Page 8 | Colleague has come into work sick…

theycallmeuser · 2021-08-17T11:57:04+00:00

My colleague came in to work yesterday absolutely full of cold, coughing and sneezing. She’s again come in today. She says she’s done lateral flows and they are negative!! Would I be unreasonable to go home?!

Waxonwaxoff0 · 18/08/2021 14:16

@movingadviceneeded

So how many negative lateral flows does it take to prove that you're covid negative?

LFTs are crap. One PCR, which is much more reliable, could clear it all up.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 18/08/2021 14:17

People are really overestimating the reliability of LFTs, they're terrible from my experience and are supposed to be used to try and detect asymptomatic cases. If you're ill with cold symptoms it really is best to get a PCR.

Longdistance · 18/08/2021 14:27

Quite frankly she should be sent home with her cold because no one wants her snotty coughing germs, thank you. Yuck!

Original poster

theycallmeuser · 18/08/2021 15:26

If she does have Covid. How likely am I to get it?

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Original poster

theycallmeuser · 18/08/2021 15:33

Bit of a rubbish diagram, but her desk is on the left and I’m on the right.

Our desks are around 2m wide, and we have a desk inbetween that obviously isn’t being used.

Windows are open occasionally but weren’t open all day.

I don’t leave my desk other than to go to the printer or the bathroom.

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drpaddington · 18/08/2021 16:00

I agree with you.

One of my colleagues carried on working with 'a cold'- really nasty cough, sore throat, loss of taste and smell. She said it's just a cold because she had a blocked nose and no temperature! She lied to our boss about doing a test. The following week two other colleagues test positive- can't prove it was caught from the first colleague of course but there's every chance it was! Especially as we aren't able to distance and we can't wear PPE.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 18/08/2021 16:04

@theycallmeuser

If she does have Covid. How likely am I to get it?

Based on my situation - 5 of us in our workspace. I sit nearest to infected colleague and caught Covid from her. Colleague who sits furthest away (at least 6m) also caught Covid from infected colleague. 2 colleagues who sit in between us all did not catch it. So 50/50 really in our situation. All colleagues involved are double vaxxed apart from me who has had 1 vax.

Original poster

theycallmeuser · 18/08/2021 16:06

@drpaddington

I agree with you.

One of my colleagues carried on working with 'a cold'- really nasty cough, sore throat, loss of taste and smell. She said it's just a cold because she had a blocked nose and no temperature! She lied to our boss about doing a test. The following week two other colleagues test positive- can't prove it was caught from the first colleague of course but there's every chance it was! Especially as we aren't able to distance and we can't wear PPE.

@drpaddington

Well that’s it isn’t it, if I get it now I can’t prove it’s from her!!

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Original poster

theycallmeuser · 18/08/2021 16:07

@Waxonwaxoff0

How long did you share an office space with the person you caught it from?

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Waxonwaxoff0 · 18/08/2021 16:11

[quote theycallmeuser]@Waxonwaxoff0

How long did you share an office space with the person you caught it from?[/quote]
6 hours every day last week. No idea what day I caught it, she was doing daily LFT but they were all negative and then got a positive PCR at the end of the week.

Original poster

theycallmeuser · 18/08/2021 16:14

@Waxonwaxoff0

What made her take a PCR? I hope you’re feeling okay?

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Waxonwaxoff0 · 18/08/2021 16:20

[quote theycallmeuser]@Waxonwaxoff0

What made her take a PCR? I hope you’re feeling okay?[/quote]
She found out she had been a close contact with a positive case the previous weekend.

I'm OK thanks, for me personally it has been like a moderate cold. I'm very bunged up, blocked nose, phlegmy cough. Lost all sense of taste and smell, have a fever. I'm not bedridden or particularly tired, I can breathe fine (through my mouth anyway😂). My chest is fine. No sickness or diarrhoea, no aches or pains. Slight headache but I think that's from coughing and lack of fresh air.

dontyouworrydontyouworrynow · 18/08/2021 16:26

@CloudPop

Companies really need to come up with a robust and well publicised approach to tackling this kind of thing. The fact is that delta starts out with cold symptoms. Surely it makes sense to ask people to take a PCR if they have these symptoms. I don't know a single person who has had an actual cold for months, and those that thought they did all proved to have covid. Not severely, nobody felt any worse than a bad cold, but covid nonetheless

I have a stinking rotten cold right now.

Done several LFTs since Saturday. All negative. Did a PCR with symptoms in full flow Monday, results back yesterday, negative.

I've had a headache, cough, slight fever, blocked and runny nose, sneezing and a sore throat. My young kids have got the same. DH also did a PCR, negative.

Typical cold and definitely not covid!

minatrina · 18/08/2021 17:07

The fact that there are people on this thread that think you no longer have to isolate even if you test positive for covid as long as you're double vaccinated just goes to show how awful our government's messaging has been. Really concerning!

FeedMeSantiago · 18/08/2021 19:52

I am on day 17 of Covid. I tested negative on a LFT just before bed, first thing next morning I had a very faint positive LFT result - I woke up with a headache and suspected Covid as someone had sneezed on me several days prior at an event so took another LFT. Went for a PCR that morning - positive.

For the first 4 days or so my symptoms were of a cold - headache, joint pains, mouth and tongue ulcers, runny nose and sneezing with a stuffy nose at night. I coughed a couple of times first and last thing, but nothing that I would have noticed were I not already aware I had Covid.

The full on Covid cough developed much later and is still going strong. Reduction of smell occurred a week in. No temp at any point. Covid has knocked me for 6 despite me being fully jabbed and in my early 30s. I've needed daily monitoring from the Covid monitoring service, antibiotics for a secondary chest infection and I've been off sick throughout. I've been advised I need more time off and then a phased return to work.

The Covid monitoring team told me they are frustrated by how many people they are treating who say they didn't think it was Covid as they didn't have a cough, temp or loss/change of taste and so didn't get a PCR. Lots of people with Delta never get those symptoms and the guidance needs updating.

It's a really horrible illness and I would be furious in OP's position - her colleague has a cough and therefore needs a PCR. Also, her employer is being silly - if it is Covid and it spreads around the office there's a risk several members of staff may be unwell and need a substantial time off like I have.

WidowTwonky · 18/08/2021 21:59

I just had a cold. No cough. Negative lft. Positive PCR.
I’d hope that even if people are in denial they would do a PCR regardless (even if they don’t isolate whilst waiting for results). If they’re so sure it’s just a cold then there’s no harm in a PCR

LadyFannyButton · 25/08/2021 10:47

@theycallmeuser has anyone else in work now become unwell or is everyone okay?

Original poster

theycallmeuser · 25/08/2021 18:36

@LadyFannyButton

Not yet, but the person in question never went for a pcr so we will never know what she had!

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MadameHomais · 26/08/2021 10:11

My colleague had a “cough and cold”.
He did 3 LFT but they were all negative and finally took PCR. He tested positive. He seems to be quite ill now.
How many people did he pass it on to? LFT give a false feeling of security, what’s the point?

MinesAMassiveSalad · 26/08/2021 10:31

Theoretically they should catch those shedding more virus. They are just acting as a net to catch those obvious cases.