Listen to the Rain

Just got an email from the top brass with the following directly-relevant parts for me:

• If you don't volunteer to return to the office in Phase 2, you will not be required to do so. In fact, for the remainder of 2020, returning to AMA offices during any phase will be on a voluntary basis.


• Employees who commute to work on mass transit will NOT be eligible to return during Phase 2, and not more than 20 employees per floor (in Chicago) will be permitted to return in Phase 2. Similar distancing parameters will be adopted in our other offices.

Since I normally take the CTA to work, that means I'm specifically banned from returning to the office. I'm very glad they're taking this seriously--there is value in working for an organization run by physicians--but it does mean that I'm suddenly added to the fulltime work from home crowd. For the foreseeable future, it's me on my couch on a laptop.

There's psychological value in that, since I can step out of my sun nook and thus step away from work, but maybe I should come up with a better work setup.