Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Staff testing positive

76 replies

Boo65 · 22/12/2021 23:50

I run a pub with a very small team. Two staff have tested positive in two days, I think this is the beginning for us. Would i be being unreasonable to think that it's just 'a cold' what happened 3/4 years ago.... you just got on with it. These are young people in their late 20's. This is what is going to close businesses, not a lockdown!

OP posts:
Original poster
Boo65 · 23/12/2021 08:44

@Bunnyfuller

You sound a lovely boss.
I am Grin
OP posts:
Original poster
Boo65 · 23/12/2021 08:45

@sst1234

OP, you won’t get any rational responses on here. Unfortunately the hysterical Covid crowd will come out to tell you that you are evil for thinking this way.
I just found that out, Thankyou Daffodil
OP posts:
ssd · 23/12/2021 08:47

Sounds like another journalist looking for a story for their shitey paper

Original poster
Boo65 · 23/12/2021 08:50

@BlueBooby

I agree with you op and my df has had to close his hospitality business temporarily due to the number of staff having to isolate because of a positive test. Not because they're too ill to work, most of the affected have no symptoms. That's on top of what's been an already extremely difficult year for the business. He has a lot of connections in the industry and I know many of them are also finding things a real struggle. I really feel more lives are being ruined by these restrictions than by covid itself. Not to mention the anxiety so many people have about a disease that is unlikely to do them harm. Worrying because they stood too close to someone on the bus etc is not healthy or good for people either.

It just isn't dangerous for the vast majority of people, no matter what variant but especially the new one it appears. Even those who do feel really rough with it are unlikely to end up with their life at risk because of it. I know it is more dangerous for a minority of people, but that's true for many illnesses and it's just how life is. I'm sure someone will think I am heartless but I have severe asthma and am clinically underweight due to an eating disorder*, both of which put me more at risk of serious illness with covid. I still believe our covid rules and restrictions are the wrong thing.

I also wonder what is the long term plan? Not necessarily the government's plan, but the people who agree with the restrictions etc, what do they see as the future? Is there a point where you'd be willing to just put down your masks and go back to normal? The majority of people who want to be vaccinated have been vaccinated and the virus isn't going to magically disappear.

Thankyou. It's the same for me, I can see myself ending up having to close. One girl worked yesterday and is completely fine, but tested positive last night Confused

People suggesting I don't care and that I'm a bad boss are being ridiculous. I'm just saying that people still went to work a few years ago 'with a cold' which essentially this is.

OP posts:
Original poster
Boo65 · 23/12/2021 08:52

@nordica

It might be mild for the young employees but what about your older customers, pregnant women, or anyone with other health issues?

Hopefully your attitude towards food hygiene isn't this bad too if you'd be happy for a virus to be spread like this.

Merry Christmas Grin
OP posts:
angieloumc · 23/12/2021 08:54

Why the snarky comments OP, you posted on AIBU?

twelly · 23/12/2021 09:00

Sadly the rules mean that they have to isolate - but I think that we should be treating covid as any other illness, with illnesses you only stay at home if you are feeling ill. People are asymptomatic with many illnesses and therefore they carry on with everyday life - even when ill with colds we go to work and only take time off if we are too ill to do our job. We need in my view to get back to this situation with covid , otherwise this current climate will continue for ever and might well spill over into how we treat other contagious diseases such as a cold. Having people isolate who perfectly fine or near enough fine but who have a positive test result in my view is not sustainable option as is being proved.

curlymom · 23/12/2021 09:07

So you run a business and question government imposed rules. Can’t see this going well. YABU

notimagain · 23/12/2021 09:11

@twelly

Sadly the rules mean that they have to isolate - but I think that we should be treating covid as any other illness, with illnesses you only stay at home if you are feeling ill. People are asymptomatic with many illnesses and therefore they carry on with everyday life - even when ill with colds we go to work and only take time off if we are too ill to do our job. We need in my view to get back to this situation with covid , otherwise this current climate will continue for ever and might well spill over into how we treat other contagious diseases such as a cold. Having people isolate who perfectly fine or near enough fine but who have a positive test result in my view is not sustainable option as is being proved.
You are probably going toes flamed for that by some but I think you have a point.

OK, yes, NHS resources need protecting but OTOH if businesses start going to the wall in increasing numbers and national tax take lowers, perhaps meaning more benefits need paying, there will also be consequences for the NHS.

There’s going to have to be a compromise of some sort.

SoupDragon · 23/12/2021 09:14

I'm just saying that people still went to work a few years ago 'with a cold' which essentially this is.

Except it isn't "essentially a cold" 🙄

maybe it will be one day but not yet.

Brownpigeon · 23/12/2021 09:17

I agree, OP.

So do my family and vulnerable grandparents.

If people are infected with Delta, they're likely to feel more rough (based on what we know at the moment), so would surely stay at home. If it's milder, like a cold, then they could stay off or work.

In my previous role in healthcare, the most common but contagious thing patients would come in with was a cold. It never stopped them coming in. They never cancelled their appointment. If they felt rough with flu, they'd cancel.

I hope this is what happens in future. How can we carry on with the isolation rules indefinitely?

JohnSmithDrive · 23/12/2021 09:22

These young people need to do the right thing, I'm sure they're just as gutted as you are, but I think you're right (hopefully) before long, it will be established that this variant s dominant and is so much less dangerous that people well enough to work can continue to do so.

Meantime, yes it's staff absence, not the illness itself that is causing all the problems.

Natty13 · 23/12/2021 09:24

How confused are you? Look at the stats, nobody is dying from this variant. It's essentially a cold

Hey if your business closes down there are vacancies in my hospital for people with your strategy and logic!

My local ICU is full, all covid. If someone needs an ICU bed and doesn't have covid we have to phone round and find them a hed somewhere, often somewhere without the specialist teams at that hospital the patient needs to be admitted under. We could really do with the extra pair of hands you could offer working out the logistics of this day after day.

We are also having to redeploy non trained staff from other departments. Theatres have now closed for all elective operations, and we are struggling to slot people in for emergency procedures too.

We have been in this for nearly TWO YEARS. Why are people not getting that you need to listen to what hospital trusts are saying - we can not provide any kind of service with no staff and we have no staff if they all keep catching covid because morons who don't do any kind of related work think they know better because "it's just a cold". Jesus Christ.

ChotaPeg · 23/12/2021 09:32

I am not sure what you want from this thread OP?

My local pub closes (and deep cleans) when their staff test positive. They make this well known via sm. It makes me more likely to support them as it communicates that they're taking this seriously.

luckylavender · 23/12/2021 09:42

@Boo65 - it's really not a cold. The whole world isn't wrong.

Holdingontonothing · 23/12/2021 09:43

Thing is, it's not just about dying or not. It's about the long term health impacts of long covid too. So while your young staff might be OK, others may suffer long term health and financial consequences if its passed to them.

But yes, there does need to be more government support for sectors as this carries on.

Artichokeleaves · 23/12/2021 09:58

If we go with 'let it rip, it's just a cold', (and people are pressured to come in and work whether ill or not) this is known to be highly contagious.

So from your infected staff, a high proportion of your customers will probably get it.

They'll pass it on to whoever they come in contact with.

And as people keep pointing out: a percentage of people who catch this will need hospital beds, and it will be serious. If a large percentage of the population are currently ill, then the percentage of those in hospital will be more than the NHS can cope with. Not to mention the hospitals, fire services, police etc having a lot of people off sick who haven't got the mild end version. The people who will die will not just be the few with extreme end covid, but the people having heart attacks, strokes, car accidents, births going wrong, people stuck for days in casualty. People who needn't have died had we not had the entire country off sick at the same time.

Why isn't hospitality closed? Because the govt haven't got the money or nerve for another lockdown and are hoping that the minimal stuff in place like the isolating stops it going so mad there's a serious problem. It's Johnson's MO. Wait and wait until he's absolutely sure all hell has broken loose so it takes 3-4 months to pick up the pieces again.

There aren't any easy answers, and it's shit. We get this.

jumpbounce · 23/12/2021 10:09

Some hospitality owners haven't conducted themselves in good light throughout this and I would assume you are one of those OP.
The result of views like this as one restaurant nearby me who decided to post very similar views on social media, is that no one wants to eat in their restaurant and they are now complaining that footfall is down and they are taking no bookings... I wonder why?Hmm..most people aren't going to eat in a restaurant that fails to see the seriousness of a situation that covid positive waitresses would lead to for many people choosing to eat there.

I worked in hospitality for 15 years and thankfully managed to get out, given how staff are generally treated with zero hour contracts, no sick pay etc and that was long before covid ever arrived so I'm not completely clueless about it.

mumwon · 23/12/2021 10:27

The reason why covid is mutating so rapidly is because so many people are spreading it - & the new version omicron is more contagious & the reason the death rate is lower is because of vaccination/boosters.
But as I have said so many times, death rate is not the only concern. Any hospitalization or contagion within hospital causes serious ripple down affects on both individuals being treated, the system & long term health affects post covid.
We do not yet know how many people will have long term health conditions & these will include previously healthy & younger working age people.
The reason so many may not die is because medical treatment through previous experience with covid has been improved & we have more effective drug regimes -

PineappleWilson · 23/12/2021 10:38

This is why the guidance now is to self isolate if you get it, but do a LFT on day 6 and 7 as a "get out of isolation early" card. The NHS, public transport etc. will also grind to a halt with everyone isolatingfor 10 days.

DeepaBeesKit · 23/12/2021 10:40

Yanbu.there will come a point where isolation is no longer imposed and we are already inching towards it.

DailyMailHater · 23/12/2021 10:44

The new variant isn’t as harsh and less people admitted to hospital with but you don’t know what variant they have, the other variants still exist.

LittleBearPad · 23/12/2021 10:49

Obviously I know that, and as an employer have done the right thing. I'm just saying that all the science is saying it's not serious as in hospitalisation. The whole country will grind to a halt if something isn't done sharpish

Well the obvious thing to do is close hospitality back down. Would that work for you OP? I assume not.

All the science isn’t saying that - initial data suggests that as you no doubt picked up from the front of the daily mail but it is more transmissible and if 2 times as many people get it even if hospitalisation is required 50% less the same number of people have to be hospitalised as with delta. So things are no better.

DaisyWaldron · 23/12/2021 10:52

If I knew that a pub was opening with staff who were known to have Covid, I wouldn't go through the doors again until there had been a change of management. It shows an utter disregard for good hygeine practice, and for staff and customer welfare. I would assume that a similar attitude would also apply to food and drink hygeine, cleanliness and dealing with drunk customers.

MorningStarling · 23/12/2021 10:57

I run a pub with a very small team.

Your problem is right here in your first sentence. Why is the team so small that it can't cope with TWO staff having Covid? You are mismanaging spectacularly, if you run the team YOU need to ensure that there are enough staff to cover just about any reasonably predictable eventuality. Why have you not arranged standby cover at such a busy time of the year? Cutting costs?