Are people still isolating?

[LikeSilentRaindrops]

Been Googling like mad but everything seems so subjective online 😫

DH has felt awful all week and tested yesterday - positive. I’ve not been feeling great and symptoms have properly kicked in today - sore throat, cough, photosensitivity, fever - negative.

I have an incredibly important week at work coming up, including time-sensitive meetings that can’t be rescheduled. Obviously if I feel like I do today, I won’t be doing them, but if the symptoms settle, should I go? Tell anyone?

We both work from home exclusively. We had that set up before the pandemic.

Please just stay home if you are sick. It doesn’t matter if it is Covid, the flu, strep, or anything else.

Not everyone has the luxury of staying at home. People need to earn money and SSP doesn't begin to cover one's usual earnings.

And no. Not everyone has a job where it's possible to WFH.

@NooNooTheNotSoGreat

this is my experience. Plus you might face a disciplinary or ultimately lose your job.

We have to go in as well unless bedridden. Then we just don't get paid anything for being off.

I'm not sure where people are getting tests from, I haven't seen hide nor hair of any for ages in the shops

SSP only kicks in after a week of being off. That's a lot of vital income for some people (not to mention the miniscule amount SSP offers you).

SSP only kicks in after a week of being off. That's a lot of vital income for some people (not to mention the miniscule amount SSP offers you).

Exactly, It really isn't realistic to expect everyone to take that loss. Bills have to be paid regardless of what particular virus you have.

To be honest the staff in the hospitals are going in with covid. Or just not testing and going in with covid symptoms. I’m assuming seeing as most people say don’t test/carry on as normal then they won’t mind a covid positive nurse looking after their poorly dc, or their sick father in icu, or a covid positive midwife looking after their newborn.

Better pray that you're not in the 10% who get long covid then. Because that'll hole your family income far worse than a brief absence for the acute illness.

When it's rife in a workplace, some will be affected like that, and it could be you. There are good reasons to keep transmission low, but we've totally lost sight of them.

I've had long Covid, I've had Covid 4x and got it the first time, or have I should say as I still have intermittent leg pain and some loss of sensation, 4x it wasn't fun but it didn't at any point stop me from working. It's a range of symptoms and illnesses, not always the worst case scenario. Of course some are left being barely able to breathe and can't possibly work but it bugs me that people talk as though it's one thing that's the same for everyone. I mean I'd rather not have it but I've never stopped work with it.

But long Covid or not it's completely unrealistic to expect people to prioritise strangers over paying their bills. Most people cannot afford to live on SSP, if/when they do get it. Mortgage companies and landlords want their money regardless of whatever illness you have. Supermarkets aren't going to give people free food.

I get floored every time I get a cold, and I mean a cold, not flu. It takes me a minimum of 3-4 months to recover, I get post viral fatigue syndrome every time. and it's generally more severe for me than Covid but I can't expect and wouldn't expect people to stay at home. Understandably they have to prioritise themselves and their family.

The op is testing negative for Covid anyway

Realistically hardly anyone is testing and people just stay home if they are too sick to go in

I don’t know of anyone that’s still testing 🤷‍♀️

I know I won't convince you of that though. You've been incessantly banging that same drum on here practically since the pandemic began. But people are not going to prioritise strangers over keeping a roof over their family's heads and it's totally unrealistic to expect them to do so.

We’ll all be exposed to it no matter what

Testing isn’t the norm, so most won’t even know

I'd isolate myself. You're 90% sure you have it and meetings can be done on Teams or Zoom. Just dial in from home. I'd be furious if someone turned up to a meeting with me knowing they had covid or any contagious disease. I'd be just as annoyed it if were flu, chicken pox or norovirus.

It's not just vulnerable people, though of course that is the most important thing but also ruining people's plans, holidays, birthdays etc

I try to isolate if I've got any contagious illness. I WFH anyway so it doesn't disrupt that, and I just generally stay away from people until I'm better.

It's not because it's covid, it's because it's the polite and considerate thing to do, and I've always done it.

Local pharmacy, however I still have boxes full from when both kids schools were sending a box home every week up until just over a year ago! Ridiculous amount.

I hope people with bad colds/flu/sickness bugs would also stay home, it’s not just covid. If you have an infectious illness, you should be at home.

Colds are contagious for up to 2 weeks in most people, so I just don’t think it’s possible for people to stay at home every time they are infectious with something.

Gosh this thread took off again 😂

DH is a teacher and has leftover tests. I tested again on Tuesday and it was a faint positive, so I told everyone that I was due to meet with. Everyone said they’d rather not meet in person, so I’ve had to miss some fairly crucial things this week that it will take a couple of months to pull back.

tbh the impression I’ve been left with is my colleagues / boss would rather I hadn’t tested, didn’t know and had showed up anyway. This is the reason I asked the question and this thread has really shown two clear positions - those who think, test or no test, you should really steer clear of people and those who think that’s no longer practical and you just have to get on with it. I see both sides (hence the question!); I do think we could do with clearer central guidance as it’s quite hard to know what to do for the best!

If I were your client and you turned up to pitch to me with a visible cold, I’d be pretty annoyed to be honest.

It is shit that basically people are left in a no man’s land position. The pandemic should have been an opportunity to recognise that people going to work with contagious illnesses is a bad idea and a revamp of sick pay. Obviously that would have been far too sensible.

My DD attends a SEN school and the LA now have implemented the standard “if you’re off x times it starts the monitoring process” for covid for school staff, despite this being a school that lost a pupil to covid. The Ht is having to frantically try and juggle classes and not let on when staff are off with positive tests so they don’t get in trouble, but equally she says she simply can’t allow those testing positive to mix with the pupils because of the risk.
it’s madness.

Re: no man's land and lack of central guidance. This thread

x.com/amandalhu/status/1702092375869493556?s=46&t=G9BWOZlYGPa1_pR7aKkbHQ

Yep.

Its astounding and horrifying that we went through an actual pandemic, ffs, with barely any legal right to sick pay. People were priced out of isolation even when it was a criminal offence not to, and they certainly still are now.

The fact is, as it always has been, that if there is a financial cost to isolation, either that cost will be met from somewhere or, if it can't be, the person will not isolate. It doesn't matter whether anyone else thinks this is a good idea or not. People who need their wages to pay their bills do not have the luxury of worrying about long covid or bigger pictures.

As for the pissing about with attendance letters, words actually fail me.

The cost is being met through an increasingly sick workforce, big rise in those too sick to work anymore, loss of education, increase in health and social care requirements, impact on the economy. Supported isolation seems cheap in comparison to me.

No. There is a reason they stopped giving out free tests and closed all the testing centres. I am in Wales and the WG advice for kids is that if you have mild covid symptoms you go to school. You only stay off if you are really ill and you go back to school as soon as you feel well.

I am sure adults do the same for work.

They don't want people off and inactive again. We are not in a pandemic anymore.