Survey: most university staff feel unsafe returning to campus

Can I just ask why these academics feel they are special or different ? Is it because of their education, pay grade or organisational or societal status ? At the height of the pandemic, when testing was hard to obtain and the vaccine had not been rolled out (or even proven effective) , thousands of cleaning staff, maintenance staff and security staff were going into work and also dealing with the thousands of infected students who were marooned in halls. For 18 months many academics sat at home working remotely. This is the real world and it is incredibly elitist and divisive to suggest that their concerns (in a world where most people interacting will be vaccinated and the precaution and testing available are in full swing) weigh more heavily than those who have worked on the frontline. It absolutely stinks. They really need to take a long hard look at themselves and understand that getting back to work as we live with this disease, means just that. Back to work and positively contribute and help manage how we do this as safely as possible.

"Do you feel safe" isn't quite the right question. We can never be 100% safe against covid, or indeed any other infectious virus. Better to ask "do you think it's the right thing to return to face to face teaching?"

As someone who filled out the questionnaire and has no problem returning to campus, I can only agree with the points made by cactus77. I am only "vulnerable" due to age (I am 58) and do not have any other health conditions. Driving my car regularly is probably more dangerous than returning to campus and the mental health impact of the pandemic has become greater than the perceived risk from COVID-19. I am very aware of my mortality as I approach retirement but am not prepared just to exist isolated from many colleagues and the students when we have to get to a situation where COVID-19 is endemic but not dangerous. Personally, I do not worry, having been brought low as a child by the measles, which is much worse for most of us than this current virus. If the NHS can cope, there is no number of daily cases that would prompt me to reinstate the previous restrictions.

I agree with the comments above that we need to have some perspective. However, "getting back to work" is a bit of an insult to those academics who kept working full time during the pandemic, just not face-to-face. If anything, many of them clocked in even more hours to convert teaching material for remote delivery (not always a quick and easy thing to do!) or put in plance contingency plans for research projects, PhD projects... while of course, still providing support, tutoring, and pastoral care to students. We should stop assuming some people have been on holiday for 17 months.

Nobody is expecting be 100% safe, but what is wrong with mitigating the risk of infection? Is it such a sacrifice to wear a mask when it might protect more vulnerable people from serious or chronic illness, or death? Universities could reduce transmission on campus and in the community if, say, staff and students were advised to self-isolate and get a PCR test if they display current predominant symptoms in the region (cold/flu-like symptoms - sore/dry throat, sneezing, runny nose, headache, anosmia). Unfortunately and inexplicably, NHS/Govt advice is months out of date on this. Why shouldn’t universities protect the health and well being of students and staff by adequately ventilating classrooms in line with scientific advice? If we proceed with a little more caution now, we may prevent further illness, bereavement and lockdowns later.

Nobody is expecting be 100% safe, but what is wrong with mitigating the risk of infection? Is it such a sacrifice to wear a mask when it might protect more vulnerable people from serious or chronic illness, or death? Universities could reduce transmission on campus and in the community if, say, staff and students were advised to self-isolate and get a PCR test if they display current predominant symptoms in the region (cold/flu-like symptoms - sore/dry throat, sneezing, runny nose, headache, anosmia). Unfortunately and inexplicably, NHS/Govt advice is months out of date on this. Why shouldn’t universities protect the health and well being of students and staff by adequately ventilating classrooms in line with scientific advice? If we proceed with a little more caution now, we may prevent further illness, bereavement and lockdowns later.

Cactus77 seems to have entirely missed the point. Many staff, including academics working in research labs, were coming into campus during lockdowns, and working safely because proper precautions were followed. Now staff and students are being required to work and study in unsafe conditions. Masks merely "encouraged" (and teaching staff forbidden to wear them in some cases), no social distancing, little serious attention paid to vaccination, little serious effort on testing, .... And students coming from all over the country and all over the world, and mingling socially in large groups. This is dangerous for students, staff and local communities. But staff who are heavily student-facing roles and who are older or have clinical vulnerabilities are most at risk, and vaccination is no guarantee against long covid, hospitalisation or death.

To reply to Cactus77, academics are not special or different, like all staff we whether professional services, estates, teaching, whatever; we are employees and have a legal right to a safe place of work. That safety is being compromised. Academic work is not A&E, it's a job. If we take risks now with one million students moving around the country, students who will inevitably socialise as students do, crowded lecture theatres and so on, we will see rising infection rates and possibly serious consequences.