The World is coming along towards a non-COVID-19 comportment. I struggle at times to remember that people around the country continue to struggle through quarantine, isolation, masking, and more. This was brought into stark relief in January when I attended a conference in South Florida. One of the organizers lamented to me in a somewhat exasperated tone: "Florida won't even let us ask if people are vaccinated, we cannot even enforce masking." I replied cordially, "yes." What was surprising and frustrating to this person was, frankly, normal to me.
Florida got back to business a long time ago. There was a recent gathering of physicians who voiced their thoughts on what we have been through, see Governor DeSantis Closes the Curtain on COVID Theater, republished on the OJCC Regulatory blog. These experts made some interesting points on science, cancel culture, mandates, vaccinations, and more. It is an intriguing read.
It is somewhat hard to believe that we mark the cotton anniversary of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. For some reason, the Little River Band keeps flashing before my eyes ("Carry on, don't feel concerned," Happy Anniversary, 1977), but I digress. The traditional first-anniversary gift is paper (masks), and the second is cotton (masks). The third year is leather, and that won't make for a decent mask, and neither will fruits and flowers in year four. This pandemic thing needs to end now.
I remember so vividly in January 2020 when I began warning my college students about the potential for a viral challenge. They rolled their eyes when I put up a PowerPoint slide about Corona beer and the "coronavirus" that January. I thought we had a threat coming, and tried to acclimate them to it. Though I saw it coming early, I admittedly underestimated its impact. It was March 11, 2020, when the Florida State University System transitioned to remote learning. Instructors were cautioned that changes would likely remain "in effect for at least the two weeks following Spring Break and probably through the end of the semester." O.K., I was not the only one that underestimated this thing.
My first COVID-19 post was on March 10, 2020, on the Announcement Blog, Coronavirus COVID-19. It reminded of the virus that by then was in the news, the procedural rules, the potential for telephonic appearance, and more. Our focus then, and throughout, was to keep the practice functional. On March 14, 2020, I took the unprecedented step of ordering all mediations to telephonic process. There were complaints. I was told we had overreacted. On March 21, 2020, we introduced people to the various video platforms on the Internet and persevered to keep responding to the challenges that this SARS-CoV-2 brought, as well as the challenges caused by reactions to it.
We were striving to get through what we thought would be a brief and intense situation. We began to hear what this or that local government, school board, or similar thought about locking down, masks, isolation, and more. On March 23, 2020, I reminded the public and the OJCC that the local government had no authority to compel state agencies' processes in our operations. The OJCC is an important state agency and delivers a very critical service to tens of thousands of injured workers and businesses every year. I kept reminding myself that the public needed us to be functional, but let's face it we all benefitted from our determination to be here for you.
Thereafter, the telephonic mediation process was extended more than once. A March 24, 2020 Announcement was amended to keep up with what still looked like a very temporary situation. The month-by-month in that announcement illustrates our hope for resolution of the situation. The Workers' Comp Section was proactive on professionalism about that same time, and with great effect. We republished the Chair's entreaty for compassion and found it compelling. I look back with great pride on how this community pulled together through the worst of times. We adjusted, we persevered, and we never gave up. Much, even most, of the success is on the great lawyers, paralegals, doctors, adjusters, and nurses, that just kept striving to make this system work.
In May we mandated masks in the OJCC offices, and unbeknownst to many, various businesses, organizations, and agencies devolved to fully remote operations. The telephonic mediation mandate expired by June 1, 2020, and yet many parties and lawyers continued to request telephonic attendance. In response to overwhelming volumes of requests for telephonic, and the impact on mediator workload, I reinstituted that mandate on July 1, 2020. It was extended monthly thereafter until March 26, 2021. It is notable that public sentiment and customer service were the primary drivers of the extension from July 2020 through March 2021. As we mark the two-year anniversary of the virus, it is also coincidentally the one-year anniversary of our return to normal operations.
In the meantime, Florida had moved forward. The Plan for Florida's Recovery was phased in starting in May 2020, with further implementation in June and September. Things began to return to normal in Florida. By October of 2020, I was back to live public appearances. See We're Back! (October 2020). I spoke at a program in Tampa in December 2020, and then at the Workers' Compensation Forum in April 2021, see We're Really Back! (April 2021). By then, I was celebrating the end of masks (the first end) in A Great Hamburger with a Smile (April 2021). The joy of dining out without paternalism and constraints was palpable.
At the Forum in 2021 I was regaled with tails of how happy and healthy folks had exerted power and influence to cut in the vaccination lines before their turn. Those who celebrated this had seemingly no concern for whose dose they might have taken. It is intriguing in retrospect that there was a time when people sought the vaccine and feared they would be left out. That turned out to be a non-issue, as the vaccine availability was never really a problem. Interestingly, instead, we would come to struggle to get everyone to accept it. I thought it was miraculous, and welcomed it. However, I also respect people who do not wish to have it. See Vaccine Tribulation (February 2021).
And despite having no vaccination personally in April 2021, I proudly and happily strode the halls of the ChampionsGate Omni maskless. It was great to meet and greet so many that day. There were a few that were reticent. There were requirements and mandates of the hotel. But, in reality, it was very open and social. Some lawyers openly mocked the sanitization efforts. Since then, I have remained free of masks except when visiting authoritarian states and traveling by air. I have never been a big fan of masks, but I wear them when required or requested. In reality, a big part of the mask phenomenon is about doing something that makes other people around you feel better. In that regard, perhaps we really are doing it for others?
Despite not liking them, I do not in any way condone the public's reactions against employees who strive to enforce their employer's or other's mask and other mandates. See Violence in the Workplace (August 2021). I have lamented that behavior and applauded the many who have said to me things like "I won't follow their (airline's) rules, so I just drive." That is fair. Businesses have every right, it seems, to issue mandates. We all have the choice to purchase there or forego it. Some cases are now beginning to reach the bench, and it is possible that the Americans with Disabilities Act and other legalities regarding discrimination may impact that in some regard one day, but not as yet. Legal processes will likely never move with the rapidity of virus spread.
The overarching point is, it has been a long 24 months. I see recently that the rest of the world is finally awakening from its long slumber of COVID, and I struggle a bit to appreciate the horrible impacts this has had on people, emotionally, economically, socially, and more. I have been so fortunate to have lived through this pandemic. I predicted in April 2020 that we would all likely be connected to someone who would be profoundly affected by the virus. Six Degrees of COVID-19 (April 2020). I said then we were all likely profoundly affected, and on that one, I think I was pretty prescient. If you have neither been impacted nor seen someone close to you impacted, you are indeed fortunate. Way too many of us have lost friends, family, and professional associates to this virus.
Recently, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was making news. The Independent reported that Boris Johnson will "will . . . repeal . . . all of England’s pandemic regulations." The Standard reported that this will "allow Britons to return to normal life." This will "make the UK one of the first countries in the world to formally end all Covid (sic) curbs – despite a backlash from scientists fearful of the emergence of new variants." While that may well be an accurate description of countries, I cannot help but think the UK is largely following Florida's lead.
Just days before, CNN announced that California would "unveil a plan" that would bring "a specific focus on learning to live with the coronavirus." The Governor there calls this "the ‘SMARTER’ plan," because two years into this pandemic he believes Californians are smarter than when it began. California, it seems, is poised to "treat Covid-19 like any other virus." Gone will be the "state’s (mask) mandate(s)" and it is "transition(ing) to the endemic phase.” California, it seems is ready to transition from being "among the most strict states in imposing Covid-19 health mandates," and get on with the future. Reading that article, I cannot help thinking that in short, California is transitioning to being more like Florida. They can package it and spin it, but that is essentially where they seem headed.
And, I find myself wondering about the months and months of strict constraints and lockdowns across the country and the tribulations through which people have suffered. I mark today the cotton anniversary of this thing's impact on our lives and hope that the progress toward normalcy continues. I am grateful that I have lived through this pandemic in Florida where a great deal of normalcy has prevailed throughout. I am immensely proud of the OJCC team that persevered through it with you. I am encouraged that more of the world is seemingly coming around to the conclusion that an endemic SARS-CoV-2 is now a part of our world and that we must find ways to live with it.
In that, we must remain conscious that this vicious little virus has been very damaging to life and livelihood. A great many have been infected, affected, and impacted. I reiterated the "six degrees" suggestion that you will undoubtedly know people who have lost someone to this virus, lost livelihood, lost hope. I encourage us, as the world returns to full function, to remember that in our interactions. From the virus or government reactions, people will undoubtedly remain at risk, fragile, and even frayed. As a community, however, we will persevere through. As individuals, we can and should remain respectful of those around us and the losses that they have sustained.
And, perhaps this will be the last of my COVID-19-related posts. We have a great deal to work on otherwise. Workers' compensation goes on, and deserves our attention and effort.
"Happy anniversary baby, Got you on my mind."
