Having to wear masks at work again

[KangarooKenny]

Had an email today, masks to be worn at work, and two negative tests before you go back to work. In this heat too !

My friend who is CEV and has been strictly following 'the old rules' has just phoned me in a panic as they were unknowingly exposed to someone who has just tested positive for covid.
The person who tested +ve is currently undergoing regular chemotherapy sessions and caught it from their child (adult) who won't wear a mask.
My friend has heart, lung & kidney issues. If they catch full on covid they'll probably die.

I can't believe there are nurses going from house to house without masks.

People needing nurses in their home are pretty high up on the vulnerable scale.

I won't be wearing masks again. We had mask wearing for longer than the rest of the UK, and covid rates were high. No masks, still high.

In shops I always think that if the customers wore masks for the short time they were in there the poor staff wouldn't have to wear a mask all day.
It would be even better if employers put in air filtering then nobody would have to wear a mask.

Nobody working in shops is required to wear masks anymore

It does make you wonder if we will ever work long term in the NHS without masks....will this be the new normal for healthcare professionals and patients?

No bad thing especially as it’s a healthcare setting and it could reduce the spread of many airborne diseases!

I hope she's not being paid with tax payer's money. She wouldn't be my friend I'm afraid.

What would happen if she were exempt?

@Believeitornot that is as it may be but staff don't have to like it, enjoy it or continue working within in long term. Is already making people rethink wanting to work in the NHS. For example, in my job we specialise in communication with patients - it's not the job I signed up to do with masks so i'm looking to developing my career outside of the NHS into teaching or research.

People are free to decide where and how they wish to work. Employers have to assess the safety of the workplace. If there's no common ground, they part company. Running a health service with an in-built disease risk at an unnecessarily unacceptable level will never happen. So it's a good thing that staff decide whether they're able to do what patients need, and if they can't they're better off doing something else. Nobody is above that. Mask exempt staff have to be redeployed or suspended if masks are essential and they're not capable of redeployment. To avoid mask exempt patients disrupting the service, they are often seen at the end so as to disinfect the space after them. Be very clear that they are putting staff and therefore the service at risk.

That's not the case in my hospital. Mask exempt patients are seen when and wherever in clinics and very little cleaning happens bar a quick clinel round like after any appointment. Inpatients don't wear masks at all unless in transit and want to wear one (which is practically nobody). We only wear a surgical mask when treating covid patients who are coughing all over the place and even they don't ever put one on 🤷‍♀️

Also in Scotland here and I have found this one of the most baffling things about the pandemic. It could not be more obvious at this point that laws about 'face coverings' have fuck all effect on case rates, so why on earth is this the thing everyone gets so fixated on?

I don't know why they haven't worked. Maybe omicron is just so infectious it would take fit-tested FFP3s to make a difference. Maybe it spreads fast enough in households that it doesn't matter if people are wearing a mask round Tesco. Maybe more people wearing masks does work a little to reduce transmission, but then the effect of that is a population with a little less immunity, meaning the virus spreads a little faster and the rates are right back where you started. Maybe, as many seem to believe, it is because we are sinners who are not repenting hard enough for God to spare us from the plague selfish people who can't be bothered to follow the science and are the reason we're still in a pandemic. But they haven't. God knows we kept mask laws long enough in Scotland to see a difference if they'd been capable of creating one.

We should have ditched the "everyone wear your Etsy cloth bandana! My mask protects you, your mask protects me!" approach yonks ago when we realised it was not actually doing anything for case rates, and given people proper information and resources about masks instead. Hand out FFP3s and provide fit testing to anyone vulnerable who wants it. Tell people what does work, and how well, and in what circumstances, and what doesn't. Give people the resources to protect themselves, rather than creating suspicion and distrust of those around them and letting them think a scarf over your mouth is protecting you just as well as a respirator. But nope - two and a half years on, now the government's doing "use your Covid sense!" posters nagging at us to wear 'your face covering'.

And you are giving other nurses a bad name.
Can you not see the importance of keeping your patients safe?
Are you new to nursing?

My patients safety is far more important to me than being a bit sweaty and uncomfortable. If wearing a mask can help even just a little surely it’s worth it.

I did always wear mine but I'm confused to if they work why always 2 metres apart and why 12 people at a funeral and why all shops shut for 5 months if they make such a difference.

I agree the medical ones to so for Italy you need a certain type but do the rest do that much? Like everyone is making out its fail safe.

did always wear mine but I'm confused to if they work why always 2 metres apart and why 12 people at a funeral and why all shops shut for 5 months if they make such a difference

Because they reduce risk, not totally eliminate it.

For example, a seat belt won't save you in all collisions, but that's not a reason to say they're useless. And you need rules of the road, as well as safety equipment.

Spot on!

How/why are people still so idiotic about COVID? Is it brain fog? Is it deliberate?

Yes masks (decent ones) reduce transmission. No they don't prevent all transmission.

@Sweetlikechocolate6 because the patients don't wear them, only staff.....The patients who have covid who are sharing a bay or care home with other patients who don't have masks on 🤷‍♀️

Where are you living that the 'poor staff' in shops are all wearing masks?

Where I am, the vast majority of people, including retail staff, are not wearing them.

Well I thank god we are back in masks after today. Idiotic patient came in coughing and spluttering about needing their prescription, no mask, she kindly told us she has Covid. I mean how can you be that selfish and idiotic, we have several extremely unwell patients that come in for a bit of a chat just to get out and about, who cares if they get Covid and die though because you can’t isolate or at least wear a mask. I wouldn’t mind but if anyone does have Covid then our policy is to send out their meds for free on delivery to keep them out of the pharmacy.

Yes we’re hot and sweaty but ethically it’s the right thing to do to protect our many vulnerable patients from harm.

We've never stopped wearing masks since 2020 :-(

I volunteer in a shop and I wear a mask. In fact, I have worn a mask in public places and spaces (outdoor, uncrowded spaces excepted) since the outset.
I've no intention of ditching it.

I am another who observed the consistantly higher covid rates in Scotland compared to England despite the mask mandate being retained.
I don't believe that cloth or loose fitting masks do thing, and find it very odd that people are still being berated about it.

@Communitypharmacy that's so selfish!