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!..

^ this

Haven't you moved on to denying climate change yet? Better get yourself another copy of the Light to read to catch up with the latest idiocy

You're doing the right thing OP. I can see that we do need to get on with our lives but at the same time it's a horrible thing to have and can be fatal so still think we need to take some precautions. It was the worst I'd ever felt when I had it and would be furious if I caught it off someone who knew they had it but carried on and didn't even say anything! And I'd hate to pass it on to someone too, especially someone vulnerable.

My mum brought covid out of the hospital, some of the patients were obviously infected, coughing their heads off & nobody was tested, I'm ECV & within 48 hours of my mum arriving home tested positive.

Everyone is vulnerable to the nasty effects of Covid. You're doing the right thing OP and everyone who's being careful.

https://johnsnowproject.org/perspectives/perspective-i-did-everything-right-and-things-still-went-wrong/

We are no longer just in a Pandemic, this is a Syndemic - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndemic

This is not a wave-or-linear development, the syndemic triggered by SARS-CoV-2 immune depletion is cumulative. Most of the population is already infected and reinfected, and there aren't measures of prevention. The outcome to this situation is about to explode in people's faces.

The damage to the human herd is already done. Sars2, as it causes immune dysfunction in several ways, is opening the door to many other pathogens. Disease, in general terms, is going to continue to ramp up worldwide.

How can the world handle an unparalleled syndemic?

Oh you poor thick bastard.

It's really rotten that people with long term health conditions don't have safe access to healthcare, Not to mention the rest of society.

It’s a bad cold. We never needed anyone in previous years to tell us how to manage colds/flu. It’s as though we went from being responsible adults to being toddlers and now, further down the line, we’ve lost the ability to think for ourselves!!

A bad cold:

twitter.com/revdcharlotte/status/1695063123877642258?s=46&t=lVt-WH-GcsPlMCKrCR4ukg

I posted much earlier on this thread and i'll share again:
I have had covid 3x this year totally approx 21 weeks of illness. I am not immune compromised, elderly or otherwise fragile.
First time in Feb was from indoor children's play area. Fair enough. Indoors, winter, no masks. But it was 6 weeks to get over it and 8 to feel fully recovered.
Second time was in May and caught it outdoors when my toddler was "playing" with another toddler who happened ti have a snotty nose. I use the term playing loosely as it was me chatting about 10 feet from the mum over a fence and the children about a foit apart separated by the fence (not a solid fence, a metal grid-type). C

What an idiotic. ill-informed comment!

(Accidentally hit send)
Contact duration was approximately 10 minutes. Sickness lasted 10 weeks. Yes, ten weeks of symptoms including fatigue out of no where, sinus congestion, dry cough.
We were well for four days. All symptoms gone when my toddler and I were again at a playground and another toddler, snotty nose, was on the play structure. The two children were within a foot of each other for less than ten minutes outdoors. Four days later we were coughing and tested positive two days after that. I was unable to get out of bed for two days, coughed until vomiting for several days, unable to eat, significant "tummy issues" for about four days, intense fatigue and acutely sick for two weeks and another week to actually feel recovered.

I appreciate that for a majority of people covid is insignificant and mild. But, there are many of us who unluckily experience significant illness despite being otherwise active and healthy. Masking indoors and in close contact in general is vital to prevent the spread of all airborne illness. It is practical, courteous and thoughtful. It is not a hardship.
We have had covid 5x in total. Each has been f-ing awful. I am pregnant and have had c

I am pregnant and have had covid almost every day of my now 20wk pregnancy. I am concerned about long terms effects of having had covid and the possibility of long covid (I know two people with long covid) from repeated bouts of covid.
Not enough is known about covid, but it is not a cold or flu. It is different and i think we won't know the true damage it causes for 10-20 years after enough data is collected. Please avoid it. Herd immunity does not exist for it. Acquired immunity is bogus. Six feet of distance does nothing if you are indoors sharing air. Vaccination does prevent severe illness in most people. Count yourself among the very lucky if you have not been very sick with it. But, and I stress this again, you don't want it ever. The long term effects are not yet known. If you have any cold/flu symptoms please wear a mask if you cannot isolate until completely symptom free and just assume it is covid. Testing is very hit or miss because very little of the virus is needed to become ill so the testing window is roughly 3-5 days after first symptoms. That is why so many people say they tested negative. It's often false.

Sorry for the very long post. I just had to get this off my chest. We've been told a lot of false info and info to keep us calm and to keep the economy going etc. We've become pitted against each other and lost our way for decency to one another. I believe in the absence of hard scientific data gov'ts and health authorities are operating under feigned ignorance. Just my opinion and not wanting to start conspiracy chat. I'm not pushing for lockdowns etc but do feel in the face of the unknown it was a sensible choice at the time.

Isolating, and masking when you can't, plus vaccination to prevent severe illness seem to be the tools to control and decrease the spread of covid.

The eye roll when I read it's just a bad cold. I'm lucky, I've had covid twice and both times have had headache and that's all. But I've lost colleagues to covid, never lost a colleague to a bad cold. I also work with pregnant women. There is current research looking into the long term effects of covid infection during pregnancy on both the women and their children. We've noticed certain co-morbidities rising in numbers. We know very little about the long term effects of recurrant infections.

They didn't scrap the isolation rules because they found it was just a bad cold. They did it because staffing was badly effected and they needed staff on the floor albeit masked up and coughing.

What bothers me is the effects of repeatedly getting it
I'm immunocompromised and was pretty unwell with it and needed anti vitals
I see threads on here about vaping where people are adamant "the damage will show in future" and vaping has been around for over a decade now
Yet nobody seems to be worrying about keeping getting covid and we have no clue what that will do. For example if it was shown that repeated infections doubled your chance of dementia, would people be less quick to say oh well everyone will keep getting it?

I care about it. I hope you weren't penalised for doing what was in the best interests of your patients, OP.

*kittie01 · 26/08/2023 00:03

It’s like the twilight zone on this thread. You’re all crazy. Look up the effects of the jab that they tried tu hide for 75 years. Long covid sweet Jesus are you all actually still believing this shite. Fewer deaths in 2020 than previous five years, that’s not a pandemic that’s lies they told you. You’ll cop on some day when your children’s futures are destroyed*

Ive got long Covid. It’s fucking shit. So have one in ten of people who’ve been infected. I wish l was making up the exhaustion, nausea, blinding continousl headaches and brain fog. I really really fucking wish it was made up.

I went to a routine appointment at the local hospital this week and had to verbally agree to a statement regarding covid infection and new cold symptoms; they're still taking it more seriously than anything else.

It’s fair to let problem know if you have anything infectious so they can make up their own minds about it. I don’t think we need to really treat covid as anything special, but surely it’s polite to let people know if you could make them unwell, no matter the virus.

*people know!

But there’s no policy or guidance to support what you’ve done? If I was your boss I’d be annoyed.

You're doing the right thing. I 100percent would, I work in a care home. I think it was June/july time where we lost a few of our residents to a virus, started with colds and went straight to chest and into pneumonia. Covid and flu type illnesses can be very serious for vulnerable people.
Although we don't have organised testing, our manager would never let us through the door if we were positive for covid and meant to stay away with flu like symptoms too.

My DS tested positive last week and his work told him not to come in for five days. He's a cleaner and empties bins so not exactly a customer-facing role but I think that was the right call. It's just a shame his job doesn't have sick pay. It's awful that an NHS manager can be so cavalier about Covid and the potential for infecting your clients.

TBF it would have been easier all round if she had just called in sick. I don't think we should be in the position where being able to get out of bed in the morning means we should go to work if we are also stating chest being uncomfortable and extreme tiredness . Especially if we know we have an infectious illness .