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US Orders 100,000 New Body Bags While States Start to Loosen Restrictions; Pets Are Benefiting From Stay-at-Home Orders During Pandemic; and How COVID-19 Is Destroying a Work/Life Balance for Some Employees.
Orders for more than 100,000 new body bags were placed by the federal government. The purchase was earmarked one day after President Donald Trump announced that the death toll from coronavirus might not exceed 50,000 or 60,000 people.
The purchase was made on April 21, at a pending cost of $5.1 million with E.M. Oil Transport Inc. of Montebello, California.
The company’s marketing manager, Mike Pryor, said to NBC News, “I hope to God that they don’t need my order and that they cancel it.”
Around the same time the body bags were ordered, FEMA also opened up bidding to provide 200 rented refrigerated trailers. The request specifies a preference for 53-foot trailers, the largest in their class.
Related: Reopen Leader Tests Positive, Says She Was ‘Forced’ to Quarantine
One positive benefit from the entire coronavirus pandemic is becoming clear. It is giving pets the opportunity to spend more time with their owners, and vice-versa. For example, dogs are no longer being left in crates for the entire day, and more pets are being adopted.
Clarence Anderson, the supervisor of the La Porte Adoption and Animal Shelter in La Porte, Texas, had this to say:
“We were actually able to move our animals out and give them forever homes and not just placing them in foster where they come back, but these animals were actually able to find homes,” said Anderson.
And it isn’t just pets who benefit. They are also able to provide companionship to their humans who might have little interaction with others during the ongoing pandemic.
Related: China Bans Dogs and Cats as Food, Reclassifies Them as Pets
The pandemic is causing some people to experience a non-stop workday as they juggle both their jobs and parenting duties from home.
Some employees are saying that they’re feeling burned out because they feel they have even less free time than they did before when they were commuting to work.
Rachel Mushahwar, the general manager and vice president of US sales and marketing at Intel, said: “I think I’ve showered three times this week.” She added, “I honest to goodness am wearing the exact same outfit that I started with on Monday.”
According to data from NordVPN, which tracks when users connect and disconnect from their service, remote workers are working an average of three hours more per day on the job than they did before lockdowns were put in place.
John Foster, who has been working from home since mid-March in Tuscumbia, Alabama, says turning his living space into a makeshift office hasn’t left him a lot of time to disconnect from work.
“You walk by 20 times a day,” said Foster. “Every time you pass there, you’re not escaping work.” He says he even misses his daily commute, saying, “Usually you have that downtime to drive home or to kind of get ramped up for the day.”
Related: Hobby Lobby Forces Sick Employees to Work Despite Pandemic
Others say they’re being pressured by their employers. They feel like they need to prove that they’re actually working while at home.
More than 100 employees got an email from a superior at Constellation Software in Toronto that read:
“Don’t get distracted because you are on your own. It is easy to get into bad habits. The lure of the internet. The endless box sets. Just think, would I do this in the office? If it’s a no, don’t do it. You know we will be watching closely.”
Despite stereotypes that push the idea that remote workers slack or do less on the job, early data suggests that productivity usually increases instead. Some have even resorted to finger arthritis relief.
JPMorgan says they’ve seen productivity go up for certain types of jobs. This is because workers are spending less time attending town halls, completing training sessions, and going to meetings.
Dave Donavan, who leads the Americas global financial-services practice for Publicis Sapient, says:
“When you’re virtual you’re less distracted. Nobody’s disappearing for coffee for a while or going and disappearing to socialize. Clients are more reachable too.”
