Kelly Anderson

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Confronting Vaccine Misinformation in the Workplace

Misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines has proliferated across the Internet in recent months, with false rumors about dangerous side effects, surveillance and other conspiracies. The rise in false information about vaccines has had a marked impact on vaccination rates, with 1 in 4 Americans saying they are not planning to get vaccinated. Vaccine conspiracies can cause disturbances in the workplace, especially if employees are sharing misinformation or condemning employees who have chosen to get vaccinated. "It's distracting to others, and it has a real impact to some on their actions around the vaccines," said Elisabeth Joyce, vice president of advisory in the HR practice of Gartner, a research firm based in Stamford, Conn., that provides human resource consulting. Joyce said disputes over vaccines or company policies requiring employees to get vaccinated should be handled like other workplace disagreements, rather than treating them as a health or safety issue. "I ...

6 Products That Are Hard to Get Right Now

If you've found it harder to find ketchup for your burger or wood to build that deck you've always wanted, there's a reason. A combination of factors, including the global pandemic, severe winter storms and a hacking incident have caused massive disruptions to U.S. supply chains this year. The result is new shortages of some items, continued scarcities of others and rising prices. Leanne Greer, 50, is seeing this play out at the gas pump. She recently drove to three gas stations before finding a place to fill up near her home in Canton, Georgia. People concerned about gas shortages have flocked to the pumps, making the situation worse. "I think if people were just acting normal, this wouldn't have happened,” says Greer, who saw lines of more than 50 cars at gas stations in her area. Here's a look at what's currently hard to come by and why. 1. Gas Thousands of gas stations across the Southeast shut down recently after a group of hackers launched a cyberatt...

Remote Work Relocation Causes Headaches for Managers

Michael Alexis first noticed that a handful of his employees had moved to vacation destinations after several months into the pandemic. Alexis, who is the CEO of TeamBuilding, a game company based in Washington state, was enthusiastic about the flexibility offered by a virtual work environment, but soon encountered a slew of legal and tax challenges in employing workers across different cities, states and countries. "You need to know that even if your employee moved there and started working there and didn't tell you, you would still be accruing that liability," Alexis said. "It's very important to know where they are and what your responsibilities are as an employer." Alexis's employees are part of a growing number of workers choosing to relocate due to the flexibility of telecommuting. More than 1 in 10 Americans have moved during the pandemic, according to a survey from Zillow conducted online by the Harris Poll. The survey found that remote work was ...

COVID-19 Made It Even Harder For Unhoused Washingtonians To Find Bathrooms

Robert Turner used to use the bathroom at Starbucks locations and public libraries in the heart of D.C. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Turner, who is 41 and has lived on the street for five years, was shut out of his usual spots. “It’s been harder, and you ain’t got no resources during this,” he said while standing outside of Union Station on a recent day, holding his tent in one hand and his sleeping bag in the other. Turner sleeps in different places around the city on different days. He pitches his tent in parks, near office buildings, and outside Metro stations. For Washingtonians experiencing homelessness like him, the pandemic has made it even more difficult than normal to find public restrooms and places to wash oneself — at the very moment these residents need them most. In the spring, the public health emergency forced private businesses and government buildings to close for more than two months, limiting bathroom access for everyone. But the shutdown especially affected ...

Gone Fishing: D.C. Area Residents Turn To Bait And Tackle To Pass Time During The Pandemic

Mizanur Rahman, 47, has been going to East Potomac Park three times a week since losing his job in March due to the pandemic. There, instead of watching planes land at Reagan National Airport, as many visitors do, he angles for catfish in the Washington Channel with three different rods. “If I get a big enough fish, I take [it] home and then we cook,” says Rahman, who emigrated to D.C from Bangladesh. He says he turned to fishing over the spring to help feed his three children and spend time outdoors. “We have a lot of fish in my country, so I enjoy the fish — all of them,” Rahman says. Rahman is among various area residents who’ve taken up fishing during the pandemic, whether as first-timers or return fishers. It’s let them get out of the house while complying with social-distancing guidelines and, at least for now, seems to be growing in popularity, according to local fishing businesses and environmental experts. Sometimes, as Rahman well knows, it even results in dinner. Upper North...

Retirement Community Chef Gets Residents Chopping and Sautéing During Quarantine

The community dining room shut down. The café closed its doors. During the COVID-19 quarantine, residents at a Pennsylvania retirement community got all their meals delivered to their doorsteps, where they ate at home on their own to prevent a virus outbreak. The coronavirus put a stop to socializing around meals at The Hill at Whitemarsh in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. But executive chef Adam Ochs dreamed up the idea for a meal-kit service that could help residents prepare restaurant-quality food in their home kitchens and continue to feel engaged with their community. Calling it “Green Apron” as a play on the popular Blue Apron meal-kit delivery service, Ochs put together boxes of premeasured ingredients and instructional videos to help residents navigate broiling, dicing and sautéing. The July offering featured broiled halibut with green tomato salsa, mango-stuffed crepes and homemade granola. The goal was to provide residents with an activity to do at home, while still having...

Student Campaign Calls on GU to Combat Prison Industrial Complex

Georgetown University students launched a petition demanding the university divest its endowment from companies associated with the prison industrial complex Aug. 3. The petition, which has gathered 638 signatures as of Aug. 6, was drafted by leaders of the Georgetown University Prison Divestment Campaign, a student-led group advocating for greater transparency from university endowment managers to promote ethical investments. The campaign builds off of a student-led initiative in 2017 that resulted in the university’s board of directors agreeing not to invest in private prison companies. The petition asks the university to compile a report on the progress of the 2017 divestment pledge. It also calls on the university to divest from companies that use exploitative prison labor in their supply chains, as well as from corporations with business contracts that control prison necessities. The petition presents concrete demands that will help further the university’s commitment t...

Free Senior Grocery Delivery by Teen Volunteers Expands

After her husband and daughter both contracted the coronavirus in March, Lynda Better, 66, knew she could no longer risk grocery shopping. "I'm a senior and I have asthma, so I really can't go out to the stores,” Better says. “My husband's already had [COVID-19], so I'm just kind of scared." Fortunately for Better, who lives in San Diego, a volunteer delivery service called Teens Helping Seniors is making sure at-risk populations can stay at home while obtaining food and other critical resources. The organization, started by high school classmates Dhruv Pai, 16, and Matt Casertano, 15, in Montgomery County, Maryland, connects volunteers with nearby seniors to deliver groceries and medication free of charge. "I didn't really want my grandparents to have to go out and go to grocery stores and be in contact with a lot of people,” Pai says. “I thought, What if I can kind of be the intermediary so they don't have to put themselves at risk?" Grocer...

GUSA Pushes for Work-Study Reform, Evaluates Senate Diversity

The Georgetown University Student Association Senate passed a resolution urging Georgetown University to increase the number of employment opportunities available to students with Federal Work-Study awards during the upcoming fall semester. The senate resolution aims to help low-income and first-generation students receiving financial aid through the Federal Work-Study Program find jobs despite the reduction in employment opportunities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Common Georgetown work-study employers, such as the Student Guard Office and Residence Hall Offices, have substantially reduced hiring for the summer sessions, according to the resolution. Work-study positions are critical for students on financial aid, according to GUSA Senator Rowlie John Flores (COL ’22). “These Federal Work-Study positions are not only a source of income but also a source of relevant work experience for a lot of low-income people, especially those who can’t really afford to have an unpaid interns...