The TUC newsletter reports that cases of work-related Covid-19 reported to health and safety enforcing authorities are continuing to increase. Figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on 14 February show the total number of cases reported to HSE and local authorities since 10 April 2020 has risen from 39,701 on 8 January 2022 to 42,059 on 5 February 2022.
Abandoning Covid isolation rules early is going too far way too soon, UNISON has said. The public sector union said everybody wants to get back to normal, but Covid risks haven’t disappeared. Responding to the prime minister’s 9 February announcement that self-isolation requirements for people who test positive for Covid in England could end a month earlier than previously planned, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Everybody wants to get back to normal, but Covid risks haven’t disappeared. This is going too far, way too soon. Infections are still rife in schools. Large numbers of pupils and staff are off. Allowing a premature return could lead to a further jump in infections and disrupt learning for thousands more children and young people.”
The union said ministers must give clear, detailed guidance to prevent a “super spreader free-for-all” in workplaces when Covid isolation requirements end. Retail trade union Usdaw is urging the UK government to think again about lifting all Covid rules. The union’s general secretary Paddy Lillis said: “Lifting the self-isolation rules will inevitably lead to more Covid infected people circulating in public and entering shops. Coupled with last month’s unnecessary end to mandatory face coverings
in stores, that leaves shopworkers at greater risk of catching the virus and taking it home to their families.”
The Usdaw leader concluded: “The government must consider the impact of their decisions on key workers who have kept the country going through the pandemic. Retail staff deserve to be valued, respected and protected.” The union said the plan to end free Covid tests alongside removing the self-isolation rules and the masks requirement creates a dangerous ‘triple whammy’ for Covid safety in stores.
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