WA peas are you essential?

Yep, I have a IT job that I could totally do from home. But since I work for a utility company I am "essential". I would say 95% of the employees here could telecommute. The same businesses in neighboring counties are working from home. Our boss thinks people will mess around at home. I figure if they get their work done who cares. It's frustrating. We are all trying to stay 6 feet away from everyone, but we share a kitchen, bathrooms and other common areas. I feel like I have to wash my hands anytime I leave my office. I agree with you that is just a matter of time someone gets the virus. Even then we can't go home unless we have a fever. Crazy.

It appears that the craft stores like JoAnn, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby are calling themselves essential and staying open. My son is a cashier at our local JoAnn and I will be asking him today to quit, since they won’t do the right thing and close. He doesn’t need the money because we are still his primary support, and it’s not worth the eight hours a week he’s scheduled right now. That’s still eight hours that he could be exposed to the virus by someone in the public. He could get sick himself and/or bring it home to us. Those who will still be out shopping at these non-essential stores are likely to be the ones who aren’t taking social distancing seriously anyway, increasing the risk.

My primary job helps people actually SEE better - we restore sight - but we are closed down for eight weeks except for the occasional true eye emergency. That’s 100 people currently furloughed from my place of business and many are having to file for unemployment. It makes me livid that corporations like JoAnn and the others are calling themselves “essential” and risking the health of their employees, many whose only choice is to keep working or quit and not be eligible for unemployment.

My department at the big hospital, my other part-time job, has lost a big chunk of its workload since stopping elective surgeries. People there are scrambling for hours and are being sent to other departments as needed, but many are having to use their PTO and the hospital isn’t going to do any more to help them when it’s gone. I don’t expect to get called in unless we have a large number of employees get exposed to an active case and have to quarantine, or many actually get sick. I truly hope neither of those scenarios happen.

My husband will be in Afghanistan as long as we have troops there - a mixed blessing for sure. All movements are on hold for the time being so they are just trying to keep everyone on the base there safe and healthy.

High-thread count bed sheets will make better material for making masks than quilting fabric - dish towels have been proven better than that. Anything needed to make masks can be purchased at most Walmart’s, which will stay open.

My son said his JoAnn hasn’t put together any mask kits that he knows of. They’ve just told people they can come in, with their own material, and use the machines. That’s not exactly safe either.

Our local Michaels doesn’t even sell fabric, so they can’t use that excuse. I read an article this morning where Michaels claimed they were essential to “the makers”. They are also claiming that they have teaching supplies and are essential for those home schooling right now, but office supply stores (as well as Walmart again) also have a lot of that and they ARE on the state’s essential businesses list.

I read on my community page that there is a press conference with inslee at 11:00 to discuss essential vs. Non essential. I can't find anything to back it up, but as I have nothing better to do, I'll tune in at 11 to see If it's true.

I am a substitute teacher so, no work for me. My husband is at MFST, so he's work from home. My son works at the library and that's closed. His girlfriend (who lives with us) works at QFC, so she's the only one leaving the house right now. My daughter doesn't have a job yet, so she's always home too.

I completely agree. 

the M's and J's here in town (Arizona) have done a lot of things to reduce any spread, though- (and we're not under any sort of official orders yet). They're restricting the hours that they're open, only letting a few people in the store at once, making sure people are staying apart, etc. So, so far, I was impressed with what they've done here, especially since there's nothing official from the Health Department or government telling them they need to.

I asked my son to watch that closely at his JoAnn when he was last there Saturday, and he said at that time no social distancing measures had been put in place at his store. I haven’t been super impressed with his manager anyway and it seems like she just wants to run things business as usual.

These stores that insist on staying open should at least, at the minimum, have stringent social distancing policies standard to all the stores, and area managers that are making sure they are being followed. They should not be leaving it up to the individual managers’ discretion. 

At our university in WA we are *permitted* to go in as essential if necessary to do the work (eg, I have a colleague who doesn’t have reliable WiFi at his home so needs the WiFi to conduct virtual class), but otherwise, we are not even permitted in the buildings. I don’t understand why different universities are processing the order differently.

I see the good in that, but I’m sure there are others that think that isn’t enough or right. Right now it seems no one can do the right thing. I’m impressed with my employer, but since we are an insurance company I’m sure people will still see the negative. We went to telecommuting before Seattle called for it, we have expanded benefits and worked to make telehealth/teledoc easier on providers and members as much as we can. But I’m sure it’s still not enough because most people are already anti insurance carriers and often people can’t see any good if they already have a negative opinion.

But I’m one to think that most are trying the best they can. They may not be, but it won’t help me to dwell on it. Some jails are letting inmates out to prevent the virus spreading through the population. These are the people dh deals with daily. I suppose I should be happy that he might have less exposure. But now the people that were in jail because they can’t follow the law are out being asked to follow a lock down. They don’t seem the best people to follow rules or think of others. So even though that might be better for my dh, I don’t feel it’s better for us as a whole. It’s a catch 22 that doesn’t seem to have perfect answers for everyone

I honestly don’t believe they’d care as long as the store was still making money. I think it will have to come from the states, forcing them to close or be heavily fined.

I’ve already written a couple of strongly-worded letters to them on both their website and Facebook page. In the letter they put out on Facebook they claim that their employees are cleaning more regularly - but at that time there were no specific social distancing measures being put into place. They are offering curb-side service but are still leaving their stores open to the public. It also states employees can take a leave of absence, but my son was told that would take at least two weeks to clear and any kind of benefits coming from it would be up to the individual states. At this point I don’t plan for my son to return (and he’s OK with that - he understands what’s at stake and it was a mutual decision). I don’t plan on returning either. 

I feel badly for everybody put in this kind rock-and-a-hard-place situation with few good options. I do believe in the case of these craft stores they are placing corporate greed over the benefit of the community (my opinion of course), but at least JoAnn isn’t claiming god told them to stay open.

I’m right there with you.

I am so grateful to be able to WFH all day long. It keeps me off the news and helps me not to have anxiety. Between work and Peas and some FB live workouts, so far we are ok.

What I worry about is how else to help. I feel useless at home. So far, I’ve found a couple of GoFundMes to feed medical staff at our local hospital, the Providence sew a mask event (was not selected) and have volunteered to do grocery runs for our neighbors who don’t want/can’t to go out. I wish I could find more ways to help.

Oh good! I didn’t know, I haven’t left my house in so long. I was just commenting on what was shared in this thread.

I just want to shout out to QFC my dad (93) took advantage of the order on line/deliver to car service. he was reluctant.. doesn't shop QFC.. but he was so pleased with the service..He can't handle grocery delivery at his condo complex (too complicated to actually get the groceries to his door). so it was a great thing.. these essential workers are so important.

How is work going for your dh? 

We’ve had one person test positive at dh’s facility so they take everyone’s temperature when they enter the building. They also closed work release and there is no court detail. He thought that might mean less mandatory OT, but he still got it yesterday