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Covid-19 Megathread


Loki

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12 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Can you order extra tests preemptively and keep one handy? Or does it not work like that?

Im not sure for general use, but the website does now allow testing for non symptom people. As a care worker i have to get tested every two weeks regardless. The system uses a drop down menu i put in the details of my work and it offers me a test via post or drive though. Might be worth trying it and seeing what it does. 


EDIT

Just had a quick look, I clicked "other" as an option for wanting a test and it seems to allow up to 3 people to order one. I didnt go all the way though mind, but it does not seem to care if you tick no symptoms  

Edited by quote the raven
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It is going to be madness come September. In our school each class is a bubble (30 kids and a teacher) these bubbles can mix within the year group but not with other year groups. 

If one child in the class has a positive test result the entire class has to isolate as well. So essentially entire swathes of children could be off with just one child having tested positive. 

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I work in secondary education too. I'm 6 months pregnant and hit the third trimester tomorrow, RCOG guidance is that we should be working from home. I asked my school what the plan was for me in the coming term in July and they said they would let me know closer to the time. We go back on Tuesday and they still haven't got in touch with me. I have no idea what they want me to do but I really don't think it's safe for me to be back at work.

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16 minutes ago, Joe Blog said:

It is going to be madness come September. In our school each class is a bubble (30 kids and a teacher) these bubbles can mix within the year group but not with other year groups. 

If one child in the class has a positive test result the entire class has to isolate as well. So essentially entire swathes of children could be off with just one child having tested positive. 

My school is employing the same system but teachers will change depending on the lesson. All students are in at the same time but lunch and break times are staggered. We are a large school, 1500 students but not the biggest building so I don't know how this will work practically.

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18 minutes ago, Joe Blog said:

It is going to be madness come September. In our school each class is a bubble (30 kids and a teacher) these bubbles can mix within the year group but not with other year groups. 

 

TBF, that does mean teenage boys finally get a shot with the girls in their class rather than them only being interested in lads in the year above.

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7 minutes ago, deathrey said:

I work in secondary education too. I'm 6 months pregnant and hit the third trimester tomorrow, RCOG guidance is that we should be working from home. I asked my school what the plan was for me in the coming term in July and they said they would let me know closer to the time. We go back on Tuesday and they still haven't got in touch with me. I have no idea what they want me to do but I really don't think it's safe for me to be back at work.

You need to phone your union. You categorically should not go back I would say. Hopefully your school will be decent about it all and let you work from home. Make sure they don't try to force you on maternity leave early either as you can in some form work from home.

@JNLister if I see any teenage boys in my school I will be surprised, it's a primary 😂

Edited by Joe Blog
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I've been working at home quite successfully since March so they know I can work from home. I'm going to get in touch with HR tomorrow and see what they say and then will get the union involved.  NEU have been fairly vague in their guidance recently, they were staunchly on the 'stay at home' side up until a couple of weeks ago.

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I'm a primary school teacher and had a third of my class off today due to having symptoms (that are more than likely part of a cold and not covid). 

I've been wearing my mask for most of the school day as my wife is pregnant at the moment and I don't want to take any unnecessary risks.

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2 hours ago, Divorced Dad said:

I'm a primary school teacher and had a third of my class off today due to having symptoms (that are more than likely part of a cold and not covid). 

Yikes. This is going to be the big issues once secondary schools in England resume "normal" service next week. As soon as child has a cough, a bit of a temperature or feels a bit peaky, they are going to have to stay off. Same goes for teachers where they might just previously get on with things. 

I was in school today getting some things sorted and had a chat with my HoD/assistant head. He reckons we'll get about 85-90% attendance next week since some won't want to send their child back or they'll be ill and it'll go lower. If we make it into October half term without bulk school closures, I'll be impressed. The run up to Christmas will be horrendous though.

The crap about children not spreading it is either going to be very quickly smashed to pieces or it'll be blamed on teachers. I really hope I'm wrong, but when things are "led by the science" which was from a period when a small percentage of pupils were in schools then I'm not convinced that a building of hundreds of people with no distancing or masks/PPE isn't just a disaster waiting to happen.

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They should have displayed the picture book "Calm Down Boris" about a hairy monster who nobody wants to play with because he's too loud and boisterous, he also gets carried away and needs his hair combing. Of course it should really be titled "Calm Down Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson." 

 

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9 hours ago, Vamp said:

They should have displayed the picture book "Calm Down Boris" about a hairy monster who nobody wants to play with because he's too loud and boisterous, he also gets carried away and needs his hair combing. Of course it should really be titled "Calm Down Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson." 

 

No the book they should be called Calm Down STOP CALLING HIM BORIS 

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I started a job on the phones in July. I got the job offer in April/May time but there was hold up for some reason. When taking the job they'd asked if I could work from home. After the offer they asked if I could start a month earlier but I said I was moving house in July and my current WFH conditions weren't ideal - they agreed to continue with the original start date.

The week of starting the job I was told that I'd be working in the office instead. I came in with a mask and was advised I didn't need it. Over the next few weeks my standards slipped and the office's restrictions became more lax. Eventually, there were a couple of confirmed cases on my floor and we had to be sent home.

Yesterday was supposed to be the day I returned but I said I wouldn't be as I didn't feel comfortable as it's still people in an office and there's an airborne risk if nothing else. There's so many more factors at play that could lead to spread that are very hard to monitor them all and there's much less risk at home.

As I'm still training, they want me in for now as they don't have extra support for me for if I WFH. Once I get past training they can look at the possibility of me working from home. It'll be stricter with distancing and the like too. They've said I can take yesterday and today off as unpaid leave to think it over and they ask I come back into the office on Tuesday. The inference seems to be if I don't come in then there's nothing they can do with me - so I'm let go?

It feels wrong to me, like there should be some online support network set up for new starters who aren't comfortable going back in. The government's advice is work from home if you can. My friend works in a similar place and they're not going in again until 2021. At the same time, ideally I wouldn't lose my job.

Anyone got any advice for where I stand on this?

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2 hours ago, Sphinx said:

Anyone got any advice for where I stand on this?

https://www.acas.org.uk/making-a-flexible-working-request/if-your-request-is-turned-down

IANAL, but it seems to me that it wouldn't be unreasonable for your employer to say that your training needs to be carried out in the office, especially as they are apparently quite happy for you to work from home when your training is completed. So providing they are taking reasonable steps to keep you safe at the office, you're between a rock and a hard place. It's a balancing act between the perceived risk involved in however long your training is going to take, versus the possibility of losing your job. In the current employment market, and obviously there's things to be taken into account like the number of people currently looking for work in your area of employment (and judging by you saying it's "on the phones", it does sound like you could quickly be replaced), I'd be tempted to bite the bullet and put up with x day/weeks of work in the office to keep my job. 

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