

...Some Americans don't seem to care at all about their elders and go out to protest against the lockdowns...

if there is one time to shut the f*ck up and just do as being told in your life then this is the moment.

Thanks for the offer, but I can still think critically.

Besides, my criticism is to your sentence conflating everyone protesting as "not caring for the elders".

I am not against social distancing or staying at home unless caring for essencial tasks, but choking everyone indiscriminately in all fronts is not reasonable, neither doing surreptitious reporting to authorities. Not everyone can afford working from home or have the means to ease the psychological effects of complete isolation.

Anyways, I said my piece. Peace.