To be so fed up with people spreading illness?

Can’t colds be spread for up to 14 days?
Employers definitely wouldn’t be impressed with everyone isolating for every bug or illness

Are you cancelling your holiday then OP to avoid spreading the germs?

It’s tricky..,I used to be with you on this one, and I pretty much barricaded myself and my toddler at home from September - November last year because he started nursery and we both were constantly ill, but after two months I realised that we can’t stay in forever…we’re still both sick, it’s just one of these things with a toddler, but unless anyone has a fever or aggressive stomach bug, life goes on.

Oh the reason you wear a mask if you’re sick is to reduce viral shedding.

its a thing.

Ah someone who has drunk deep from the well of RFK.
sadly immunity is so much more complex than this; and even if it were true (it isn’t), anyone immunocompromised can’t “fight off” an infection, so it depends on your sense of whether it’s worth trying to reduce the risk to the most vulnerable in society.
as to the original question, I like the approach in Japan, where it is considered polite to wear a mask in public/work settings if you are unwell (to reduce the risk to others). It’s just common courtesy and a shame it’s been politicised in the West.

Like who? Just because I understand that a vast majority of the public cannot stay at home when they’re ill. Where did I say that I was infecting people? I know better than most people how infections infect anyone who is immunocompromised. My DS is congenitally immunocompromised hence the reason why I have this shitty cold, mind you, he gets it every week, this is my first time this year. So can’t complain but I don’t know expect society to shut down, or parents to keep there sick children home when it’s mild, so my child can have a full week in school without catching something.

It may not be from her…pretty much every holiday I get from work, I would come down with something after a day or 2…when I relax or switch off from work, that’s when I seem to be most susceptible to bugs. It’s like my bodies knows when I am working I need to be “on” but when not working, it lets its guard down and I end up with a cold or migraine or some other annoying ailment! Usually get over it quickly though!

Totally agree when it comes to sickness and diarrhoea but for coughs and colds I do think you just have to get on with it. There's so many employers who will give you a disciplinary for having just two days of absence a year, I personally always have more than 2 days of coughs/colds per year.

But it's ok for others to be off that you've infected who also have bills?

Try running a medical room in a secondary school. Parents send their kids in, knowing they are highly infectious and say ‘ try your best, but if you feel worse, go to the school nurse’.
So I see 50-60 pupils a day. When I phone home, requesting the student gets collected, they are then often sat with me for an hour. I have no windows and a rather fetching carpet. It’s been vomited on many times.
And I have not had a day off this academic year….

It’s unfair that other people get infected but unfortunately people have to work when they’re unwell or they can’t pay their bills.
Things should clear up a bit. I have it too at the moment it sucks.

Masks might not completely prevent colds, but wearing a good-quality mask, such as an N95, can still significantly the spread of respiratory viruses (if worn properly of course). If someone is unwell, wearing a mask helps protect the people around them by limiting the amount of virus released into the air. They can also offer some protection to the wearer by reducing the chance of breathing in infectious particles from others nearby.
There is plenty of reliable information available online from respected organisations such as the BMJ and the CDC for anyone in doubt.
I agree that employers have an important role to play. Encouraging staff not to come into work when they are ill, and allowing people to work from home wherever possible if they are well enough to do so, would help create a healthier and more considerate workplace for everyone.

I have no option to work from home and unforgiving bosses. In my situation, I could forgive your colleague for coming in. But if home working is acceptable and encouraged where you work then she is definitely being unreasonable.

"but for arguments sake in a worse place she could have easily worn a face mask"

Even during COVID there were plenty of people who refused to wear masks, and literally said asking kids to wear them was child abuse. It was pretty common for kids to be sent into school having tested positive when they should have been in isolation

It's now government policy that we be regularly reinfected with coughs colds, the flu and COVID in order to maintain "hybrid immunity"...

YANBU. It's selfish, gross, and often dangerous, particularly for vulnerable people. It would be much more sensible for people to be strongly encouraged to work from home or stay off work/school when sick where possible, or to wear a mask if not. That would likely lead to less time off in general due to less spread of illness, and less strain on the NHS.

I agree with you OP!

Obviously people should make the reasonable efforts open to them to keep germs to themselves. Work from home if you can, wear a mask and/ or at the very least cover your mouth, put tissues in the bin, open a window etc.

This is what we should have learned from Covid even if some people seem to have bizarrely drawn the opposite conclusion!

I had a manager pre Covid that stipulated wfh if you were ill to prevent infecting the whole team and causing more illness. Another company post Covid also encouraged the same.

That’s not actually how it works for everyone. Some people’s immunity improves, others worsen, another subset (I don’t recall).

Additionally, not everyone can brush off illness that easily. If one has other health issues it can be really rough. I tend to catch everything, and become really unwell whenever I get sick, however my partner is as normal.

I hate it when people call others babies when they have no idea what it’s actually like for some people.

Inconsiderate colleagues that happily infect everyone else when they have the option to wfh are extremely selfish.

Masks don't prevent colds. Read the box for confirmation. Why get mad at the individual and not the company for making people feel they have to come in ill or be written up, or or other negative implications? Is this a test balloon to see of masks can be reintroduced? No dice.

If you have more than 3 instances of sick leave in a year you get put on a disciplinary route where I work. I get more colds than that a year and come in when coughing (as do a lot of colleagues). I’d rather not be in.

One of my dsis previous employers used to send people home if they stepped over the threshold with an illness and threatened with a disciplinary if they returned before they were fully recovered. Sickness levels actually reduced because employees were not passing on infections to each other.

It's not unreasonable to expect others to show some consideration when they're evidently sick and contagious. Have people learnt nothing since Covid entered our lives? The least they could do is wear a mask, what's wrong with following the Japanese way of dealing with contagious illnesses? They are so much more civilised and polite but Brits seem to look down on such things and show little concern for those who might be immunocompromised.

So now you re on a hôtel on a 2 week holiday spreading your germs all over the place?
...yeah. Some people are bloody annoying
😭🤣

Ask your manager if they will issue an instruction that staff are to stay home when ill.
Their response will tell you whether it's your unwell colleagues or your workplace culture you have an issue with.