Improvements

[white_hart]

My new senior person in charge of academic administration started last week, instantly allowing me to cancel several hours per week of meetings with the people she's now managing. Today, she mentioned that she'd been talking to C, and they'd agreed that it would be good to learn enough about each other's jobs to provide some basic cover for each other when the other was working from home.

I think this seems like an extremely positive sign.

Also, I have just had my last committee meeting until January. And I think I'm getting on a bit better with my new head of department, though I still miss the old head of department a lot.

I still despair slightly of the university's current covid strategy, which has, most recently, involved announcing actually on the day the news first reported the Omicron variant that there was no longer a need for any COVID-related restrictions on teaching. Apparently they are "considering" the updated government guidance at the moment. My money is on the response being "we don't need to change anything but do consider wearing a face covering if you think you might like to and bring a woolly jumper so the windows can be open". Meanwhile, I now have two staff who have caught covid while double-jabbed and who are both struggling with ongoing fatigue and breathlessness (and a third currently at home with a 6-year-old who has tested positive), and my brother has contracted covid at an in-person work meeting, so I decided that I was going to decline the invitation to a large in-person meeting with bonus networking over refreshments this morning and explain exactly why in my response to the meeting invitation.

My booster appointment is in 22 days. I really hope I can make it to there without catching covid...

Comments

[gwendraith]

I hope you get your booster without catching anything first. You might be able to get it earlier. My son and son-in-law work three days in their office and two at home. They do a LFT on the days they go in (like everyone else in the office) and any day before they visit me or we go out. I do one every time I have been near people. They have been religious with regards wearing a mask when they should and practising social distancing and have both avoided catching Covid even though they socialise a lot in pubs and restaurants. It angers me when bosses are wishy washy about what they expect their staff to do to keep everyone as safe as possible. (Sorry, small rant).

[white_hart]

I think that my department is pretty safe (we have vulnerable team members and everyone is being good about wearing masks and staying home when ill) but mask-wearing among the students has definitely reduced and it's been very hit and miss on the buses.