Work colleague is an absolute knob

[Singlebutmarried]

I work in a small office (enough separate rooms for each staff member so distancing all good)

I’ve been WFH since the beginning of March as I’m immuno compromised.

Colleague messages yesterday saying someone that they have been walking with has tested positive, they have taken a test and should they stay at home til they get the results.

Erm. Yes.

There’s no guidance on NHS England for contact with a non household member, there is on NHS Scotland which advises isolating for 14 days even if negative due to potential incubation period.

Twat colleague has tested negative and is now back in the office.

It doesn’t affect me at present, but it bloody will do if he does have it and takes down the rest of the office with him.

He’s a total dick isn’t he.

There’s nothing I can do about it either, he just doesn’t want to work from home.

[imsooverthisdrama]

He's done nothing wrong he had a test and tested negative.
If he's a twat and you don't like him that's a different issue entirely.

[Singlebutmarried]

Aaaand Sophie on the bbc has just said when the track and trace is up and running if you’ve been in contact you’ll be advised to get tested and isolate for 14 days.

[Singlebutmarried]

Yes. The manager is in the WhatsApp group. It’s a small company.

[HappyHammy]

what a strange thing to do, I wouldn't want to be part of some online group chat that gives out personal info, the manager is obviously aware of the situation then so it's up to him to decide what, if anything, needs to be done.

[AnnaMagnani]

It's up to your manager.

You are working from home, you aren't going to be within 2m of him at any point in the next 14 days.

It isn't up to you to manage the Occ Health of the company and the other employees.

And yes in the NHS probably no-one would have been in the slightest interested, he wouldn't even have had a test in the first place and anyone with a negative test is straight back at work.

[saraclara]

I don't understand a lot of posts here. If you've been in contact with someone with Covid, you don't need to be tested straight away. It would be pointless. And again, being tested a day, two days, three days after contact with them will almost certainly be negative, though symptoms might show up two or three days later. That's why isolating for 14 days is required.

I feel like I'm posting this stuff into the void. No-one seems to understand what an incubation period is, or what isolating is for and about. How can lockdown have been going on for two months and people still not know this stuff?

[Singlebutmarried]

Thank you @saraclara.

That’s my understanding of it.

I don’t know how he managed to get a test quickly, but he did.

I think he should be WFH for the 14 days to be in the safe side. Not putting the rest of the office at risk (not to mention all the people in the shops he’ll no doubt visit to but his lunch daily)

[TriangularRatbag]

Who exactly is the knob??

[Eckhart]

So, the test result is only valid if you have symptoms? @Saraclara

I genuinely have no concept of the testing protocol, I've had no call to, as I've been social distancing and had no symptoms. But you're not posting into the void here: I'd actively like to know. I didn't realise that you could be tested negative but still be positive. When is the test viable and when not?

[highmarkingsnowbile]

That's for your manager to decide, not you. You're on a mission to punish this guy and force him do what you want him to do. Well, you're not the boss here.

[saraclara]

@Ekhart it's possible to have covid without symptoms of course. But generally tests are only done if you're symptomatic.

No-one will approve you to have an NHS test the day after a single contact with someone with the virus. It's too early for your body to have shown any reaction to the virus that can be tested.
You'll only show positive in a test once the virus in your body had had time to incubate and multiply. That generally takes five days, though apparently the range is 3-12 days.

[Eckhart]

Thank you @SaraClara I appreciate you taking the time to respond fully, and consider myself better informed, now.

[saraclara]

Thanks for taking the time (and wanting) to inform yourself, @Eckhart! It's not often that someone asks for information in a MN thread!

[saraclara]

For the OP and anyone who comes into contact with an infected person

If you get the nasal/throat swab or saliva test, you will get a false negative test result:

100% of the time on the day you are exposed to the virus. (There are so few viral particles in your nose or saliva so soon after infection that the test cannot detect them.)
About 40% of the time if you are tested four days after exposure to the virus.
About 20% of the time if you develop symptoms and are tested three days after those symptoms started.
This possibility of a false negative test result is why anyone who has symptoms that could be due to COVID-19, or has been exposed to someone known to be infected, must isolate even if they test negative for coronavirus.

From the Harvard website

[Veterinari]

Why would you follow the rules for Scotland if you are in England?

Because England hasn't bothered to develop advice for this situation and I'm reasonable confident that viral epidemiology does change across the border

[Eckhart]

Because England hasn't bothered to develop advice for this situation and I'm reasonable confident that viral epidemiology does change across the border

You're right, but the legal interpretation of the science does change across the border. We'd all be in a bit of a mess if we got to choose which country's legal system we wanted to adhere to.

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

@saraclara I feel like I'm posting this stuff into the void. No-one seems to understand what an incubation period is, or what isolating is for and about. How can lockdown have been going on for two months and people still not know this stuff?

People do understand about these things. Those who responded did so without any knowledge of why the colleague’s friend took the test (did he himself have symptoms or was he Living with someone displaying symptoms?), was he symptomatic when he went walking, didnthey keep 2 metres apart at all times, and how long after he’d been walking with OP’s colleague did he wait before he took the test, and how long after THAT did OP’s colleague did his own test?

Too many unanswered questions so in the absence of info, anyone who answered has probably done what I did And assumed there has been a time gap since the colleague was in contact with his walking friend, and taking his own test, enough to build in the incubation period required for a positive result.

[Singlebutmarried]

I don’t know the time between the tests but he was at work as normal on Friday and then back in on Tuesday (tested Sunday).

Under the guidelines issued yesterday he would be required to stay at home for at least 7 days having tested negative.

He’s refusing to. He refused to wfh when the edict to work from home if you can came in (even though we all can).

I’d love to be able to go back into the office and work normally, after nearly 12 weeks I am missing it terribly.

However, I don’t think I’ll be able to return for some time as he doesn’t want to follow the guidelines.

I agree with posters up thread that it’s very much a management issue and he needs to have it spelt out a bit more what is and is not acceptable.

I need to be back in the office at some point soon to carry on with my training (can do a certain amount at home but get much more out of it if I can bounce ideas off of another colleague who does the job I’m going to be doing soon).

I just want to be able to work safely. Which I should be able to do.

[Applesarenice]

I took a test which was negative and in the message when I was told it wa a negative it says very clearly ‘you can stop isolating. You can go back to work’

[Singlebutmarried]

Seems the goal posts have moved since then. It’s no wonder it’s all confusing

[Applesarenice]

How frustrating - I only got that message at the end of last week. No wonder no one knows what on Earth is going on

[ArgumentativeAardvaark]

I still don’t understand how he got a test. The nhs test criteria are crystal clear - you must have symptoms to get a test.

[ArgumentativeAardvaark]

And under new track and trace, if you are contacted because you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive you still don’t get a test.

[Singlebutmarried]

@ArgumentativeAardvaark I don’t know how he got a test. Other colleague has mooted that he’s doing it for attention, he’s also apparently had a strop because other colleague won’t share pens with him.

He also got test results within 48 hours, so there’s a lot of things now not ringing quite true.