Ray and I live in Western Washington, and our area is considered the first Hot Zone for the Coronavirus epidemic. The first US case was detected in our county, and the man (who had traveled to China recently) went to the hospital to which we would go if we got sick. He also recovered and went home about two weeks after he was hospitalized.

We both work in a factory setting (myself in the one building my company occupies; Ray in an office building on a factory campus). Both our employers have published safety guidelines for what employees are supposed to do, at work, to reduce the risk of infection. We are supposed to wash our hands frequently, for a specified length of time; cover our mouths with a tissue or the inside of an elbow when coughing or sneezing; stay home when sick; all the CDC recommendations. At my factory, there are bottles of hand-sanitizer strategically placed around the perimeter of the building for our use, and little signs in the bathrooms that say “Keep Calm and Wash Your Hands” and other such phrases. One of the recommendations is to stay away from crowded places; this is impossible in the production areas of our factory, since, by design, everyone has to be seated close together to minimize “travel time” for products on the lines. The Production Planners used to sit on the perimeter of the building, at one place in the three-person “pinwheels” that pass for desks in our open-plan setup. Now, they sit at tiny desks right next to their lines, with about half the personal space they used to have.