Joe’s been sent home from work

[JoM]

Joe rang earlier and said that his boss had contacted him and told him that he had to come home.

He works in a lab with a five others and the young son of one of his colleagues has been sent home from school because he’s sneezing due to a cold. His temperature had been checked and it was normal but school contacted his parents to collect him and told them to arrange a Covid test...and there starts the domino effect. Joe’s department have now been sent home and can’t return until the results of this child’s test are known, as long as it’s negative.

I’d say it’s very very very very doubtful that the test will be positive as it’s all very much of an over reaction but that’s one department closed now for a few days or however long it takes for the results to come back. I don’t suppose that, now the school have mentioned Covid, the company feel that they can take a chance that it’s positive and have it spread through the rest of the factory.

[Workingman]

...and there starts the domino effect.

Jo, there are a lot more dominoes to fall, up and down the country.

The JCB academy just up the road from you, closed on similar grounds. One person shows signs and everyone is suspect, and so are all of their close contacts. And if one of them even sneezes or tests positive but works in a different company then it all starts again for that company ... and so it goes.

We could end up with many businesses / schools / colleges operating on a stop-start basis and that is not feasible in the long run.

Fingers crossed for Joe and all of you, his co-workers and their families, and also GE, that the test is negative.

[JanB]

Oh blimey Jo

Fingers firmly crossed for a negative test result.

[Kaz]

Oh goodness, and here we are just heading into cold season now the schools back! If everything closes down for a sneeze, where will it end?

I'm sure it will turn out to be just a cold Jo, but fingers crossed (((x)))

[JoM]

That’s what I said to Joe, Kaz, that it’s quite normal that they get colds within weeks of starting back isn’t it so it’ll get very difficult if this happens for each child or person who sneezes.

His boss actually suggested that they all book a test although the company nurse later contacted them and said not to bother but in the meantime Joe tried to book one and there was a lot of publicity about a testing centre opening in Cannock a week or two ago, open 8am ‘til 8pm 7 days a week, but they had no availability.

[cromwell]

Oh crikey Jo.
I think eventually we will just have to do a Sweden. Social distancing, hand washing, protect the vulnerable and use common sense. Because we can't keep this up.

[saundra]

Ho dear no and so it goes on
I don't know what the answer is but then again nobody does
I'm sneezing like mad the last few days

Hope things get better soon
Our nearest testing place is at the humber bridge miles away

[TheOstrich]

Oh dear, Jo, what a pain. Let's hope that youngster gets a negative test result.

I was in Trowbridge on Saturday. Today, they've just announced a secondary school in that town has discovered 5 positive cases, one pupil and 4 staff, all presumably contracted prior to the school going back last week. Because the school operates with whole year group bubbles, all that child's year have been sent home to self-isolate - that's 160 kids in Year 9. The disruption to families must be horrendous ....

[Kaz]

Oh crikey Jo.
I think eventually we will just have to do a Sweden. Social distancing, hand washing, protect the vulnerable and use common sense. Because we can't keep this up.

Absolutely this!

Jo, it's one cold after another when the kids go back to school, isn't it? Anyone who's had kids knows this

[Osc]

Jo, it's one cold after another when the kids go back to school, isn't it? Anyone who's had kids knows this

Michael and Kellie have been back at school a week. Kellie had to be kept at home today because she woke with the sniffles and coughed twice (like clearing her throat) but was otherwise fine all day. Now Michael has a stuffy nose, does Miss Osc keep him home tomorrow, bearing in mind he is very allergy prone anyway. She doesn’t want them to be sent home, because that’s awful for them to be stigmatised, but she is so frustrated that they have been healthy and happy for six months, and now back at school for a week.......