Chico Escuela posted:Something that has been on my mind, offered for your consideration: A family member is president of an electric utility that serves millions of customers in the southern US. I spoke with this person recently. The lights have to stay on during the pandemic, of course, so they have linemen and other key folks working while wearing masks, practicing rigorous social distancing, etc. Anyone who can work from home is doing so for now, which is more people than you might think. They have had a few employee covid-19 cases, but only a few. One of the big items on their agenda (obviously) is planning for the return of their workers to their offices, call centers and other usual locations. The utility president said something that maybe is obvious, but gave me pause: "Even if I tell my employees to return to work, a lot of them are going to stay home if they don't feel safe." So the company says they need extensive, reliable testing, many gallons of sanitizer and lots of PPE, and it's not yet clear where or when that will be available. This for an industry that is incontrovertibly "essential" and whose employees recognize this about their work. We have a big job ahead of us as a nation.
This is totally true. It's relatively easy to get everyone home but it's going to be much harder to get everyone back into the office. We have asked everyone their comfort level with working in the office and the biggest concern we get has to do with commuting into NYC. Many say they will drive in and park initially when things open up. I have a number of people I just don't think will come back until there is widespread testing or until they see no new cases etc. We will have signs in the office for doors to go in, and doors to leave, what urinal to use etc etc. I hope we take temps in the lobby too. t's going to take time.