How to avoid Covid

[kiloran]

Pre-covid, I was a volunteer driver for the local hospice, taking patients to local hospitals for treatment. Of course, that was knocked on the head by Covid, so the service has been inoperative for the past two and a half years.
We are going to restart the service in a month or so, on a limited trial basis, and the hospice had a meeting with the drivers to discuss. We got a number of guidelines/rules such as driver and patient must wear masks in the car, car must be wiped down with disinfectant afterwards, patient should sit in the rear of the car, maximum of one other person with the patient and only if absolutely required, good ventilation in the car. Patients will be vetted to to ensure that they don't require close contact assistance to get into the car.

Any other thoughts or bright ideas about minimising risk to driver and patient? I've been double jabbed and single booster with another booster due in the next few months. I'm in good health but more concerned about passing the lurgy to my wife.

--kiloran

[Lootman]

Temperature checks?

Personally I would never drive whilst wearing a mask. Since I wear glasses there is a risk they might suddenly mist up. That is annoying at any time but potentially fatal on the road.

[pje16]

Good man... what a brilliant thing to do
sounds like it has been well thought about

Keep the windows open, weather permitting

[seagles]

You are lucky. Just agree to volunteer for local Good Neighbourhood scheme, I asked about advice on COVID and they did not have any? Trips are mainly to hospital and doctor appointments but they do shopping trips as well. Windows open and mask it is then, pity my clients in winter.

[Mike4]

LFTs on anyone intending to get in the car each day....

You can still get them from chemists, it's just that you have to pay. I've just bought some from an on-line chemist, just under £3 per test.

[Dod101]

Temperature checks?

Personally I would never drive whilst wearing a mask. Since I wear glasses there is a risk they might suddenly mist up. That is annoying at any time but potentially fatal on the road.

If you know of any taxi drivers you could ask them for tips? Presumably the patients/passengers will be well tested anyway since they must be in a vulnerable category so I guess the chances of the driver catching it from them is small and the main concern of everyone will be to try to ensure that you do not pass it on to them, so I suppose testing yourself as a driver will be mandatory before every trip?

Despite Lootman's comments (which as a wearer of glasses I understand0 I as a driver would certainly wear a mask.

Dod

[9873210]

I find that N95 and other tight fitting masks do not fog my glasses the way floppy "surgical" and cloth masks do. The shaped nose piece and elastic behind the head forms a far better seal than a bent piece of wire and ear loops. For me anyway, your nose and ears may differ. Ear loops were designed by somebody with ears that are far different from mine. If in doubt test a few makes and sizes to find one that works well for you.

I'd be quite happy driving in an N95. And since they stay in place I'm far less likely to touch my face. x

You should probably be wearing N95 or better anyway. If it's not worth doing well, it's not worth doing.

[staffordian]

Is there any way of rigging up some sort of polythene screen between the front and back seats?

Sure I've seen similar on some private hire cars, though I've no idea how they were secured.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Pre-covid, I was a volunteer driver for the local hospice, taking patients to local hospitals for treatment. Of course, that was knocked on the head by Covid, so the service has been inoperative for the past two and a half years.
We are going to restart the service in a month or so, on a limited trial basis, and the hospice had a meeting with the drivers to discuss. We got a number of guidelines/rules such as driver and patient must wear masks in the car, car must be wiped down with disinfectant afterwards, patient should sit in the rear of the car, maximum of one other person with the patient and only if absolutely required, good ventilation in the car. Patients will be vetted to to ensure that they don't require close contact assistance to get into the car.

Any other thoughts or bright ideas about minimising risk to driver and patient? I've been double jabbed and single booster with another booster due in the next few months. I'm in good health but more concerned about passing the lurgy to my wife.

--kiloran

Wear seat belts and garlic. I think you've got it all covered and have a good take on how to mitigate the risks. It's good that you're are all taking up the baton and returning to your charity work which is so important. The only small suggestion I'd make is plenty of hand gel, which I'm more than sure is just me being Captain Obvious. And of course daily tests for covid.

Really special to hear you are all returning to the volunteer charity work which you hold so dear. Respect. Great news.

AiY(D)

[88V8]

Any other thoughts or bright ideas about minimising risk to driver and patient?

Being jabbed won't prevent you from catching it once the jab is three months old....

Open the rear windows and switch on the blower fan - high - with the controls set to demist. That will ensure no air from the back reaches you in the front.
If raining, open the rear windows less.

This mask does not steam my glasses.
https://airpophealth.co.uk/products/pocket-mask

V8

[scotia]

LFTs on anyone intending to get in the car each day....

You can still get them from chemists, it's just that you have to pay. I've just bought some from an on-line chemist, just under £3 per test.

Agreed - Carry out LFTs on both driver and patient. I don't know why the free supply of test kits was stopped by the government.
If you (the driver) are currently living a careful life and are taking an LFT on the day of transporting a patient, then I would think there is very little risk of you transmitting the disease to the patient. And I would hope that the hospice will carry out an LFT on the patient, and the hospital will take care with the patient - so again there should be little risk of transfer from the patient. But yes - a very low risk can be made even smaller with the other advice on ventilating the car and wearing masks.

I have had two outpatient visits to hospital (in Glasgow) recently - and the seating in the waiting area was widely spaced, windows were open, patients were requested to wear masks, and not to be accompanied, unless absolutely necessary. Regrettably a number of patients came with an accompanying friend, and they lowered their masks to chat to one another. There was no attempt to enforce the requested rules.

Earlier in the year a group of us (mainly oldies) gathered in a hall (in Glasgow) to aid with the (international) postal distribution of seeds (from a gardening club). We all agreed to take an LFT every day (of a week), and to wear masks. But I must admit that over lunch, our masks came off - for a significant period. As far as I am aware there were no Covid repercussions.

[kiloran]

Many thanks for all the helpful responses.

Testing....amazingly, this obvious topic was not discussed in the 2hr meeting, probably because we all got sidetracked for far too much time when a driver got a bee in his bonnet about an irrelevant issue. I'll have a chat with the clinical services manager.

Masks.... I've generally avoided too much contact with others and used a normal surgical mask. I think I'll start using FFP2 masks which appear to give better protection to the user (surgical masks are primarily to protect others)

--kiloran

[Gerry557]

Reducing contacts as far as possible. The more people you come into contact with the more you are likely to come across infection.

That is true for driver and passenger. LFT will reduce risk but there are false negatives or asymptotic people, 25% on some estimates.

I caught covid recently. The only family I'd been in contact with, who were also ill at the time all tested negative. So either the test was wrong on all x4 people or I caught covid outside jogging past someone 2 meters apart in a split second. I suppose it could have been a "hot" package or letter or neighbours sat in their gardens.

The upshot is it can be reduced but not 100% safe

[88V8]

LFT will reduce risk but there are false negatives or asymptotic people, 25% on some estimates.

When I had covid a few weeks ago my first test with nasal swab was negative, but one with throat + nasal swab was positive.
I have read that the current variants reside more in the throat.

V8

[Dod101]

LFT will reduce risk but there are false negatives or asymptotic people, 25% on some estimates.

When I had covid a few weeks ago my first test with nasal swab was negative, but one with throat + nasal swab was positive.
I have read that the current variants reside more in the throat.

V8

That could explain my negative test. Did you just use the LFT swab in the throat instead of the nose? I had a dry throat, runny nose, felt nauseous and generally under the weather. The nasal test was negative for three days and then the symptoms went away.

Dod

[Julian]

Pre-covid, I was a volunteer driver for the local hospice, taking patients to local hospitals for treatment. Of course, that was knocked on the head by Covid, so the service has been inoperative for the past two and a half years.
We are going to restart the service in a month or so, on a limited trial basis, and the hospice had a meeting with the drivers to discuss. We got a number of guidelines/rules such as driver and patient must wear masks in the car, car must be wiped down with disinfectant afterwards, patient should sit in the rear of the car, maximum of one other person with the patient and only if absolutely required, good ventilation in the car. Patients will be vetted to to ensure that they don't require close contact assistance to get into the car.

Any other thoughts or bright ideas about minimising risk to driver and patient? I've been double jabbed and single booster with another booster due in the next few months. I'm in good health but more concerned about passing the lurgy to my wife.

--kiloran

Testing prior to the trip has already been mentioned and that is a good idea but I have another slightly left-field suggestion to layer on top of all the good suggestions already made.

On the basis that the latest Omicron variants are so contagious I think it's fair to say that even if you implement all of the suggestions here you cannot guarantee 100% safety so someone might still pick up an infection during the trip. My suggestion embraces that possibility of failure and tries to give an additional level of protection if someone does get infected.

My extra suggestion would be to assume the worst, that despite all of your precautions some people in the van will get infected. If that is the case then you could suggest to the hospice that some number of days(*) after they return to the hospice they are all given an LFT to try and pick up any infection at the earliest possible stage so that the hospice could consult a GP on behalf of any infected resident to potentially prescribe appropriate antivirals, many of which are quite effective at preventing progression to severe disease, but only if prescribed quite soon after infection hence early detection is important for optimal outcomes. Obviously early detection could also allow isolation measures to be put in place within the hospice.

Perhaps the hospice regularly tests all residents anyway but if not (and your subsequent post about testing never even being mentioned in a meeting makes me think that maybe they don't) then this might be an extra layer of ensuring passenger safety.

You could also do post-trip testing on the same basis although if you are volunteering multiple days each week that probably becomes tantamount to daily testing.

- Julian

(*) I'm afraid that I'm not fully up to date with the timings of how long after a BA.4 or BA.5 infection an LFT is likely to start giving a positive result but I suspect a bit of research should reveal data on that.

[88V8]

LFT will reduce risk but there are false negatives or asymptotic people, 25% on some estimates.

When I had covid a few weeks ago my first test with nasal swab was negative, but one with throat + nasal swab was positive. I have read that the current variants reside more in the throat.

That could explain my negative test. Did you just use the LFT swab in the throat instead of the nose?

Used the one swab, first in the throat then in both noses.
Perhaps not the other way round

V8

[redsturgeon]

LFT will reduce risk but there are false negatives or asymptotic people, 25% on some estimates.

When I had covid a few weeks ago my first test with nasal swab was negative, but one with throat + nasal swab was positive. I have read that the current variants reside more in the throat.

That could explain my negative test. Did you just use the LFT swab in the throat instead of the nose?

Used the one swab, first in the throat then in both noses.
Perhaps not the other way round

V8

I now feel I would recognise you quite easily at a Fool's meeting.

John