To be terrified of going back to work?

[Batmannequin]

I work for a well known DIY company that previously furloughed the majority of its staff in favour of a greatly reduced workforce during lockdown whilst the stores are closed (myself being a furloughed member of staff). Recently they've decided that they now will now in fact reopen to the public in a similar fashion to supermarkets. They have now un-furloughed me and expect me back in work. But I'm absolutely terrified! I've literally been leaving the house once a week to get the food shop and now I have to go back to regularly dealing with the general public. I'm so scared that I'm going to bring something back into the home and my family will become ill. We've had a close call with an extended family member who has been in hospital for over four weeks with covid-19, needing ventilator treatment, and the whole thing has freaked me out! He went from feeling a little bit ill to being on a ventilator within 24 hours. That's how quick it took him down. I just don't feel my line of work is that essential to risk mine and my family's health.

yanbu

It's ok to have concerns.

But, assuming you are under 50 and with no significant health problems, you are still more likely to die while driving to work.

I'm not trying to be glib about corona either.

Everything we do has risks.

Humans are really bad at calculating risk - we worry way more about very unlikely things (such as being in a plane crash) than we do about things that are much more dangerous (being in a car).

We underestimate the danger of doing things we do regularly - like being in a car - because they are familiar. And familiarity breeds contempt.

For all of us, this is a weird, unfamiliar situation. But it means we may take the plane crash fear approach when our chances are still very small.

Anxiety and stress are also risks to your health. It's important to try and find a way to manage them sustainably too. You won't be able to stay home for two years.

It's normal to be a bit worried.

You have gone shopping for food - those workers have had to carry on working through the lockdown

Unless you have other health factors or are past retirement age, you are more likely to die from a road traffic accident than CV19.

This is the new normal. It's life with one more risk factor.

YANBU to be worried. Rest assured the company has put some good safety measures in place. You will be safer now than you were in the week or 3 before furlough.

I can only speak from my own experience and I work in a GP surgery not in retail but I have actually found going in to work to be massively helpful for my mental health and anxiety levels. I work part time and find the days when I'm not in work I spend far too long on the internet, reading the news etc and generally working myself up into a bit of a state. I manage to more or less convince myself that the apocalypse is upon us and the end of the world is nigh but when I go into work and everything shifts back into perspective immediately - it's just business as usual. Apart from a few "logistical" changes and enormous bottles of hand sanitiser in every conceivable location, it is all reassuringly normal. My colleagues are the same friendly and jolly bunch they always are. The phone is still ringing, the prescriptions still need dispensing and life just goes on. Sometimes I could almost forget the dreaded virus even exists for a moment - even working in a GP surgery!

I hope that your return to work will not be as bad as you fear