PPE Question

[Stressymcstressfacs]

I’m due to take my baby to the health visitor and I’ve been told they will be in full PPE and I’ll be temp checked and asked to wear a mask. I also went to the GP with baby and he had full PPE with visor and I was asked to wear a mask. These are/were both routine check ups so no direct Covid risk.
My toddlers nursery is due to open in a few weeks and they won’t have PPE but obviously will have physical contact with the children personal care, playing etc.
Just wondering what the difference is really and why the rule applies to one set of professionals but not another?
Genuine question not being provocative. Still trying to weigh up risk factors and these inconsistencies make it harder.

Because we are cannon fodder
No social distancing
No ppe

Professionals in the field who have contact with patients right now are making sure they are protected with ffp3 masks and visor, and asking their patients to wear a mask. It is appropriate for this respiratory-borne virus which is invisible at the contagious stage.

Why this is not the same for members of the public who would be just as close as a health-care provider on the tube or in a school is entirely unclear …. As the spice girls sang "get it on, get it on …"

@insancerre
Please get your facts right first.
health care professionals are high risk, schools and nurseries are low risk.

@insancerre can I ask why that is? I get that in hospitals but why with health visitors? What is the difference between them and nursery worker?

Face coverings are recommended on the tube, again higher risk. Small children, low risk
adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/early/2020/05/05/archdischild-2020-319474.full.pdf

Sorry for @NoMorePoliticsPlease

But health visitors are seeing younger children?

And the GP was seeing my baby?

Why would a heath care worker who is not dealing specifically with ill people be more at risk than a child care worker?

Because early years workers are being exploited. Other countries are providing PPE. Yet if early years workers complain about it they're told they don't care about kids and are work shy. Great times we're living in.

Government won't supply/ don't have enough PPE so they tell early years workers they 'don't need it' and kids are 'low risk' in order that parents can get back to work as quickly as possible. Then they deflect their negligence and duty of care to both early years workers and staff by calling them lazy and suggesting their concerns are really based on a desire to have more time off work.

Health care workers’ death rate from corona is the same as that of the general population.

A poster on another thread said that if you are in a profession where the death rate is higher than health care workers for the same demographic, those excess deaths are due to not being provided with PPE.

I don't want to comment on the lack of PPE for teachers etc as I don't want to defend it or criticise it as I really don't know enough.
However it's my understanding teachers may spend time with 15 healthy kids and a low number of staff regularly. Repeat exposure to a lower risk group. The number of different people a healthcare worker will interact with is more, can see 15 different people each day and they are not only a possibly higher risk of transmitting to the HCP but also more vulnerable to serious illness if the HCP then passes it on. I imagine also the HCP has access to PPE and it would be silly to choose not to put it in for babies or this person or that person, it's a blanket rule for protection for them and their patients. GPs are going into care homes etc they need to reduce the possibility of catching/transmitting as much as possible.
I feel huge sympathy for anyone who feels their employment is putting them at risk and they can't work safely. I don't think there has been a clear reason why education staff don't need PPE. It also emotionally and mentally hard to be told yes you can mingle with 15 kids but can't hug your Mum.

@schrodingers (Not being goady) but a health visitor isn't visiting sick people (the dr fair enough, they are seeing sick people). But a health visitor is weighing, measuring, safeguarding but not sick people (or people no sicker than a class full of 4/5/6 year olds)? so really why the difference?

(I am a parent not a teacher but seriously questioning the lack of PPE for teachers and pupils?)

@Schrodingerspeanutbuttersandw sorry just reread your response above mine and realized I misread it - sorry!

There seems to be a massive disconnect to what NHS practices both from trust to trust and within social care and childcare settings. I'll give a true example:

Person A works in a hospital but in the training dept--no contact with sick patients. When training, social distance is maintained and masks are worn by trainers and trainees. Low group numbers. No criticism of this on my part as, of course, the trainees are HCPs who may well work with sick patients themselves but the risk is lower than below.

Person B works in a care home. Direct contact providing personal care, feeding, to high risk residents. No social distancing is possible. Masks only worn if resident is symptomatic/tested + but no symptoms, or just back from hospital. Masks not worn otherwise.

Now we know asymptomatic transmission does happen.

Why the differences even though risk is greater with person B? No fucking idea but I find it ridiculous.

I think some people have misunderstood the role of Health Visitors. Who are not just there to weigh babies.

But yes, I would prefer to see nurseries using PPE and practicing working in clusters with extreme hand washing seeing as social distancing isn't workable.

I imagine someone has done some risk analysis and have 'acccepted' the risk of the virus bouncing around between young kids and relatively young and healthy teachers Vs bouncing around healthcare staff and their broader group of more vulnerable patients. But there doesn't seem to be any honesty regarding this or sharing of the risks and of course teachers and kids interact with more than each other. Like I said no one should feel unsafe at work or not be given the information needed to make an informed choice. There is a lack of logic in PPE between/within many sectors as PP pointed out. I think it can also make things worse if not used correctly.
I don't think small children can/should social distance but I wish the government had been honest with saying we are not expecting them to and we believe this is safe for x y z reasons (and then people can decide if that is satisfactory to them), rather than saying it is ok, we can social distance in schools and then have the q of PPE in other industries but not in schools thrown into the mix.

I imagine someone has done some risk analysis and have 'acccepted' the risk of the virus bouncing around between young kids and relatively young and healthy teachers Vs bouncing around healthcare staff and their broader group of more vulnerable patients.

You are optimistic. I wouldn't trust any risk assessments done by the British authorities, judging by what's been happening in care homes.

@Lifeisabeach09 Well quite, I agree. I'm not saying it's trustworthy and satisfactory to the people it actually affects.

In France, the government originally said masks were unnecessary, but since this month (May) has made it mandatory to wear them on public transport and in schools and is distributing masks through supermarkets and pharmacies.

Use your critical thinking :)