To insist that my friend doesn't go back to work on Tuesday without a negative covid test result?

[RingPiece]

Teacher friend at a large inner city secondary school, says she's woken up feeling ill - sore throat, no sense of taste, temperature, shivers, etc. She's back to work on Tuesday. I've told her to get a covid test sent to her home and wait for the results before going back to work.

She said it's unlikely she'll get the test, send it back and get the results by Tuesday, as it's BH, and so will

'have to go in anyway , as it could just be a cold and I always go to work when I have a cold'

She also thinks she may be better by Tuesday.
Aibu in saying she really needs to get a test. Her school's huge and she'll come into contact with loads of staff on the Tuesday and then with the 90 children in her bubble on the Wednesday, not to mention all those commuters on her train and tube journey to and from the school.

@Duemarch2021

And i will add... she shouldn't be a teacher .. too thick

Oh but apparently teachers are too thick if they have concerns about safety in schools.

Who are all these people who insist on serious things for friends - medical tests, reporting to authorities, etc? So many on MN such privy to the minutiae of others' lives, it's uncanny .

@RingPiece

She feels bad as she's just had six weeks off. I do know where she's coming from, I used to teach and hated being off sick as I felt I should only be ill during half terms and holidays!...but things are different now.

I'm wanting to convince her by sending her the link to this thread if it pans out the way I want it to!

That's bloody ridiculous logic to be using.

Pre-covid it was a bit of a nuisance if staff were sick and trying to get people to fill in and many would rather that staff members with colds just came in and if they spread it around so what.

Now it's completely different. Staff are told not to come in. They could cause a massive cluster leading to the school closing and who knows..if there's a super spreader among them it could set the seed to a regional lockdown.

She's just being an idiot!

Fucking selfish twat. How can she be so blasé about putting people's lives at risk? Does she not care about her colleagues and the kids she teaches?

So she could pass it on to pupils/staff/their families

If it comes to light (which it will) they'll all have to self-isolate for 2 weeks and the disruption to all those families doesn't bear thinking about.

Is she stupid?

Perhaps she is just doing that thing of saying she can't possibly be off, hoping the other person will tell her she needs to be, and not to feel guilty? Dh and I do this when we're sick, if I was single I might do it with a friend as a sounding board.

There are loads of walk-in test centres in London. Results back in 8-12 hours. I've used them twice, as have other nursery parents (toddler coughs and colds).

Very straightforward, you get a half hour timeslot to arrive in, walk into a gazebo, get swabbed, walk back out again two minutes later, results emailed/texted same day or next morning.

There is no excuse not to use them, and I would be livid if I found out DS's teacher had active symptoms but came to school because they cba to get a test, would complain everywhere I could think of and do my best to get them sacked.

Ask your friend how she will feel if she kills one of her kids' parents, and then has to sit in a classroom with them for the rest of the year knowing what she's done to them. She has no idea whose parents are highly vulnerable.

I voted YABU. I agree that she should of course isolate until she has a negative test/follow gov't guidelines.

I think I took the vote too literally, my yabu vote was about the "insist" bit. Sorry.

She's back to work on Tuesday.

I did not know that any London secondary schools started staff on 1 September. London term dates are funny, though. How many staff have been in already, OP? Are there London secondary schools that started having kids in class last week, too?

Most secondary schools open to staff on 1 September. What's different about London?

(Leicester and Scotland are back already)

Ah, maybe my county is different. We're told inset days 3&4th & kids back in class 7 Sept.

Friend is at best thick (not ideal for a teacher) or a dick or a self centred cunt

Yes she definitely needs to get a test. Very irresponsible not to.

@Bridecilla

My dad took my step mum for a test on Wednesday because she had symptoms. They drove straight from the test car park to a carvery for lunch. I'm so angry and disappointed with them. They're 72 and 73, their irresponsibility throughout this epidemic has changed my views of them horribly

Omg...unbelievable!!

Definitely test. I did one last week on Wednesday (ordered on Tuesday morning) and I’d had the results emailed to me by Friday morning so more than enough time

Test. My employer (private company) has made it VERY clear what they think of people knowingly endangering others snd the business (i.e. knowingly coming in with symptoms and no negative test result). Hint: its not positive and very counterproductive to future employment. Basically you won’t be trusted ever again (unfortunately they can’t fire people for this).

The unpleasant and unkind responses are forgetting that for years many teachers have had it drilled into them that they cannot be off for any reason. Absence procedures are common and also capability for sickness. It was not the case that you can feel unwell = stay at home. This has included cancer patients and I’ve known several who have been managed out and/or their partners for requesting compassionate leave.

The system has been punishing and so the anxiety of been “off” is probably v real and as she if feeling unwell then unresolvable. Also if you miss the start the you don’t know what’s happening so it is likely to be causing huge anxiety

That being said OBVIOUSLY she should not go back without a test and I hope as a friend OP you help her with finding somewhere and supporting her not linking her to this thread where some of the responses are cruel and vicious.

Those of you who can call this teacher names, perhaps you should try empathy. More thoughtful and compassionate working practices, more protection for workers, might not have led to this poor woman feeling ill trapped and helpless.

In this situation I think I’d go full on interfering and find out who the headteacher is, then contact them and tell them she’s got symptoms and thinking of going in to work. Even if they’re not on social media they’ll be on linked in.

I’ve been to a drive through testing facility twice - each time I have gone to book and had an appt within 30mins and the results within 12 hours. It’s so much easier then home testing as you go and then you know the results the next morning at the latest.

Haven't RTFT but if she goes for a test today she'll have the results back by tomorrow.

There are walk in test centres in London. Look them up.

Why go to the headteacher?! Ffs crazy
She’s sick unhappy and feeling vulnerable - help her get a test and talk through with her how she’s going to tell the headteacher that she won’t be in.
Why not arrange groceries n food.
Be a friend not an informer for some sort of covid police state.

Even if it's not covid and it's 'just a cold'... She'll pass that cold, with those symptoms, on to others and then they'll need to take time out to go for a test etc etc. So it will still cause massive disruption.

I don't think this winter we can go soldiering on when we have bad colds.

I looked this up yesterday for a friend in a similar situation. The latest government guidance says that "Essential measures include: a requirement that people who are ill stay at home".

It does not specify which symptoms they have. Just that if you are ill, staff or student, you must stay off.

There are other sections dealing with testing etc. But basically if a person is unwell they must stay home.

As PPs have said, this is a huge culture change from the presenteeism endemic in British schools. Teachers must learn to rest when ill.

OP, I hope your friend feels better swiftly.

I am a teacher and in understand her fear but she is being very selfish, perhaps without realising.
I had a Covid test yesterday afternoon and have just had my test results (at 7am on a Sunday of BH weekend).
Tell her to get a test!