Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston: house, schools, university)

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by rach5

I am very pro-vax, and am fully vaccinated. No incentives needed for me (though I would have loved the opportunity to do a drive through shot).

Agreed. I don’t love needles and the thought of drive thru seems more palatable for me for some reason.

I guess they give you the shot and then you park in the lot for 15 min.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by bizcuit

I am at the stage where, if anyone decides that I have regularly go into an office, that I think I will retire. I am over commuting sitting in one spot and never seeing the sun. And I've really gotten used to taking my dog for a walk at lunchtime. It's amazing how something as simple of that greatly adds to my quality of life and makes me so much happier.

I think that a lot of people who are at/approaching retirement age are in the same boat. My father originally planned to retire at the end of 2022. He was loving working from his vacation home in Maine. They asked him to come back 2-3 days per week and he just ended up retiring a little early (Jan. of this year). My mother is loving working from home with her dog. I don't see her commuting back to Boston after all of this is said and done - even if that means retiring because they won't let her continue WFH.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

Got a robocall from the City of Cambridge today which I assume went to all residents. Walk in vaccines, no appointment or ID needed.

Family in CT reports drive thru vaccinations with no appointment, choice of any of the 3 vaccines and a free hamburger or hotdog.

Geesh, don't they want to incentivize vegetarians/vegans? Or do they figure those populations are already plenty health-conscious and would've gotten vaxxed already?

[htfdcolt]

A stunning set of stats (alliteration unintentional) for our state!

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/...virus-numbers/

[rach5]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

Geesh, don't they want to incentivize vegetarians/vegans? Or do they figure those populations are already plenty health-conscious and would've gotten vaxxed already?

Free beer with your shot. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/c...ccine/2661082/
I was joking a few weeks ago that they should have vaccination clinics at bars (high risk behavior in a pandemic, so a good target) "a free shot for a shot". This is kind of the same idea.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I'm surprised my dept doesn't have a more solid plan. I can understand they dont know exactly when we'll go back but they dont seem to know much of how anything will play out.

It seems like people here have been going back a few days a week for some time now. I know of a few others who have gone back as well.

Someone asked if there would be the option of not returning to the office at all and were basically told no and that the dept doesn't see that being an option.

Wouldn't be surprised if what they are waiting on is for the FDA to fully approve a vaccine so they can just force people to get the shot and then bring people completely back in.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

Wouldn't be surprised if what they are waiting on is for the FDA to fully approve a vaccine so they can just force people to get the shot and then bring people completely back in.

I don't think so. The leadership team enjoys working from home as well. Not sure why everyone here thinks people are dying to drag employees back to the office 5 days a week. No one wants to be in the office 5 days a week. If anything it seems we won't be going back at all this calendar year.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by bizcuit

I am at the stage where, if anyone decides that I have regularly go into an office, that I think I will retire. I am over commuting sitting in one spot and never seeing the sun. .

Hear you 100%. While in retail January was depressing. I'd start at 6am and leave at 3pm and never see the sun. Now with more professional work I had after hours meetings, sometimes far and late at night. At this point I don't want to do anything late at night. If you tell me that you can't get everything done during a day and you're all conducting business in the same time zone what's the problem?

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I don't think so. The leadership team enjoys working from home as well. Not sure why everyone here thinks people are dying to drag employees back to the office 5 days a week. No one wants to be in the office 5 days a week. If anything it seems we won't be going back at all this calendar year.

The head of my department absolutely wants everyone to be in the office full time, and has made that clear to me even though I can do most of my job from home (and have been above and beyond productive over the past year and a half) and much of the in-person stuff I need to do falls on nights and weekends. Our institution and HR very much encourage work from home but it's up to management - and I know anecdotally that many others are in the same boat as me with management who want face time.


It's going to be a battle royale in my office. Personally, I spend the 2 hours I normally would spend commuting working right now. If I had to drive into the office, the office is getting 10 hours less productivity - and actually probably more than that because I often take a nap in the afternoon and then work an additional few hours into the night.



There are certainly elements of my job that work better in person - like collaboration - or are required to be in person - like photography and video creation. But no one wants to go to our small, windowless, stuff conference room ever again so it's not like we need to be in the office for meetings.

[BostonMike7]

Walgreens and CVS now offering walk-in vaccinations. No appointment needed.


I haven't gotten mine yet, but i'll likely pick one that is dispensing Pfizer and go walk-in