Morals… I know no one cares about COVID but…

[aussierules1]

… I work for the NHS and a colleague tested positive last week. We don’t have to test, and I wouldn’t have bothered, but my Nan and Grandad have travelled from another country and are visiting this week. I had a tickly throat and would hate to make them ill, so I tested. I was positive.

My boss told me that as long as I feel well, I should continue to work. I’m feeling a bit rough and VERY tired but fine enough to work. However, I just feel bad for my clients. I work with kids, who come with their parents, who may have vulnerable family members etc… I just feel a bit bad.

I know many people don’t care about COVID and I don’t really either, but I’ve decided to tell my clients and let them decide. Every single one has declined, saying they have vulnerable family members or don’t want to risk it, so I’ve stayed at home and done a couple of virtual sessions/lots of admin.

My boss hasn’t replied to me; I don’t think she’s particularly happy but I think it’s fine.

Am I doing the right thing? Or am I just overreacting and should get on with the sessions? The more I sit at home, the more guilty I feel!..

HCP too and had it last week. I was told I could work if I wanted but I was really poorly with it and wouldn’t have been well enough.
I would have cancelled my list anyway (saying I felt unwell).
The guidelines say stay at home for 5 days if you can- so it doesn’t seem right to work in healthcare for those 5 days!

I’m a nurse and my boss told me to stay off.

Excellent post @robbutz

You’re doing the wrong thing. Because you’re reinforcing what is now incessant panic.

I had to check if this was a zombie thread after this comment ^ .

You’re on the wrong thread. No panic here.

It’s a grown up chat about protecting vulnerable people’s health - from a very real threat - in healthcare settings.

Sorry Dymaxion, think you’re actually quoting someone else 🤦🏻‍♀️ can’t see how to delete!

You are doing the right thing @aussierules1 , taking responsibility
Bosses only care about the money

I have had covid and was very very sick. I would not want to get it again and your were right to give others the choice

I got covid for the first time in March this year. I tested because I wanted to know whether it was covid rather than a cold. Once it tested positive I kept away from people for the 10 days it took to test negative. I didn't isolate in the house but did not visit shops or meet with people inside. Seemed like common sense to me and I felt so rough there is no way I would have wanted to pass that onto someone else, vulnerable or not.

So in other words I agree with you OP, especially being an HCP

Just been told my manager is pretty pissed off at me for taking matters into my own hands and “choosing not to work” when I was told to. Joys….

Tell them your symptoms quickly worsened and you became too unwell to work. By the sound of things you were somewhat borderline anyway. Sometimes in those situations you feel alright to work, but then being moderately ill plus more tired from work makes you ill ill, iyswim.

Ugh. You did the right thing.

Good idea from @PinkCherryBlossoms to avoid conflict if it arises.

You are doing the right thing. It's absolutely insane that healthcare workers are encouraged to work when sick, and that all masking requirements have been dropped.

The BMA have issued a press release asking for a return to masking in healthcare. “Infection control guidelines are fundamentally flawed: SARS-CoV-2 is airborne. It is outrageous that three-and-a-half years into this pandemic, staff and patients are still, knowingly and repeatedly, being exposed to a level-3 biohazard – a virus known to cause brain damage and significantly increased risk of life-threatening blood complications even in those recovered. Healthcare workers must be provided with respiratory protection and the air quality in hospitals be monitored and improved through the installation of ventilation systems and air filter units.” https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/first-major-survey-of-doctors-with-long-covid-reveals-debilitating-impact-on-health-life-and-work-and-wider-implications-for-workforce-and-health-services?fbclid=IwAR0r4IFm9mDghBZNOwRbODnvj0l_Y3h605MvRbgza8TqMQB0CsvRPyN8JbM

Also please do sign this petition for a masking in healthcare. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636380?fbclid=IwAR1j0FON9s0x-KdH27eL0bRO6qAhvlR25flnSLz5uVKATKWyMw7rBVH9vRc

For those who constantly minimise COVID, ask yourself would you truly be happy to have a covid-infected midwife delivering your baby, so baby starts life with a novel virus which we are only beginning to see the long term effects of?

@Sheepsheepie I'm so sorry about your loss. That's a terrible decision to have to make. I lost a pregnancy at an early stage when I got covid.

And yet public health seems to have decided covid is a dirty word, instead of doing everything they can to implement mitigations and reduce infections. So many posts on here of pregnant women getting covid and their midwives saying it doesn't matter. Any illness in pregnancy should be a concern.

@Fivethirtyeight so easy to forget the overflowing hospitals and morgues, eh? Imagine how much worse it could have been. Lockdowns and face masks ‘unequivocally’ cut spread of Covid, report finds | Coronavirus | The Guardian

During the height of it my dh was put in the cev ( Clinically extremely vulnerable ) category , so we did as suggested and basically crawled under a shell and kept away from everything . To date neither of us has caught it .
We are under no illusions , that we will never get it , but I would hate to think that he would catch it from a health care professional. So imo , you've done the right thing.
Hope you feel ok and get over it soon.

Hi OP,

Im afraid I don’t know anything about working for NHS or even public sector, but would your unions support you? I find it really concerning that your manager is effectively able to make you feel guilty and work shy for doing what (I think the majority of us agree)is 100% the right thing.

I worry that there will be others in your position who will be pressured into working and, even if no patients are harmed, they’ll have to endure months of anxiety over the potential consequences of infecting someone vulnerable. This could really destroy someone’s mental health.

Hearing these stories does worry me when vulnerable relatives are going into hospital. We absolutely do not consent to being treated by Covid positive HCP and to hear people are being pressured to work whilst infected is awful.

It’s a terrible way to treat HCPs who work so hard to keep people safe. Especially when the NHS is struggling to retain the current staff they have.

Ridiculous your boss told you to work. My workplace has the same guidelines.

I'm 50 now. If you have told me in Feb 20, that at aged 46 in a few weeks I would begin a 20 + month recovery journey from covid infection, I wouldn't have believed it. Natural immunity pfft, got 3rd infection in Dec 22, I'm now dealing with peripheral neuropathy, pain in both hands and both feet. I've had to recently give up a part time job because I can no longer stand on my feet for long, I took that because from previous covid infection I had problems with legs where sitting down was painful, I can't win. I'm an artist. Covid messes with my nervous system. I couldn't paint for months because every time I picked up a brush my fingers went numb. My 19 year old son has been affected too, from Covid infection last July, was a fairly mild illness , hes been worse with tonsillitis, but he was short of breath for months. Gets the same blotchy red hands as me, and recently diagnosed with heart arrhythmia. "Mild illness for most" A certain health advisor claimed. So I applaud you for being thoughtful and thinking of others. I was working in a pub in december, people were coming in coughing, really ill, it was a no brainer I would get infected, but I had to test the natural immunity theory, well it totally backfired. But as cases rise, I'm going to slip out of socialisation. This virus is a shocker for some people and as time goes on, I think you will find it becomes more shocking for more and more people. Beware the ones that preach "it's the sniffles, or just a cold, or viruses don't exist"

I would also be wary of long term impact on your own health - if you are feeling rough and very tired - I would say you need to rest . There can be long term impact on over pushing yourself with all viruses .

At my work we are asked to continue working if we are up to it if we have tasks that can be done from home.

the accute phase may not be as lethal as it once was but that doesn't mean the longer term sequalae, like immunity damage, are not. Even respected science journals are starting to draw comparisons between it's impact on immunity to A.I.D.S https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2319417023000872

Immunity to what?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system

https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/covid-19-study-suggests-long-term-damage-immune-system

I remember virologists on Twitter saying we should be cautious with this novel virus just in case its like the HIV virus, or HPV or HSV or the Polio virus, or the chicken pox virus or the Ebola virus in terms of long term effects. They think Norovirus is linked to Crohns now don't they? Epstein Barr to certain cancers and Multiple Sclerosis.

But other people said it was just a cold.