[i]Definitely no. Having a cleaner is not deemed essential. If you aren’t allowed other family members then a cleaner is a big no no. The longer people don’t take this seriously, the longer we will have to continue like this. [/i]

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Superb, reasoned reply. Thanks, Alena.

Steve, a key worker still wondering why some people think they are entitled to endanger themselves and others

I think if she is coming to an empty house, takes her PPE seriously and travels without using public transport and has the option of not coming then why not. I am completely exhausted after my long shifts on the frontline, struggling to just ensure kids have what they need and they are coping ok at the school they need to go to as we cant WFH i need the cleaner to help us maintain a liveable home. We pay her weekly but she now just comes once every 3 weeks - ie we will try to minimise how often she comes. I think as long as people are acting responsibly and taking precautions (ie not sunbathing or having open wine/BBQ gatherings and physical house parties and flouting it to others about how little they care, it would be nice to show support to your neighbours). As one poster also points out, its probably a good thing that they are helping to maintain the house clean. Cleaners are essential workers although I do agree that domestic ones may not necessarily be seen as such. I think it really depends on each situation. Essential workers are also allowed nannies I think - its a risk-benefit situation at the moment. We are so so short staffed on the frontline, enough ventilators at the moment but no one to look after patients on ventilators.... If I burn out then its one less person yet again. I think a lot of my colleagues feel the same, we need all the support we can muster and we will do it in a responsible manner. Hope people can be open minded enough to understand this....

Completely agree with alenaraphaella. People who justify their cleaner continuing to come around because of a technicality rather than common sense as the govt reiterates, shows real ignorance.

If you can’t have family or friends round, someone else travelling and coming around (whether to clean or anything else non emergency) is clearly not the intention of the guidelines. If you then extend that and say they should be able to clean other people’s properties as normal too - you don’t have to use your imagination to much to think how the risk is exacerbated significantly.

Pay your cleaner, and do your own cleaning for the foreseeable. If anyone is really feeling so entitled that they can’t do that small deed to contribute to slowing the spread, that really is quite sad and obnoxious.

Utterly shocked to read some of the comments here that make excuses for why it is ok to allow their cleaners to visit your homes. This is NOT at all in line with the government guidelines. It doesn't matter if your cleaner wears gloves, a mask, keeps their distance and/or you swap floors/indoors/outdoors whilst they are in your home. None of these measures make it ok for them to come and clean.

Why? Because even with all of these precautions, there is still a risk that the virus is spread AND will remain on a variety of surfaces in your home. Not to mention, at any point during your cleaner' journey to/from your home, they may touch surfaces that are then touched by others. For example, light buttons on pedestrian crossings/bus doors/bus stop buttons/Tube train doors; handrails on public transport, etc. One user mentioned their cleaner drives to/from work - this is absolutely an exception. Most cleaners take public transport, and if everyone suddenly started allowing their cleaners to continue to work, we would all be back to square one. Meaning a sudden increase in people being infected (originating from your cleaner who travelled to/from your home), who then swamp the NHS, who in turn put health workers at risk, who then have to self-isolate from their own families - and their children have to be taught at school requiring MORE teachers to have to go in, the list goes on, All because you couldn't bring yourself to pick up a mop & bucket and clean your house yourself. While at home, probably receiving furlough salary. Oh, and don't forget some of these front line workers have already DIED because of your choices.

Since you are at home and presumably not bothered to even clean your own home, please take a few minutes and read about the actual research being done by virologists, biologists, scientists. All of whom are clearly stating that the understand of this virus is still very much in the early days and that assumptions from other virus do NOT translate to Covid19.

Here is a very clear example of the risk you are taking by having your cleaner come to/from your home  AS WELL as the risk to the public:

"A few days ago a letter to the editor published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed the virus that causes COVID-19 may be stable for several hours in aerosols and for several hours to days on surfaces. Scientists from National Institutes of Health (NIH), CDC, UCLA, and Princeton University who participated in the analysis found SARS-CoV-2 was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, copper up to four hours, cardboard up to 24 hours, and plastic and stainless steel up to two to three days. While there is much to learn, scientists involved in the analysis observed that emerging evidence suggests people who are infected might be spreading the virus without recognizing, or prior to recognizing, symptoms, according to the NIH."

(Google [i]'5 Things Everyone Should Know About the Coronavirus Outbreak' & Yale Medicine[/i]

You might be thinking that your cleaner has reassured you that they don't have any symptoms, or feel absolutely fine, or have already self-isolated for 14 days and still feel fine. This STILL does not mean they are now safe to go out. Many people who have tested positive for Covid19 never had symptoms. This means that if they were going on & commuting to your home to clean, they could be passing the virus onto other people (see above). Also, many medical professionals are warning that anyone who has had Covid19 is NOT immune. Meaning, they can catch it again. The point is, until the government is satisfied that the Covid19 risk has been mitigated, you are putting everyone at risk if you continue to have your clean visit your home. All that is being asked is that you don't have any visitors, and don't go out yourself, during the lockdown. You are being paid to sit around in your home. You're not allowed to do any work for your employer. And yet you are being paid. Many other countries do not have such luxuries.  Is it that difficult to ask that you (GASP) use your own vacuum cleaner? Mop your kitchen? 

 

Well the government says if you can’t work from home then you can go to work as long as you keep social distancing at all times commuting and working. This is unrelated to key workers as the above posts state.

You going to your mum’s house for a social visit is unrelated to a cleaner coming to someone’s house to physically clean and rid their house of germs, and also do their work.

As I mentioned earlier, my cleaner has stopped coming for now anyway, but I wouldn’t have a problem if she wanted to continue. I would make sure she was able to come without the need for trains / tubes.

If it was my neighbour, I would leave them be, as no one knows the ins and outs of their situation or how the cleaner is commuting or working etc.

Are you all nuts, the government is very clear stay in an no visitors. Based on what I’ve just read we can all define ourselves as ‘cleaners’ and carry on as normal visiting friends,. Thank you for the argument I can give the Police when stopped driving to see my Mum in Lancashire, I can argue I’m her cleaner I am entitled. Get real people this is serious you should not be allowing your cleaner to visit and you should be supporting them by paying them every week until this is over.

Cleaners are not essential so it is not really allowed but our cleaner refused to take our money without working so she comes to our house and we stay in separate rooms and actually on a separate floor. She needs the money . I am in the country for the duration and she drives to our house coming in contact with no one . So rather than have her with no funds this is what we do . As you do not know what is going on inside the house unless you are peaking in the windows , I suggest you let it go . Worry about the people congregating in parks and exercising together openly - these are the people that will cause the lock down to get worse .

I would assume this is fine. My own cleaner hasn’t come for weeks as she is deemed high risk due to chronic asthma.

But I would assume her cleaner is coming to clean her house rather than sit with her on the sofa and have a cup of tea.

She would be likely keeping 2m distance at all time, also technically she can’t work from home and your neighbour’s house is her work place.

The only caveat should be that she should walk / cycle / drive herself to work as she may technically not be a key worker so she shouldn’t be using public transport.

Also her job means she is literally ridding your neighbour’s house of germs including covid so this would be a good thing.

PS she drives herself to our house so no risk of picking up germs on the tube or bus and she washes her hands when she arrives

The government guidance is clear. If your work cannot be done from home, you can still go to work. There is no qualification about how essential your work is. The only requirement is that you practice social distancing at work. Our cleaner is still coming. I have given her the option of not coming but being paid anyway but she would prefer to come. When she is here she wears a mask and gloves and when she is downstairs with we are upstairs and vice versa. She doesn’t clean for any other families as her other jobs are all in hotels which have closed and she lives alone.
I think each individual family has to make their own decisions on the risks they are prepared to take. I see no problem with this so long as the cleaner is given the option of not coming. We have also agreed that if either we or the cleaner feel that they have exposed themselves to a higher level of risk or they feel unwell then they must inform the other party so that decisions can be made as to whether to continue or not (obvs not in the case of feeling unwell).
I would go back to your Live and Let Live stance. Your friend isn’t breaking any rules and has made her own choice for her family.

Our neighbour in the flat above still has her workman coming in daily to do work on her empty flat. She lives elsewhere and is not concerned by the distress this causes to my husband and myself as the workman comes in through a communal area, touching the door handles, light switches, etc.,

We do not know how many other properties he visits or whether he exercises social distancing in his spare time - we feel that we are being put at risk. He is not a building site worker with other builders on an empty building. There is another flat above her where there is a young couple living but we are unsure as to their thoughts on this.

The cleaner and workman should be made to stay at home like the rest of us and not be allowed to travel around spreading their germs. It seems that there are rules that some of us have to obey and others openly flout. To protect us all and the NHS, non key workers should be responsible, respectful and stay at home!

This is definitely NOT ok! What part of not allowing anyone into your family home, even close relatives, are people not understanding?

I worked for the NHS for 25 years and all my friend and former colleagues who are still slogging away to help stop the spread of this virus and save lives are absolutely fuming about the way English people, particularly the privileged ones, are struggling to give up their old ways of lives. Even when it risks the lives of others!

Please tell your neighbour politely that she must not allow her cleaner into her house. It is officially against the government advice. This is NOT a grey area.

I think the rules simply state if your job cannot be done from home you can go to work, and your work is absolutely necessary.

Key workers were only defined for who is allowed to keep sending kids to school.

I agree it’s a bit immoral to insist your cleaner comes but I’m not sure there’s anything you can do, apart from suggest to her that it’s an unnecessary risk. Eg “aren’t you worried about her bringing the virus into your house or her catching it from you”. Perhaps you could also point out that the longer we don’t socially distance, the longer we will have to do it.

Perhaps they are SD and the cleaner is wearing protective gear. I can only hope!

We will keep paying our cleaner for at least 3 months, but she said she is still going to most of her jobs which I was shocked about.

[color=#000000]I agree this isn't essential unless perhaps the neighbour is a key worker who may be working long, exhausting hours - in which case perhaps reasonable if it provides support to get their own vital job done for the benefit of us all.
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