For telling my neighbour he should stay home

[queensonia]

My next door neighbours both tested positive for COVID on the weekend. Today I saw the husband getting in his car to go to work. He works for a medium sized public company with a lot of staff. He said he was told that he’s not legally obliged to isolate and that if he felt well enough he should still go into work. I told him he was morally obliged to isolate because he could infect colleagues who may suffer far worse than he is currently and pass it on to their relatives who may also get very ill or die. Is this what everyone is doing now.? In my industry we are pcr tested twice a week and not allowed on site until the test is negative.

For the love of good mind your own fucking business

Roll back 6 months and if anyone contemplated going to work covid positive everyone would be up in arms.

And the reasons hospitals are under pressure at the moment is lack of staff.... because the NHS's decision as an employer is that their employees should stay off for a required number of days (and are paying them for those days). It's not down to hospital covid cases.

What is it with COVID that people think they have the right to judge and stick their noses in other people lives?

This. For me it's one of the worst things to come out of covid.

Not sure what the op expected us all to say how terrible . It’s not 2020 op get over it he’s most probably been told to get in work .

I think you're being unreasonable OP.
It is none of your business whether he goes into work or not and legally he isn't doing anything wrong. A lot of workplaces (including my own) have dropped any extra allowances/support/increased sick pay etc etc now the restrictions have relaxed.
Morally IMO it is right to stay at home but not everyone has a choice.
What if he cannot afford to stay off work? What if his workplace are going to punish him for him staying off? What if he has kid sto drop off and take to school?

You need to accept now that unfortunately people will be out and about with Covid. I'm not saying I agree with this, but it is just part of life now.

Roll back 6 months and if anyone contemplated going to work covid positive everyone would be up in arms.
Things have moved on

People are amongst us everywhere with covid .... kids teachers, the Tesco delivery driver, the plumber, your hairdresser, the woman serving you in the coop....

Hardly anyone is testing
Hardly anyone is bothering with masks now
Hardly anyone is talking about covid in rl

Come to mumsnet, and people are still trying to cling to the last vestiges of it.....

I've got covid currently and am staying at home and off work. I'm very lucky in that my work pays me to do this, and enforces not being allowed on site if you test positive.
If I worked somewhere where I didn't get paid whilst I was off, I'd be at work, it's a no brainer really, once the free tests disappear, I bet a lot of people will be out and about with their "cold"

@Sofiegiraffe

What is it with COVID that people think they have the right to judge and stick their noses in other people lives?

This. For me it's one of the worst things to come out of covid.

Because with a contagious illness, a person's behaviour doesn’t just affect the individual but impacts everyone else around them as well. I thought that would be obvious.

[quote worriedatthistime]@MuggleMadness how many are ill with covid though ? How many just can't be released as they have covid and cannot go to nursing home etc?
I have no idea but just wondered what is the issue exactly
I agree its busy though as i have attended a & e couple times in last 2 weeks and hospital rammed
They wanted to admit me but had no beds but tbh that isn't unusual for our local hospital at this time of year [/quote]
For those asking, 194 people died with Covid today, 16,720 people are currently in hospital with Covid, and 102,483 people currently have Covid in the U.K. that we know of but as people don’t even have to test anymore it could be higher.

Anecdotally, I know of more people that have had Covid in the past month then since the start of the pandemic. Seemingly the only difference now is the government has given up on protecting the vulnerable.

Accidentally posted without the link. Here it is www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274

@Saracenia

Good on you, OP. I think you've done the right thing. More and more people are getting ill and the hospitals are overwhelmed. We aren't out of this yet.

^ I agree with this. My company’s policy is to LFT before going in and stay home if positive

I’ve been sick for 3 weeks, 40% of the staff have had Covid in last 6 months (probably mainly coming via schools) - so it’s a lot of work time lost

The issue is not so much with your neighbour (though he could have said he felt too I’ll to work), but his company’s policies

But you were right to say something: it’s not ok to go around when you have a contagious and possibly lethal disease and saying nothing implies you think it is

Companies who expect people to come in I’ll are v shortsighted

@LotusCheesecake

And the reasons hospitals are under pressure at the moment is lack of staff.... because the NHS's decision as an employer is that their employees should stay off for a required number of days (and are paying them for those days). It's not down to hospital covid cases.

That's not correct I'm afraid, Scotland has record numbers of patients in hospital with Covid.

You know a lot about his sick leave entitlement. If he feels fine he probably just doesn't want to use a sick day as it moves him closer to a trigger point- he is correct that there is no legal requirement to isolate, however morally dubious I can't blame people. Testing ends soon anyway so we won't know who has it and who doesn't.

@BeanStew22 what rubbish. OP was not bloody right to say something, it's got fuck all to do with her.

[quote Tilltheend99]Accidentally posted without the link. Here it is www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274[/quote]
Thank you for that.

My company’s policy is to LFT before going in and stay home if positive

Are they going to be paying for your LFTs when they start charging very soon? Unless they're going to expect you all to buy your own which will probably not be popular, I expect they will drop that requirement soon as will most places.

Exactly!

I’m very compliant. Husband has Covid now. I’m testing every day, have had six negatives but still not going out because I have cold symptoms.

It’s very easy for me though because I’m not in paid employment atm and my husband works from home.

It would be a much more difficult decision if I was working and wouldn’t be paid if I didn’t go in to work.

I expect I would probably still stay at home and try to absorb the loss because we have (a little) leeway but we also don’t have young children to feed.

If we did, they would come first. Everyone is eligible for vaccines, which are highly effective. CEV people will presumably be taking precautions relevant to their circumstances (as my husband does). Unvaccinated people made their choice. Sorry.

@LotusCheesecake

And the reasons hospitals are under pressure at the moment is lack of staff.... because the NHS's decision as an employer is that their employees should stay off for a required number of days (and are paying them for those days). It's not down to hospital covid cases.

I mean, for the last time… The NHS actually has a duty of care towards its patients. If staff with Covid were coming in and causing mass outbreaks on wards of cancer patients or people in icu they would eventually find themselves in serious legal difficulties. It’s not actually acceptable!!!

Really that should be obvious to anyone.

Bet you're a proper curtain twitcher. YABU.

Seen as though the NHS hasn't yet sorted a process in which to supply staff with LFTs, once the free ones stop being available to order I wonder if they'll expect staff to buy their own (which would be ludicrous) or whether they will actually sort something (unlikely) or drop the requirement to test. I hope its the middle one but who bloody knows.

I didn't say it was a bad thing that NHS staff are off work at all, did I?

I haven't actually ever said whether I think it's a good thing at all that people are going around with covid as they please. However it's clear that this is now what the government's plan is, so berating people who are doing that because they need to (or even actually because they just want to) is just wrong.

16,720 people are currently in hospital with Covid,

Being in hospital with covid is very different to being in hospital because of covid.