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Covid

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Original poster

Advice please

23 replies

dazzlerdo · 10/07/2021 10:35

So on Saturday 3rd July I was at my nieces birthday party. On Thursday 8th July my niece tested positive. Would this mean I need to self isolate?

Another just had a message off my manager telling me a work colleague has tested positive (we all work in the same room). I don't need to isolate because I don't work on the same work station she does and because I start 3 hours later than her! This doesn't sound right to me. We all share the same toilet/changing room and all stand together. Am I right thinking we ALL need to isolate??

OP posts:

Luckymummytoone · 10/07/2021 10:54

No re the party.
Do you wear masks at work? How large is your office? We don’t have too if one of our colleagues tests positive as we have masks and are at least 2m apart x

Original poster

dazzlerdo · 10/07/2021 11:01

We don't wear masks and certainly no social distancing. I'm a food technician in a school so work I'm a classroom/kitchen type area. Their is 5 of us all together

OP posts:

PlateSpinnerJuggler · 10/07/2021 11:04

@dazzlerdo

We don't wear masks and certainly no social distancing. I'm a food technician in a school so work I'm a classroom/kitchen type area. Their is 5 of us all together

What is the rationale around no masks being worn? Surely this could impact the whole school?

Original poster

dazzlerdo · 10/07/2021 11:10

@PlateSpinnerJuggler we only wear masks when we come in contact with the children or other members of staff that aren't in our bubble

OP posts:

Original poster

dazzlerdo · 10/07/2021 11:11

Which at the minute is not very often due to the number of isolations golfing off in school

OP posts:

nannynick · 10/07/2021 11:20

So the member of staff that has tested positive is in your work bubble, so I would say you should isolate.

Luckymummytoone · 10/07/2021 11:24

Yes you all should be isolating as a bubble! Happened not so long back in my child’s school! No school meals could be served but safest option x

Original poster

dazzlerdo · 10/07/2021 11:26

Yes she is, but like I said manager advising I don't due to not working at the same work station and starting later than she does.
I'm not complaining about not having to isolate, I just think it's wrong and the reason he's telling 2 of us not to is because if we all had to then the whole department would be closed due to no staff! Doesn't look good for the school does it, in the heads eyes!!

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 10/07/2021 11:28

Very common for school staff to be told not to isolate.

You say you stand together. Were you stood within 2m for more than 15 minutes or less than 1m for more than a minute?

Original poster

dazzlerdo · 10/07/2021 11:38

Yes we were stood talking in a small office less than a metre apart, for around 10 minutes the last day I saw her. Which was Wednesday. She took a test Friday and got positive result today.

So now I'm thinking maybe I am ok not to self isolate if the last time I saw her was Wednesday and she got her positive today??
Still my work colleague who's also been told doesn't need to isolate was in close contact with her Thursday!

OP posts:

rainbowunicorn · 10/07/2021 11:45

If you were with her on Wednesday in the circumstances you describe and she took the test on Friday then yes you would be a contact.

If it was a PCR test then I would assume she took it due to either symptoms, being a close contact of someone herself or a followup from a positive lateral flow test.

PCR test results can take a few days to come through so your theory of being with her on wednesday and her getting a positive result from a test she took yesterday makes no sense.

Original poster

dazzlerdo · 10/07/2021 12:16

@rainbowunicorn

If you were with her on Wednesday in the circumstances you describe and she took the test on Friday then yes you would be a contact.

If it was a PCR test then I would assume she took it due to either symptoms, being a close contact of someone herself or a followup from a positive lateral flow test.

PCR test results can take a few days to come through so your theory of being with her on wednesday and her getting a positive result from a test she took yesterday makes no sense.

Can I ask why it doesn't make any sense? I was working with her Wednesday, I wasn't in work Thursday I was back at work Friday. She wasn't in work Friday due to her partner getting a positive pcr test result Thursday. She took a pcr test Friday and got her results back this morning. Where we live you get your results back within 24 hours!

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 10/07/2021 12:37

When did she take the test? My school would be strict about the 48 hours. If she took it at 4pm Friday and you saw her 3pm Wednesday you’d be clear.

Original poster

dazzlerdo · 10/07/2021 12:42

@noblegiraffe

When did she take the test? My school would be strict about the 48 hours. If she took it at 4pm Friday and you saw her 3pm Wednesday you’d be clear.

I last saw her at 1.45pm Wednesday. Not sure what time she took the test Friday but it must have been around 10am. I got the message of positive result at 11am today. Like I said where I am you get your results within 24 hours

OP posts:

Myshinynewname · 10/07/2021 12:49

It's not 48 hours, it's the two full days before the positive test that count. Yes you need to isolate OP.

noblegiraffe · 10/07/2021 13:04

Two full days is 48 hours.

noblegiraffe · 10/07/2021 13:07

As in, that is what PHE are advising my school.

ChristmasCovid · 10/07/2021 13:30

Yep you were with her 2 days before she took a test that was positive you need to isolate as you were in contact with her during her infectious period.

Even if you were wearing masks you’d have to isolate- now whether she does the right thing and names you to t&t is a different matter. Also your boss is a dick, what difference does it make what time you started work?

Myshinynewname · 10/07/2021 14:01

The time of the test is irrelevant- if you test positive on Friday all contacts from Wednesday and Thursday have to isolate.

noblegiraffe · 10/07/2021 14:03

Yeah, not according to PHE from experience of a child testing positive on a Sunday evening and children who had been with them at school on Friday not having to isolate.

That doesn't seem to apply in this case though.

Myshinynewname · 10/07/2021 14:04

that's terrible advice!

Fallulah · 10/07/2021 14:22

Re the niece - test and trace ask who you were in contact with for 2 days prior to developing symptoms. So it’s not when she tested but when she felt ill.

School situation sounds woolly at best. We use the 2m for 15 minutes I think. Are you maybe at a school where you don’t have to isolate but they will ask you to LFD every day?

rainbowunicorn · 10/07/2021 16:30

@dazzlerdo if you were with her on wednesday then she would likely have been infectious at that point as she took the test on Friday which is within 48 hours of you being with her. It really does not matter when the result comes back. The result is just telling you that she was positive at the time she took the test which was less than 48hours since you last were with her.
It makes no difference when the test came back. It could have taken 5 days to come back and you would still have been a contact as you were with her within the 48 hour period before she took the test.

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