I am at work with a group of 10

[HappyMumsie]

If one of my work group gets Coronavirus, does everyone in the group have to isolate themselves?
I was told by my supervisor that 'No, this is not correct and it only applies to families'.
Does anyone know if this is true. I would like to be fore armed.

This applies to households. It would be completely impractical unfortunately for whole workplaces to self isolate if one person was symptomatic surely? Work place after work place would close for 14 days at a time.

It depends. What are the working conditions?

We are key workers in a care setting, but not an old people home

I don't know. But I think by now they should have a very clear written policy about this given that they have a health and safety responsibility. For example my husband's work are taking temperatures at the door to the workplace, everyone is in masks, etc. Maybe masks for all doesn't work in a few setting, but those who can, should. They should be able to tell you precisely what happens if someone catches the virus. They've had months to figure it out.

It may help to say which kind of care setting so people can share examples of the measures their workplaces have put into place.

It only applies to households. If you work closely together (eg impossible to socially distance due to type of work) then maybe you'd be able to be tested due to the line of work you're in.

Some workplaces are creating two groups that work at different times to provide some service continuity should someone get infected in one group, so that the whole group can isolate, and ideally tested, short term disruption for hopefully longer term gain

Certainly it should be considered where work is in an indoor environment where people are relatively close together for long periods of time

However I don't think best practise has been described never mind enforced in legislation

One of my friends works in an office of 12, they've been sharing kitchen and bathrooms but social distancing. Working full time throughout lockdown. One person tested positive for Covid but none of the other staff got it - evidence that their hand hygiene and regular cleaning/disinfecting was enough to prevent transfer

As it stands it’s households.
If/when the app and tracing comes in though it may be that you’re asked to isolate if one records symptoms

@milkysmum this is again why testing the suspected person should be in place. Without it the virus is going to spread like wildfire again because no one is willing to shut their business for two weeks for a suspected virus- it’s not financial feasible, and if actually they did have the virus then the shit has def hit the fan by then.

Without clear guidance from the gov for different genres of businesses out there and without increasing the testing capacity, we are heading for a massive spike by end of June.

I work in a large group (not a care setting). Our guidelines say that if someone gets the virus then others only isolate if they show symptoms.

Isn't this sort of circumstance where the new app will be applied?

It depends on your work's new HSE policy created for Covid; that may differ from the views of one manager so it's worth checking. I know several companies who can all work from home; those who are desperate to go in will be allowed to go back in groups when it's permitted (so no idea when), but the plan is that if anyone gets unwell their whole group will need to stay at home for 2 weeks. That's pretty much the entire point of the teams in 3 of the risk strategies I've seen! Meanwhile I've seen builders on a site last week who didn't see the need to bother with hard hats while the crane was dropping stuff 4 or 5 storeys up the scaffolding, never mind bothering with keeping any distance from each other. Company cultures vary and not everyone understands risk even when they could do a little to protect themselves.

Ok, so OP has said she works in a small care home. 14 staff? So if one staff member was to test positive then obviously all the staff unfortunately still can't self isolate, there would be nobody to care for the residents. I'm not sure what the answer is though as it would obviously be really worrying for everyone