Work colleague coming back from north italy.

[Crazymaisienumber9]

Ok so it isnt me but my brother who is directly affected but inadvertently it affects me and my mum. We have a very elderly mum 91 years of age whom he goes to see most days. I live 50 miles away and see her most weekends. Im not bothered so much about my own wellbeing (although I know I can contaminate her) but I am concerned for my brother and mum. Anyway my brother has just informed me that a work colleague of his is returning to work tomorrow after spending a short break in north Italy. Why he went in the current circumstances baffles me but anyway. All of the staff at my brothers work are very anxious about this. I feel the person concerned should be told to self isolate from work. I have given my brother some general advice but basically no amount of handwashing will protect him if this person is so gung ho and comes back possibly transmitting the virus. I know that the likelihood that the reason the uk numbers are lower than north italy is because we arent testing as much as them so we could well be carriers anyway but I just feel that some restrictions should be placed on this person by management. I know people say it will ONLY affect the elderly and those with comorbidities, as if that's ok but she is my mum and I dont care what age she has a right to be protected.

The advice for travellers returning from the specific lockdown areas in Northern Italy is now that they are to self-isolate and call 111 even if they do not have symptoms:

Tweet from DHSC.

I'm assuming that this work colleague won't have been in the lockdown area but if I were your brother I would be asking his company to look at the DHSC advice and updating their coronavirus policy. Most companies I work with are being quite cautious - even the firm that manages the flat I rent out told me they would be quizzing all visitors sent to the flat by them (i.e. not friends of the tenants, that would be insane, but if they had to send out someone to repair the boiler or whatever).

I don't think it's true to say 'no amount of handwashing will protect him' - the virus is spread through droplets, so I would be washing my hands a lot and telling the guy to stay away from me - social distancing.

Your brother needs to get onto his bosses right away. My dc’s school had mandatory 2 week exclusion for anyone returning from northern Italy. Workplaces should also have this and if your brother points this out to them, they could require this person to isolate themselves. The recent UK infections have been fuelled by people returning from Italy. Alternatively your brother could ask to work from home for 2 weeks or take leave. We won’t contain the spread of this virus because there are so many idiots about.

Even if he hadn’t been to lock down he should be decent enough to self quarantine

Recent advice

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/italy-travel-advice-coronavirus-uk-17872129

Thanks for all the feedback. Couldnt believe it when I heard, how could someone be so selfish. Unbelievable. There seems to be so many people out there who really arent taking this seriously. The offhand manner of it's only 1% or 3% mortality rate or whatever doesnt help as if it's all perfectly acceptable. For some reason the sight and sound of Bojo lecturing me fills me with madness too. I phoned my brother and gave him advice and he said that someone in management had spoken to the person concerned but he was still coming in to work tomorrow. The whole office is disgusted with him. Hopefully he takes heed. Selfish I know but at least my brother is out of the office all day tomorrow and doesnt work over the weekend so it's a few days reprieve to see if this person develops symptoms.

Where I work, an employee returning from Italy north of the "line" that runs just above Pisa, Florence and Rimini would be under instructions to work from home for 14 days.

I'll hear later what happened today, whether the traveller was advised to stay at home or whether he came in to work. People locally panic buying. I'm a community nurse so I've got some alcohol gel in my car but other than that it is good old soap and water. I live alone so at least I dont have to be worrying about others in my house as such. Trying to teach myself to stop touching my face and eyes. Went to the dentist this morning. Feel sorry for them as they are really in the thick of it. What to do though...we just have to keep living life as best and safely as we can.

But the current government advice is that you only need to self isolate if you have returned from Italy and are experiencing symptoms. Unless an employer specifically asks you to stay away then I dont see how you can blame someone for following government advice.

Hi TheApprentice I see that, I'm not sure what part of italy this man was in, hopefully not a lockdown area because then the advice is to self isolate symptoms or not. I honestly think if it were me I would have a self imposed isolation just to be sure, but then i wouldn't have gone to north italy in the middle of this in the first place. I dont know how I'd feel if i passed it on to a colleague or a colleagues family member and then something untoward happened. My brother isnt due back into his office until next thursday so it will be interesting to see how it was handled, if at all.

Yes, it's not clear cut. Difficult if you had a holiday booked as you wouldnt get a refund unless government were stopping travel there altogether. But as you say you would feel dreadful if you passed it on.

Govt advice is very weak
Maybe because they don’t want the whole
Insurance sector to go bust , I really think that’s why
So companies are naturally taking a harder line

The govt really should advise against all but essential travel to Italy. The insurers can afford it! The holiday makers are going to miss out or be tempted to go then companies are in a really difficult position- not everyone can work from home so then what? I think this has been poorly managed by the government.

All the workplaces I’m aware of, i.e. mine and friends’, school acquaintances, have a policy in place that would mean he couldn’t go in for two weeks. The issue is with the workplace, not the man.