Working in a nursing home with winter vomiting bug

[CL554]

I am a health care assistant and work in a nursing home, and am also 29 weeks pregnant. At the moment, there is a bad case of the winter vomiting bug going around and spreading among staff and clients like a wildfire.
What I'd like to know is, do I have any rights to say that I am not going in to work until this bug clears as I really do not want to catch it? Just want to see what others think and if anyone else is in/has been in similar situations?

How would you know when to go back to work, you could be off sick for weeks until it's completely cleared up.

You want the job, you take the risks. You can discuss with your manager and ensure a risk assessment is done but tbh nobody wants the bug and it will go through the who,e home so even if they switch you to other duties you won't avoid it.

I'm not sure... I work in a school and I have to say that definitely wouldn't go down as an authorised absence, whereas something like slapped cheek would be because it's an actual risk to the baby rather than just unpleasant if that makes sense?
Are there any other duties that you could do if you are really paranoid about catching it? Office/admin stuff? I've sometimes not caught stuff from my husband/daughter and vice versa so it's not always a given that you'll pass stuff on if that makes sense?

Make sure you practise effective hand hygiene and wear gloves/plastic aprons wherever possible. In a hospital, these patients would be isolated and barrier nursed - does this happen in nursing homes?
But no, I don't think it would be acceptable to not work until the bug passes - you just have to take precautions to protect yourself. Have you had a risk assessment? If not then have one ASAP and see how management intend to protect you from any potential risks such as this.

Yes it certainly should happen in nursing homes. Residents should not leave their rooms, staff use PPI, no visitors etc. Not sure how effective it is if residents wander and training needs to be up to date. Infection control needs to taken seriously.

Has the employer done a pregnancy risk assessment? Would there be risks to pregnancy with this bug?
If not but you’d rather be careful, then I’d try gloves, extra hygiene and whatever Other measures there are to prevent it.

Call your midwife.