Coronavirus outbreak

[Joey Shabadoo]

What bugs me is we have Sturgeon "strongly advising" people wear masks in shops but the supermarkets I've seen don't have staff wearing them. I would have thought H&S would be all over that.

 

[Slick]

Covid secure is just the name for the set of standards which is a condition of reopening. I was just pointing out how ridiculous it would be if the scenario midlife said was the case. It's a silly name for Boris to keep saying and using in the documents. Most useful thing I found was the SAGE paper on spread.

I have come up with a scenario for being covid secure for actitivites inside a venue that will itself have to be. That is still some time off I might add. Others werent very happy and thought it was so bad face to face might as well cease to continue. The level of risk is hard to judge because of the unknowns of the personal lives outside that room.

There'll be a tiny bit of enforcement but it just runs on interpretation and trust. For some things open presently I do believe the risk has been reduced a fair old whack.

How are you getting on with your plans?

Not brilliant to be honest. Very difficult to see how you can put people in a classroom setting and not be at risk. Saying that everything in life carries a degree of risk is not going to cut it for people that are frightened that this could cost them or their families their life. Sounds dramatic but that's the reality of the situation.

 

[midlife]

I have an appointment for a scan on Monday. When I arrive I wait outside and report in by mobile phone [this assumes probably correctly that everybody has one]. Somebody will come to get me when ready and I will be required to use hand sanitiser and then given a face mask at the entrance before answering some Covid questions. This is NHS Highland.

And this is the sort of thing that happens when patients visit our building. Unfortunately it was built on a car park and everything is crammed in and its essentially impossible for all the staff inside to keep 2 metres apart while we go about our daily jobs. So do the staff all have to wear masks at work? I guess I'll find out Monday morning.

 

[Slick]

I have an appointment for a scan on Monday. When I arrive I wait outside and report in by mobile phone [this assumes probably correctly that everybody has one]. Somebody will come to get me when ready and I will be required to use hand sanitiser and then given a face mask at the entrance before answering some Covid questions. This is NHS Highland.

This could be something we utilise if we ever get back to work.

 

[mjr]

The ought to report the number of test results completed and how many people that is each day.

That sounds dangerously like being an expert! Do you want to be deported?

 

[Slick]

What bugs me is we have Sturgeon "strongly advising" people wear masks in shops but the supermarkets I've seen don't have staff wearing them. I would have thought H&S would be all over that.

The advice is changing all the time but one constant is that masks are not a magic bullet. Supermarket staff that I've seen are either 2m away or behind a screen.

 

[marinyork]

And this is the sort of thing that happens when patients visit our building. Unfortunately it was built on a car park and everything is crammed in and its essentially impossible for all the staff inside to keep 2 metres apart while we go about our daily jobs. So do the staff all have to wear masks at work? I guess I'll find out Monday morning.

Surely all the staff should be wearing masks as social distancing isn't possible? This would be the same as any other workplace whatsoever from that limited point of view.

 

[tom73]

Its not clear who in hospitals should wear marks, the way I read it is that masks do not need to be worn in Covid secure parts of the hospital. Our building is meant to be covid secure!

That bit just got looked to to have been thrown in at the end and makes no sense. Maybe today he will come out with everyone to be treated form behind a plastic screen, standing back to back and at the same time keeping social distance.

 

[tom73]

Surely all the staff should be wearing masks as social distancing isn't possible? This would be the same as any other workplace whatsoever from that limited point of view.

You'd think so but it's not happening

 

[marinyork]

What bugs me is we have Sturgeon "strongly advising" people wear masks in shops but the supermarkets I've seen don't have staff wearing them. I would have thought H&S would be all over that.

Supermarkets are not generally places with a strong health and safety culture. Bit of health and safety around yards (not necessarily that stringently enforced) and pallets. Date checking (not as rigorously done as people might think). A few other things. Supermarkets are the sorts of places where even if they were mandated without interventions after 2 weeks only a third of the staff would be wearing them. The most H&S environment is probably deli/counters.

The workers who've been there for Feb/March/April/May working continuously will have a very different idea of the risk to many of the rest of us. Supermarket workers are definitely not sticking to 2 metres from the rest of the staff, which will be one of the types of risks. If a supermarket worker gets it, it is likely to spread to other workers as happens every year with norovirus and ordinary flu. The risk at the moment won't be quite as high as I think people are staying slightly farther apart and the shops are emptier. When I worked in a supermarket/pharmacy I had a different attitude to seasonal flu (not like coronavirus). I was coughed and sneezed on at close proximity, but if I tried to keep my distance and handwash along with a young and healthy immune system I didn't get it. That's not to mean you behave in a silly way, just saying that how the workers will perceive the risk is different from us closeted up at home (including me). Now I go outside extensively for exercise I'm happyish with that, but I'm not going to any indoor environments far more nervous about that than if I was back where I used to work.

 

[marinyork]

Not brilliant to be honest. Very difficult to see how you can put people in a classroom setting and not be at risk. Saying that everything in life carries a degree of risk is not going to cut it for people that are frightened that this could cost them or their families their life. Sounds dramatic but that's the reality of the situation.

I reckon I worry about getting the virus more than around 90% of people. In previous months I thought less, but I've interacted with more people. If my father gets it I think that's almost guaranteed hospital stay and pretty good chance of the more serious scenarios of extended ICU or death.

There is a risk in all environments, particularly indoor ones for extended periods of time. I think peoples' perception of risk will shift a bit once the schools go back properly.

 

[midlife]

Surely all the staff should be wearing masks as social distancing isn't possible? This would be the same as any other workplace whatsoever from that limited point of view.

That's the theory.....

 

[marinyork]

That's the theory.....

I'm not sure there's much any of us can do about getting supply issues sorted or influencing mass behaviour. Even if we can these behaviours are time limited for days/weeks and then stop partially/totally. A second wave and localised outbreaks are coming anyway whatever we do.

 

[tom73]

I'm not sure there's much any of us can do about getting supply issues sorted or influencing mass behaviour. Even if we can these behaviours are time limited for days/weeks and then stop partially/totally. A second wave and localised outbreaks are coming anyway whatever we do.

The scenes in London of protests don't look good if it's repeated in other part of the country. Then the 2rd wave odds have just got even more shorter.

 

[flake99please]

Supermarkets are not generally places with a strong health and safety culture. Bit of health and safety around yards (not necessarily that stringently enforced) and pallets. Date checking (not as rigorously done as people might think). A few other things. Supermarkets are the sorts of places where even if they were mandated without interventions after 2 weeks only a third of the staff would be wearing them. The most H&S environment is probably deli/counters.

The workers who've been there for Feb/March/April/May working continuously will have a very different idea of the risk to many of the rest of us. Supermarket workers are definitely not sticking to 2 metres from the rest of the staff, which will be one of the types of risks.

It took about 4 weeks for the standards to slip. Mask wearing is still mandatory, yet most staff on my 0400hrs shift start don’t wear theirs until the store opens (0900hrs). Management are arguably the worst offenders for non compliance.

Social distancing is practically nonexistent between staff. The only exception is in the break room.