Testing times - Covid in 2022

[Princess Morripov]

They've deleted covid at A's workplace now too, all the one way systems have been removed this week. They have kept disinfectant spray and wipes for cleaning your workstation before/after use though.

[mojojojo]

Do you all report yours?

I didn’t, when I had it in March - you didn’t have to take a PCR test by then, and I knew I had it and felt like shit, so I didn’t want to go out.

What I didn’t realise at the time was that you don’t get a “recovery pass” on the NHS app if you haven’t logged a positive PCR. It made it quite stressful for me on the run up to my US work trip (as I was worried I’d have to take a PCR that might be positive, as it was only a few weeks later)

Fortunately it was all ok in the end, but they don’t make that stuff clear anywhere on the Gov or nhs websites

[overthehill]

That's the thing I never understood here - people who were clearly ill and highly infectious, being driven by a (presumably) healthy friend or relative to a test centre. By the time we got Covid they were only offering PCR tests to particular, vulnerable groups, so we wouldn't even qualify. We were meant to log positive antigen tests, but you could see by the numbers that people weren't bothering. Luckily, we haven't needed to make any foreign trips that needed a test.

[Princess Morripov]

We’ve logged ours, but the main driver was because we are going away in June and it removes any faff re. timescales since booster (which would be more than 6 months) in case rules/guidelines change for that.

[Chicky]

My colleague who I sit next to at work had an awful cough the week before last. She had tested and was negative but still came into work coughing everywhere. Then she tested positive at the weekend. i don’t know why we can’t just have a blanket “if you aren’t well then don’t come in”.

[Dutchie]

Pre-covid this used to annoy me hugely, people coming into work clearly ill and spreading it around. Now though it does much more than annoy me, it's just dangerous.

[Hazey_Jane]

I don’t know why we can’t just have a blanket “if you aren’t well then don’t come in”.

In the mail that announced we don’t have to wear masks any more it was explicitly clear (and it always has been) that if we don’t feel well with anything, don’t go onsite. At least my company is being sensible, and we are getting free home tests so we can check ourselves.

I went to a concert last night and to a few bars afterwards. It is so weird going places without having to wear a mask and without showing apps on the phone etc.

[Ella77]

My colleague who I sit next to at work had an awful cough the week before last. She had tested and was negative but still came into work coughing everywhere. Then she tested positive at the weekend. i don’t know why we can’t just have a blanket “if you aren’t well then don’t come in”.

Or AT LEAST wear a proper mask all day. AT LEAST.

[sally maclennane]

In theory we have the "don't come in if you don't feel well" policy but it's much easier if you work in Finance or HR than in my directorate, where it'll have an impact on being able to stay open.

[Little My]

My kids went to open bank accounts this week, and the person helping them was sniffing and sneezing constantly. My daughter said he removed his mask several times to wipe his nose (with his HAND), and then didn't use sanitizer. There was no sanitizer in his office, and her father had none in the car either. She was freaking out, and has quarantined her new bank card. (I was not there.)

[Chicky]

My colleague who I sit next to at work had an awful cough the week before last. She had tested and was negative but still came into work coughing everywhere. Then she tested positive at the weekend. i don’t know why we can’t just have a blanket “if you aren’t well then don’t come in”.

Or AT LEAST wear a proper mask all day. AT LEAST.

YES. I wear a mask in the office all the time now.

[Ella77]

I do too. Not gonna lie, it helps with my double chin sitch also.

[Disco]

My office has had only 5% presence so I'll be moving to a home working contract.

[Ella77]

Without wanting to seem too personal, does your company cut your salary for that at all? Mine has said that permanent home working can technically be requested, but you’d have to expect to take a pay cut. (And I’ve said to my team, by all means ask if you want to, but if you successfully prove that the job can be done entirely from Woking, then don’t be too surprised if they decide that it can actually be entirely done from India for half the cost.)

[Disco]

No but that is a question I have raised and am waiting on an answer. Edit: I meean the answer is a firm no but I'm checking that there won't be some kind of schism clause for home working where they will declare as soon as we've accepted that we'll no longer be apparised alongside our office based peers. We tried the India thing and then reverted back to UK based a few years ago so hopefully my role is safe untill I win the lottery

[Ella77]

Excellent. (More than half of my team is based in India, so it could go either way where I am. I’ll probably lose my job in the next 5 mins for being a weirdo who wears a mask in the office :topical:.)

[Disco]

I've edited/ added a bit.

If I was in the office and it was full then I would be wearing a mask too. I'm fully expecting to be replaced by some robot programme in the next 5 minutes - that was my pre-pandemic concern.

[Edith Bacon]

I saw this a few days ago: Law firm says staff can work from home - for 20% less pay https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61298394

Imposing a pay cut feels pretty spiteful, tbh. And I wondered how solid that policy is wrt employment law, given that there are some groups of people who would be likely to benefit more from working from home - people with disabilities that make commuting onerous, for example. Indirect discrimination sprang to mind straight away.

If the company is imposing wfh though, it would be ridiculous of them to try and impose a pay cut. I hope they get back to you soon with confirmation that your pay is unaffected, Dics.

[Ella77]

Your company sounds pretty good on the whole, Dic.

[Rosa]

Do you feel OK about it, Disco? Your company does sound OK, but it also sounds like you haven't a choice, unless I've misunderstood.