In between debates over the best post-COVID diet and summer vacation rentals, Backyard Barbeque Chatter (BBC) is all about work. What’s the plan for the fall? Who is going back? Who is staying home? Who is hybrid? Who is happy and who is miserable?
A month ago, CEOs in finance and tech insisted that it was time for workers to get their asses back behind the desks. But not all banks are onboard. Some banks, like Citigroup, are planning on a hybrid model — some days in the office, some days at home — because they fear that the best employees will jump ship from companies that are hardline about being in-person. Middle aged, mid-level employees have souped up their homes this year, relocated to the country, and are spending more time with their children. Most (but not all) don’t want to go back.
Hybrid and hotelling are the new buzz words. Workers will go into the office part time — five days per month or maybe even once a quarter — with a lot of variation between industries. Expect shared workspaces, where people plug in their laptops at any available cubicle or desk.
Will hybrid work be permanent? I’m not sure. I’ll believe it when business actually reduces its footprint. If people who spend more time in the office get bigger bonuses and raises, this won’t last.
I’m also hearing that this is a really good time to be a mid-level, experienced worker, because companies want to expand rapidly this year. One HR director told me that companies are “flush with cash” right now. They are going to spend it to retain the best workers and to grow the companies. It’s a good time to negotiate for a raise or better perks. One segment of the country is about to get much richer and much happier soon. Like Jeff Bezos blowing his cash to fly in a tin can in the sky, some are conducting staff meetings (cameras are now off) from hot tubs in their backyard.
Who is not going to benefit from flexible work environments and higher salaries? Younger workers. It seriously sucks to start a new job from a laptop in your parents’ house. 20-somethings want to be around other young people in dynamic creative workplaces. They don’t have homes and hot tubs. They aren’t taking children to soccer matches. After a year and a half of sucky remote college education, they are starting their first jobs from their bedrooms. Quell depressing!
Also, it’s not clear that newer workers are going to get all the perks of experienced workers. Newer workers might be in gig-economy hell.
Some personalities will never adapt to remote work. Connecting with others through a computer is a huge bummer for ADHD, creative, social, interactive people. You can’t bounce ideas off co-workers spontaneously, when you need a google invite for a Zoom meeting. A google invite is death to creativity.
Some jobs cannot be done remotely. It’s clear that children cannot be educated remotely, for example. Teachers and college professors will have to return to the classroom; many are not pleased about that fact. Remote work envy is going to be real.
And teachers, along with other government employees with locked-in union salaries, are also going to be pissed, if those in the private sector get huge raises this year, while their salaries stay constant.
Income inequality is real and growing more extreme. Many families are currently benefiting from unemployment and child tax credits; those cash subsidies must be made permanent to prevent disaster. Public education, which offers some protection (never big enough) against the worst of income inequality, has been seriously rocked this year. I’m hoping for a big bounce next year, but I’m not putting all my chips in that pile. I am worried about permanent, generational damage to kids in urban areas from school closures.
Here, we’re doing fine. We’re putting new siding on the house and planning to build a party patio next year. I am lobbying for a hot tub. My kids are still in educational limbo, but we’re inching our way to an improved situation. Jonah is getting $18 an hour as a busboy at a fancy pizza place, and buying his own tickets to visit friends in Alaska and Michigan. Steve’s here full time until September.
Steve and I ditched the kids on Sunday for a spontaneous brunch in NYC. When we crossed the George Washington Bridge, and pulled onto 190th Street and Fort Washington, a young woman held a “Homeless, Please Help” sign with one limp finger. Bent over, she was two seconds away from passing out in the middle of the street. Cars slowly drove around her.
As we rebuild work and society in those post-COVID world (hello, hot tub!), we can’t forget the growing equity problem.
Apt. 11d 
The marginal income tax and capital gains rates need put back where they were before GWB. There’s not another fix for inequality and nearly all the other issues are because of rising inequality.
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Agree that taxation is a fundamental tool for mitigating huge differences in wealth among the wealthy and the poor,. I also think the kinds of wealth inequality we are building in this nation is fundamentally in conflict with democracy.
And, everyone talks about the Bezos/Gates/Branson levels, but the levels much lower play a big role in how our world is being shaped, too. For example, the Bezos/Gates kids can go to college wherever they want and don’t have to play the elite college game. A much lower level are playing the game and can pay 100K/year without concern for college and 30K/12 weeks, for say the School of the NYTImes 12 week gap year program and buy apartments in DC for their kids while they do unpaid internships. They can pay for the Columbia Journalism masters (or the Columbia film program and fund the film).
We are trying to figure out how to get rid of our hot tub. Our finished basement has become a used space, but the hot tub requires maintenance to be useful and we never used ours.
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“buying his own tickets to visit friends in Alaska and Michigan” Sweet.
I’m trying to convince my 17yo (and his dad) that a summer job is a worthwhile thing. The teen doesn’t understand summer jobs that aren’t internships (i.e. apply, interview, commit for the summer). So, when a friends mom was trying to hire for a restaurant nearby, he thinks he can’t apply because he can’t commit to work for 12 weeks, 8-5. I and spouse also don’t understand summer jobs, so we are not any practical help. But, I imagine that he could answer that job request and work some number of hours for some number of weeks ($17/hour, and she’s soliciting teens because she can’t find workers). And, I think he would learn a lot, working for money. The only jobs I’ve done that wasn’t some form of “fellowship”/academic work where the concept of “boss” was very loose (graduate advisors, department chairs, . . . aren’t really bosses).
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Your son could apply and state his hourly restrictions and see what happens. Typically, these places don’t want to bother training someone who is leave after four weeks. They expect that college kids are going to leave at the end of the summer, but they do want someone to work for a couple of months or so. Jonah nailed down this job the day that school got out and already had restaurant work experience. He’s learned a lot from this job. And because he’s a polished guy, diners offer him other jobs at their companies. It was a complete antidote to remote education. He couldn’t be happier at the moment, which makes us happy, too.
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Useful to hear how it works.
I think kiddo should try — to just know how it works, even if he doesn’t get hired. I kind of think it’s not the right job for his skill set (he’s too distractible), but even applying would be a good experience. The place is a neighborhood eatery, and a friend’s mom owns it and has been having a tough time finding people.
I think everyone should have a practical skill set for work that can be done intermittently — elder kid can do childcare/camps/daycare.
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“The place is a neighborhood eatery, and a friend’s mom owns it and has been having a tough time finding people. ”
Completely different work ecosystem here in NZ (especially with borders still closed, and very limited/exclusive requirements for work visas) – but our restaurants are *desperate* for workers.
To the point where I’ve had multiple emails from friends/acquaintances pleading for high-school or college students (anyone over 16, so legally allowed to work), to work evenings/weekends (we’ll fit in around your school/uni requirements).
They’re looking for basic unskilled staff (dish-washers/kitchen hands) – just to free up those with a little more experience to cover the sous-chef/waiter roles.
They’re willing to pay minimum wage $20/hour – or above. And just get no applications, or the staff turn up, work a shift, decide it’s too hard, and go back on the dole.
Anecdotally, a friend-of-a-friend paid one kitchen-hand over $1000 for a week’s work – only to have the guy decide that the work was ‘too hard’ and he’d rather go back on unemployment. [NB: a big chunk of these guys actually have an illegal or tax dodge income stream – so not actually surviving on the unemployment benefit]
The majority of restaurants have previously staffed using foreign students/back-packers – wanting a few weeks/months work to cover bills, before they move on. And this workforce basically no longer exists in NZ.
Several high-profile restaurants have closed for 2 weeks over the school holidays – just to give their staff a break.
Mr 13 – who would *love* to have his own income (though possibly not the hard work associated with getting it) – is very sad that he can’t take up any of these offers…..
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I like that Jonah has a skill set that can be done internationally. If he wants to bum around the world for a year, he can supplement his traveling lifestyle with restaurant gigs in an industry that isn’t picky about work visas.
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We folded a satellite location (with 10 staff) into our existing main office (which was previously at capacity – hence the need for the 2nd location).
Managed by hot-desking 2 teams. This seems to be working very well. 1 team has a regular day in the office, while the other is spread across the other 4 days (a couple working each day) – which gives a bit of redundancy if we need the odd day of extra work space.
My own area of operations has most staff working from home (8 out of 10) but no actual diminution of floor space required (we deal with actual physical books – so have to have somewhere to store the trolleys of work, while copies are in-transit to the work-from-home team).
Sadly, I’m not one of the work from home people (right now). Onboarding 4 new customers over the next 2 months (new business is a big part of my job) – which needs me to be in place in-person to deal with issues as they arise.
[Having said that, I *can* work from home if I absolutely need to – sick kid, or (god forbid) another lock down…]
Most of our team have thrived in the remote environment. Although we do have one with performance issues – which we are managing…. (the part of my job I don’t love).
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“Laura said: I like that Jonah has a skill set that can be done internationally. If he wants to bum around the world for a year, he can supplement his traveling lifestyle with restaurant gigs in an industry that isn’t picky about work visas.”
Mr 13’s plan (well, up until last year when it looked as though no one would be travelling anywhere ever again!) is to gain skills as a barista working locally. Can travel anywhere & work – and NZ baristas are in hot demand anywhere in the world – if you’ve ever found good coffee in London, I can just about guarantee it was a Kiwi making it….
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Anyway, I am by my own choice going to the office two days a week and plan on increasing it to three. The office footprint is staying the same, but we gained two people over the past year, so space per person is dropping.
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It would be easy, but expensive, to make sure people who want to could have hybrid schedules: buy off the banks who’ve got massive real estate investments that wouldn’t earn enough if people don’t go back to offices.
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Who is not going to benefit from flexible work environments and higher salaries? Younger workers. It seriously sucks to start a new job from a laptop in your parents’ house. 20-somethings want to be around other young people in dynamic creative workplaces. They don’t have homes and hot tubs. They aren’t taking children to soccer matches. After a year and a half of sucky remote college education, they are starting their first jobs from their bedrooms. Quell depressing!
I think my 20-something kids’ peers are traveling to see friends, working remotely from other people’s bedrooms. A number are doing contracting jobs from their computer while traveling, so there isn’t one employer with one office to report to. Some kids (adults) are staying close to parents/grandparents with health issues. There’s something Austen-like in extended visits to friends.
One larger problem is that their social circles are thus constructed of friends-of-friends (and their families.) So they tend to be smart, well-educated people who meet other SWEPs through that network. It’s a more restricted network than before the pandemic, because it lacks the physical contact with coworkers, roommates’ coworkers, chance encounters in bars, etc.
It will be fascinating to see how this impacts family formation.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201023-can-young-people-thrive-in-a-remote-work-world
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I can assure you that young people have not stopped going to bars. At least, if they have, they’ve restarted.
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My team has been so much more productive working from home that when we have team meetings, we strategize how to communicate to management that our productivity will measurably decline when we go back to the office. If we have to go back to the office and also are penalized on compensation because of declining numbers, there will be a mass exodus. Fortunately management seems receptive to this, and are enthusiastic about a very flexible work environment going forward. I do wonder how it will work out competitively; there’s obviously a divide between companies that think flexible work is a competitive strength and a weakness.
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I think you have identified the group that would prefer to work at home, middle-aged middle level people w/children who are in school most of the day. They, often, have houses, space, less interference from children (who don’t follow them everywhere if they are home), save significantly on commute time, and already have partners, family, and friends (and, are more likely to be friends with neighbors, church mates, parents at school and sports, . . . .). They also know how to do their jobs and don’t need training.
I recently watched the work of a couple of 20 somethings being supervised by 40 somethings and realized that 20 somethings (maybe not all, but I see this behavior in teens, too), get stuck doing projects and stop. Say, for example, they are asked to take photos of the products, present on the web with prices. They get stuck on questions like, what product, finding the camera, what prices (even if they know how to take the pictures, upload them, update the website, things the 40 somethings don’t know how to do). And when they get stuck, they stop, rather than asking questions or figuring out the answers, or guessing and then asking for clarification.
But, if those 20 somethings need to be supervised, the 40 somethings have to be there to supervise them and they have to be there at the same time. I feel like there’s going to have to be a lot of negotiation and I don’t see for sure how it will all play out. Will the 40 something who comes in to tell the 20 something where the camera is and keep them on task (“mom”) be paid extra? Will 60 somethings (with grown children looking for more interaction) take those jobs?
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Observations at a small not for profit, 500K in operating costs, <10 part time employees, and a mix of volunteers (who work sporadic hours) and interns (who volunteer regular hours, and maybe get school credit and training).
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bj said, “I recently watched the work of a couple of 20 somethings being supervised by 40 somethings and realized that 20 somethings (maybe not all, but I see this behavior in teens, too), get stuck doing projects and stop. Say, for example, they are asked to take photos of the products, present on the web with prices. They get stuck on questions like, what product, finding the camera, what prices (even if they know how to take the pictures, upload them, update the website, things the 40 somethings don’t know how to do). And when they get stuck, they stop, rather than asking questions or figuring out the answers, or guessing and then asking for clarification.”
And even if the 20-somethings were super proactive about asking questions, it would still be 100X easier to do the questions and explanations in person and hands-on.
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Spouse, who has effectively been the “boss” for the last 25 years, has been able to flex his schedule for the last 20 years as he desired, mostly, working with a team that was bi-coastal. An exception was court appearances in DC, which were always in person (remote attendees were sometimes allowed, but they could effectively only observe). Remote attendees were de-prioritized and if they were too much trouble they were cut off.
But, for the last year and a half, the hearings have been remote for everybody. The last meeting, attendees were in at least six different cities scattered across the country. Will they all have to meet in person as we transition? Will some meetings remain remote (say, “simple” ones)? The commission has been meeting remotely and has been holding conferences remotely. One benefit (for the organization) is that it undermines the protests they’ve been attracting recently. Is that good? bad?.
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It’s worth remembering that when senior people meet in person, they usually expense some really good food and wine. That’s got to encourage some face-to-face meetings.
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My cousin is a partner at a big law firm in NYC. They’re in the office part time now, expected full time (14 hours) in the office soon.
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Yes, at 200K starting salaries for associates and 1 M+ for partners, they’re expecting your soul.
True for Goldman, too I think.
I do wonder what the law firms are doing for non-partner/associate employees. Are they letting paralegals, assistants, tech support, marketing folks work at home.
Just before the pandemic, a mom I know who has been out of the work force for the last 20+ years got a job at a major law firm in marketing. A prime motivation ( at 60 something or so) was to be in an office, to have interaction with other people, as her parenting/school volunteering responsibilities decreased (she volunteered at a level that was at least a part time job at schools). I should check in on what she’s doing now.
Someone else I now, in I think, personal finance (managing portfolios) had been called back (I think 2-3 days a week). She enjoyed being out of her house, but was noting that some of her work is very much better done if she has quiet and no interruptions (which she does not get at the office).
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Amazon: 3 days a week required; with permission, can negotiate for less, but must be in commuting distance and come in as required; can work 4 weeks remotely, if that works. Oh, look, you can vote on whether their description makes you like Amazon better or worse: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/amazon-updates-return-to-office-guidance
Looking at summing up, seems like Google, Apple, FB, Amazon are defaulting to 3/days per week at the office, but with potential permission for different arrangements with different degrees of pushback.
Twitter seems to be in for remote, but, the others are less clear about what they’ll be requiring while saying they are supporting flexiblity: https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/Which-tech-companies-are-returning-to-their-16319668.php
It does seem that those companies are definitely facing workers who have moved to new locations during remote work.
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My wife is a lawyer at a big firm, but not in the partner world. She’s going to quit if they move her back without a raise that covers the increased costs (commute, parking). They tried to bring people back this summer but failed because it’s mostly women with kids at home.
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My sister is a finance muckity-muck at a big non-profit. She says the CEO and COO want remote work, but for some reason the CFO wants their people to come in at least one day a week. She is perplexed by how that would work and why. How can she have facetime with her reports if they’re all coming in different days? She has to drive over the Tappan Zee on her commute, so she is hoping to avoid having to do that. She has loved WFH. On the other hand, I am dying to go back and am petrified the unvaxed are going to f*ck it up for the universities. My husband may be going back a few days a week, but the mood in the public health community is pessimistic because of the increase in infections recently.
FOX seems to be backtracking a little on its anti-vax rhetoric, whether because of fear of killing off its audience or of lawsuits, we cannot be sure.
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Starting in the fall, we’re all supposed to come in one day a week and it’s the same day.
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So, a day when no work gets done, but lots of gossip and birthdays?
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And a two hour IEP meeting, book scavenging, and a broken AC.
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No, at MH’s work, on the day when everyone comes in.
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We all keep our current birthday. I think it will be an hour of meetings, lunch, and then mostly work alone.
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Wendy said, “My husband may be going back a few days a week, but the mood in the public health community is pessimistic because of the increase in infections recently.”
Both Massachusetts and Rhode Island look pretty good.
I follow the UK pretty closely these days, and the way things are going, they have ENORMOUS case counts (about 3/4 as bad as their winter surge right now), but at the same time, deaths are pretty flat. There’s roughly one death per 1,000 UK cases. I believe this is roughly flu level mortality. I don’t know how much better you can realistically get than that.
“FOX seems to be backtracking a little on its anti-vax rhetoric, whether because of fear of killing off its audience or of lawsuits, we cannot be sure.”
There has been a noticeable change in which direction the wind is blowing for a number of major FOX and talk radio personalities. I have no idea how to account for it. (Somebody had the execrable Alex Berenson on the radio a week or so ago.)
I would point out that a) the median FOX viewer is 65 or 66 years old and b) that 89% of Americans 65-and-up are vaccinated, with even low-vaxx states having about 80% of people 65-and-over vaccinated with 1st shots.
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/how-old-is-the-average-fox-news-viewer-in-america.html/
For example, even Missouri is at 82% 1st shots for 65+ and Arkansas is at 79% (Texas is at 84% and Florida is at 91%). The median FOX viewer is almost certainly vaccinated.
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We’re the optimist and pessimist here, I think. I’m getting worried again. We’re ramping up to 300 deaths/day (and still increasing). That is the relevant count (and hospitalizations), not cases. But, the increase in cases is meaning an increase in deaths. at 300/day, even if it didn’t get worse, we’re at 110K deaths/year, which is worse than the worst flu season. And, it’s still going up.
I don’t know how much mitigation measures (other than more vaccination) will help, though I will certainly wear a mask when requested (like at the bookstore I went to).
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I’ll be the Voice of Doom once more. Or maybe the Voice of Continuing Catastrophe.
There is a cluster of cases from Provincetown. The overwhelming majority of cases were fully vaccinated. https://www.wcvb.com/article/boston-urges-provincetown-visitors-to-get-tested-for-covid-19-self-isolate/37081934
132 cases have been identified so far, 35 are Bostonians. From the city of Boston’s website, there is this health advisory:
All City of Boston residents who have traveled to Provincetown since July 1, 2021 and until further notice:
Get tested for COVID-19 at least 5 days after your return, regardless of vaccination status or symptoms
Self-isolate and avoid groups or gatherings for at least 5 days and until you receive a negative COVID-19 test, regardless of vaccination status
It is worth considering whether it makes sense to continue to try to exclude the non-vaccinated, given that it is quite clear that breakthrough infections are significant.
So, Massachusetts may look good, in terms of deaths, but how do you weigh the emergence of a milder, but more infectious, variant?
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Cranberry said,
“So, Massachusetts may look good, in terms of deaths, but how do you weigh the emergence of a milder, but more infectious, variant?”
Accept it and move on.
Oh, yeah, and do more to facilitate vaccination. At the moment, I feel like we’re living through the “we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas” clip from the Simpsons. There are so many things that aren’t being done.
There are NO radio PSA ads for vaccination right now in my area. Yep. There was a blip where I heard a handful of them, but I haven’t heard anything for a month or so.
Also, stop lying/over-simplifying stuff to the public (like myocarditis issues in young men and male teens)–it increases distrust and reluctance among people who are on the fence.
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“There are NO radio PSA ads for vaccination right now in my area. Yep. There was a blip where I heard a handful of them, but I haven’t heard anything for a month or so.”
Who is the audience for radio? I don’t know anyone who listens to the radio other than NPR. We all play our Spotify playlists or listen to podcasts.
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I think the current trends (and they could change again as we move through the summer) means justification for some continued mitigation measures. Whether those will be taken will depend on individual risk assessments (say, the bookstore, and who owns it and who goes to it) and political/community power.
I do hope that the personal benefit of vaccination will convince some people who were reluctant, or hoped they could rely on others being vaxed to take the vaccine.
Our school district is piloting a virtual academy. Applications are being accepted over the summer. Uptake will at least partially depend on case rates now and support (and resources) for the academy will be justified if deaths stay as high as they are now.
Those angling for remote work will also have backup (Apple has pushed back changes to October, citing case increases, as an example).
I think vax requirements will be more likely. Lots of universities are going full speed ahead and Indiana University just got a supportive ruling for their mandate.
I think demands on private business (i.e. mask mandates, occupancy, etc.) will be very difficult and are unlikely to be enacted at a state level.
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I am finding the information on breakthrough infections fairly frustrating to find (the CDC stopped tracking it), but I do not think it is “given that it is quite clear that breakthrough infections are significant.”
States tracking cases say 65K (in 27 states), out of >100 million vaccinated (though that’s difficult to track since I don’t know which states are tracking).
In spite of being concerned and pessimistic, I think those writing that we can return to mandated “swiss cheese” mitigation measures (occupancy, masking, etc.) are not going to be effective in changing policy. I think going into the rest of summer and fall we are going to have to rely mostly on non-government mandated mitigation. But, a key concern for me is the political operators who are trying to prevent private choices (i.e. the Florida anti vax requirement law). I would like to seek out restaurants that require vax for employees, for example.
(Though I’m certainly not planning on going to Florida any time soon).
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bj said, ” But, the increase in cases is meaning an increase in deaths. at 300/day, even if it didn’t get worse, we’re at 110K deaths/year, which is worse than the worst flu season. And, it’s still going up.”
While there may be some sort of seasonal reprieve (late summer or early fall?), I think we have to expect that winter 2021-2022 is going to be worse than now, even if it winds up being a lot better than winter 2020-2021.
There might be some kind of wild card, though, like an infectious (but wimpy!) variant taking over or a really successful vaccine drive before the winter starts. We have 3 months to go.
“I don’t know how much mitigation measures (other than more vaccination) will help, though I will certainly wear a mask when requested (like at the bookstore I went to).”
I think we need to talk a lot louder about high quality medical grade masks for vulnerable people. We’re 16 months into this–vulnerable people need something better than 30-50% effective masks, especially dealing with a highly infectious variant.. I
I know they’re also talking about 3rd shots for high risk people.
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bj said, “I am finding the information on breakthrough infections fairly frustrating to find (the CDC stopped tracking it).”
Some of my twitter people have been voicing some skepticism of these recent mass breakthrough events where supposedly everybody was vaccinated.
Are people really checking vaccine cards? After an embarrassing mass infection event, it would be a lot easier to say that you were vaccinated, as opposed to admitting to being the Typhoid Mary who wrecked things for everybody.
https://nypost.com/2021/07/20/sixth-texas-dem-tests-positive-for-covid-after-fleeing-state-to-block-gop-voting-bill/
If these people really are vaccinated, we’re dealing with a situation where double-vaccinated people are routinely acting as superspreaders, which is pretty concerning.
These stories have to be really bad for vaccine PR, as they make it seem to the typical guy or gal on the fence that there’s not much point in getting vaccinated.
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My friend works for a DC engineering firm that is all govt contracts and collaborates with people across the country. He supervises about 150-200 people, and their workplace was already one of those “here’s your cubicle for the day” places, with remote work a couple days a week, several years before the pandemic. The firm recognized that with many DC commute times at 2 hours/day, you could keep people working during those hours, save on (outrageous) parking expenses or reasonable train fares, and they’d be happier.
Now that collaborative software/hardware is getting better and better – our university’s tech persons said Zoom sends out updates constantly – it will be easier and easier for people to work from home and have meetings remotely. It used to be a huge pain to set up meetings including someone on our sister campus – we had dedicated “video rooms” both places and had to go there, make sure the tech worked, etc. I can’t believe we didn’t switch to Zoom or Skype earlier.
I also know some psychologists (DC and Boston) who have switched to remote sessions, and now that the “but what about confidentiality” hurdle has been breached, I don’t think some of them will go back. Office space is so expensive, and commutes are a hurdle both for the psychologist and the client.
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Get the hot tub. Totally worth it.
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Looks like our nest will actually be empty this fall, with the college grad oldest teaching abroad (has her assigned location, so it’s happening), and the twins in college and living in apartments near their campuses. The twins were 2020 grads (actually they all were, my oldest from college), but one of the twins took a gap year, so even without covid the nest wouldn’t have been completely empty til September. But it would have happened in stages, not all at once like this. We will be in shock, though I now have enough experience with young adults to know there will be lots of calls with lots of little things that need addressing, so probably not as restful as I might once have thought.
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Here’s me not being a little ray of sunshine.
At 38 new cases per 100k people, Florida is currently #2 in the country for new cases. Florida is 48% fully vaccinated.
Here’s the problem–most US states are either less or equally vaccinated compared to Florida. The states that are equally or less fully vaccinated than Florida are: Arkansas (#1 for new cases), Missouri (#3), Louisiana (#4), Nevada (#5), Mississippi, Utah, Alabama, Alaska, Oklahoma, Arizona, Kansas, Wyoming, Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois (also 48%), Montana, West Virginia, Ohio, North Dakota, Michigan (also 48%) and South Dakota (46% and also the state tied with Vermont and New Hampshire at 2 for lowest new cases per 100k).
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Sorry–Florida is 36 per 100k. Arkansas is 38. But I believe all the rest is correct.
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