Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[Cloo]

Sky reporting on Twitter that compliance with rules generally very high in UK. Except for isolating when you have a positive test.



Anecdotally I have heard a few instances of employers asking people to come in even when + , so I wonder how much they accounts for and if we need more penalties for employers doing that.

 

[magneze]

Just caught an interview on R4 with a business owner saying that hospitality should open to vaccinated people. Completely missing the staff out of the equation.

 

[killer b]

Sky reporting on Twitter that compliance with rules generally very high in UK. Except for isolating when you have a positive test.



Anecdotally I have heard a few instances of employers asking people to come in even when + , so I wonder how much they accounts for and if we need more penalties for employers doing that.

sick pay is the big problem, not evil bosses.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Sky reporting on Twitter that compliance with rules generally very high in UK. Except for isolating when you have a positive test.



Anecdotally I have heard a few instances of employers asking people to come in even when + , so I wonder how much they accounts for and if we need more penalties for employers doing that.

One of the big things that areas with successful self isolation practices seem to do is provide consistent physical, social, and financial support to people. This is what you get here:

COVID-19 symptoms and what to do

Find out about the symptoms of COVID-19, what to do if you or your child has them and when to get medical help.

www.nhs.uk

Maybe a volunteer can help you with stuff, and if you don't get sick pay maybe you can get £500 if test and trace told you to self isolate.

 

[killer b]

Sick pay is a long term problem which probably couldn't be fixed quickly, so really the government just needs to pay the wages of everyone who needs to isolate for their isolation period. It would pay dividends by ending the pandemic quicker, and allowing them to stop paying furlough earlier, so it's a no-brainer as far as I can see.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

After they had symptoms, not after a positive test. If the testing was better it would help with that.

It is true that there's been less emphasis on this than other stuff though isn't it. Harder to get a photo for tutting at perhaps.

 

[ska invita]

Anecdotally I have heard a few instances of employers asking people to come in even when + , so I wonder how much they accounts for and if we need more penalties for employers doing that.

I can barely stands for 2 minutes at the mo, not sure how is physically possible got to go anywhere, let alone work

 

[Cloo]

I can barely stands for 2 minutes at the mo, not sure how is physically possible got to go anywhere, let alone work

Well I guess I these cases it's people with mild/asymptomatic illness. Hope you feel better soon.

Yes, sick pay definitely a problem, and job insecurity/ lack of rights.

 

[Artaxerxes]

sick pay is the big problem, not evil bosses.

Both are an issue.

 

[andysays]

Just caught an interview on R4 with a business owner saying that hospitality should open to vaccinated people. Completely missing the staff out of the equation.

This contrasts nicely with all the owners of hospitality business who were previously upset about having to close because they claimed to be concerned about the wellbeing of their staff.

It's almost like they'll come out with any old nonsense as an excuse for why they shouldn't be closed

 

[killer b]

Both are an issue.

I'm unconvinced bosses pressurising covid+ employees to come into work is that much of a thing tbh. Certainly not enough of a thing to impact on the self isolation figures reported above. Employees with no sick pay needing to put dinner on the table is much more significant.

 

[brogdale]

Where we're at; piling up the dead in aircraft hangers.

 

[existentialist]

I'm unconvinced bosses pressurising covid+ employees to come into work is that much of a thing tbh. Certainly not enough of a thing to impact on the self isolation figures reported above. Employees with no sick pay needing to put dinner on the table is much more significant.

It's hypothetical, because all my work is online, but I do wonder what I would have done in a situation where I'd have been forced to self-isolate and not work. I don't think I would have ignored the self-isolation advice, but I would be in a pretty desperate situation without income for 2 weeks. And £500 wouldn't touch the sides, really. So I can well understand how someone told to self-isolate might make the decision that their immediate survival was a more pressing need than the risk of infecting others.

 

[magneze]

sick pay is the big problem, not evil bosses.

Although this seems to indicate that the latter might be a factor: Furlough refused to 71% of UK working mothers while schools shut - survey

 

[killer b]

Although this seems to indicate that the latter might be a factor: Furlough refused to 71% of UK working mothers while schools shut - survey

The headline is pretty misleading there - it's based on a self-selected survey that was sent out as part of a campaign, and they don't seem to have published the full results. While even one working mother being refused furlough is a disgrace, you've got to wonder how many people who've been dealt with fairly and are happy with the way they've been treated by their employer would have the time or inclination to respond to a survey that's explicitly being carried out to put pressure on the government about Covid working conditions. I'm guessing not many.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

It's hypothetical, because all my work is online, but I do wonder what I would have done in a situation where I'd have been forced to self-isolate and not work. I don't think I would have ignored the self-isolation advice, but I would be in a pretty desperate situation without income for 2 weeks. And £500 wouldn't touch the sides, really. So I can well understand how someone told to self-isolate might make the decision that their immediate survival was a more pressing need than the risk of infecting others.

I think this touches on the difference between symptoms and a positive test as well. It's one thing to put yourself through this if you know you have Covid but would you (meaning a general you here not necessarily you personally) do it for a bit of a cough? Or a slight temperature? It's a big ask especially as it could happen again a week later.

 

[wayward bob]

I mean that was barely a lockdown tbh. I'm a bit baffled by why everyone seems to have gone to the park though.

parks have been relatively rammed here since march. fuck all else to do or to go. everyone now has a dog or runs. i used to to get out in the day, during normal work hours, avoiding the school let out, for space & quiet, but there's a much heavier and more even footfall now. and i don't blame or begrudge anyone but it's a marked change (for the worse from my perspective).

 

[kebabking]

Where we're at; piling up the dead in aircraft hangers.

View attachment 248811

You'll have noted from my various comments that I'm not entirely convinced that the Govt have done everything perfectly and timeously, and with exquisite communication skills, but in Feb/March PHE/NHS were talking about a potential death toll (all excess deaths) of 500k to 800k deaths in 9 months, and we were doing the staff work for mass graves outside every city in the land - like area, earth moving equipment, biohazard routines etc...

I'm not going to sit here and defend the handling of this by a bunch of skiplickers, but the truth is that industrial scale death was always on the cards during this pandemic, and the fact that we've not had to dig mass graves (so far) has been little short of a miracle.

 

[LDC]

You'll have noted from my various comments that I'm not entirely convinced that the Govt have done everything perfectly and timeously, and with exquisite communication skills, but in Feb/March PHE/NHS were talking about a potential death toll (all excess deaths) of 500k to 800k deaths in 9 months, and we were doing the staff work for mass graves outside every city in the land - like area, earth moving equipment, biohazard routines etc...

I'm not going to sit here and defend the handling of this by a bunch of skiplickers, but the truth is that industrial scale death was always on the cards during this pandemic, and the fact that we've not had to dig mass graves (so far) has been little short of a miracle.

Yeah, one of my early 'oh fuck' moments in the pandemic was chatting to a friend in the local council who was scoping out mass grave sites for the city.

 

[existentialist]

I have a sense that the first mass burial is going to be a pretty major "oh, fuck" moment for a lot of people.

And yet, and yet...the fools still infest FB and Twitter with their insistence that the whole thing is a hoax. Even knowing what I know about minds and thinking, I struggle to get my head around the cognitive dissonance and denial that must be operating in these people.

 

[brogdale]

You'll have noted from my various comments that I'm not entirely convinced that the Govt have done everything perfectly and timeously, and with exquisite communication skills, but in Feb/March PHE/NHS were talking about a potential death toll (all excess deaths) of 500k to 800k deaths in 9 months, and we were doing the staff work for mass graves outside every city in the land - like area, earth moving equipment, biohazard routines etc...

I'm not going to sit here and defend the handling of this by a bunch of skiplickers, but the truth is that industrial scale death was always on the cards during this pandemic, and the fact that we've not had to dig mass graves (so far) has been little short of a miracle.

"...industrial scale death was always on the cards during this pandemic..." if the governmental 'strategy' was to treat the virus like a seasonal flu, rather than something to eliminate.

 

[Sue]

Is this shit even legal? (And of course it's Pimlico Plumbers.)

Pimlico Plumbers to introduce 'no jab, no job' work contracts

Move comes amid concerns about Covid ‘anti-vaxxers’ but may have legal implications

www.theguardian.com

 

[FridgeMagnet]

 

[LDC]

Is this shit even legal? (And of course it's Pimlico Plumbers.)

Pimlico Plumbers to introduce 'no jab, no job' work contracts

Move comes amid concerns about Covid ‘anti-vaxxers’ but may have legal implications

www.theguardian.com

I've wondered about the complexities of it becoming a prerequisite for any health and social care job. I think it'd be very tricky changing contracts and insisting on it for current workers, but maybe easier for new contracts and employees...?

 

[wtfftw]

I've developed a fever yesterday and my child was at nursery. I'm not sure how I'd get her home if I was single.
As it is Chemistry left work early and got her - and he'd had a lateral flow test (negative) that morning.

 

[Numbers]

I walked up the High St (Chemist trip) y/day and apart from bookies and barbers everything else is open, streets are busy, buses busy, road was chocca with cars. It never felt like lockdown from the off but it’s almost as normal.

 

[andysays]

I've wondered about the complexities of it becoming a prerequisite for any health and social care job. I think it'd be very tricky changing contracts and insisting on it for current workers, but maybe easier for new contracts and employees...?

Depends on the existing contract, assuming they even have proper contracts and aren't regarded as self employed

On a practical level, it's going to be many months before vaccines are made available to those not either older or with medical conditions.

I don't imagine Pimlico Plumbers are going to refuse to take on any work in the meantime

 

[Looby]

I'm unconvinced bosses pressurising covid+ employees to come into work is that much of a thing tbh. Certainly not enough of a thing to impact on the self isolation figures reported above. Employees with no sick pay needing to put dinner on the table is much more significant.

I think it’s a huge thing in some sectors, particularly with casual work. I’ve heard stories of supermarkets and other employers telling people they have to come in and ordering people not to use the app so they can’t be picked up as a close contact. There’s also my friend whose care colleagues were telling her to ignore her partner’s positive Covid test.
It might not be a company policy at fault but individual managers and workplaces seem content to break the law.

There’s so much pressure to be in and working before you get to whether they’ll be paid or not.

 

[og ogilby]

Is this shit even legal? (And of course it's Pimlico Plumbers.)

Pimlico Plumbers to introduce 'no jab, no job' work contracts

Move comes amid concerns about Covid ‘anti-vaxxers’ but may have legal implications

www.theguardian.com

My mate's a plumber, he's really pissed off at his customers who, he says, mostly don't wear masks when he's working in their houses as they seem to take the attitude that it's their house and so their rules.

 

[crossthebreeze]

Sky reporting on Twitter that compliance with rules generally very high in UK. Except for isolating when you have a positive test.



Anecdotally I have heard a few instances of employers asking people to come in even when + , so I wonder how much they accounts for and if we need more penalties for employers doing that.

So younger people are self-isolating better than older people (60+). So it's not just too little sick pay (though I agree this needs sorting). So various types of extra support might be needed also. Would be interesting to know if more of those that fail to self-isolate are leaving the house (ie for shopping or dog walking [ETA and work of course]) or being visited (ie family members doing care visits).