My Job Puts Me at Risk (update)
Other
I have coped with covid very well but since I have been back at work my anxiety about catching it has gone through the roof.
Most regular 'chatters' will know that I escort children to contact and often school too. I am trapped in a mini bus with 6 children and a driver on school runs and for contact work in a car with 2, maybe 3, children in back.
Children are not required to wear masks, but we do, and not only is social distancing not possible we are, in effect, mixing with them, their families, their teachers and anyone else they have contact with. All their contacts are my contacts by proxy!
All this and yet my family of 6 cannot visit me at the weekend for my birthday. I am so sick of all the contradictions in the rules and tbh if I do catch it I would sooner it be from family than strangers!
Oh dear, I don't envy you at all. I don't even like my parents visiting because they get in my face 
They do not follow any rules, don't wear masks etc, so I get a bit paranoid.
We are not in lockdown yet, but it's only a matter of time.
I agree with you about the rules, they're different in different areas. People who are locked down in England can still come to Wales for a holiday!
The school run I am doing is to/from a special school for mentally and physically disabled young adults. Because of this they are often overweight and need a lot of assistance to get on and off so I have to hold them quite closely and sit squashed up next to them. I feel I am playing Russian roulette at the moment. Also they are vulnerable so I am surprised they are mixing with us and all the non teaching staff. But I suppose the parents need respite.
My husband is a teacher. He works in a secondary school. He loves his job, but like you he cant understand all the different rules. The kids are not social distancing, they are not following the rules about wearing masks in the corridors, they don't have to wear masks in class but my husband does, there is sharing of classrooms, which they were told would not happen. I know of a parent who knew there child had covid and sent them into school anyway! How is it possible to be in a class with 30 different pupils, which change each lesson, so between 120 and 210 a day depending on how many lessons you teach, but you can't have a family member in your house? I understand the schools need to be open as education is important and they lost enough schooling already, it just seems bizarre to me that's all.
Daytime TV showed an ad which I believe is from your neck of the wood showing covid as a nasty slimy stuff visible to the eye, being left from person to person as they went about their daily lives. I really don't understand why more ads like this aren't being shown so they get through to those who don't seem to understand the basics. I understand fully how I should behave, but getting those around you to do likewise seems too difficult for some.
They say masks are worn to protect others but I am the only one wearing a mask amongst teachers, non teaching staff, contact centre staff and the pupils themselves. It would be hard for the disabled students but I am not sure why the older children in Secondary school cannot be asked to wear masks to protect adults.
Lynibis yes I've seen that ad, very effective. I agree that the teenagers should be wearing masks as they are old enough to transmit it to others. I have followed the rules since day one, as has my husband. We were doing the food shop the other day we saw a woman in the supermarket wearing the mask around her chin, walking about like normal! My husband made a comment and she put it straight on!
I also don’t envy you doing that job. The rules are all over the place. I live in the north east and as of tomorrow I can’t visit any house but I can still go to the pub or go to work 
. Every decision to me just revolves around the economy.
Yes the rule of 6 seems mad when you see so many groups up and into the 100s mixing. I am not against that rule but it should apply to all.
I think what makes me particularly angry at present is that many of the parents of the children I escort come from well to do families with 2, 3 and sometimes 4 cars in their driveway. The parents or older siblings are always in attendance and even if they work there is no reason on earth why they cannot drive their own kids to school. I don't even understand the need for transport to be laid on except in exceptional circumstances (wheelchairs, poorer families with no car). Surely it is down to parents to get their child to school and if these young people can ride in our transport squashed together like sardines, surely they can sit in the back of a parents car!
The rules are ridiculous. We are being controlled. Did you read the news yesterday, that they might stop over 45's from going out? The article even stated that it's mainly the over 75's that catch it. What if these over 45's care for someone, and need to get shopping etc?
I know of an elderly man who is 97 that caught COVID-19 in hospital after going in after two strokes. He recovered and was back home within a few weeks.
All this is causing people to have anxiety when they can't see their family.
I really don't know what to say about your job, only be careful and stay safe.
Thank you. I guess my problem will be gone if over 45s have to stay in (I suppose they are more controllable than the under 45s who are apparently spreading it most) as I will be laid off. The problem being that every single person in my small company is over 50!
Lynibis I can well understand your anxiety and it seems situations like yours have slipped through the net with no clear rulings. There have been recent complaints that, whilst no groups are allowed to meet, public transport (buses) are packed like sardines. Commuters remove socially distancing backpacks and from seats, already occupied, so that they can sit and they get stroppy if they're challenged.
In your line of work - some seriously flimsy areas of guidelines.
I am very tempted to tell my boss I can no longer work but I doubt I would have a job to go back to, even though he is a good boss.
The other thing that adds to the problem is the recent cold, rainy weather, we cannot have the windows open too much and I find it hard to breathe with a mask on. I do very much appreciate that many others are in same position so am not moaning just for myself, but everyone who is in a compromising situation due to lack of clarity over the rules.
Oh, and I might add, just for good measure, that I leave home at 7.15 and get back around 9.15 after the school run and for that I get paid the princely sum of £7.50!!!
Lynibis That's not living! I completely understand that you enjoy the work (under normal circumstances) but I would encourage you to step back and enjoy your family while you can. None of us knows if we could catch this thing and never have a chance to say our goodbyes. Brutal but realistic. x
sunny101 A fuller explanation below to Dennab. We do work quite hard and whiz around between school runs doing the contact work so it all adds up to a decent amount at end of month when combined with my work and state pension. Without it I would soon go under. It would never be enough to live on alone but yes you are right, I enjoy doing it in normal circumstances and spending 5 months alone at home during lockdown taught me that life without work would be mind numbing!
I don't mind you asking Dennab. Unfortunately due to a late life break up with a partner I still have a mortgage to pay, which of course my pension would not allow along with food and bills. It has 5 more years to run so I am trying hard to get it paid off (I pay a bit extra each month when working), so that if anything unforeseen should happen like serious illness I will then be able to live on the pension.
I know your next question will be about downsizing, but my partner has run up very many debts since leaving and because he is on the mortgage still (they refuse to take his name off) the debts have been put against my house even though he has never paid a penny towards it.
Lynibis No no, I fully understand telling you to downsize isn't a solution! If my Mum had to do that now, I'd need a month off working just to help clear her house. A lot of the crap in there is still mine!! I'd be fighting against the latter problem there as opposed to downsizing. Don't be afraid of asking your children to help even if it's just moral support with stuff like that. I'd even go as far as speaking to someone like Martin Lewis or posting on his forums about your ex partner debts issue. Maybe you've already done all of that though.
Dennab Yes, I did write to ML via This Morning once but got no response. My kids are amazing, they are always buying me generous gifts and leaving money where I find it later as they know I won't take it otherwise.
Don't get me wrong, I live a good life and do not go without anything, but I have an obsession about getting the mortgage paid, then I can relax and I will give up work and try to find something interesting to fill my time, hoping to remain able into my 70s lol.
Lynibis If you're happy overall, that's most important! I know where you're coming from with getting things boxed off and it bothering you. My Mum gets worried about things like that even though she is financially stable. I wish I could leave her gifts of money. Bring on the day I can afford to do that 
I know we havent always seen eye to eye Lynibis but sending lots of love, i know how hard it to go out to work with high anxiety levels.
Thanks Chelsea, if we haven't seen eye to eye I can't even remember lol. Everyone disagrees from time to time, but thanks so much for your lovely comment.
Update: Have just been told we are working through lockdown. Considering that all the social care staff are paid in or out of lockdown and so are the carers (but not us), I am shocked by this.
The only negative would be that parents (mostly abusers) will be unable to have child parent contact for 4 weeks. They all managed throughout 6 months so why not this shorter one?
Like a lot of council/government jobs these days, the transport is outsourced to a private company. We can choose to be 'on the books' or self employed. We have recently been taken over by a big company and have all come under it's umbrella, they are London, we are Essex. My boss is no longer the boss and is now Operations Manager so doesn't have much say.
This is how stupid it is: Previously if there was a problem he or us could phone the contact centre and ask, it could be a carer who is out, telling us it is cancelled and we have not been told etc. Now none of us are allowed to phone direct. We have to phone my boss (operations manager), he then phones the boss of the new company, he then phones the contact centre and then he phones back my boss and he then phones us back. By the time the problem is solved we are running late!
Just another example of council inefficiency and stupidity. I guess the new company does not want to lose money during a lockdown but I do wonder if it is operating under the guidelines.
sunny101 It is lovely of you to care about my feelings but I am doing well thanks, as I hope you are. I am a great 'if it is gonna happen so be it' type of person so am not unduly worried. I think us olduns have been through lots of tough times and it takes a lot to faze me. Even not seeing anyone for long periods is fine with me, I enjoy my own company and not having to fuss over others, (though I love and miss my immediate family) very selfish really. Which reminds me of a silly joke for lockdown:
Went to the supermarket for some prawns only to find the seafood fridges had been emptied by stockpilers...........shellfish ba****ds!
A well-balanced person is one who finds both sides of an issue laughable. — Herbert Procknow
The rules surrounding school is confusing for me
They appear to be more lapsed for special needs than main stream which is strange as they higher risk
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