Another interesting meeting (by telephone). This time with occupational health. All I want to do is to be allowed to wear a face mask at work to reduce my risk of getting Covid and the possible severe illness that may follow. The problem I have is I work in a primary school and face masks are forbidden. This is causing great anxiety and I am currently signed of work by my GP (reluctantly).
Once again I was told we must follow the Government guidelines. There seem to be no circumstances, where I live and work, that allow any diversion from these. Everyone I have spoken to trots this phrase out.
I have found something online from my LA which is in its guidance to primary schools which states ‘Face coverings would have a negative impact on teaching and learning and so their use in the classroom should be avoided if possible, however there may be circumstances where you feel this request is reasonable, taking the individual’s circumstances into account, and you should keep this under review.’ This was the most recent advice I could find and dated 12th October 2020.
To me, as this is referring to staff, this opens the door for me to be allowed to wear a mask and alleviate my anxiety about being in the crowded classroom with no social distancing.
However, it seems, once again the recommendation is going to be ‘get counselling’ to help with my anxiety. I do have a counselling session booked, 5th December!
I am getting so frustrated that such a simple request is causing so many problems. I don’t hold out much hope that my request will be accepted and am beginning to think there is some hidden agenda with regard to the lack of precautions a vulnerable person is allowed to take in school.
I have every sympathy with you. It's a totally non sensical situation. If you were sat on a less crowded bus for a fraction of the time it would be illegal not to.!
Over the summer being in a similar position drove me to distraction.
I have however realised that outside of the work situation I am fine with living with the virus, well as fine as anyone would be. I follow the rules but I'm not worried about leaving the house!
I felt,as others have,that it was as though you were told a situation was risky but that it didnt matter.
I think in March there was a feeling of some structure. Some individuals were shielded others high risk. Gradually that message is less heard and seems very diluted.
It has been said,sometimes in jest,that this is the governments way of cutting health and social care bill. Are the government this malicious? Who knows. I think its important to acknowledge that vulnerable people being asked to shield or take extra precautions was pretty much for the benefit of the NHS rather than their welfare. Many struggled and had care services redirected, support services erratic etc. Care homes,no explanation needed. The government could be given the benefit of the doubt,unprecedented situation blah blah. However in the intervening months apart from token gestures lessons havent been learned.
Those most affected by Covid the elderly, unwell,poor,BAME, low wage/status employees are groups that governments show little concern for anyway. They are told to return to work if its covid safe. Johnson's standpoint is he has said it is so it will be.
I think over the summer the hope was that things would be made good. Unfortunately for those working in health,social care,education other than token gestures it wasnt. Procedures to ensure it was were flimsy and at breaking point pre covid.
So as an individual you are placed in a nonsensical situation. When the disparity between theory and reality becomes unbearable counselling is suggested.
I am not being disrespectful of counselling or those that benefit from its services.
One has to ask however how would it help? If you are in a situation where PPE would offer you extra protection but you are denied protection how is discussing it going to change that? A very extreme example but if a fire fighter was told they had to enter a smoke filled room without oxygen supplies there would be outrage. I dont think any amount of yoga or mindfulness would be acceptable!
I think as well its important to bear in mind that there are some occupations that regardless of vulnerability are told to work from home as its safer. No arguments, no questions asked.
So in essence you are in an illogical situation which you are trying to resolve with logic. Vulnerability whether due to underlying health conditions, race etc offers no guarantee of protection. The only real protection is to be able to financially remove yourself from the situation.
One thing that did stand out for me was you saying your GP was reluctant to sign you off. I was in exactly the same position. When I last spoke to my GP she very specifically asked if I was anxious regarding any other areas of my life. I told her I wasnt it was specifically this area of work. She had admitted on many occasions that she had lots of patients in the same position. She said she would contact me the following day. She did,by TEXT stating it was not the practices policy to issue sick notes for anxiety about covid in work place.
I was stunned. Firstly a text message gave me no form of redress. I know I would have commented about how she would have felt in my situation. GPs are making sure they are protected. I think they may have had one to many situations where they have had that conversation hence text.!
Also whatever the cause anxiety is anxiety,is it ethical to dismiss it if due to Covid?
That more than anything made me wonder if a government memo had gone out! After all if all those people who were working and vulnerable were signed off the economy would crash even more quickly!
Finally on my local news last night were 3 GPs who had had Covid and no had long covid, all were relatively young. It really goes against my nature but I'm afraid my empathy was on the same level my GP had shown me. After all,all they had to do was follow the guidelines.....
