Remember last week when I said Steve started taking his temperature?
Well, he's still taking his temperature.
TWO more guys at his work tested positive.
One guy he worked with for three, consecutive days. Not necessarily in "close contact" (15 minutes, no mask, less than 6ft apart).
Like I said before - Steve ALWAYS wears his mask when he's there. Unless he's taking a sip of a drink or eating, if he's with people, he's masked up.
He says he's generally a car's distance away from people, too.
But I don't believe that for a second.
I've gone to his work 3 times in the last 2 weeks. (The last two times I sat in my car in the parking lot and he came outside). And dude. People are walking around maskless. There are people who approach my husband and come within 6ft for sure (if they are showing him a part, or need him to look at something that they're pointing at for instance).
So, he went and got tested the same day we found out that the one guy tested positive.
Thank GOD Steve's test came back NEGATIVE.
Phew.
BUT.
BUT!
He was on the phone with another work buddy and told him the place he went to was open until 10pm. Steve convinced him that he should also get tested. Even if he felt "fine."
This guy lives about 50 minutes away but he did it.
He made the drive.
AND HIS RESULTS ARE POSITIVE.
WTF.
So now that's two people two days. Three people in the last 2 weeks.
AHHHHHHH.
I'm not sure what to do!
Steve tested negative, but there's a chance he will test positive. He will go again on Monday.
Should I get tested?
One thing is for sure - we are staying away from my mom, sister and Steve's parents.
My mom is 74.
My sister is considered "medically fragile."
And Steve's parents are also old and his mom has MS.
So we are not going to visit with them for 14 days.
But that begs the question. If we're trying to keep them safe, shouldn't we be trying to keep the world safe, too? But we haven't been told that's what we should be doing.
I'm not going to go out grocery shopping - I will finally have to utilize curbside pickup (we do not get delivery where we live - although with the pandemic, I'm not sure if stores have changed their rules about how far they will deliver).
Do I send the girls to school?
So of course I said to Steve that his shop should close.
That's the only way to ensure that people aren't infected when they open back up. Make sure every employee gets tested and needs to be negative before coming back.
But here's the problem with that.
The second they open those doors and allow customers' cars to come in, it doesn't matter anymore.
The technicians have to get INSIDE these vehicles to bring them into the shop to diagnose them and then to work on them to fix them. These customers go INSIDE the service office to talk to the writers and schedulers. It's not exactly something that can be done virtually.
Sure they are masked (most of them), wearing gloves, etc. But you can't help but sit in the seat and touch the door handle here or there.
UGH.
These poor guys.
And it's no one's fault, you know?
If the employee needs to quarantine, they still get paid - so that's AMAZING, right?
But, say the tech is flat rate and turns double the hours that's being paid to him while he's quarantined. Then you have to think about not making the weekly bonus for turning those hours. So now the tech is down like $2,000.
Like, that sucks too!
It feels like a lose-lose situation all the way around and it fucking blows.
And so Steve is currently negative - but it's just a fucking matter of time, isn't it? He's not being told to quarantine so he's going back to work tomorrow! Because if he's not being told to quarantine, it's not like he has 14 days of vacation to burn after NOT WORKING FOR SEVEN WEEKS a few months ago.
Oh my fucking god, people.
My head is spinning!
No comments:
Post a Comment