My goal of keeping K Studies focused on my refined and completed concepts is coming to an abrupt stop thanks to COVID-19 and this newly-unveiled work from home (WFH) plan at work. I’ve decided to use this space to capture my quick ‘n’ dirty takes of this rare, pandemic experience knowing that I’ll most likely look back on it and see how my forecasting stacked against reality. The quarantined Italians sent messages to themselves “from 10 days ago” and I’d rather take their lead and write to my future self instead knowing that we’re just ramping up in the United States. Ah, the ways we try to feel control!
WFH in Action
I’m officially part of the testing group that was used to monitor the VPN traffic and capacity while my company shifts to remote life. These next two days will be used to fine-tune the infrastructure that will grant more of us the ability to WFH. Basically saying, this is quite likely to extend beyond two days and I’ve been prepping for the long haul. I’m grateful this is happening and relieved that we can be a large part of the effort to nip this whole virus in the bud by distancing ourselves and reducing interaction earlier in the exposure. I respect the work going into making this possible, too; a company our size was never meant to be fully remote so the undertaking isn’t lost on me. That said, I do hope that some of these moments stick and that we can leverage more of the WFH culture in the future, but I’ll sit on that agenda until an appropriate time. Safety first, kids.
While I’ve always flirted with the idea of being a full-time, remote worker, I never knew if it’d actually work for someone like me. I’m an extrovert that works best in multitasking roles and often see a decrease in productivity when forced to do only one thing at a time without a quick-switch dynamic in play. TL;DR: I need distractions to feel my best and get panicky when I don’t have any mental escape. I know my tendencies very well and already have plans for weathering this shift. I’m still more excited to test out my theories and see, finally, if I truly enjoy remote work as much as I think I could.
I also fired up some Twitter threads and interactions to kick off this phase of life:
…and can’t forget my Rosie the Remote Worker shoot teehee I keep referencing them as the instances pop up through the day:
Sure, it’s been one day, but I’m hopeful and confident in my ability to get my work done. I’m excited to use my house in new ways to brew up creative juices and think in new spaces. At least until Mike’s potentially WFH with me. That’s going to be interesting. Will cross that bridge in a future recap haha wee!
COVID-19 Latest
This past weekend was A Lot to take in especially with the ever-changing mandates and various states taking stances. Local grocery stores got clobbered and I’m feeling this growing pang of worrying that I didn’t get enough even for a normal week let alone being stuck in the house indefinitely. Still, I’m grateful for NY and Governor Cuomo’s intensity about the virus, but I still feel like (and he doesn’t hide this, either) we’re playing catch-up while tracking ourselves against world data. There’s no denying we’re behind and watching some of the cracks form makes me even less confident that this will quickly pass. As of now, we’re up to 11 cases of COVID-19 in Monroe County after eight new folks were confirmed (all tied to the second confirmed case). Since the initial cases, mandates are in place to reduce gatherings from 50 to 10 people. I’ll happily note that Trump conveyed this while standing in a crowd of people at a press conference, but y’know. Details. Local bars, restaurants, gyms, and theaters are also closing down to combat the gathering tendencies, which hopefully does the trick after an abysmal performance in social distancing over the weekend. Thanks, St. Patrick’s Day. I still opted to order today’s lunch (hi, totally forgot that I get lunch from my work cafe; didn’t plan AT ALL for lunch) from one of my local bar/restaurants because they have a take-out window and I still found myself debating if that was a good move or not. I want to support those that are otherwise facing layoffs, but I really, really, really, really don’t want to be part of the exposure impact, either. I joked that I felt like Chidi from The Good Place. Everything is a debate.
Another annoying detail? I feel extra sneezy today and have this constant paranoia that I’m harboring something. Thankfully, there are helpful charts to help lay out the symptoms. Plus, COVID-confirmed patients are also sharing their experiences, which highlight a far more fatigued, drained, and fever’y reality. I’m chalking mine up to allergies or the residual cold that Mike and I have been passing each other for weeks and finding solace in the fact I’m stuck at home regardless of what it is!
Lessons and Predictions
I’ll attempt to use this section as a template going forward, as I want to at least keep tabs on the findings or stories I trip over along the way (like the Italians’ video above) that enlighten me or make me think about all of this at a deeper level. Earlier tonight, I mentioned how a lot of this panic and global reaction is due to the fact that a pandemic is a grade equalizer that impacts everyone, including the rich and powerful, so we see a far greater push to action. This attitude of mine towards the white, rich, and powerful resulted in someone sharing with me the history of New York City and how cholera shaped the the culture of city cleaning while highlighting the divides in the time of crisis. This example felt so familiar especially in a time when Trump is calling COVID-19 the “Chinese Virus,” which continues to stoke fear in the Asian American pals in my life. We’re also fresh off of the local instance of two restaurant patrons leaving because of an Asian American sitting at a nearby table. This spike in xenophobia is growing by the day and I trust it’ll continue while shifting focus to other countries that are worsening through the week.
About an hour ago, I received an alert with the headline “Health officials warn US government does not have enough stockpiled medical equipment to deal with coronavirus.” Because of this, I’m going to assume the local, reported numbers will stay low due to lack of testing. Once equipment arrives, I anticipate a ballooning of confirmed cases with the understanding that this 14-day incubation will result in additional fireworks in the weeks to come. Plus, I know through anecdotal fact that our travel testing is sub-par to nonexistent. That means that all these folks flying all around to different countries and states are cross-pollinating spaces without much friction beyond a quick temperature check. I’m so sure there are lots of incubating viruses in these folks, but we won’t realize that until later. Oh, and want to kick this up a notch? Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day and I fully anticipate some parties and the subsequent media shaming of giant events, but I do hope the bar-closing mandate will help curb that potential. There’s plenty of time to drink your face off AFTER this pandemic, people. Be better than that.
Ultimately, I hope people are leveraging the future-telling (because it’s surely not a fortune-telling) data of other countries. We have the luxury of seeing what went right and what went way wrong so that we can do better. We need to get out of our own way and pop the bubbles of those that are still calling this a flu-like ordeal or ignoring the intensity because they can’t “see” it ::glares at my parents slooooowly traveling home from Florida:: The more we do today, the quicker this all can pass. I’m still feeling like this will be at least a month or two of touch-and-go restrictions, but we’ll see how this critical first week goes!
Final thoughts: today felt like a week and I’ll need to adjust to the more stagnant sense of time due to less change of scenery. Also —
