I started my "adventure" in surveying in 2001. Most of us work in small groups, if not alone, and a typical survey office is usually about 5-10 folks. For the duration of my adventure I can count on both hands the times I have been sick and have never missed work for more than one day at a time. With that being said, how will coronavirus affect you and your shop? To date we have one confirmed case in St. Louis County. So far nothing has changed at SAM but I would not be surprised if all office staffed is asked to work remotely in the coming days and advised to stop traveling between offices. If asked to go remote, it would not change anything I do on a daily basis. Only real problem I see is the limited or no access to walk into courthouses for research.
How about you??ÿ
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Keep flying the SUA - nobody allowed within 50 metres of you!
When out working in the field I rarely interact with anyone, except in a restaurant or convenience store. In the office, just one employee and he is in a separate room, so not really any issue there either.?ÿ?ÿ
I have two upcoming surveys that require air travel, I am going to fly myself rather than go commercial, about a 4 hour flight in a single engine cessna. More expensive, but less hassle and quicker (no TSA, no layover at a hub).?ÿ
Solo operator here so far rarely been sick.
It will be interesting to see if the internet bandwidth and phone lines can support all the people working from home using video conferencing. NY State has closed all State and City college campuses for the rest of the semester, pushing remote online classes only.
Many large businesses doing the same.
We ain't seen nothing yet.?ÿ
We have about 450-500 employees.?ÿ 200+ of those in my office.?ÿ We get daily email updates from HR.?ÿ We've already had one large scale university campus project halt operations until this fall.?ÿ The stock market taking a tumble isn't going to help things either.
It will be interesting to see if the internet bandwidth and phone lines can support all the people working from home using video conferencing.
All that teleconferencing will slow down sp*m and porn by 10%.
As my wife is a school teacher she is by far the most likely culprit should I somehow become exposed.
@holy-cow SWMBO is also a teacher in the metro area...they are having a mandatory meeting today. I assume to discuss options of "going online" or to think about what they can do to keep the kids moving along.
Most of our office staff already have the ability to access the servers via VPN from their home PC or laptop; I work from home at least one day a week as it is.?ÿ ?ÿ
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An acquaintance of mine who is a VP at a nationwide engineering/surveying/geospatial firm mentioned to me about ten days ago that they had just purchased $250K worth of laptops in case a large number of employees suddenly had to work from home.?ÿ?ÿ
@james-fleming I would suspect that the number of laptop workstations orders has gone sky high in the last 36 hours.
My biggest concern is this pandemic kicks off a serious recession puts a lot of projects on the back burner until the dust settles, which could be a while. It's a matter of people's confidence in what the future holds. It isn't a long term solution to have everyone just work remotely from home while smaller service oriented businesses dry up and blow away. Without risking tripping over the political third rail, we are not even remotely close to being ahead of this.?ÿ
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The school district here has not mentioned anything to the staff... very, very irresponsible.
And they will arrive wrapped in bubble wrap filled with Chinese air.
No problem if they came by boat.?ÿ A recent report says the coronavirus doesn't survive more than about 3 days on any surface.
We're pretty much the Wuhan of the USA here in western WA...
My organization has a lot of variation in office size. I am in one of the smallest, with less than ten folks. But our larger offices are now about half empty. HR has stopped just short of ordering everyone to work from home. Good thing because VPN can be very slow at times.
Obviously this is still a ways from being over, but we haven't seen any indicators of a downturn in work. All of the construction sites where we are staking are still going, and we have a lot of boundary and design topo on the docket in the coming months. We have a good mix of public/private and design/staking projects so we are lucky in that regard.
The biggest challenge around here is that all the scaremongering has prompted some weird hoarding behavior, a lot of unnecessary drama, and the schools are closing down so parents are finding it tough to keep productivity up. My SO is an elementary teacher and she is teaching via Zoom meetings, and will likely be doing so for at least two more weeks. [Edit: make that six weeks by order of the Gov...]
I grew up in Houston, and it reminds me of the hurricane panics, except there's not actually a hurricane and we can still get supplies in and out.
Gonna stop most of my online purchasing for awhile.
Many packages from China sitting in warehouses on the mainland awaiting to be picked up by UPS, FEDEX, USPS, etc.
Stay safe and keep well everyone.
i work alone. Am in Belgium which has issued drastic steps (closed schools, closed bars and restaurants,...) but our job isn't compromised.
I rarely see my clients so no worries here.
This Covid-19 issue has me conflicted.?ÿ So much news information to digest I cannot begin to understand.?ÿ I spent several hours in the King County Court last week at the request of a clients attorney while he argued the merits of if this should be here or there. Upon entering the fortress the guard noted that usually at 8 am the line to enter is way down the street; I walked right up.?ÿ And, hours later it was broadcast that someone who was confirmed to have the virus had been in the building earlier. Now I don't know where or if I was exposed but that leaves me hanging. If I wanted to be tested, I couldn't so its head in the sand time.?ÿ
You see, my mom passed away earlier this week in Hospice near her home in Wisconsin. I would like to travel to visit and perhaps care for Dad for a while but at 91 he does not need any additional risk that I might carry;either at the moment or as a result of flying there.?ÿ Thankfully my Dad, sisters and brother understand and support me 100%.?ÿ ?ÿServices are in late May because hopefully things will be back to normal by then.?ÿ
I have a great situation otherwise. My wife is in Ontario for three weeks helping her brother and his wife who yesterday swapped a kidney; My daughter is in the Oregon Florence rather than the Italian version and I pretty much work alone except for two days a week when I get to go in the field and get my hands dirty.?ÿ Yesterday it was downtown Seattle where unlikely enough everyone I met was smiling and friendly. Even the coffee shop on the corner was open for the few neighborhood patrons like me to have a brew.?ÿ?ÿ
Don't touch your face, wash your hands and hug a loved one.?ÿ
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