I think this is on the "panic" mode of the panic vs complacency debate. The odds are good for Tom Hanks. The odds are good for any individual person. The problem comes when (like in Italy) everything happens at once and the healthcare system becomes saturated.
I don't really think it is. My point to these guys was to save up their sick days and holiday days, because we'll probably all be told not to come in for a month at some point.
Oh you sweet summer child.
What the fuck man? I'm talking about advice I gave to people who work in the same room as me, for the same company as me. I'm assuming we all get the same leave entitlements, because it's in our workplace agreement, as well as being a legal requirement in this country. I never made a general point. "These guys", in the anecdote, are people who sit within a few meters of my desk. This is Australia where we have proper workplace agreements and conditions.
4 weeks paid vacation and 10 paid sick days a year is the
minimum legal standard here for a full-time worker. BTW here if you're classed as "casual" they have to pay you an extra $6 an hour (if you're minimum wage) to account for not getting those paid days off.
The company had a slight drop in available work (unrelated reasons) and was encouraging people to take paid leave (because they have to pay out your leave eventually anyway if you leave the job). But it was optional, they couldn't force or pressure you to take the leave, that would be illegal here. I said to the other guys it's best not to take the paid leave now because we may need it soon.
BTW - I ended up being sent to another office to help out, but they have some leftover people in the main office, and I visited there, and one of my colleagues is watching the entirety of Lord of the Rings trilogy during work hours. That's how much free time they have, on company pay. So they can't just cut people's hours because they're full-time employees, that's how it works here, so they told the guys "ok watch movies and shit". That's how it works in most advanced nations that aren't the USA.