What to do if you don't agree with being told to self isolate??

[jaychops]

Colleague of DHs has tested positive and provided DHs details to track and trace as a close contact. However, he doesn't meet the criteria for close contact - he hasn't been under 1m, and not within 2m for more than a couple of minutes. We are supposed to be going away this weekend! What do we do? Has anyone been in this position?

Screw the community? Jesus fucking H christ.

It seems like quite a flawed system as it’s very much the word of the person who has tested positive over those they claim were a close contact. Lots of scope for it to be abused (for example, if you disliked a colleague and felt like fucking them over) and misunderstood (as experienced by a pp’s friend).

@Brefugee

Screw the community? Jesus fucking H christ.

And the added bonus of my approach is....

Frankly? I hope everyone who ignores it gets a massive fine. And that the UK stays in perpetual half-lockdown until you idiots get it.

I'm ok because I'm not in the UK so i don't have to put up with you and the idiots.

@DarcyLewis

There's a big difference between "we passed each other in the street at slightly less than 2m" and "we sit next to each other in an office for 9 hours a day but our chairs are 2m apart" in terms of infection risk.

This. I think people forget that the 2m for 15 minutes was crude public health messaging to help the public minimise the risk of being infected.

The contact tracing with be more nuanced. Also worth bearing in mind the increased transmissibility of the variants changes things slightly.

"The system is just not advanced enough. Not 'fit for purpose'."

My very strong suspicion is that the UK system is no less sophisticated than whatever is in operation in Japan, South Korea, Australia... it isn't feasible to make a system that is more sensitive to real risk.

So sorry about your situation, OP. And people wonder why I can't find motivation to plan any holidays in 2021.

Anyone know holiday insurance that covers for this ? I've only got UK trips booked but it would be a real blow not to be able to go and at less getting the money back would be something.

How many people are likely to be maliciously naming their colleagues as contacts?

It’s not a perfect system but that’s not a good reason not to follow the legally mandated instruction to isolate.

Ye do realise Covid is in the air right, this 1m, 2m thing is nonsense. If you were around anyone that has tested positive who was not wearing a mask then you are at risk

T&T when asking about contact lists the requirements of what a close contact is - he has been named so unfortunately is legally required to isolate.
He can call 119 to dispute the isolation - but unless he was in a totally different place and hasn’t seen the person that has named him I don’t think they’d overturn it.

You don’t just decide yourself, you follow what you’ve been told to do. Ffs. Cancel the weekend and isolate.

Tracks me trace winds me right up! It’s so open to interpretation by the positive person. They have to know the criteria and be sure that someone meets it before giving the details. In most instances people are just giving everyone’s name and thus so many def isolating perhaps unnecessarily. I know from experience in our DCs nursery they isolate the whole room regardless of distance. So we’ve isolated 5 times already!!!

It is hard to overturn. I know someone who lived in a shared house. They kept themselves entirely separate from the others and had not seen their housemates for weeks, did not use the shared kitchen and had their own bathroom. Housemate tests positive and has to list those living with them, friend is told to isolate and is unable to get it overturned. It is a legal requirement to isolate so they did.

@Yellow85

Tracks me trace winds me right up! It’s so open to interpretation by the positive person. They have to know the criteria and be sure that someone meets it before giving the details. In most instances people are just giving everyone’s name and thus so many def isolating perhaps unnecessarily. I know from experience in our DCs nursery they isolate the whole room regardless of distance. So we’ve isolated 5 times already!!!

How else should they do it? They need to ask the positive person who they have been in contact with. Or in the case of a nursery the staff give the details.. it needs to be done some how. Genuine question how do you think contacts should be identified?

He really does need to isolate. Within 2 meters for less than 2 minutes is still a risk. If you go, chances are that you will have a knock on your door when you are away, and if you are not there to answer you will get a fine. I just wouldn't be able to relax on holiday knowing I could come home to thousands of pounds worth of fines. They may come more than once, especially if you are out the first time.

I'd get a test and then go anyway if it's negative. Did it

Nobody will knock on your door. The fact you even had a call is terrible luck. Test and trace centres have pretty much closed down now due to not having anything to do

@ChristmasCovid I genuinely have no idea, doesn’t mean I can’t be frustrated though! Surely the nature of the contact should be considered somehow, I.e. indoor/outdoor

@Yellow85

Tracks me trace winds me right up! It’s so open to interpretation by the positive person. They have to know the criteria and be sure that someone meets it before giving the details. In most instances people are just giving everyone’s name and thus so many def isolating perhaps unnecessarily. I know from experience in our DCs nursery they isolate the whole room regardless of distance. So we’ve isolated 5 times already!!!

No, the contact tracer interprets it, not the positive person.

The positive person doesn't need to know any criteria, the contact tracer asks them where they've been and who they've seen, and for how long.

Of course nurseries have to isolate the whole room, the kids are together in the same room all day, breathing the same air, with no PPE or social distancing, all coughing on each other and licking the same toys.

[quote Yellow85]@ChristmasCovid I genuinely have no idea, doesn’t mean I can’t be frustrated though! Surely the nature of the contact should be considered somehow, I.e. indoor/outdoor[/quote]
Yes it is considered - that is exactly how it works

For example, when someone in my family was positive, we told the contact tracers we had met another family in a garden the day before. They asked lots of questions and decided that wasn't a risk.

@DarcyLewis our positive cases got sent a questionnaire, no tracer conversation was had.

Sounds like there’s inconsistency across the UK. Ours was done by logging in an completing a questionnaire, no tracer interpretation. Just names on a portal.

Your OP is vague. You said not within 2 metres for more than a few mins. To be honest, 2m rule is bullshit. Has he been in the same room? Maybe your DH is underplaying it.....

The contact tracing with be more nuanced. Also worth bearing in mind the increased transmissibility of the variants changes things slightly.

Unless it's changed since end of October it isn't nuanced at all. I simply was asked on the web link (and when t & t called me) for a list of names and contacts for any contacts. I was not given advise as to who was a close contact or anything else. I could have said anyone's name and number it could have chosen not to include people. It was totally dependent on me.

Interesting PHE advised that no one in school needed to isolate at all despite me teaching 6 classes with 'non-big 3' symptoms.

Friend had similar happen - asked to isolate after a cafe stop where she and her Dh sat on their own away from anyone else. She was told to isolate but not her Dh 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Brefugee

This thread is astounding. Couple it with all the threads of "when will it ever end?" and you can see the answer: never because nobody wants to apply the rules to themselves.

Frankly? your DH needs to follow instructions to self isolate and suck it up for the good of the community.

Yup. Also the nonsense of “still having to isolate because of those who are vulnerable refuse the vaccine”. Yes because all of those who are vulnerable are capable of having the vaccine . DS had to isolate due to equally as interesting set of circumstances and it was over the holiday as well. Did he isolate? Of course he did. It was irritating but necessary.