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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Heather Stewart

‘I can’t work in the office safely’: the over-50s leaving the UK labour force

Melanie Green’s arthritis medication severely affects her immune system, so she is shielding from Covid.
Melanie Green’s arthritis medication severely affects her immune system, so she is shielding from Covid and may have to stop working. Photograph: Sam Frost/The Guardian

“I’m still working at home, but only just.” Before the pandemic, Melanie Green loved her job in a bustling police control room. But the drugs she takes for arthritis suppress her immune system and Green won’t risk going back into the workplace while Covid continues to circulate.

“It’s a busy environment with people coming in and out at all times of day. There’s no way that I could be working in that office safely,” she says. “The doctor says I am still at extremely high clinical risk.”

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