Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

[bobmac]

Unfortunately I guess it wont be long until some ambulance chasing lawyer comes along and proves a test case stipping employers from enforcing the requirement, coz is againts their 'ooman rights, innit...?

It's a patients human right to be cared for by a care assistant that doesn't have a killer infectious virus

 

[RichA]

Plenty of jobs require employees to meet certain health and fitness standards. I fail to see how this is any different.

 

[Ethan]

Plenty of jobs require employees to meet certain health and fitness standards. I fail to see how this is any different.

I support vaccination, and have no great issue with it being mandatory for care homes or patient-facing NHS staff, but there are differences between vaccinating staff and ensuring a HGV driver doesn't have a heart problem. There are risks with the vaccine, and those may, for some workers, outweigh the risks of not having it. The NHS should try to do this with some grace and persuasion rather than threats. Lots of NHS staff feel, not unreasonably, they have been messed about a lot on everything from pay increases to PPE.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I support vaccination, and have no great issue with it being mandatory for care homes or patient-facing NHS staff, but there are differences between vaccinating staff and ensuring a HGV driver doesn't have a heart problem. There are risks with the vaccine, and those may, for some workers, outweigh the risks of not having it. The NHS should try to do this with some grace and persuasion rather than threats. Lots of NHS staff feel, not unreasonably, they have been messed about a lot on everything from pay increases to PPE.

They have been trying to gently cajole but what do you do with those who flat out refuse. At some point there reaches a stage where gentle discussions are not enough and a line has to be drawn. I would expect medical exemptions to be taken into account incidentally.

 

[Ethan]

They have been trying to gently cajole but what do you do with those who flat out refuse. At some point there reaches a stage where gentle discussions are not enough and a line has to be drawn. I would expect medical exemptions to be taken into account incidentally.

There are very very few genuine medical exemptions. I think the approach should be to respect the view and immediately move to a discussion on redeployment. "Don't want a vaccine? No problem. Have you any training in boiler maintenance?. OK, it isn't brain surgery, but what can we do?".

 

[SocketRocket]

I'm not a policy maker.

There are 9 people in the whole of the East of England in hospital due to covid. (as of latest data). In Suffolk, Over 90% Of over 40's are double vacced.

Come on Dan, that's a bit of a cop out reply. You suggested identifying the problem areas and imposing actual law. You must have an idea what type of law should be imposed.

 

[SocketRocket]

There are very very few genuine medical exemptions. I think the approach should be to respect the view and immediately move to a discussion on redeployment. "Don't want a vaccine? No problem. Have you any training in boiler maintenance?. OK, it isn't brain surgery, but what can we do?".

And if the reply is that they nothing about Boilers and only want to be a front line medic.

 

[Ethan]

And if the reply is that they nothing about Boilers and only want to be a front line medic.

Front line medics need to be immune. A robust antibody response, updated at whatever interval is needed, would suffice. Otherwise, back room job.

 

[bobmac]

Front line medics need to be immune. A robust antibody response, related at whatever interval is needed, would suffice. Otherwise, back room job.

Maybe they could work down a person-hole cover. (Connolly B. 2008)

 

[SaintHacker]

Interesting programme on bbc2 right now about the different vaccines and how they've been made

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Speaking today with a couple of guys working in a pub in St Ives. They are down to just the two of them (and will have to close if one of them gets covid’d) as the usual level of hospitality workers has just not come back...or has gone for good...many are not interested in coming back into bar and restaurant work and certainly not interested in hospitality work in the current environment where places can be closed at a moments notice. Their view is that pubs and restaurants are indeed closing like dominos toppling and that it’s quite possible that most if not all in St Ives will be closed in just a couple of weeks time. Some are just voluntarily closing for four weeks or longer to try and ride out the current rising wave of infections - hoping to be fit to reopen for the main summer holiday period.

This is all due to St Ives being rammed over the mid-term hols - like many other UK resorts - and they expect the G7 to have a similar effect.

Very bad news for St Ives and very worrying in general.

 

[BubbaP]

I'm not a policy maker.

There are 9 people in the whole of the East of England in hospital due to covid. (as of latest data). In Suffolk, Over 90% Of over 40's are double vacced.

Good stats, suspect is pretty similar around here on the edge of the Cotswolds. I am conscious that visitor numbers will increase a lot as we are into summer. Maybe is similar in Suffolk. Tricky.

 

[Old Skier]

Speaking today with a couple of guys working in a pub in St Ives. They are down to just the two of them (and will have to close if one of them gets covid’d) as the usual level of hospitality workers has just not come back...or has gone for good...many are not interested in coming back into bar and restaurant work and certainly not interested in hospitality work in the current environment where places can be closed at a moments notice. Their view is that pubs and restaurants are indeed closing like dominos toppling and that it’s quite possible that most if not all in St Ives will be closed in just a couple of weeks time. Some are just voluntarily closing for four weeks or longer to try and ride out the current rising wave of infections - hoping to be fit to reopen for the main summer holiday period.

This is all due to St Ives being rammed over the mid-term hols - like many other UK resorts - and they expect the G7 to have a similar effect.

Very bad news for St Ives and very worrying in general.

St Ives like the rest of Devon & Cornwall has had a surge of cases but it hasn’t affected the amount of grockels and emits visiting. Pubs reporting huge increase in custom and Visit Cornwall was reporting today that the majority of hospitality businesses are coping.

 

[williamalex1]

Front line medics need to be immune. A robust antibody response, updated at whatever interval is needed, would suffice. Otherwise, back room job.

Not to mention taxi drivers, postmen and delivery drivers etc .

 

[SocketRocket]

Speaking today with a couple of guys working in a pub in St Ives. They are down to just the two of them (and will have to close if one of them gets covid’d) as the usual level of hospitality workers has just not come back...or has gone for good...many are not interested in coming back into bar and restaurant work and certainly not interested in hospitality work in the current environment where places can be closed at a moments notice. Their view is that pubs and restaurants are indeed closing like dominos toppling and that it’s quite possible that most if not all in St Ives will be closed in just a couple of weeks time. Some are just voluntarily closing for four weeks or longer to try and ride out the current rising wave of infections - hoping to be fit to reopen for the main summer holiday period.

This is all due to St Ives being rammed over the mid-term hols - like many other UK resorts - and they expect the G7 to have a similar effect.

Very bad news for St Ives and very worrying in general.

Probably not interested in the Zero hours contracts, minimum wage and unsocial hours after so long on Furlough. Can't say I blame them, most places treat them awful and give them no path for improvement.

 

[Old Skier]

Probably not interested in the Zero hours contracts, minimum wage and unsocial hours after so long on Furlough. Can't say I blame them, most places treat them awful and give them no path for improvement.

The main problem in Devon and Cornwall is the lack of accommodation now for the staff as it has all been let out for holidays before hospitality was properly reopened Which affects the many in the industry that come down to work between April and October.

 

[larmen]

The main problem in Devon and Cornwall is the lack of accommodation now for the staff as it has all been let out for holidays before hospitality was properly reopened Which affects the many in the industry that come down to work between April and October.

There was something in the news a couple of weeks ago where a landlord has cancelled a £800 a month apartment because he can rent it out for £1500 a week. The guy leaving was front of house manager somewhere, the holiday makers now can’t go anywhere because hospitality can’t open without staff.
Imagine a cruise ship without crew quarters.

 

[jim8flog]

I cannot understand what is happening in this country. America has ditched social distancing and masks and life is back to normal. 135000 people at the Indy 500 this month. Normal life has returned and the bodies of dead are not piling up in the streets. Our vaccine program is miles ahead of theirs yet we are still living with restrictions imposed by a small group of highly influential, risk averse medics and politicians. There is no case for these restrictions any longer and there hasn't been for some time.

I hope that my fellow Brits will start to stand up to this control freakery as of next Monday and ditch masks as a first step - all you have to say to anyone is that you are exempt. The country needs normality. The real health crisis is going to hit home very soon when the tsunami sized backlog of medical emergencies hits the NHS. Over 50,000 women walking around with undiagnosed breast cancer being a tiny tip of this particular iceberg.

Let's get on with it and for those who are still blinded by government induced fear and terrified to push back on this tyranny, go and hide behind the sofa until your masters say you're allowed out.

But look at the long list of countries that you cannot travel from to get in to the USA. They have been very effective at keeping the variants out, so far.

 

[PJ87]

But look at the long list of countries that you cannot travel from to get in to the USA. They have been very effective at keeping the variants out, so far.

A lot of Americans don't even own a passport or leave the USA ever in their life's. Why would they? They can have sun , snow, etc any type of holiday in their own country ..

So wouldn't say it's policy. Would say it's habbits

We are a nation of travelers packed into a small island rather than into the vast area that is the USA.

 

[Tashyboy]

Not to mention taxi drivers, postmen and delivery drivers etc .

What I couldn’t understand was when the groups came out who were priority in receiving the vaccine. At the time we had key workers. Police, supermarket workers, lorry drivers, etc etc. If they were key, why were they not priority.