Category: General Ramblings And Stuff

Over the last couple of weeks several states that had started on their path back to reopening and ending the COVID-19 lockdowns in stages/phases have found their confirmed infection counts increasing. In some cases this has been an exponential increase that has put pressure back on our healthcare system and limited or even exhausted ICU bed capacity. An increase of some kind appeared to be likely as people started coming out of quarantine and were around each other more. However between some states moving ahead more quickly than others despite their case counts not being ideal for such measures, the politicizing and fighting that has erupted from states/counties/cities suggesting (and even requiring in some cases) masks be worn along with the wave of angst and anger in our society not only about the response to this virus and it’s social impact but also the issues of equality in our country has made things get really crazy really quick. Some states are slowing their return to normalcy progress while others are actually imposing new restrictions, reversing course from the previous few weeks where they were pushing to reopen regardless of the concerns being voiced by medical experts and some community leaders. We will have to see how things look in another week or two but between the nice weather, the lockdown restrictions being softened and folks eagerness to rush back to their “old” lives has set us up for a near perfect storm it appears for this virus to start making it’s comeback before we really ever reached the end of the “first wave”.
Be safe out there and please do what you can to limit the spread of this virus, if not for your sake, then for the sake of others who are at potential risk around you. Good luck out there! – Tom S.

I haven’t had a chance to post any rants or ramblings about all the fucked up shit happening in our country right now. There is so much going on that is well beyond normal for my weird shit-o-meter that I haven’t really wanted to go down this rabbit hole until I had enough time to put some actual thoughts together. For today I figured I’d start with the current status of the COVID-19 virus, what we are seeing, what we are doing and what it possibly could end up meaning for us. I do intend to follow-up with an additional post in the next day or two touching on the current unrest and protests in our country as this is an important topic we all need to be involved in discussing so we can work toward a better answer than what the status quo has been for too long (this goes for all parties involved, including law enforcement, but that is for a later discussion).

The COVID-19 lockdowns are starting to lift in parts of the country. Depending on which state you are in and what is happening with the virus in that region dictates which phase of the reopening your city/county/state is in. While it’s great to start seeing some restaurants, bars and other stores reopen the damage done to the economy has been pretty massive and will take a long time for most businesses that do survive to recover. That of course is only for those businesses that are able to reopen and make a go of it in the reality of these new times. There are a lot of businesses that with the current restrictions can’t re-open, or those that could re-open but due to the restrictions on capacity and available services they can provide it wouldn’t be profitable for them so they have to choose to still be closed, or in the worst cases those businesses that can’t re-open because the damage has already been done and is too severe for the survival of the business. I hope that I am wrong but I fear a good chunk of small business will be gone after this coronavirus fiasco and may never be able to come back. These are the business owners and employees I feel most for at the moment as finding a job in this economy and period of time is incredibly difficult (I unfortunately just found out that I will be losing my job at end of this year due to IBM restructuring and downsizing so I definitely share similar feelings as those who have already been affected… it’s a nice “thank you” from IBM after 13yrs of service… but that is for another tirade at another time).

It’s been interesting listening to the virus response info I’ve been hearing from my employer as well as friends who work for different employers and also what I’ve been able to find online from different companies in IT and other industries. For many companies it sounds like even by end of this year they are aiming for only 50% at best of the office staff being back in the office for work each day due to how the recovery phasing rules are working in each state and how each company is handling it’s work from home capabilities as well as what the in office work environment and whatever possible liabilities (both health-wise and legal) are present. This is quite a difference from the early days of the pandemic response when companies were initially telling employees they’d have the option of working from home until the end of that current month, March. Since then it seems like each week the forecast for when and how many employees are returning to work changes depending on what new information has come out regarding the infection/mortality rate along with any other important virus related news. If anything good comes from all of this it may be that companies return to expanding their work from home policies and programs so that more employees have the option of working from home during part or all of their shifts each week.

I am still looking forward to hitting a bar once they’ve opened up in my area. I even am looking forward to going to the Portland,OR IndyCar race in September, provided it isn’t cancelled or becomes a spectator-less event. Like nearly everyone else I too am chomping at the bit to get back to even a taste of what used to be normal for us. That all said I still support taking a cautious approach to help prevent infection and protect those who are most vulnerable in our communities. It seems pretty clear to me that we will have to learn to live with this virus, at least for the few year near term, while a vaccine is produced to help and try to stamp this virus out from becoming a yearly instance like the flu currently is.

It seams so long ago now when I think about it but it really was only about 2 months ago that I recall hearing about the first confirmed case of Coronavirus COVID-19 (it hadn’t been named yet, or at least the name wasn’t being used much then as I recall) being found in my home state of Washington. I’d obviously heard about the initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, it’s spread to other parts of Asia, along with stories of cruise ships changing routes and destinations and airlines limiting service to China in the news in the previous weeks. Unlike previous virus scares like SARS and MERS, this one had been found in the US rather quickly and instead of it being found on the East Coast of the country as the others were when they were found to have arrived here, this one was in my own backyard.

This week the governor of Washington State announced a shelter in place (also known as stay at home) order for the whole state. There had already been steps taken to get folks to work from home in the greater Seattle area. Downtown Seattle has looked like a ghost town for a couple of weeks now and the additional businesses closing for this shelter in place order will make every town statewide start to look this way. Part of the reason for such a strong response is that Washington State now has the 3rd highest number of COVID-19 infections and the concern is that if folks don’t socially distance to the extreme of a shelter in place order now we run the risk of the infections continuing to increase exponentially and will have no hospital capacity nor supplies for those patients.

The economic impact this virus and it’s response has already created is immense. I fear there are already businesses that will close for this shelter in place order and won’t be able to re-open when the order is ultimately lifted. The stimulus package the government is trying to pass currently may help some but I still worry that a prolonged shutdown would crush a lot of small businesses and squeeze the middle class further. It’s just amazing how much has changed in a few months. While this new normal hasn’t fully set in yet I’m hoping we can somehow find our way back to some sense of normalcy before end of the year. I had hoped maybe by this summer but considering the rumor is the schools are preparing to possibly be out the rest of the year it’s hard to see things truly returning to normal anytime soon.

Stay safe and be well out there. I know there is little written here that is more than a summary of what everyone is currently living and feeling but I felt I needed to record a short summary of the current state of things. – Tom S.