It should be very interesting to see how WebEx and Zoom handle the load once everyone comes back from Spring Break. To say nothing of local internet services.

Fortunately, the virus hasn't spread to our part of Eastern Washington yet, although people are losing their damn minds anyway.

I actually know someone from the chorus I sang in when I lived there who's presumptively got it. Went to the ER, tested negative for flu. He is very responsible about not exposing other people, though.

It should be very interesting to see how WebEx and Zoom handle the load once everyone comes back from Spring Break. To say nothing of local internet services.

Yeah, I am wondering about this as well.

I did some research on built environments and sensory stuff a couple years ago and open plan offices, it will surprise no one, are AWFUL. All the time, to everyone. But they are also like 10x cheaper to build so fuck everyone's mental and physical wellbeing.

Oh I can testify to this.

The good thing about being in a small, somewhat remote corner of the continent is that we've had no cases yet. But school spring break in next week and lots of people have travel plans, so only time will tell.

My coworker was supposed to go to China (further South than the most-effected provinces) for Chinese New Year, but her trip was cancelled because of immigration issues the day before she was supposed to leave. It may have been lucky in retrospect.

That said, I am SO READY to work from home.

I think we just got jeans approved for the duration??

I did some research on built environments and sensory stuff a couple years ago and open plan offices, it will surprise no one, are AWFUL. All the time, to everyone. But they are also like 10x cheaper to build so fuck everyone's mental and physical wellbeing.

Oh yeah. Mental is bad enough (unfortunately not easily quantifiable), but can we talk about the cold that hit LITERALLY EVERYONE in my dept in December? I jokingly call the monitors of the guy who sits behind me a sneezeguard, but jokey sneezeguards don't prevent you getting the cold that's going around when the guy on the other side of it is coughing his head off (but is contract, so can't really afford to take sick time).

Jeans are definitely a safer option in a pandemic!

I think that's right.

My face has never itched more in my life, now that I'm not supposed to touch it.

I figure as long as I'm at home and washing my hands, I can touch my own damn face if I want to. It's allergy season motherfuckers am I just supposed to BLINK away the histamines?

All middle and high school kids in our district took a survey today about their school-from-home capabilities (basically do you have a computer and access to the internet). If my kids are going to be quarantined with me, this whole working from home and not wearing outside pants situation's going to be a lot less fun.

I don't have any idea how I would run online microbiology labs. I sure as hell am not sending them home with more microbes than they already have!

There is actually a lab kit available through a place called "eScience labs" for Microbiology. The students get all the equipment to do the expirments at home and then upload their lab reports online. We run that here.

The odd thing is that our students will be being exposed because they will be going on clinical rotations in the hospital, and the graduate students are nurses in practice! But they will not be congregating in groups over 8 on our property.