A WEYMOUTH care worker is urging people to ‘stop the spread’ amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The plea comes as thousands of UK domiciliary care workers say they are being put at an additional risk of catching and spreading coronavirus as patients’ families continue to visit them.

Care workers have been deemed key workers by the government so will continue to carry out their daily duties of interacting with elderly and disabled people and taking care of them.

However, they say their safety is being put at a greater risk as families and friends of vulnerable people continue to visit them despite government advice to stay at home and for individuals over the age of 70 to self isolate.

One care worker, who works in Weymouth, said that carers were worried about the amount of people they are unnecessarily coming into contact with through no fault of their own.

She said: “Nobody seems to be talking about the thousands of carers seeing really vulnerable people.

“I’m going from house to house where family members are just popping in and then I’m going onto other vulnerable people and spreading it around.

“We need to stop the spread.”

Care workers are providing help for disabled, elderly and vulnerable people all over the country.

The help includes washing and cleaning clients, administering medication, using machinery to help them move, such as hoists, and providing palliative care for those that need it.

Despite the personal nature of their work, domiciliary care workers are not provided with the kind of protective equipment that hospital workers are given. They have just a plastic apron and a pair of latex gloves.

The carer continued: “One of the carers I work with was asked to go to a job for a lady who had just come home from hospital and two nurses had gone in with full on protective masks and equipment and our carer went in with nothing.

“I think that because Prime Minister Boris Johnson isn’t talking about us, and is more interested in talking about builders at the moment, families are continuing to visit their vulnerable relatives and think that it is alright.

“Please stop visiting.

“Think of the carers that are going in and think about them spreading it onto other clients and vulnerable people.”