Thursday, April 27, 2023

Breathe (in the Air)

Three years. One month. Nine days. 

That is how long we've been wearing masks at work. Elsewhere too, but I'm taking work. 

But who's counting? 

As of this last Monday, in non-patient care areas, they are no longer required, per CDC guidelines. 

I honestly don't know how I feel about it. 

I enter and exit through the basement of the hospital, where there is very little patient traffic, so I will say, I have worn the mask into work. However, if I'm out and about in the hospital, I slap one one. It feels a little weird to be without one. 

While it's only been a few days, I'd say about 50% of the folks are still wearing them. Maybe they don't. read their emails, maybe they're not feeling well, maybe they're immunocompromised. Maybe it's just a 3 year, 1 month and 9 day habit. 

Oddly, this change comes with an announcement of yet another booster for Spring. Those over 65 can now get it and in two months, those who are immunocompromised. 

It seems like mixed messages. 

Oh, and the grocery store took down their lucite barrier between the customer and cashier. 


Small-ish steps. I'll see how my comfort level goes. 



Song by: Pink Floyd

4 comments:

Old Lurker said...

It turns out the QAnoners were right. Pretend there is no pandemic, take away all the safety precautions, and the problem goes away!

(Once we learned the virus was spread via aerosols the lucite was pretty useless, so good riddance to that.)

Travel said...

A new normal, we will never be the same. We will never see a flu season the same way. Businesses have changed the way they do business, and in many ways are forever changed. The remote work and meetings genie is out of the bottle and not going back.

Anonymous said...

Still masking even when not required. It was a hard practice to start and with what I've seen and learned of my neighbors' consideration for the health and safety of others I'm sure that we will have to do it again. As I've said before, the masks also work for mitigating pollen, so there's that too. I think in my case executive management discovered they could reduce the area of downtown office space that they were leasing, so there is a small incentive to keep us working from home.

Not sure whether or not I'd keep working if they called us back in. My employer doesn't know it, but at this point of my life they are on a six month renewable option. Right now I have a great boss and an excellent executive manager above her. If that changes everything is up for reconsideration.

Will Jay

Ur-spo said...

I still wear my masks. I am finding they cut down my allergies and it's the season.