Covid and working

[Elove1]

Firstly I do not wanna sound dramatic but I'm pretty angry.
I am 22 weeks pregnant and one of my colleagues tested positive for covid. She's been off the weekend but is due back to work tomorrow, still full of symptoms and apparently sounded awful on the phone.
I work in a doctors surgery and the room we all work in isn't ventilated. The windows do not open and only have fans (no AC) for the warmer months. My work place haven't even done my risk assessment yet.
I know you are allowed to come back to work when you have covid, I understand that. I just feel like it's very selfish. Last time I had covid (I wasn't pregnant) but it hit me like a ton of bricks. Just wondering where I stand on this as I'm not happy about her coming into work and risking mine/babies health.

Whatever you do, please wear a respirator. Take in your own air purifier if you have to as well.

I'd speak to your line manager about it and hope they will find a solution. It isn't really your colleague's fault if they're being told they have to come in.

I also work for a GP surgery and they now have a terrible culture of presenteeism. If you had COVID and weren't off sick (and bear in mind we don't get unlimited company sick pay, and can be put on attendance monitoring and threatened that way if we are off too much), then my practice would insist you now work in the office, even if your job was previously done fine from home. It's causing loads of conflict and everyone is really unhappy but the issue is with management not each other who are all stuck between a rock and a hard place in these situations.

I agree. She doesn't have to come back and apparently sounds very unwell on the phone and was advised to stay at home and get better.

Are people still banging on about this?

I would ask if you can work in a separate area if you are worried. Your colleague is not doing anything wrong here, we are allowed to work with covid now. Perhaps she doesn't want to impact her attendance by taking off more time than strictly necessary, which is absolutely her right to do.

they can’t force her to stay off work but can you ask to not sit near her? Do bear in mind you’re probably in contact with people with Covid every day, I don’t know anyone who tests anymore. Look at getting the spring Covid booster if you’re worried about it, or paying privately.

Unfortunately, the government has decided that Covid is over and that it's totally fine to catch it repeatedly so have removed all mitigations, sick pay etc...It's an awful policy but I do sympathise with people who won't get paid unless they go into work- however- it sounds like your colleague has a choice?

I'd be pretty annoyed about working with someone who was knowingly Covid-positive too- chances are she will still be infectious- and I'm not pregnant. I'd be even more concerned if pregnant. I would try and speak to your line manager about whether you can WFH. If you absolutely have to go in, look into wearing an FFP3 respirator - might not be time to order any if you're going in tomorrow but you might find FFP2 in Boots. Would she consider wearing a respirator?

Also, I'd look into getting a private Covid booster dose if you're not eligible on the NHS. It's too late to offer any protection for the next couple of weeks but should reduce the chances of becoming infected after that. Even if it's 30-40% or so that will help.