In response to the thread generally, the original premise of the thread is incorrect, and simply isn’t borne out by the statistics. The fact is Covid presents an extremely low risk to the vast majority of people who catch it and railstaff don’t seem to have been affected any more seriously than many other groups.
On the other hand we have continued working throughout the pandemic with no cushy work from home option, and no option to sit at home being paid to do nothing (other than the small minority who were shielding). Certainly in the case of drivers, apart from a few weeks during the first lockdown when the service was pared back, the job has been little different.
There is certainly a lack of gratitude or acknowledgement of this fact, in contrast with all the ridiculous fawning over NHS “heros”. Sadly people seem to have very little respect for railway workers anyway, largely due to a lack of understanding of what we actually do, so perhaps that’s unsurprising.
I’d echo
@bramling ’s comments above, there is a cohort of railway workers who are older, but not otherwise vulnerable, for whom going to work during the first weeks and months of the pandemic when the virus was more of an unknown quantity must have been a real worry. That shouldn’t be the case any longer now that the vaccine has arrived, and there are undoubtedly some staff (including a few at my depot) who seem to want to continue fear mongering, and are now throwing their toys out of the pram about masking requirements and one way systems being removed.