Should a cleaner wear a mask?

[LayTheTableMabel]

I own a flat in a relatively small house (4 flats in total, 3 owned 1 rented by owners of house but being sold) I just left my front door into the communal area and the cleaner (comes very rarely maybe every 4 months) is cleaning with no mask on. We have had a surge of covid locally with schools heavily affected. My mum has incurable lung cancer so we are especially cautious. Surely if the cleaner is cleaning in 5 houses a week without a mask she is quite high risk? I feel really uncomfortable 😕. Totally prepared to be flamed and wanted to put it here rather than covid board to get a more balanced view....

I don’t think workers, eg customer service, are obliged to wear masks in the same way as customers. I think this is right. It’s one thing to wear a mask for half an hour while you are shopping, and another thing to wear it for a long shift.

So YABU.

Do you put on a mask as soon as you leave your house to walk through the same communal area??

Thanks for everyone who has spent time replying. We have no forewarning when the cleaner will come so can't arrange to be out. Polishng the wooden bannister is not going to protect anyone.... covid can live for up to 3 days on hard surfaces. I have 2 under 3 who do not wear masks obviously... so opening my door and literally bumping into a maskless stranger is quite scary tbh. I asked her today she said she forgot it in the car so hopefully she may remember next time. My mum is on chemo and immunotherapy and having radiotherapy this weekend so yes covid would likely kill her. She had a section of lung and heart removed as covid was just hitting the UK. The people I share a building with are all very careful about covid and incredibly respectful of my mum. Not sure how a few people who work from home are comparable to a person who works unmasked in various different homes.

We have no forewarning when the cleaner will come so can't arrange to be out.

But she's not even in your house! Just keep your distance from her if you encounter her in the corridor or wait until she's done. You're making this much more complicated than it needs to be.

Covid living on your banister for three days?
Quite scary bumping into an unmasked stranger?
Jesus Christ.

We have no forewarning when the cleaner will come so can't arrange to be out

If she's cleaning a communal area what's to be gained by going out? Surely just staying in makes a lot more sense.

@charliebear78

The sooner this is all over the sooner people might start thinking rationally again!

You’d hope so but I’m not so sure some people will!

covid can live for up to 3 days on hard surfaces

But you won’t catch it!

You’d think someone who was trying to protect a vulnerable relative would be a tad better informed.

@LayTheTableMabel

Thanks for everyone who has spent time replying. We have no forewarning when the cleaner will come so can't arrange to be out. Polishng the wooden bannister is not going to protect anyone.... covid can live for up to 3 days on hard surfaces. I have 2 under 3 who do not wear masks obviously... so opening my door and literally bumping into a maskless stranger is quite scary tbh. I asked her today she said she forgot it in the car so hopefully she may remember next time. My mum is on chemo and immunotherapy and having radiotherapy this weekend so yes covid would likely kill her. She had a section of lung and heart removed as covid was just hitting the UK. The people I share a building with are all very careful about covid and incredibly respectful of my mum. Not sure how a few people who work from home are comparable to a person who works unmasked in various different homes.

You are really overthinking this. None of these things have been proven to be an issue.

I'm a cleaner. I don't wear a mask in any home I clean and at present I'm in about 8 houses a week. But I do keep my distance and ventilate every house. If someone asked me to wear a mask, I would give them notice.

It is hard enough to work inside overly heated houses at a flat out pace without adding a mask.

In your situation if she is only working in a hallway and you are passing through then surely you and mum can put a mask for the few seconds it takes to go past her then take them off again.

I am testing every few days all the cleaners I know are doing the same.

"But Goldman, a microbiologist at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, decided to take a closer look at the evidence around fomites. What he found was that there was little to support the idea that SARS-CoV-2 passes from one person to another through contaminated surfaces. He wrote a pointed commentary for The Lancet Infectious Diseases in July, arguing that surfaces presented relatively little risk of transmitting the virus2. His conviction has only strengthened since then, and Goldman has long since abandoned the gloves.
Many others reached similar conclusions. In fact, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clarified its guidance about surface transmission in May, stating that this route is “not thought to be the main way the virus spreads”. It now states that transmission through surfaces is “not thought to be a common way that COVID-19 spreads”.
As evidence has accumulated over the course of the pandemic, scientific understanding about the virus has changed. Studies and investigations of outbreaks all point to the majority of transmissions occurring as a result of infected people spewing out large droplets and small particles called aerosols when they cough, talk or breathe. These can be directly inhaled by people close by. Surface transmission, although possible, is not thought to be a significant risk."

From this link discussing surface contamination. We know this from a friend working in covid science too.

So if it's just your community space/hall etc she is cleaning & not your actual flat where she could breath covid into your space if she was carrying it, then YABU

I do understand your worry though with your DM so ill, to put your mind at rest if you're still concerned, just mix up some Zoflora 99.9% disinfectant & spray the hall & banisters

www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4

No I don’t think you should ask this

YABVU
Cleaning is demanding work, especially cleaning communal areas where you have to haul a vacuum cleaner up and down stairs.
It is easy enough to stay in your flat whilst the cleaner is there (and I am sure the cleaner would prefer you kept out the way anyway).