AIBU about Coronavirus and my colleague?

[Honsandrebels]

A colleague is due back in the office today from 10 days in Beijing. AIBU to be nervous that they may be infected with Coronavirus? My DD almost died from pneumonia as a baby and has damage to one lung, so am terrified about her contracting something like this. I think I am being U as realistically she could come into contact with it anywhere. But this is a person I know who has been in China the whole length of the outbreak. Ideally I would want to work from home until the colleague is 14 days clear, to protect my DD. Even writing this I am pretty sure I am being U. But opinions appreciated.

[londoncanyouwait]

Also, the Chinese authorities were apparently arresting people and deleting social media posts which were talking about the crisis.
The governments figures cannot be trusted on this.

[Cam77]

Given the size of China and that the Chinese government is taking all reasonable measures to contain the spread, the chance of your colleague having the virus is small. But I’m not overly impressed with the steps the British government has taken and the speed it has reacted to the crisis. Seems to be a “oh well if it turns up here and kills a few people we’ll deal with it then”.
@londoncanyouwait
No they can’t. But it’s also a case that they have far greater priorities than doing head counts of confirmed diagnoses. Everyone in China is aware that the actual number certainly runs into the tens likely hundreds of thousands. The complacency is over here and elsewhere in the West.

[MrsDrSpencerReid]

Another Aussie here, yep our government has stated that children that visited China over the holidays are not to return to school for two weeks.
School here goes back this week after our summer holidays.

YANBU

[Comenext]

Some of you ought to read this article:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_SARS_outbreak
I think it speaks for itself.
China has not stopped eating meat from wild animals, even after this outbreak. They should be ashamed of themselves!

[Bunnyfuller]

I wouldn’t say a handful of cases dotted over 10 countries is ‘spreading’. We have only seen 1 P2P transmission outside China.

I appreciate your worry, but firstly it’s way too early to be thinking in those terms. Secondly, if it does get going here, there will be a multitude of ways to be exposed. Until the Govt sees the need for a robust approach (remember, we have ZERO cases) then I think you are massively over reacting. At most they could offer her 2 weeks gardening leave. The media are doing a great job scaring people.

[MissPoldark]

We’ve had this hysteria before, over SARS, Ebola, swine flu and none of it came to anything.

Just because you weren’t affected it doesn’t mean none of those things “came to anything”.
It’s without effective quarantine & prevention measures that makes it more likely to come to something. This isn’t hysteria.

[rwalker]

go to union duty of care for safe work place. There are 4 of you so there should be strength in you action can you all work in different building.

[Booboostwo]

If he does have coronavirus he will spread to his family, his office, his children's school, anyone near him on the plane, bus, train, his sports club, his local pub, his supermarket, etc. So the chances of avoiding it if you live in the same area as him and have multiple possible points of contact are very small.

Then again the chances of him having coronavirus are minuscule.

[MissPoldark]

China has not stopped eating meat from wild animals, even after this outbreak.

It’s not so much the eating of the meat from wild animals. The problem is keeping them caged up in markets close to other wild animals, where they don’t belong with poor welfare & hygiene practices.
I can’t help feeling irritated that while China has made so much economic progress and invested so much into things like infrastructure and high speed rail they’ve turned a blind eye to more basic fundamental stuff.

[Skyejuly]

I do think the Chinese government are down playing statistics else the city would not be in lockdown. That said we can't avoid it forever...it will be here soon and unless we go in to lockdown there's not much we can do.

[CatteStreet]

I'm with Bunnyfuller. Your employer may choose to request he/she doesn't come in (I would not expect him/her to have to incur any financial loss from that), but I don't think you can insist on it.

(Back in the swine flu outbreak I had people muttering I should go back home when I returned to work after having it - having almost certainly picked it up from an over-eager intern who didn't stay away from the place when he should have done )

[MarieFromStTropez]

My son's school sent out an email today saying that any children returning from China need either a Medical Certificate saying they are free from Coronavirus or they have to stay home for 14 days.

I think this is very sensible and should be adopted at workplaces also.

[GreenTulips]

the media are making a circus out of the whole thing

China closing cities isn’t news worthy?

Cities didn’t get shut for flu, they didn’t start building mass hospitals.

2000 extra doctors drafted in? Doesn’t add up does it?

[Penyu]

Friends teaching at international schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou have all been told not to return to China and schools are shut until Feb 17.
I am in another Asian country, high Chinese population and our school has said today that anyone that traveled to China over the last holiday (CNY) is to declare it to school and remain home in quarantine.
Face masks have sold out here now.
We are all watching with trepidation.

[myself2020]

Where in china was he exactly? china is massive, if he wasn’t in any of the regions where cases have been diagnosed i would not be concerned. china is really big, it would be a bit as being concerned to visit scotland if a virus has been found in spain!

[minisoksmakehardwork]

@Honsandrebels - I understand your concern. I suspect you are not as worried about regular flu as your DD likely gets the flu shot to protect her from known viruses. This one is unknown and can be spread before symptoms show so naturally you are wary and your colleague has travelled to an area with known cases.

There also may be a bigger underlying issue from what you have written that this member of staff just isn't much of a team player and anyone else returning from china would think of others as well as themselves but this person is an 'I'm alright jack so stuff everyone else' type.

I don't think you would be unreasonable to ask for your colleague to remain home for 14 days when there are more people in the office who would suffer if the virus was brought in, however I don't know how likely your company is to agree to it. Therefore also not unreasonable with your dd's condition to ask to work from home yourself, or take dependents leave, if the colleague does return to work. At this time of year there are so many coughs and colds around that as soon as your colleague so much as sniffs, everyone is going to be increasingly paranoid that its not just a regular cold bug they have got.

[Cam77]

@misspiggy19
Thanks for that bit of casual racism.

[Cam77]

The whole country, the world’s largest population and second largest economy has come to an absolute standstill. Every major tourist attraction is closed. Entire cities cordoned off. Elsewhere, all major pedestrian streets cordoned off. Nobody going to work, travelling. And apparently it’s a “media circus”. FFS.

[Valenciaoranges]

Boarding schools - most have been back 3 weeks so irrelevant point

[wrongsideofhistorymyarse]

One of my friends is in Nanjing, about 600km from Wuhan. He says the city is pretty much on lockdown. He and his girlfriend are hoarding food and water and staying in their flat. It's forbidden to go without a face mask. Schools are closed for the time being.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

If your colleague has been in any of the affected provinces, then absolutely they should be stay at home.

I'm in two minds about Beijing. There are only a small number of reported cases there. If I were an employer, I'd be considering whether it would be possible for them to work from home.

[TheGlaikitRambler]

Our uni has asked the lecturers just back from Wuhan to stay at home for 2 weeks.

[Cam77]

@SNewey
I have a Chinese friend who is doing A-levels in London. She had a bit of a cough and she overheard a teacher complaining rather loudly to another teacher behind her back that she must have brought the virus back from China during the winter break and shouldn’t be in school. (Actually she went to Liverpool for a winter break and had caught a cold).