Public health

Shit’s gettin’ real, folks.

At our regular business unit call on Tuesday, the SVP spoke about what you might call OPSEC around COVID-19. “The time to be making a plan for how you would handle a call from the office saying you’re being quarantined for 14 days because someone on another floor has tested positive for coronavirus is not when you get the call. It’s now.”

Evidently management were already thinking about this, because yesterday afternoon the VP came round and quietly told individuals and small groups that the Reston office is going totally remote, most likely as of today. We haven’t got an official email, but when I left in the evening, I did so with the expectation that I won’t be back for two weeks. 

(UPDATE: this morning the email from the CEO was in my queue. The WFH is global.)

Man, this is a strange feeling. On the one hand, it’s good to know my company takes things like this seriously, and (unlike, say, United Airlines) backs its “our employees are important to us” schtick with action. This also has to be a relief to parents with kids in Fairfax County public schools, which is making noises about shutting down pretty soon.

On the other hand, in the early afternoon I got an IM from someone (I’ll call her Sonia) in our company headquarters in the Silicon Valley, identifying herself as from health and safety. “I just got to know that you were not feeling well. Please let me know when you have time for a quick call.”

Now this, also, is a first. As bad as my coughing is, I do not believe that Sonia heard it 3000 miles away. Someone ratted me out. Now, it’s true that quite a number of people on various calls have indeed heard those coughs, but I was not aware that there was any kind of corporate plague-reporting hotline that you can use if you’re feeling unsafe around a colleague.

(It would also be a first if I’m going to be slapped down for coming into the office while not in tiptop condition. I mean, obviously I wasn’t in tiptop condition, but I did practice care in what I touched and I stayed a good distance from people, except in the very teeny-tiny conference room. I was in the office for parts of two days last week and ditto the week before; my contagion was perforce limited. Although, yes, I might have been endangering someone with underlying conditions.)

Still, the woman’s just doing her job. I replied that I have a cold, but that I’d be available to talk between 1445-1530 yesterday or sometime this morning. So she sent me a meeting request for 1445 today. (I do not know where her temporal skills are deficient, or she’s just bloody-minded, but I accepted.) Thus, I cannot report on the conversation.

However, we certainly live in interesting times.