From: slider@anashram.com

Ministers have been tasked with developing "robust contingency plans" for workplace absences, as the government warned rising cases could see up to
a quarter of staff off work.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59848109

Public sector leaders have been asked to prepare for "worst case
scenarios" of 10%, 20% and 25% absence rates, the Cabinet Office said.

The UK has seen record numbers of daily cases over the festive period.

Transport, the NHS and schools have already seen the effect of absences.

Rising case numbers have led to large numbers self-isolating and being
unable to go to work. This has particularly affected industries where
staff are unable to work from home.

Cabinet Office Minister Steve Barclay is chairing regular meetings with ministers to assess how the spread of the Omicron variant is affecting workforces and supply chains, the Cabinet Office said.

The prime minister had asked ministers working with their respective
sectors to test preparations and contingency plans to limit disruption, it explained.

Mr Barclay said the highly transmissible Omicron variant meant businesses
and public services "will face disruption in the coming weeks,
particularly from higher than normal staff absence".

However, his department said that so far disruption caused by Omicron has
been controlled in "most parts of the public sector".

Some have called for a US-style self-isolation system to be introduced,
where people only have to quarantine for five days, but the UK Health
Security Agency (UKHSA) said doing so would be counterproductive and could actually worsen staff shortages if it led to more people being infected.

Explaining its reasoning in a blog post, it said the two systems were not like-for-like. In the UK, the self-isolation "clock" begins when the
person experiences symptoms or receives a positive test - whichever is
first. But in the US, self-isolation begins only after a positive test -
which may be some days after symptoms first appear.

On day six, the UKHSA says its modelling suggests 10-30% of people will
still be infectious, depending on how quickly they get their test result
after developing symptoms.

It says ending self-isolation after seven days with two negative lateral
flow tests gives a similar level of protection to self-isolating for 10
days, when 5% of people will still be infectious.

Ian Wilson, owner and director of Bellcare, a Cumbria-based firm that
provides in-home help for the elderly and disabled, is concerned that
those who need care aren't going to get it - simply because there aren't
enough people to provide it.

Ian Wilson, owner and director of Bellcare has been able to increase pay
but there are not enough carers to recruit

"The amount of people requiring care in the first place means that you're generally run off your feet," Mr Wilson told the BBC. "As soon as you
start losing staff [because of Omicron], it gets really, really awkward."

While Bellcare has been able to bring forward an increase in the National Living Wage from April to now, thanks to a government grant, "if the
people don't come forward it is really difficult," said Mr Wilson.

Mr Wilson's firm employs around 120 people and could easily find hours for
an additional 40 or 50 carers.

"We've got the Brexit thing as well where we had overseas workers," said
Mr Wilson. "We can apply for licences to recruit overseas workers but that
is a lengthy and quite costly process to be honest so it is not going to
solve anything next week."

Mr Wilson said: "I don't know what the government plans are for
contingencies. We can only work with what we've got and those people that
we've got can only work so many hours a day, so yes, it is going to be difficult."

### - ok everybody? alright then! arms up in the air everyone as we go
down the FIRST big DIP!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! (crackin' up laffing hehe...)

i mean, what else can a poor boy do??

"... and just at that moment he noticed a beautiful strawberry growing on
the face of the cliff, which he plucked and ate, remarking: oh boy, this
has gots to be the most delicious strawberry i've ever tasted..."

;)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)