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It’s a job the Ecuadorian native did for five years, having moved to the UK from Spain in 2013 while looking for work. CNN is not revealing Anna’s real name as she fears repercussions from her employer.
Anna’s employer insisted she continue cleaning the building during the pandemic, but cut her working hours from five hours a day to four hours. She earns £ 10.75 ($ 14.77) an hour.
“I was forced to go to work in a non-essential building,” she told CNN. “There is no one at work, I am alone.”
Last month Anna contracted Covid-19. She is not sure where she picked it up from, but said it was probably “on the bus or in the metro”. She lives in south London in a shared house and says that initially the virus left her exhausted.
“I had a lot of cough, fever, fatigue… and dizziness,” she said. “And me [am taking a long time to recover] because this disease is very painful [and] horrible.”
But after staying at home for a few days as she recovered from the illness, Anna decided to go to work, as she was only receiving partial pay.
UK government rules state that while recovering from Covid-19, patients must self-isolate for at least 10 full days.
“I just felt tired and [had] a headache, “she said.” That’s why I went to work – I couldn’t afford to stay home either because I was getting very little pay.
“I feel guilty that I went to work and infected more people, [but] I had no other choice. “
“These numbers are moving a lot,” Harding told a parliamentary committee this week, adding that “about 20,000 people a day” are not currently isolating themselves. Harding said she was also concerned about people who showed symptoms but avoided getting tested.
For the UK government, lack of compliance is a major concern.
“My biggest concern is … people who feel sick but don’t show up for testing at all,” Harding said.
A popular stereotype describes lockout breakers as young, irreverent people who insist on going to house parties and meeting friends.
“There is so much emphasis that people don’t break the rules, but the majority actually follow them,” says Muge Cevik, clinical professor of infectious diseases and medical virology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Their article reports on a successful test-and-care model in San Francisco that has helped people isolate themselves by ensuring, among other measures, home deliveries of goods. A similar program in New York City, which allowed people to choose to self-isolate in hotels, is also lauded in the article.
“In the majority of hospitalizations, what we see is that the majority of infections are among key workers,” Cevik told CNN.
“We are seeing huge outbreaks in warehouses, meat packing plants, nursing homes … the only thing that combines these sectors are the low paid workers, likely to live in overcrowded homes.”
In September 2020, the UK government rolled out a new program to support people in isolation. Low-income people who need to stay at home may be eligible for a payment of £ 500 if they risk losing their pay. The penalty for those breaking lockdowns has also increased, with those arrested now facing fines of £ 1,000 ($ 1,370).
“This new Support Test and Trace payment of £ 500 will allow low-income people to self-isolate without worrying about their finances,” the UK government said in a September statement.
Harding acknowledged during his appearance before the committee that the lack of financial support was one of the reasons people had failed to isolate themselves.
Cevik and his colleagues believe that more needs to be done, including offering people living in overcrowded homes the opportunity to isolate themselves in separate housing, to curb the spread of the virus.
“If someone has tested positive, [then] at the time of the test, we could ask them “do you have space to isolate yourself?” And do you have sick leave? “, She says.
“These [resources] must come as a package – income relief, sick leave [and] accommodation is required. “
Anna says she would “of course” have stayed at home if she had received more support.
“I would have stayed home from day one,” she told CNN. “I felt bad, but … low-wage workers had no choice.”
“I don’t blame people who are desperate, and [make that choice to work]Says Yaseen Aslam, president of ACDU, a union representing private rental and courier drivers in Britain.
“I know a driver who had to self-isolate four times in two months, how does that work?” Aslam told CNN.
“The problem is that drivers are currently making £ 35 or £ 50 a day,” he adds. “The £ 500 [payment], yeah that’s good but the pilots are desperate.
“And when you’re in dire straits, you take risks. People choose between their life and just being there.
Uber, among other companies, has piloted a program to protect drivers and passengers by installing bulkheads in 400 cars, as government guidelines suggest. The pilot project was carried out in partnership with the automotive assistance group, AA, across Newcastle, Sunderland and Durham, in the north of England. But outside of the system, drivers have to decide whether or not to pay to install the screens.
But a driver, who asked not to be named because he feared reprisals from his employer, said he and his peers weren’t installing the screens because they just couldn’t afford it. allow.
“It’s a pandemic,” said the man, who says he works as a driver in London. “It won’t last forever – why should I put this on if it won’t last forever?”
Aslam also works with the International Alliance of App-Based Transport Workers, an organization that brings together private rental drivers around the world.
“I work with drivers in France, Amsterdam, San Francisco [and so on,]”he said.” We see these problems around the world. But no one is trying to help us. “
The start of 2021 was marked across Europe by an explosion of frustration against lockdowns, with protests taking place in Austria, Hungary and the Netherlands. The Dutch protests lasted for a few nights at the end of January and turned violent.
Anti-lockdown protesters have also taken to the streets in the UK, including during multiple protests in November 2020. Dozens of people were arrested during the marches, in which some protesters shared conspiracy theories on Covid- 19.
“If people feel vulnerable, they will abide by the lockdown rules,” Pamela Briggs, professor of applied psychology at Northumbria University, told CNN. “For those who feel less vulnerable, respect becomes more a matter of civic duty.
“If you want to make sacrifices, you have to believe that they will be effective,” she adds. “The problem arises when people can’t figure out why they’re being asked to do these things … if people think the rules don’t make sense, they’re more likely to challenge them.”
Briggs believes people should believe that their sacrifice in staying home is worth the personal cost. The three lockdowns in the UK have, to varying degrees, helped stem the increase in cases.
“We could make people feel that their sacrifices are really having an effect,” Briggs said.
“There are ways to demonstrate the effectiveness of the lockdown and more needs to be done.”
A year after the start of the Covid crisis, the UK government continues to use lockdowns as a last resort. Good news awaits on the horizon – cases are starting to decline and the rollout of vaccines in the country has been widely praised. What public servants now face is the challenge of helping people stay at home in the face of overwhelming mental and financial fatigue.
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