What is proper and generous?

[Thrif-t]

Our CEO sent an email that they are giving us 10 days of CoVid PTO that we can use if we get sick or the company closes down. After those 10 days we can use our regular PTO to get paid. They will let us go negative 50 PTO hours and we will pay those hours back 60 days after we return to work for 13 months.

We are all also working remotely and he said they will pay us our 8 hours a day whether we have 8 hours worth or work a day or not. I feel that is very generous, and you can bet I will be giving my company my all to make sure we weather this storm. Treat your employees right and they will do right by you.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

What did people decide texas?

[TexasHusker]

Right now we are still open, with just enough business to pay our people on limited hours, nothing more. Hopefully we will weather through without having to shut down.

[disneysteve]

Right now we are still open

That's because you're in Texas and your state hasn't done a shelter in place order yet, right? Salons and spas shut down here a while ago.

[Fishindude77]

Here's my possible solution!

- Every employee is eligible for an emergency loan from XYZ Company, based upon your hours of service last year. For example, if you worked 1500 hours, we will loan you $750. After we re-open, every hour that you work for us, we will start forgiving a portion of that loan, and once you have worked another 1500 hours for us, it will be forgiven in full.

When you return to work, you will receive your pay as you always have, and we will have no deductions for the loan, as your work for us is credited to you as payment. Now, if you resign or are terminated after we resume operations and you have received a loan, the balance of that loan, after credits for hours worked has been applied, will be due and payable to XYZ Company, and will be withheld from your final check.

I think you have good intentions and commend that. Good luck on the "loan idea" trying to ever collect anything from an employee that quits or terminates, it wouldn't be worth the hassle and you'd likely get little or nothing back.
Why not just give them a check in whatever amount you think is appropriate and the company can afford with a letter explaining that this is to help you out during these tough times and we hope to retain your services when work resumes.

One thing I did a couple times for employees in a pinch who were wanting to tap their 401k's, etc. was told them to go get a bank loan. I helped them set it up at my bank and even guaranteed the loans with bank if they had sketchy credit. Every one of them repaid those loans in full and on time and were thankful. I think people tend to feel more obligated to repay a bank loan.

Good luck, and glad you are helping those folks out.

[TexasHusker]

That's because you're in Texas and your state hasn't done a shelter in place order yet, right? Salons and spas shut down here a while ago.

Thankfully yes, we are in Texas. Where I am at, known cases are in the single digits. But you have to realize that in wide open spaces where I live, social distancing isnt a new concept. People are not shoulder to shoulder except at church, the movies, etc. Those places are currently shut down. We don’t have 30 story apartment buildings, a crammed downtown, etc. Most people here live in single family homes. Apartments are here, but you aren’t crammed in like in big cities.

Another big factor here is that there is very little mass transit. We don’t have trains and subways. People have cars and drive them everywhere. There is no paid parking.

I am certain we will have a growing number of Covid/Wuhan here, but I don’t see a scenario where the hospitals are overrun and we don’t have enough grave diggers. But anything is possible for sure.

[disneysteve]

Thankfully yes, we are in Texas. Where I am at, known cases are in the single digits. But you have to realize that in wide open spaces where I live, social distancing isnt a new concept. People are not shoulder to shoulder except at church, the movies, etc.

Have large gatherings been shut down?

I know there was just a big spike in cases in New Orleans, I think, traced to a church service.

[TexasHusker]

Have large gatherings been shut down?

I know there was just a big spike in cases in New Orleans, I think, traced to a church service.

Yes all churches, sports, schools, movie theatres are closed. The governor is currently letting the MSA mayors to make the calls. DFW is mostly shut down. But there again, that’s millions of people with a lot of international flights etc.

[TexasHusker]

Right now, our customers wait in their cars until their turn. No lobby waiting. We only have 2 stylists working per salon so there are no crowds and lots of space. Hand sanitizers and Clorox wipes everywhere. Of course we are sterilization freaks anyway so this is nothing new.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Nice that you aren't shut down. I just gave DH a trim today.

[disneysteve]

Thankfully yes, we are in Texas. Where I am at, known cases are in the single digits.

Today's report says Texas has 2,052 cases, up 19% from yesterday, and 27 deaths. The numbers are just going to continue to climb there just like everywhere else. The problem is waiting until the numbers are much higher to start shutting things down, at which point it's probably too late.

I really don't understand why so many states aren't being proactive. The idiot governor of Florida still hasn't shut the beaches, which are still packed with tourists and spring break crowds. It's insane because we know that those people are then returning home and testing positive, meaning they exposed hundreds of others to the virus while they were all crowded in down there.

[TexasHusker]

Today's report says Texas has 2,052 cases, up 19% from yesterday, and 27 deaths. The numbers are just going to continue to climb there just like everywhere else. The problem is waiting until the numbers are much higher to start shutting things down, at which point it's probably too late.

I really don't understand why so many states aren't being proactive. The idiot governor of Florida still hasn't shut the beaches, which are still packed with tourists and spring break crowds. It's insane because we know that those people are then returning home and testing positive, meaning they exposed hundreds of others to the virus while they were all crowded in down there.

You can't use the NYC approach for Amarillo, Texas, because the virus isn't spreading the same here as it is in NYC. In NYC, you can't even go to a local park without there being a crowd. Where I live, you can go to a park and not have anyone within 200 yards of you. Apples and oranges.

Where I live, cases have been in the single digits for probably a week. It's difficult to imagine being from a large metro area, but "social distancing" is kind of our culture to begin with - the people that live in places like Amarillo do so because they like their space. Of course, shutting down sporting events, movies, schools, etc. are certainly going to flatten the curve here, but I don't see it getting out of control here because there just aren't that many opportunities. You mainly see this heating up in the metro areas. There characteristics of metro areas that make epidemics much more prolific:

- Mass transit - trains, subways, and buses. We don't have those
- Shared living spaces - giant apartment buildings - none here
- Massive office complexes with hundreds or thousands of people working very closely with each other - none here
- International flights coming from Hong Kong, Wong Dong, wherever. None here.

DFW and Houston are going to be hot spots because they have a lot of this, but I guarantee you it won't be like Boston or NYC because the Texas cities don't have the population density, nor the mass transit systems.

[TexasHusker]

I did some checking last night about population densities of various cities. NYC has a population density of over 27,000 people per square mile. That equates to about 1,100 square feet of free space per person, indoors and outdoors combined. Not much room.

Where I live, we have a population density of about 2,200 people per square mile. That equates to approximately 13,500 square feet of free space per person. That’s almost one third of an acre per person.

Oklahoma City, a quite large MSA, has a population density of only 967 people per square mile! Every man, woman, and child has 3/4 of an acre!

COVID (and other pandemics) are going to hit harder where folks don’t have free space.

[disneysteve]

I did some checking last night about population densities of various cities. NYC has a population density of over 27,000 people per square mile. That equates to about 1,100 square feet of free space per person, indoors and outdoors combined. Not much room.

Where I live, we have a population density of about 2,200 people per square mile. That equates to approximately 13,500 square feet of free space per person. That’s almost one third of an acre per person.

Oklahoma City, a quite large MSA, has a population density of only 967 people per square mile! Every man, woman, and child has 3/4 of an acre!

COVID (and other pandemics) are going to hit harder where folks don’t have free space.

True. More densely populated areas will spread disease more easily. But even in sparsely populated areas, school, work, supermarket, Walmart, post office, church, hair salon, etc. are all places where contact can occur and illness can spread if proper precautions aren't taken. Those areas certainly aren't immune to this. They won't see nearly as many cases because there aren't nearly as many people.

The other question is what the local medical infrastructure can handle. How many ICU beds does the community hospital have? How many ventilators? While they may not see thousands of patients like here in NJ and NY, it might only take 10 to exceed their capacity.

[TexasHusker]

We’ve got around 150 staffed ICU beds in Amarillo. I would assume a similar number of vents. Probably not nearly enough if we get hit hard.

keep fingers crossed. We have 5 cases, 3 in ICU, at least on Thursday. No new cases Friday or Saturday.