No apologies needed. We need a little humor right now!
That‘s great you are back at work! But how did a hospital lay anyone off, even volunteers in the last 437 days?
They didn't feel comfortable with us old people being there. Too high a covid risk. We weren't laid off just furloughed until it was safe enough to come back at our own discretion. I was vaccinated almost 3 months ago. Our numbers have gone down. If there is a big reverse then we will be furloughed once again. Several of the volunteers have decided to not come back for various reasons. Some don't feel comfortable wearing a mask the entire time, some just aren't comfortable with coming back yet. Various reasons. My office is a one person office, I have a clear shield barrier between me and the public and daily get a new medical grade mask to wear.
When we were gong the front line people had to pick up the slack that we volunteers handled. It really wasn't all that difficult in the long run. No more coming and going for people. Patients could have one and only one person with them for procedures/treatments. No visitors for in hospital patients.
We have good wifi that is free so face timing for patients to family and friends was no problem. Also we were not one of the two covid centers. Only two hospitals handled all of the covid cases in the county.