So one of the guys here at work has been at Daytona Beach Bike Week all week, now we hear that someone from New York, who has also been at Bike Week has tested positive for Covid-19. I am in a higher risk group of people that would be affected by this virus more than others, I'm 63, have COPD and have had pneumonia 5 times already with 2 of those times in both lungs. My doctor has told me previously that the next time I get pneumonia it will probably kill me. So I realize the chance of the employee having been exposed is probably low but this virus also seems to be highly contagious so I told my boss I am not comfortable with him coming back to work next week and if he is allowed to I will probably stay home. Am I over reacting? What would you do in my situation?

what you describe of your health history. i would stay home if they show up at work.

Well what are the potential? costs of staying home?

I don't know, and nobody yet likely knows if one can catch a mild form of COVID from the Daytona attendee and you can build some immunity from further potential exposures.

I suspect we need to mentally prepare that a lot of people will get this.

I am not convinced that your risk with the Daytona connection is any greater then using your local ATM with the way things are going.

I have a Dr appointment today regarding back surgery 2 weeks ago. I'm debating telling the receptionist I'll wait for a phone call in the car when Dr is ready to see me, rather then sit in a room full of sick? people. We'll see.

In your case, staying home sounds like the most reasonable solution.

Why take the stress?

Why take a chance?.....Staying home is the best way to avoid contact.

I’m not a person to panic easily, but this is a little more serious than I thought. Especially for us older folks. I don’t have to work around people and it’s already getting hot in Texas, but the news from Italy does not sound good. My wife just got back home from Seattle visiting her daughter. Her daughter just got back from a medical mission in Kenya. Everyone seems fines right now. I know the chances of infection are low but you have to be concerned. She’s planning a trip back to see her daughter graduate nursing school in May. That may be a bad idea. Who knows? It looks like at the rate of closings and cancellations of events, there may not be any flights, much less a graduation to attend. If I were you and had your health, I’d get the other coworkers to pressure the boss for him to at least get a two week vacation to see if he comes down with something.

Your LIFE...is more important than any job. Do what you need to protect yourself.

This!!!!!!!

Your reaction does not seem unreasonable to me.

But we are probably only at the beginning of this situation. And by all accounts, there will be more, likely many more people infected. If that happens, and it comes close to your workplace again, would you even know it? And even if you did, what then? And what about shopping, getting a haircut, gassing up at the gas station, etc, etc........

In your situation, at some point, are you considering a total self isolation?

I agree,I'd stay home.

We have been considering just heading to our place in the mountains of WV. That would screw up our long range plans for the future though so we have just been kind of waiting to see if this slows down in the warmer weather. It's already in the 80's here daily and looks to be staying that way for the foreseeable future. We can live for 3 or 4 months or maybe more without working but I really don't want to take that hit if I don't have to. If worse comes to worse I'll just have to retire and take what I can get for our house here in FL.

Personally, I wouldn't chance it (especially with your health history but I am NOT a doctor), you might contact your doctor for advice.

From the CDC-

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend these simple measures to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2:

1- avoid close contact with people who seem sick
2- try not to touch your eyes, nose, or mouth
3- stay at home if you are sick
4- sneeze into a tissue, then throw it in the trash
5- if there are no tissues to hand, sneeze into the crook of your elbow
6- use standard cleaning sprays and wipes to disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces
7- wash your hands with soap regularly for 20 seconds

Unless you are a health worker or are caring for someone who is sick, the CDC do not recommend wearing face masks. The tips above might seem simplistic, but during an epidemic, these are the best ways to make a difference.

Daughter works at a hospital and has been coughing a lot but this is due to being pregnant and the position of the baby. Several of her coworkers expressed uneasiness about it until she explained why. I told her I would have a large badge made telling why she was coughing. The baby has moved and she isn't coughing nearly as much now.


Tim

I would stay home until you know you are in the clear.

X2! I am trying to get a phone conference for my upcoming medical appointments. Stay home Mr.Jones! We need ya!

I don't think you are overreacting at all. My personal cardinal rule is that when push comes to shove, the only person you can depend on is yourself. I am curious, what was your boss' reaction when you had your discussion with him?

He understands and is concerned himself. He is going to have a meeting with our GM about it today. Our GM's wife is a VP in a very large health care organization here so he should be well informed on this.

x3. Stay safe.

Ask your doctor for a letter, and by all means stay home.

Better safe than sorry.

It is on you to take care of yourself.

Well before 70% of the workforce gets it you wont want to be there.

The only over reaction is you asking someone else to stay home that may get the virus.

Perhaps everyone at work including customers should stay away?

No disrespect intended!
Thank you!
Kevin

Ha ha, so asking ONE person that has been to an event where someone has tested positive to stay home is an over reaction on my part? Have you ever been to a Bike Week? I'm thinking not. Would have asking the ONE guy that has now tested positive to stay home been an over reaction as well?
This guy made the decision to attend the event, I didn't and neither did anyone else here. So HIS decision is now a potential threat to everyone else here but I'm over reacting? I don't think any of us should be subjected to this because of someone else's poor decision.

It's coming to your workplace but most likely not from him.

Good luck, I would be heading to the WV if I was in your position.

I think this is all being blown out of whack by those who benefit from the public being in a panic. Remember swine flu? Check out the numbers from that and we didn't shut everything down - maybe should have.

That being said, you are especially vulnerable to bad stuff happening should you contract it. You don't know if this co-worker had even been within miles of this person from New York. Or who else may have been sick in Daytona. Regardless, you need to take precautions just to conduct your normal life everyday. It's not just this one dude you need to worry about.

Do you work close to the guy? Share facilities? You could take 2 weeks off or the management could make the guy stay home for 2 weeks (a better option for everyone). Can't avoid everyone unless you stay home. I will say I'm glad I'm not in a place around a bunch of people. I get tired of catching their crap, even if it's just a runny nose.

Neighbor of mine just died. Cold symptoms turned into double pneumonia along with aspergillus. 45 years old, didn't live a very healthy lifestyle. We just have to do the best we can and pay attention.

Guitar this whole deal is a lose-lose...

We're all going to end up with it somehow at sometime...

It will be up to each individuals own system as to how well they tolerate it...

I kind of figured I'm pretty safe here...

55 and healthy for the most part...

Come to find out my son may have been exposed at his work...

Granted he is 125 miles away now but if he needs something me and the witch will be sick too...

I'm thinking strongly about heading out. This particular employee handles a lot of paper work, has contact with many here including me. I don't deal with the public, I interact with very few people here but he is one of them. Nobody works next to me, I have my own work area so I'm fairly isolated. We'll see what the GM says. I'm not saying he should make him stay home but rather that if they are not going to do that then I am not comfortable having to work around him for the next few weeks.
Bike Week attracts a lot of people, some are certainly not following a healthy lifestyle. It can be many people in small places that travel all around the Daytona municipal area. There is no way for anyone to determine who the infected person may have had contact with but the potential for people that he may have had contact with and people they had contact with, and on and on could potentially be 100,000 or more.

Probably this.

We are still in the early stages of this in our local area where people are playing "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" trying to avoid the workplaces of some guy's cousin's nephew's uncle who may or may not have tested positive and gone to the same grocery store as you three weeks ago.

All this is doing is delaying the inevitable. Unless a person holes up in his closet for the next six months and has his irradiated water and food delivered via airlock and never goes outdoors--you are going to be exposed to it at some point. Whether at the grocery store, gas station, etc you can't hide from an invisible man.

Yep, but the overall goal is to https://www.flattenthecurve.com/ so the health system doesn't get overwhelmed like in Italy.

Why not have him get tested? I think I heard insurance covers testing and if no insurance the company should pay.

It's probably too early to test for.

Unless a person holes up in his closet for the next six months and has his irradiated water and food delivered via airlock and never goes outdoors--you are going to be exposed to it at some point. Whether at the grocery store, gas station, etc you can't hide from an invisible man.


Im not going for that, I could probably go several years and never need to leave my farm. In some of the sparser parts of the country being independent from others is normal. Im 30 minutes from a town of 3k and like during the winter months I go like three times, could go less but like to get out.. For years I got flack from folks about living in the middle of no place, ive never had a problem with it, enjoy it and now, well, id just hate to be in some shoes right now.

Id not say there is a zero chance me or my wife get it but with miles of open land between me and the next guy, as long as folks dont start zombie walking im good, and maybe ok with that for a while. Hell, I dont even need to collect mail.

But I wish everyone the best.

I've also read that since there aren't many test kits, there's a pretty specific list of things you need to have to qualify to have a test used on you. His (justifiable!) exposure likely isn't enough yet.

The way this virus spreads and its contagious life means you can avoid it.
If you do not breath the same air as an infected person, if you do not touch any item for 4 + days that was infected this virus will not hit you.

They are saying in a room with still airflow the droplets will stay suspended in the air from a sneeze or cough for 3 minuets before gravity draws it to the ground. Once on the ground it will stay alive for 3-4 days. The dust kicked up will re-suspend it and the cycle begins again.
Mail and packages they say it is still alive for 3-4 days.

So, in a nutshell, IF and only IF you are diligent and stay out of the public for 1+ months the chance of getting this virus is cut down immensely. We can only guess and follow what happened during the 1918 Flu Pandemic and how isolation was the cure of the spread. China and Italy did not Isolate quick enough and I hope most in USA learn from their mistakes.

There are wipes and gloves to take care of getting fuel and groceries. We could make one trip to the grocery store and be set for at least a month. It's an hour away anyway so it's not like we will be running there every couple of days. A 12 mile drive to the closest gas station store for wifi access to pay the bills and I never have to come in contact with another human being. Sounds like heaven to me.

Does the dealership you work for have 50 or more employees? If so your should check to see if your preexisting medical conditions and concerns qualify you for the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) This law allows an employee to take off time for a medical issue or a family member medical issue for a period of time. You can continue on your employer's health insurance plan and can't get fired for using it.
Looks like you can use it for up to 3 months unpaid leave.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla

^^^This saved my bacon after a major motorcycle accident. FMLA is a pain in the [censored] but it keeps the wolfs at bay.

I say give it to everyone in the U.S. and let Darwin take care of the 3.4% the Gubmint says will die from it...

Here's the deal.......older people with health issues need to avoid infection as long as possible. The longer this can be avoided, the better chance of successful treatment and an eventual vaccine becomes. Time is what matters now.

They aren't going to fire me. Not worried about that even if they did. I can walk across the street and have a job in a few minutes. The question is, do I want another job? I'm thinking not. If it wasn't for the lack of health insurance I would probably already be gone.

I live near Philly. Ther rumor I heard last night is that [one of] the patient zero is a doctor in a children's hospital that brought it back from Egypt just before everybody starting closing borders. Could be facebook news but it sounds reasonable. Go to your local medical service outlet to see if you have it, walk out knowing you do because the staff there infected you.

Apparently the government of Montgomery County (northern border of Philly) has ordered all shopping malls to be closed for 2 weeks. I looked at their website last night and it says there are 22 confirmed cases in the entire county. Google says the population of the county is 826,000. Apparently the sky really is falling.

Bug out to WV? Probably too late for that now. As for me, I'll be hiding in the basement with the cats.

We are just starting to loose service because of this hysteria. It's 9:30 and the only job I have so far today is a high mile oil change I stole from the lube rack. So judging from the last few days here in the Yota shop you probably won't be loosing too much. I'm pretty much in the same position as you are in the shop after 30 years I get to choose what I want to work on but even that is pretty slim lately. I got a truck frame job coming in next week so thats at least a 40 hour ticket.
I hope things work out for you bud.

Gus

True, but the inevitable result of "flattening the curve" is that it makes the "crisis" last much, much longer. The same number of people basically get exposed either way.

The problem is that people (especially in this country) do not have that long of an attention span. They have dang near cancelled everything except Christmas in our state already, and that with only 3 confirmed cases and no deaths. The general population is not going to put up with such massive disruption to their lives for a period of years. Not to mention the damage that has already been done to people's livelihoods and the economy. And what happens when the media loses interest and moves on to the next "crisis"?

You under or over 60?

63, with COPD and pneumonia 5 times with 2 of those being double. I can't take any more scar tissue in my lungs. I had a shoulder x ray about 20 years ago, you should have seen the look on the technicians face when he looked at them. Uh, I'm not really supposed to say anything but...I told him not to worry, it's not cancer just scar tissue. I had pneumonia again since then at about 48, but that was the last time I had it.

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

There are so many opinions on here running from "This is a Hoax and you should not do anything different" to "Crawl in a hole and cover your BUTT over, ya' gonna die".

I am in the same camp as GJ. I am 64 yo and in fair health with a few exceptions. I have had respiration issues my whole life. In 2015 in my major motorcycle crash I crushed my chest and damaged my left lung so I am at 70% on my left side. This Virus will hit me hard. I also have three broken ribs that will not knit together so a choughing spree could puncture my left lung again. My heart was bruised and damaged too so I have angina pain.
So being 100% retired and not going into peoples homes I am self quarantining in place and not shopping much. I had to go to my bank yesterday and I did the 'Social Distancing' and a lady kept telling me to move up in the line. I explained 'Social Distancing' twice to her and the third time I just told he to b u g g e r off.

Well the GM said he can't come back to work until he has been tested but then one of the higher ups said they can't stop him from coming to work if he isn't showing symptoms. So out of an abundance of caution I'm out, not taking a chance until this thing is on the down swing.

You have to look out for #1 and your self too. Hope you are job protected.

I just now got a call(on my day off) from my supervisor, that I’m not to return to work after my scheduled time away coming up. I’m flying to CA to hang out with my daughter in San Diego next weekend and they don’t want me back until 2 weeks after my return.

Do I, A: just not go for my own safety(age 43 w/no health risks) and to keep the place going.

Or, B: say “screw it” and take the time away to work on fun stuff at home?

I have an unhealthy work ethic. Missed 2 shifts in 12 years(one was them sending me home after dental surgery. LOL. The other to rescue my 18 yr. old nephew after a motorcycle accident 2500 miles from home. Long story...)

Kinda torn, but just showing another example of the crazy affects on the situation.

To the OP, all situations are different, do what best suits you and those around you.

Take care everyone. 🍻🍻

There is a bill in congress that provides paid sick leave for this crisis. Might be passed tonight.

It passed but gotta wait until Monday for sen. vote mitch took a 3 day weekend.

I've been electrocuted, had dysentery, bicycle wreck, and car wreck all before 21, then there is the fractured skull, leukemia and sct, zoster caused shingles attack and relatively healthy wife recovering from knee replacement last month, heck yes we're laying low even though we don't drink or smoke and feel relatively healthy. Now, our adult kids and step kids with their smoking drinking and pot pipes and e cig use, heck yes we worry. They are invincible and are carrying on traveling, meeting friends, eating out, bars, and organized pub crawl events. They will be surprised when they call or show up at our gate and we let them know we can visit later. We'll continue to do our best to preserve our days and let others throw caution to the wind.
I know this does not help the op much, yet we all walk our walk.
We have silmilar, yet different plights, a large family with us seniors all sharing the distancing policy, with kids and grand kids not. Talk about social divide, how about familiar divide?
We have a daughter buying a home to close the end of month. Have not decided yet how we'll be able to help other than drive my truck with trailer, let them load trailer, take it to house, disconnect and retrieve trailer later. We'll may likely suffer burning ears for years.

More disinformation. Please get your facts straight people! They went home on Friday as the negotiations were taking place, which didn't get done and passed until after 1 AM. Who knew how long that was going to take? I am so sick of this BS. Please keep your political BS to yourself and don't f'up my thread.

Gotta be careful right now. We have a confirmed case in our county. I work with this guy. He is 66 and was scheduled to retire at the end of this month. The word is that he will not make it through the weekend.

And how did he get it? You should probably self quarantine.

Springfield now has 2 confirmed cases but only 5 people have been tested. They probably won't make it.

It has not been reported yet how he acquired it. I have not had direct contact with him but there are four men who have and they have been ordered into quarantine. I am also hearing by third party that this fellow has passed. I think at this point the state would be within their authority to shut the place down if they feel the company has not been proactive enough. We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow. We are a major supplier to Toyota.