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Covid and Work, Covid Advice and General Chat

I’m still working from home but had to go into the office a couple of weeks ago - I had a desk booked for me for all week even though I was only in for about 6 hours. Prior to going in I had to do an online course, listen to a presentation and watch a video. The floorplate was marked out re where you can and can’t go etc and a one way system was in place. As a civil servant they are looking to get as many of us back to the office as possible even if it is only 1-2 days per week. However with an occupancy rate of only 20% it may still be a while but, looking forward, I feel as though safety has not been compromised.
 
Well I dropped some stuff off at the British Heart Foundation, visited a shop and went to a restaurant for a meal at lunchtime today. Mad, bonkers or insane probably but I've now figured with no real protection work wise I may as well get on with life to an extent and if the worst happens it happens!

I mean how can I ask a mate to do my shopping for me now I'm back at work? How can I ask the local Covid support group to do the same? I can't, simple as that. I've found that the knock on effect from returning is immediate and bizarre in many ways. I just shrug my shoulders now and say what can you do. I'm probably less at risk in a restaurant sitting metres away from someone than I am in a classroom and if I can't be totally safe at work what's the point of keeping totally safe elsewhere?! I've said before the last 5 months or so being very strict with myself seems to have been a wasted effort. But has it? Maybe the medical professionals know more about treatment now? Are you any better off being ill now than you would have been in April and May?! Who knows!

Slightly odd sitting inside in the restaurant. Was surprised none of the staff were wearing masks and we didn't need to as we were walked to our sanitised table. Only real difference was you asked them to fill your bowl at the salad bar rather than self service. Handed my card to do contactless and the waitress just took it, put it in the machine and handed me the keypad! Never looked at a keypad like it was an extra out of The Evil Dead before!! Sanitiser came out again and again!! One thing I will do in future though is maybe take my own salt. Your meals come, hands have been sanitised and then you need the salt. Never glared at a salt shaker like that before either!!

Received an interesting email back from my Union after he looked at my schools Risk Assessment. His reply has some interesting information on it so if anyone would like to see it PM me and I'll forward as I don't feel right posting it publicly. Might help others in school know what questions to ask.

Interesting though how he said that whilst my schools wasn't too bad schools have a very low bar to hit with regard to regulations compared with some other workplaces. Basically because if the bar was set higher getting everyone back would be impossible! He picked up well on things like Assemblies or staff training/meetings which the schools guidance doesn't really mention. Very fair points he made as these generally involve large gatherings. I therefore will stand outside the windows if assemblies are whole school and at staff briefings if we all sit in the lunch hall as per normal I will not attend saying I do not feel safe in a crowded room and either ask for the minutes to be emailed to me or ask my Tutor to make a note of anything that is relevant to me. If anyone kicks up a fuss I will just say that my Line Manager said it's very much my responsibility to be safe so that is what I am doing.

I feel that those of us that have been "forced" back and have no support elsewhere have to take a stand and not be bullied into anything we don't feel safe with. If that affects our duties and the employers get upset then that is the time to bring in the Union. The Union told me that you can't be sacked if you don't feel safe in the workplace and therefore try and keep yourself safe so your employer could end up with an unfair dismissal charge if they do sack you. I think this is our only way forward now. If my Head argues this and that I will merely state that I offered to continue to work at home and was denied that. I agreed to come back if I felt that the workplace was safe but at times I don't so will take such actions so that I do. Interesting the Union also stated that the two metre rule "does" still apply in the workplace which surprised me and he advised me not to be bullied into the 1 metre rule.

Onwards and upwards!
 
@Max68 we went out for a meal for the first time since March and the salt, pepper, sugar, sauces etc all came in sachets handed to you when you gave them your order. Cutlery came with the food. We weren’t shown to our table but were asked not to sit on one that still had dishes on it and when we finished eating to leave our trays, fully loaded, on the table. I was surprised at how relaxed I felt considering we had avoided going out for so long!
 
It isn't all about dying:
"Kate Garraway's husband Derek ……- has been through organ shutdown, lung and kidney failure and now struggles to digest food since Covid-19 rampaged through his body.

While he no longer has the disease, the damage it has caused has been extensive and doctors don't know when - or even if - he'll be able to fully recover.

She went on: "At first it was all about Derek's lungs, but then his kidneys started failing and he was on dialysis. Now they've realised Covid can affect every cell of the body: most recently Derek's been having problems with his intestines.

"The absorption of food and vomiting are problems and they're trying to work out whether that's because his cells don't produce the enzymes to digest. His liver and heart and blood vessels have been affected."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/kate-garraways-husband-derek-draper-22636558#source=push
 
I strongly suspect that Boris' instruction for civil servants to return to work when they could just as effectively work from home has more to do with the franchises the Govt gives to private companies to run the canteens in Govt buildings than with private businesses in city centres.When we moved to a new building our kitchenettes had one small sink and a small domestic fridge for 90 people per office. It was impossible for us all to get our individual cartons of milk into it so we had to run a milk club buying large containers between us to make our own coffee. Otherwise there were coffee bars (might have been Costa or one of the other biggies) in the corridors selling coffee at £2.50. As well as a canteen for cooked food.The place looked like an airport.We also had an informal "tuck shop" where a lady would buy a batch of chocolate bars from the shop and re sell them at shop prices at no profit. The bars were kept in a Roses tin inside a govt issue metal cupboard. We were told to stop because this allegedly"encouraged mice" There were of course no mice. But the franchise holder had noticed that they weren't selling the chocolate bars from their vending machines at double the shop price.
 
Apologies @Tannith but I don’t understand your response to my post. I have not referred to dying in it and just explained how confident I feel that, when I do get back to office, my safety won’t be compromised due to the measures that have been put in place! However I appreciate that Covid-19 has left some people with other health issues but the same can be said about a number of illnesses etc - my OH has now got a pacemaker and Afib following an operation for an aortic aneurysm 13 years ago and the drugs used to control the AFib has caused other problems for him but, when you consider the consequences of him not having the op, at the end of day he’s still alive.
 
I received my individual risk assessment on the day I returned to school. It stated it had been agreed for me to wear a visor to mitigate my risk (agreed after I requested it at the beginning of the summer holidays). It also said I should observe social distancing where possible. My experience of the classroom last week has proved this to be impossible. We have already had a child sent home with a persistent cough. Most alarming is we have no soap in the toilets just hand gel! I must say I am not confident the environment is safe.
 
Sorry Daphne, I pressed reply on the wrong post
 

I feel your concern. As I said above schools have a low bar set when it comes to being a "Covid Safe workplace". If the bar was set higher as it is in some other workplaces the Government wouldn't be able to get everyone back to school. Strange how the virus apparently behaves differently in a school compared to everywhere else according to Boris but there you go!

I was surprised at my place that whilst they have gone by the guidelines obvious "risks" hadn't been tended too. For instance in the toilets there are only small waste paper baskets and of course on our two training days they were over filled with paper towels. I suggested to the caretaker that larger swing bins were put in place obviously due to a bigger capacity but also to have a lid covering the waste. He just said to ask the money men!! I also asked if taps in the bathrooms could be tinkered with as they are those taps that you press and water comes out only briefly after pressing. Got a grumble for that suggestion, so you have to keep your elbow on the tap and wash one hand at a time which is an interesting science experiment. You don't think about it in normal times but you do when trying to avoid placing your hands on the tap!!

Re Kate Garraway and her husband. All very sad and my heart goes out to them. Only saw him on I'm a Celeb last year and whilst he was clearly a big fella he looked solid rather than obese. Haven't heard anything about him having underlying conditions so was he just a healthy solidly built man in his 50's without any underlying conditions?!
 
I've not read anything about whether he had any underlying conditions, but he's also got diabetes which was reported as being due to Covid. My heart goes out to them all as well.
 
So often it's the obvious things that are overlooked Max, when they could make a real difference. Hope that these things are changed, as I'm sure you wouldn't be the only person that noticed they needed altering with covid still about. Take care.
 
Reactions: JRT
My first day on the school run and it went well. Driver in front, myself and 4 children occupying 5 seats of 6 in the middle section. Driver and I wore a mask, I used hand gel, 3 of the children didn't have hand gel, so I put some on their hands and I mentioned to the parents that hand gel is needed when entering the vehicle. Could not social distance, so an email will be on it's way to the vehicle company and the county council.
 
The other day on our local TV news a mother was complaining about the school bus her daughter had been on that day. Her daughter showed her a video she took on the bus, which showed dozens of secondary school children with absolutely no social distancing. Some of the children were standing in the central aisle. It was pretty horrific. The TV company contacted the bus company (Stage Coach) who responded they are only paid for the one bus. If more are required someone would have to stump up the money for them.
 
Well an interesting first day back in earnest. Never had a panic attack just because I was inside before!! Stood outside the morning briefing and heard pretty well nothing but considering all staff were pretty much sitting next to each other I'll take the not hearing anything! Was ok outside or standing in a doorway but that won't last as the winter draws in. Brings it's own set of problems as well as the mask isn't something you can wear 8 hours non stop so when you go outside you take it off and then have to put it back on again when you go inside. Suspect that could leave yourself open to contamination by keeping doing that. I certainly need a workers belt though to hang masks, visors, sanitizer, wipes, gloves, pens, and god knows what else.

My GP then rang after school to see how things were and to discuss the letter. Pretty pointless really. I score 67 on the Covid Age test which apparently places me at the lower end of higher risk. The only things I score for were diabetes and age, that's it. Hypertension doesn't give you any score, neither do lifetime vices like drinking or smoking or even BMI wasn't on her list! No idea why BMI or blood pressure didn't rate. Not sure which Covid Age Table she was using! She just admitted that it's a lottery and you could either get seriously ill or not even know that you have had it. Reassuring,,,,,not!! I'm not as risk as some and I'm more at risk than others and I was lucky to be in a school with smaller children who in her opinion don't shed the virus., I then reminded her that I work in the Secondary bit with 11-19 year olds!

Not sure the GP's can even agree in what is going on.....
 
Reactions: JRT
Summary
SARS-CoV-2 has caused the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an urgent need for physiological models to study SARS-CoV-2 infection using human disease-relevant cells. COVID-19 pathophysiology includes respiratory failure but involves other organ systems including gut, liver, heart, and pancreas. We present an experimental platform comprised of cell and organoid derivatives from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). A Spike-enabled pseudo-entry virus infects pancreatic endocrine cells, liver organoids, cardiomyocytes, and dopaminergic neurons. Recent clinical studies show a strong association with COVID-19 and diabetes. We find that human pancreatic beta cells and liver organoids are highly permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection, further validated using adult primary human islets and adult hepatocyte and cholangiocyte organoids. SARS-CoV-2 infection caused striking expression of chemokines, as also seen in primary human COVID-19 pulmonary autopsy samples. hPSC-derived cells/organoids provide valuable models for understanding the cellular responses of human tissues to SARS-CoV-2 infection and for disease modeling of COVID-19.
· https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell...m/retrieve/pii/S1934590920302824?showall=true
 

Do you know how many 'points' diabetes is awarded on that covid age test Max? I notice it's not included in the score but almost added as an 'and if you have this, it means your score could go higher'. How much higher though? x
 
KK123 said:
Do you know how many 'points' diabetes is awarded on that covid age test Max? I notice it's not included in the score but almost added as an 'and if you have this, it means your score could go higher'. How much higher though? x
Click to expand...

My GP said it was 15. So my age 52 + 15 = 67. Hope I see my 68th birthday!!!
 
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