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Covid

AIBU to think DD should have been told about CV in office she cleans?

61 replies

WorkplaceQuery · 22/09/2020 18:50

Talk me down please as I am fit to be peeled off the ceiling but not sure whether I am over reacting..

DD has a part time job cleaning an office workplace twice a week (office with desks etc/kitchen/meeting room no bathrooms/toilets) She cleans all surfaces, hoovers, bags up and takes waste out etc. She wears a mask and uses latex gloves (brings her own)

She turned up tonight and met a cleaner (for another office) in the communal area of the building who asked if she had been told there had been a confirmed CV case in "DDs" office Friday. DD said no and contacted her boss. He said it had all been cleaned and all was OK.

DD realised she had been there Friday and cleaned and emptied the bins plus there had been someone in the office (there sometimes is as people work late). So she contacted boss to ask when the case had been confirmed and what areas the positive person had been in contact with...he said he will get back to her as he didn't know about the case until Saturday morning.

Surely DD should have been told? I am worried she touched and handled contagious surfaces/waste etc on Friday evening - obviously she wears gloves but still?! The person on Friday night was at the end of the office but they exchanged a few words and walked past each other later. DD wore a mask and gloves but other person did not, but I realise this is a fleeting contact, it's more the handling of waste and touching surfaces - maybe they didn't know at that point but on Saturday they should have made her aware surely?

I may be worrying too much as I am clinically extremely vulnerable and was on the shielding list. DD is 17 so still at college and living at home with us.

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Threeisnotacrowd · 23/09/2020 09:52

Even if she spent a full day in the same room as whoever has tested positive - there is no requirement to tell her

“ Close contacts are:

people you've spent 15 minutes or more with - at a distance of less than 2m (6ft)
sexual partners, household members or people you have had face-to-face conversations with - at a distance of less than 1m
Contact must have taken place within a nine-day period, starting 48 hours before symptoms appeared.”

It’s a total non issue. If every positive test (most of whom are only being tested because of track and trace, and not actually showing any symptoms) was then reported to everyone who had been at some point in the same building or public area. Then we would all be spending our entire lives on the phone in a huge continuous loop.

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QueenStromba · 23/09/2020 11:32

[quote WorkplaceQuery]@QueenStromba goggles? Elaborate please Grin[/quote]
Our eyes have a large number of ACE2 receptors which is the receptor used by the virus. People who wear just normal glasses all day were recently shown to be about six times less likely than non glasses wearers to have been hospitalized during the original Hubei outbreak.

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ColleagueFromMars · 23/09/2020 12:16

Fellow vulnerable person with a vulnerable household here. I wouldn't be that worried.

It's not airborne. The highest risk is that there is live virus on the surfaces she has had contact with... and then put what she had had contact with in touch with her eyes, mouth or nose. Which sounds very highly unlikely, given that she was wearing mask and gloves and viruses are dying from the moment they are in an inhospitable to them environment.

The personal waste category B examples... yes they should be followed but if she is cleaning and behaving as if every surface she comes into contact with is contaminated (and she should be), it's a moot point as far as risk goes.

I do agree that her boss and the procedures in place doesn't sound great. If I were her I'd ask for a copy of the risk assessment and safer working practices document for her job. At the very least it might prompt them to write them Wink. She is doing a comparatively high risk job compared to the office workers and there should be a specific risk assessment written for her job.

I would also be checking chemicals used - what does, and what does not kill corona, and under what circumstances (it's no use for example wiping something and letting it dry instantly when the effectiveness is after contact for 15 minutes, which off the top of my head is the general rule for bleach and dettol).

Further more I'd encourage her to check that she is using good aseptic technique - how she is removing and disposing of PPE after wearing it, for example? What is she doing with clothes and shoes for example? It wouldn't hurt for her to change before going home and take her clothes home in a pillowcase ready to wash straight away, but that would involve planning and thought as to where she got changed and how etc. An alternative could be for her to wear overalls - not an attractive look but effective. I do similar working in a lab - I have several on rotation - one sealed in a plastic bag in quarantine for 72 hours, one to use and one in transit to be/ having been washed.

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surreygirl1987 · 23/09/2020 13:41

Okay I still don't think you need to worry... BUT I agree it sounds like her employers have a cavalier attitude and I sympathize with your feelings of control slipping away when you've been so careful. She should certainly ask to see the risk assessment. If she treats everything like it's got coronavirus though then it won't matter if she actually does come into contact with it.

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WorkplaceQuery · 23/09/2020 16:57

Well we have an update. Hmmm.

The case who the cleaner referred to was apparently someone who showed symptoms on Wed, was tested. Didn't attend office on Thurs and Fri. Received positive result on Saturday. Employees who had been within two metres of him were told to isolate.

Then yesterday they had two more confirmed positive cases! One was in the office Friday but has not been in since. Another was last in the office Thursday and showed symptoms at the weekend.

So three positive confirmed cases in total (there are about ten people working there) and DD was completely unaware and the boss didn't tell her when he called her (lied?) at the weekend as to why they needed access (ie professional de fogging). DD cleaned the office Tuesday and Friday night last week and was with someone in the office Friday night. She is unsure whether it was within 2m.

You all talked me down nicely last night. Please can you do it again?

If it was me I think I would be asking if my details had been supplied to PHE/T and T as part of tracing. A third of the workforce! I would also be asking the boss why the fuck I wasn't told. But I may be overreacting (entirely possible) and would love to be told I am BU.

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WorkplaceQuery · 23/09/2020 16:59

May I just also say, DD is calm and lovely and not stressing or worrying. She is just concerned about what should have or should happen now if anything - she is obviously worried about the risk of passing something on to me, also she has been to college and used public transport!

Should she be contacting PHE or 119 or someone to ask or is that totally OTT?

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WorkplaceQuery · 23/09/2020 17:32

I've actually started a different thread as it's got so long winded here Blush

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Threeisnotacrowd · 23/09/2020 21:28

@WorkplaceQuery

I've actually started a different thread as it's got so long winded here Blush

Did you read the definition of close contact?

She hasn't had any, and so would even register on T&T.

Chill out woman
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elenacampana · 23/09/2020 21:54

You are being over the top and obsessive OP. Take a step back and breathe, and I say that in the nicest possible way.

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13luckyblackcats · 24/09/2020 08:16

I agree with you OP, she should have been told. It reminds me of this article, which I found shocking www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/business/housekeepers-covid.html

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WorkplaceQuery · 24/09/2020 09:29

All right all right don't be mean Grin I have calmed the fuck down. Still annoyed they lied about it though

13 that was an interesting article. I do think people tend to forget office cleaners. I used to give my office cleaner chocolates when I bought them at Christmas for the staff (and I wouldn't expect him to wash peoples mugs up that's kind of a basic thing you do yourself. IMO anyway)

I wonder if three cases within a week at a small workplace "flags up" a wider outbreak or whatever the term is. I keep thinking about those people (and I sincerely hope they are OK) being infectious and not knowing - going home to their families and getting public transport and their DC going into schools and so on. It does bring it home to you how like wildfire this is...

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