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Original poster

Positive ds, can my cleaner come tomorrow?

181 replies

PurpleEchoLamp · 31/10/2021 09:51

Just that really! Since he got his positive PCR, he's been banished to his room, so if he stays in there, and she only does downstairs, can she come? (1st world problem, I know!)

OP posts:
youvegottenminuteslynn · 31/10/2021 18:40

She deserves a conversation with her client IMO because like many of us, she may prefer to continue working.

Prefer to go to one client's house and risk then having to isolate or be off sick, potentially losing multiple hours of work from other clients? Unlikely.

Howunusualisthis · 31/10/2021 18:48

Some of the posts on this thread are nauseating. Pay the cleaner her hours and tell her not to come while sick people are in the house. It's a no brainer!

If you don't offer to pay her, of course, she will feel she has to come if she's financially dependent on those hours... which is highly likely. This potentially puts her health, her family's health and other clients' health at risk, as well as her future ability to work.

Totally agree with @GetOffTheTableMabel - this isn't about being a bit daft/ clueless and first world problems. It's downright irresponsible.

ssd · 31/10/2021 19:18

Totally agree @PurpleEchoLamp
The sense of entitlement is breathtaking

ssd · 31/10/2021 19:19

Sorry totally disagree, of course

careerchangeperhaps · 31/10/2021 20:01

Legally, yes she can.
Morally, you need to tell her he's positive and give her the choice to come or not.

Warhertisuff · 31/10/2021 20:04

To be honest, going against the grain, of your son is isolating and you're not asking him to clean room(s) that he's isolating in, and you and the family keep out of her way and you open your windows, I can't see the problem. I'd give her the choice of course but the risk is tiny.

littlestmunchkin · 31/10/2021 20:07

I cancelled a tradesman due the day after we finished quarantine to be safe as I wanted to make sure the house had aired properly first . He was very grateful I'd been considerate.
If your cleaner catches covid, she can't work. And that's not a first world problem

littlestmunchkin · 31/10/2021 20:09

Definitely pay her and tell her not to come!

How is this even a thread!

Warhertisuff · 31/10/2021 20:12

This thread has lost the plot in a vortex of Covid insanity I thought we'd left behind in Spring of 2020.

If the DS remains isolated, and the OP and family keep out of the way upstairs, the risks are negligible. Anyone would think the OP is asking the cleaner to lick her DS's snotty tissues!

Oldgoat2021 · 31/10/2021 20:37

Make her come and clean your house, then don't pay her because, you will say, "She gave Covid to your kids".

[DUCKS]

BIWI · 31/10/2021 22:58

@Warhertisuff

This thread has lost the plot in a vortex of Covid insanity I thought we'd left behind in Spring of 2020.

If the DS remains isolated, and the OP and family keep out of the way upstairs, the risks are negligible. Anyone would think the OP is asking the cleaner to lick her DS's snotty tissues!

But it's not for @PurpleEchoLamp to decide if the risks are negligible is it?

She is still, potentially, putting her cleaner at risk.

The most recent variant of the Delta variant is proving highly transmissible, so the cleaner may be very much at risk.

Warhertisuff · 01/11/2021 06:28

@BIWI

But it's not for @PurpleEchoLamp to decide if the risks are negligible is it?She is still, potentially, putting her cleaner at risk.The most recent variant of the Delta variant is proving highly transmissible, so the cleaner may be very much at risk.

I agree that the OP should inform the cleaner of the situation and respect her decision if she decides not to come, and pay her if that's the case.

However, the risks involved if the person with Covid and other household members are on a different floor behind closed doors is negligible if windows have all been kept open, whatever the variant.

Yes, it's against the rules and that's a good enough reason not to require the cleaner to come, but all the sanctimonious horrified "I can't even believe this is being asked" responses remind me of those who were similarly horrified back in March 2020 at those who "broke the rules" by daring to sit of a park bench while out for their daily exercise or leaving the house twice within 24 hours.

Those of you who've responded in this way need to get a grip and appreciate that what the OP suggested really wasn't particularly outrageous and that the cleaner is probably more at risk going into a shop masked up for a few minutes that she would be in this situation.

Warhertisuff · 01/11/2021 06:35

The most recent variant of the Delta variant is proving highly transmissible, so the cleaner may be very much at risk.

If Delta+ (which is believed to be only marginally more transmissible than Delta, if at all) can transmit through a closed door, downstairs and to someone 10+ metres away, all in a well ventilated house with all its windows open, and do so so readily that it makes the person downstairs "very much at risk", we are all screwed and we need to be locked down in sealed up houses forever!

Warhertisuff · 01/11/2021 06:38

@Oldgoat2021

Make her come and clean your house, then don't pay her because, you will say, "She gave Covid to your kids".

[DUCKS]

😂 I think those posters who piled on to denounce the OP must have exploded in righteous indignation at this suggestion!
ballsdeep · 01/11/2021 06:40

Please tell me you are taking the piss?!?!

If not you are a selfish, inconsiderate person

ballsdeep · 01/11/2021 06:41

@PurpleEchoLamp

OK, point taken. I'm a bit clueless, obviously. Thanks all.
Id say more selfish tbh
rrhuth · 01/11/2021 06:45

@NailsNeedDoing

Cleaners are akin to the Queen on MN, you don’t get sensible answers.

While it may be against the rules, many of us are just doing what makes sense to us now, so I would call your cleaner and give her the choice. She can choose to come and do her job with reasonable protection like mask, gloves, the infected person staying well away, all windows being open, or she can choose to be extra cautious and stay away.

I wouldn’t pay her if she chose not to come knowing that there are plenty of things that can be don’t to keep her safe. But then I’m a TA who has undoubtedly been around plenty of infected adults and children since the start of this and I don’t have the option of staying at home on full pay, so I don’t see cleaners why should either, especially when there is much more they can easily to protect themselves.

Except having someone in your house whilst there is a positive case doesn't make sense.

Honestly, this sort of non-ligic is worrying.

CovidCorvid · 01/11/2021 06:48

@SeasonalNamechange

Mumsnet is odd about cleaners

My cleaner has the choice and has chosen to come. People are not as bothered now

Really? What was the choice….come and clean and get paid or don’t come and don’t get paid?

Because I’d have thought if the choice was come and work and get paid or don’t come and still get paid most people wouldn’t come.

And I’d pay a cleaner in such a position. I paid my dog Walker for 4 months in lock down even though she never walked my dog!

Warhertisuff · 01/11/2021 06:54

@ballsdeep

Please tell me you are taking the piss?!?!

If not you are a selfish, inconsiderate person

Why was she taking the piss? Where's the massive risk when you actually consider the situation? Can Covid readily spread through a shut door, downstairs to another floor? Of course give the cleaner the choice, but you're not asking her to do anything very risky.
rrhuth · 01/11/2021 06:58

Of course give the cleaner the choice, but you're not asking her to do anything very risky.

Well, apart from be in the home of a confirmed positive case of a notifiable disease Hmm

The cleaner will receive no sick pay if they have to isolate, which is a big financial risk to them.

AwaAnBileYerHeid · 01/11/2021 07:02

@NailsNeedDoing

I work in early years so Consider I have the same level of COVID risk as a TA, but I do not wish that level of risk on any one else in a different profession. It is not a race to the bottom.

I’m not wishing a any level of risk on anyone. I’m just at the point of realising that there is very little consistency or sense in many of the rules, so I’d rather make my own choices. The cleaner may be the same. As a PP said, she could be double jabbed and have had covid recently for all we know, so could be at next to no risk. She deserves a conversation with her client IMO because like many of us, she may prefer to continue working. If she doesn’t, then that’s fine too.

Maybe you'd rather interpret the rules in your own way but that is what is facilitating the spread of the virus. You may prefer to make your own choices but there are clinically vulnerable people out there who would choose not to catch covid- but then people like you who don't do everything you can to minimise the spread of covid are sadly making that a little more difficult. I'm quite shocked by your selfish and quite frankly uneducated way of thinking. You're not coming across in a good light.
AwaAnBileYerHeid · 01/11/2021 07:04

"Mumsnet is odd about cleaners

My cleaner has the choice and has chosen to come. People are not as bothered now"

I feel sorry for the people your cleaner comes into contact with who haven't been given that choice.

Maskless · 01/11/2021 07:07

I cannot believe the daft and unscientific responses on this thread.

There is ZERO chance that a cleaner can catch covid from someone in a room with the door closed.

Doubly so when the person confined has no symptoms!

Quadruply so when the cleaner does not even go upstairs onto the same floor as the confined person!

Who scared you all out of your wits so much that you think it can pass through a solid door?

CovidCorvid · 01/11/2021 07:13

Because there’s a risk other people in the household may have it but not yet be positive. And it may be a low risk but surface transmission is still possible.

Can people really not cope without their cleaner for one week?

Maskless · 01/11/2021 07:13

@rrhuth

Of course give the cleaner the choice, but you're not asking her to do anything very risky.

Well, apart from be in the home of a confirmed positive case of a notifiable disease Hmm

The cleaner will receive no sick pay if they have to isolate, which is a big financial risk to them.

Its is NOT a "notifiable disease"!

Stop making things up!

Proof? Read any govt or NHS website. It says if you have it, stay home and treat it as a flu.

NOWHERE does it say that you have to "notify" the authorities - not even your own GP!

I'm irritated that people are enjoying the drama and trying to overblow it.

It's probably a false positive, anyway, if he has no symptoms, so all this hysteria is over nothing.

I had covid last year and even the person who looked after me 16 hours a day didn't catch it, let alone any of the others in the house.