14 day isolation

[Alex50]

AIBU to think 14 day isolation isn’t going to work if you don’t get paid? If you are contacted through track and trace or your child has been sent home because someone in there bubble has tested positive. How are people going to manage if they can’t work?

Not everyone has savings because they can’t afford to save as they can just about pay there bills

Depends on what you mean by bills though. What some class as essential are not, some will want to live in x area, some will have chosen to have children, had a holiday etc. Adults make their own choices in life, many don’t feel the need to save or feel their choices shouldn’t cost them anything.

It’s common sense to save/cut back/overtime etc to ensure means are there for a period of self isolating. It’s been known since March. Nothing to do with ivory towers but personal responsibility, espwhen there are dependents.

Peoples reactions to quarantine are ridiculous. I’m sorry, but if you’ve been asked to quarantine, then you need to quarantine. You need to talk to your work place about how it will work for you, find out now before it happens and then plan ahead. Many workplaces will be understanding, although possibly not if you have chosen to go on holiday abroad.

People refusing to quarantine are the same sort of people who will be moaning about the government if we have another outbreak ‘not doing enough’, despite the fact they are asking people to behave and do what they can.

I know someone who had symptoms and refused to quarantine, it’s not okay. Getting really tired of people thinking they are above Covid, what will you do if you or your family catch it because someone else refused to quarantine? It could be a lot more than just 2 weeks off work then.

Just do what you’re asked to prevent other people from dying/getting sick/losing their jobs.

And I say that as someone on a shit wage, so nothing to do with being rich or sitting in an ‘ivory tower’.

The T & T system is relying on people to follow the rules and generally relying on goodwill. Unlike other countries where you could be arrested or shot if you break the quarantine rules. My sons girlfriend is Romanian, she came back here for her uni course last week and is isolating because she thinks someone is watching her. Where she comes from , they were. She had to agree to her phone being tracked and also her parents had to agree that they would tell the authorities if she left the house during her quarantine back in March. Lets just say that over there, if you say you will do something, you do it otherwise the reprisals are MUCH greater than they are here!! She can't believe how relaxed everyone is in England.

@AuditAngel report her please.

I don’t see how it can really work.
I work for the emergency services. If one of us gets it, the whole team would need to be off. This is literally not possible. Yet we come into contact with lots of people 🤷🏻‍♀️

It won't work.

People can't afford to take two weeks off work unpaid. Especially if then both adults need to take time off work - it's unsustainable. Particularly if you're self-employed - I mean, if I shut my business for two weeks while others in my area kept going, they would get my customers and I'd probably not get them back. That's just the way it would be.

We're doing our best to avoid busy areas. We've not gone into a restaurant to eat yet (we've had takeaways and sat outside though), we still get food deliveries so haven't been in supermarkets. But I've had to go to the post office to pay in my wages from my job. I need to go to the petrol station to fill up my car. It's unrealistic to expect people to just stay indoors for the next several years just so they don't have to self-isolate.

Besides, as people have said, children have to go to school. People have to work. We have to eat. You can't protect yourself forever. Life has to go on.

@morning17

You are assuming that track and trace actually contact you, but if so, YANBU.

Hahah! Exactly ....

@Blobby10 Sounds like the Romanians have the right idea. We had scarcely been out of our small town the past 5 months. We emerged Saturday for our England based holiday expecting masks everywhere, social distancing and track and trace lists in all restaurants and bars.

So far I can report that I've seen lots of efforts at cleaning and functional distancing (pubs/transport etc), half-hearted adherence to masks with no obvious challenge to non-wearers, laughable social adherence to SD and zero T&T.

I've only been out to eat twice since March. The first time the pub took the details from my mother who was booking for us, but said they didn't need mine.

The second time I booked online so the pub has my email and mobile number (and we sat outside anyway).

I also sat outside a cafe for lunch a few weeks ago and they said they were only taking details for inside tables.

So you’ve had it... you can get it again there's no hard evidence of that either way at the moment

We emerged Saturday for our England based holiday expecting masks everywhere, social distancing and track and trace lists in all restaurants and bars

There are masks everywhere, people are social distancing and track and trace lists ARE being used but not outside.

And if you only arrived on Saturday how would you have any idea at all whether anyone is using the T&T lists from the cafes or restaurants you have been to? It's far too soon.

Sorry but if you don’t want to isolate then don’t go out to places where you might come into contact with it. This is a pandemic, it’s up to everyone to make sure infections don’t rise again. If infections rise to high levels then there will be further lockdowns and you may be unable to work for longer than the two weeks and there will be no furlough or grant payments this time. So do you choose two weeks quarantine or a couple of months lockdown?

I work for the emergency services. If one of us gets it, the whole team would need to be off.

Not if you've been wearing a mask or face covering. I work in the NHS and the rules are that if you cannot be 2 metres apart you must cover your face, so in offices if you are not sitting 2 metres apart, all the time in corridors and shared areas etc. Precisely because they had to consider all staff in a team otherwise having to self-isolate if one got it.

@Racoonworld

Sorry but if you don’t want to isolate then don’t go out to places where you might come into contact with it. This is a pandemic, it’s up to everyone to make sure infections don’t rise again. If infections rise to high levels then there will be further lockdowns and you may be unable to work for longer than the two weeks and there will be no furlough or grant payments this time. So do you choose two weeks quarantine or a couple of months lockdown?

Don't be so ridiculous.

People could catch it at work, at school, on the bus, at the petrol station, in the post office or standing in a queue in Tesco. It's not feasible for everyone to stay inside except for necessities for the foreseeable future.

The economy has to get going again. We're already in a recession. We need people to get out and spend, not hide in their houses.

Sorry but if you don’t want to isolate then don’t go out to places where you might come into contact with it.

so basically, don't go to work???

Agree with you, OP. There is so much poverty in the UK, people stuck in low paid roles without the possibility to save up.

Some posters on here obviously have very sheltered existences if they cannot comprehend that not everyone can hide away from the outside world or has access to savings to cover quarantine periods.

You can get statutory sick pay if you have to self isolate www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-what-to-do-if-youre-employed-and-cannot-work#if-someone-you-live-with-has-symptoms-of-coronavirus.

Polly111

that is £95/week. How do you suppose someone without savings is going to cope with this? Esp with the possibility of having to isolate more than once?

That’s assuming track and trace work. Many people can work from home though. DH and I won’t have problems staying home for 14 days. We have both been WFH since early to mid March. There isn’t any immediate plan for our different companies to be back in the office until 2021.

[quote Polly111]You can get statutory sick pay if you have to self isolate www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-what-to-do-if-youre-employed-and-cannot-work#if-someone-you-live-with-has-symptoms-of-coronavirus.[/quote]
SSP isn't even £100 a week. How are people meant to survive on that?

But I never understood the going to the shop bit. I just don’t. I get groceries delivered for nearly 10 years now, and everything is easier to buy from the internet. I only go to the shops because I used to work in a town center. And even then I ordered a lot of stuff from online click and collect because they never have anything in stock.

Groceries is definitely cheaper if you don’t get it delivered. But a lot of other stuff is a lot cheaper on eBay and Amazon. Especially eBay. I wouldn’t vouch they pay VAT though or even any tax.