AIBU to refuse to be held prisoner at work?

[KitKat1985]

www.theargus.co.uk/news/18227689.fresh-suspected-coronavirus-case-nurses-mill-view-hospital-held-quarantine/?fbclid=IwAR3IShE3kLzzULNr8qVGu-31Bxf_n4YbOVlDL1mXfm6CgQAdK1-XtTXRFCo

I'm a nurse in this Trust. The nurses involved have apparently been refused the right to leave the building and have bee there since yesterday because they treated a patient with suspected coronavirus. This in my opinion is complete overkill and they are essentially holding the staff like prisoners. Even if they were unlucky enough to get coronavirus, they won't immediately get ill and be contagious anyway, so why not just let them go home (maybe with facemasks etc on) and quarantine them there?! There's no way anyone is keeping me from going home from work.

There's no way anyone is keeping me from going home from work

Good luck with that. Emergency legal powers are now in place to prevent you from doing just that thanks to a guy in Arrowparke threatening to leave quarantine.

Given that 2003 outbreaks of SARS in Singapore, Canada, Vietnam and Hong Kong were all linked directly to medical staff being exposed and subsequently infected, its a wise precautious until more is known about the disease. It might turn out to be very mild, but until then, being overly cautious is sensible.

The point is that medical staff are high risk of being infected, and this also puts their family at higher risk of then being subsequently infected and then spreading the disease.

Its draconian, and I'm normally not a fan of such authoritarian measures, but in this case do believe its a proportionate response.

If you are a nurse, please please please resign. We don’t need people who are that ignorant of the dangers of Covid19, working with vulnerable patients.

But its not about if it becomes a pandemic is it? Its about trying to prevent it becoming ine in the first place.

And if this does become a pandemic, where are we going to keep all the thousands of staff in quarantine?

Buildings like hotels will be seconded under emergency powers. Too much of a risk not to.

I think they have just changed the law so you dont have a choice now to self quarantine.

I feel you should be following the instructions given. It is a v difficult situation with your child's condition and for everyone in a quarantined situation but we are such a small over populated island I think we do need to take these precautions.

Okay, another question. It's all very well saying the staff should be quarantined, but there's still flights arriving every day from China and other heavily infected areas, and the majority of passengers arriving from there (Wuhan excepted) aren't being quarantined. Surely this is a much higher risk?

They said the corona virus can be transmitted before any symptoms appear. So you are being unreasonable. Your feelings are not as important as the safety of the entire community.

YABVVVVU

That’s how you run a quarantine. You are a nurse and yet you don’t know the basic rules of a quarantine? You also don’t seem to know the basic characteristics of the coronaviris which is highly contagious up to 2 weeks before any symptoms appear.

You don’t just send people home to infect their families. You restrict them to a hospital. As a nurse, working in a hospital, if the hospital comes under quarantine you are restricted and must stay in the hospital. Where you care for the sick or are cared for if you get sick.

You love your kids but you’d be happy to risk their lives because you don’t want to be in quarantine? Jesus wept.

I reiterate, if this does become a pandemic and the government chooses to quarantine every staff member exposed to he virus, there will literally be no staff to treat all the sick people. This isn't a workable solution

If this becomes a pandemic, you will be expected to wear protective gear, which you would know, since you will have had training in cross infection, etc, if you were actually a nurse.

The thing is though, if staff genuinely think that by going to work there's a risk they won't be allowed home again, a large number of staff are just going to start refusing to go to work. And then what happens? For some people not being allowed home just isn't an option. What if you are a lone parent for example?

there's still flights arriving every day from China and other heavily infected areas

They’re testing the passengers for the virus and not letting them on the plane if they are positive from what I read. They quarantined a cruise ship in Hong Kong because some passengers tested positive for it.

Please direct these questions to your boss.

If one of those nurses is a single parent (with no available family help eg widowed, no parents) and her children need collecting from the childminder, what happens then? That would be a huge bill from the childminder, who pays that? What if the childminder refuses/can't have them with her for 2 weeks? Go into temporary care?

Also most people here seem to be utterly missing the point that I'm not saying the staff shouldn't be quarantined. But you don't meet a patient with coronavirus and yourself become infectious a few seconds later. There's no need to be held in immediate quarantine and be unable to leave the immediate area.

I think you’re being unreasonable OP. Yes it would be a pain to have to be kept there for 2 weeks but surely you wouldn’t want your children/partner to get it?

It’s ok saying let people quarantine themselves at home but they most likely won’t di it properly. What if they felt ok and went out but they were still contagious? What if they have visitors that think the sane as you and that it’s ‘merely flu’? Then they go out infecting other people.

It would be a pain yes but for the greater good if others then it’s tough luck I’m afraid.

I’m quite shocked you’re being so blaze about it too to be honest. They aren’t doing it for fun so it must be worse than the flu!!!

Are you really a nurse?!

The risk of being caught in a quarantine is an occupational hazard of a nurse or doctor. You signed up for it when you decided to be a nurse.

Kind of like how soldiers in the armed forces risk being sent to combat zones. They too signed up for it and cannot just “refuse” to show up for deployment away from home.

Unlike a soldier, you can simply resign your job. Which has been suggested to you.

Please direct these questions to your boss

Exactly this ^

For Pete's sake! You are being utterly ridiculous in even considering arguing about quarantine. I don't imagine for a moment this is a decision which has been taken lightly.

Presumably part of your mandatory training is infection control? Maybe you should undergo the training again.

@KitKat1985, I don;t believe you are a nurse.
If you were, you would not miss the point so spectacularly -

If this does become a pandemic ...
Giant logic fail. The reason for quarantine is to do everything possible to prevent an epidemic, so your point -

... and you quarantine all the staff exposed (which would be thousands) who on earth do you think is going to look after the sick people?

• is moot unless there IS a pandemic. Which is less likely to happen if you STFU with your special pleading & do what medical science deems appropriate.

You have children you are willing to risk catching this virus? Look at the super spreader and how many he infected

I can’t believe you are a nurse, your attitude stinks

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily Yes but short of wearing hazmat suits all the time, and given that people are contagious before being symptomatic, most staff will be exposed to patients with coronavirus unwittingly before knowing they need to wear protective equipment. Which is exactly what has happened in this case.

You keep saying everyones missing your pony... I think you’re missing the point though OP!

I thought the police are now allowed to physically enforce a quarantine. So you have no choice but to stay in the hospital.

But I dont understand why you would want to put your children at risk by potentially exposing them to the virus.

Bee....I would imagine that social services would place children with foster careers if their parent(s) we’re stuck in a quarantine.

Pony.... point.... 😆