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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

253 replies

RingPiece · 29/08/2020 22:37

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.

OP posts:
nosswith · 30/08/2020 09:17

Contact the headteacher please. Hopefully your colleague doesn't have the virus but still should have a test and check, and not go in until a negative result.

Taxis and some minicabs have screens so could help her get to the test centre.

CallmeAngelina · 30/08/2020 09:19

@lifeafter50

Is she hoping to get the school closed by infecting others? There a lot of people on here just gagging for schools to closeto avoid work so the can crow 'Told you so' -maybe she is one of those.
Really? You know lots of people like that? You need some new friends, I would suggest.
Bridecilla · 30/08/2020 09:21

My team (all teachers) were talking about this the other day. For years we've been expected in when ill. Getting cover is unbelievably hard under normal circumstances and it's going to be a big shift for teachers to ring in sick with cold symptoms.

Of course she should get a test but how many people replying haven't thought about the logistics of 1 teacher being off?

If I was off next Thursday for example - my whole team have full timetables but I'd need cover in the first week back for this:

9.00 - 1.5 hour Functional Skills induction and lesson in building 1 on floor 4 (1 person per lift so make sure cover person is mobile and can use the stairs)

10.45 - GCSE imduction and lesson. Same building but floor 2. Some of those students will be previous FS learners, some will be November re-sit candidates so will need both explaining

Lunch is erm... sit somewhere outside maybe. No office space because of covid. I'll need to set online flipped learning work for 3 classes at some point in the day. Probably from my phone.

Afternoon is 3 hours teaching an adult group. I'm their personal tutor so they'll need loans and meal vouchers explaining

I've also got a night class.

Genuinely - how does my boss (who is also timetabled for classes) sort cover for that?

Obviously we have to manage it some how and nobody should be going to work with symptoms but those saying she is a selfish cow need to realise that all of that will be running through her head too.

itispersonal · 30/08/2020 09:22

Unfortunately schools and other work places are going to have to get used to staff taking days off and waiting for coronavirus test results before they can return to work.

Individuals and work places have a duty to be responsible for this and not making people feel guilty or they are skiving whilst they are waiting for results.

If society is to return to a ' normal ' this is part of the new normal and better to have 2 days off, than 14 days as should be isolating!

CallmeAngelina · 30/08/2020 09:23

If she’s in London she might be wrong about the start of term as London schools I think start back on Wednesday.

Who do you think is more likely to know the date for their return to work? A random person on the internet who "thinks" London schools start back on Wednesday? Or, you know, the actual staff member whose job it is?

Doobydoo · 30/08/2020 09:25

Of course she needs a test and negative result before she goes to work. I am waiting for results of mine.I have bern u able to work 2 x 12 hour shifts ( nurse in care home)..I do not get sick pay or any pay..( might get ssp but that depends etc). It is the 2nd time since March I have had to do this. It is going to happen to people more than once.

Piggywaspushed · 30/08/2020 09:25

life, that is an utterly utterly reprehensible thing to say.

SoupDragon · 30/08/2020 09:25

@CallmeAngelina

If she’s in London she might be wrong about the start of term as London schools I think start back on Wednesday.

Who do you think is more likely to know the date for their return to work? A random person on the internet who "thinks" London schools start back on Wednesday? Or, you know, the actual staff member whose job it is?

Also, teachers tend to go back a day or so earlier and the students have an inset day(s).
borntobequiet · 30/08/2020 09:28

This reply has been deleted

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CallmeAngelina · 30/08/2020 09:30

Inkpaperstars: "If this is the attitude of even a small minority of teachers, I predict schools will be closed again by October."

Just teachers? Far more likely that it would be a student sent in with Covid (not least because there are many more of them) than a staff member.

NameChange84 · 30/08/2020 09:31

I’m sorry but your friend is a dick.

She knows that they are Covid symptoms.

She knows the advice is to stay home and isolate and get tested.

She plans on possibly infecting a huge number of people. Vulnerable people could die as a result of her spreading her germs, which sound like Covid, around.

She’s either selfish or she doesn’t have enough intelligence to leave the house in the morning. And she’s a teacher? Preposterous.

CallmeAngelina · 30/08/2020 09:31

@Piggywaspushed

life, that is an utterly utterly reprehensible thing to say.
You sound surprised! Grin
borntobequiet · 30/08/2020 09:32

Term dates as published are for 195 days of schooling. Inset days (5) can be scheduled anytime, and term dates will include an Inset day at the beginning of the school year (if scheduled) when teachers are in but students are not. So if the term dates are Wed 2nd - whenever, Wed 2nd would be the Inset day, not Tue 1st.

changemynameok · 30/08/2020 09:33

I would explain that you understand her anxiety and guilt about calling in sick but that it is a different time now so if she doesn’t call in sick, you’ll have no choice but to contact the school yourself. Awful position to be in but we have a child at school with leukaemia whose siblings will be attending plus others who would be in the high risk group. It would be a matter of life and death for those people. Could she really have this on her conscience?

CallmeAngelina · 30/08/2020 09:33

Mind you, it's interesting that lifeafter50 is critical of teachers potentially spreading the virus when she has made her views about mask-wearing so very clear.

motherrunner · 30/08/2020 09:34

@borntobequiet I am a teacher my Inset day is a Tuesday, plus not all schools have Inset on the ‘first day back’. I’ve worked in places where we have taught immediately.

FredaFox · 30/08/2020 09:34

I ordered my test on a Wednesday, came by amazon Thursday and sent it back the same day, got my results on the Sunday.
She’s being irresponsible

CallmeAngelina · 30/08/2020 09:35

@borntobequiet

Term dates as published are for 195 days of schooling. Inset days (5) can be scheduled anytime, and term dates will include an Inset day at the beginning of the school year (if scheduled) when teachers are in but students are not. So if the term dates are Wed 2nd - whenever, Wed 2nd would be the Inset day, not Tue 1st.
Actually, our school's term dates aren't shown that way. The letter alwasy says "term starts on x date" with no mention of the Inset day that may be on the preceding day. It has led to confusion for staff before now.
Streamingbannersofdawn · 30/08/2020 09:36

She obviously needs to get a test. Its not her fault that you need to wait for results. The school will have to manage, they will know this is the way it is going to be.

Unfortunately I do feel that we have all been told over the years to go in to work unless you have lost a limb. Its a source of great anxiety for a lot of people when they need to be off. I know the worry i'll face if this happens to me...i'll do the right things but I am dreading it happening. (Early years).

Piggywaspushed · 30/08/2020 09:41

Gosh, with lifes ideas that half the teachers are rabidly deliberately infecting everyone, the other half are off with feigned anxiety and all university students should be free to go off and party like it's 2019, she really will be the only teacher left in the UK education system and every school and university will be closed.

borntobequiet · 30/08/2020 09:43

Term dates as published by LAs always show the actual term dates. Schools may simply notify parents of when students are expected to be in. But regardless of this, there’s a worrying narrative developing on the lines that if it transpires that opening schools accelerates the spread of the virus, it will be the fault of “irresponsible” teachers, not poor Government decisions and the failure of the “world-beating” Track n’ Trace system.
I think my posts have been misinterpreted because over-nuanced. I work in FE and believe me, if schools are going to be a problem, FE is going to be a much bigger one.

noblegiraffe · 30/08/2020 09:45

I thought FE was allowed rotas, born?

YoBeaches · 30/08/2020 09:45

So what's she gonna do OP? Has she called 119 at all?

CallmeAngelina · 30/08/2020 09:46

@Piggywaspushed

Gosh, with lifes ideas that half the teachers are rabidly deliberately infecting everyone, the other half are off with feigned anxiety and all university students should be free to go off and party like it's 2019, she really will be the only teacher left in the UK education system and every school and university will be closed.
Unfortunately, she won't be able to single-handedly save us all, as she left the state system some time ago. And will resign rather than wear a mask
fuzzyduck1 · 30/08/2020 09:52

She would be my friend for very long if she done that.