How much difference would it really make if we all stayed home at first sign if a cold?

[Cocoagrowing]

Google tells me the average is 6-8 colds pa for children and 2-4 for adults.

If everyone stayed home, 1. Would infrastructure collapse becuase of all the absence? 2. Would that be a short term problem only until illness levels dropped dramatically? Or would most of us still get our 2-4 colds?

It’s a good question!!

Might struggle to ever get operations done, chances of one in a large team of medics having a sniffle is probably quite high.

Might also struggle to keep schools open with teachers being off constantly with all the bugs.

The NHS would shut down.

I think younger children don’t always realise when they are going down with a cold so it would continue to spread regardless.

I doubt companies could cope with people not working, not buying things from their shops and medical professionals not being available for emergencies.

I think it would be ok in reality. Most people go in because they think their job is really important, truth is if you was hit by a bus today, you would have a replacement in your job by Monday.

Yes everything would close down initially, but if "please don't go to work unwell" makes a difference, we'd soon be in a situation where people were very rarely ill. Incubation of a cold is what less than a week? So it should make a difference in less than a month?

The obvious thing is to wear a decent mask if you are feeling a bit under and ventilate rooms properly.

Why on earth people oppose these things I don't know.

The problem is that with most rhinoviruses and most noroviruses, the most common things you're going to run into... The incubation period ( in which you are infected and actively shedding contagions out into the world, but you don't yet realize that you're sick, you don't have the symptoms yet, you're a Trojan horse...) Is anywhere between 12 and 48 hours.

So you think you're okay, or you think your kids are okay, no sore throat, no runny nose, no coughing, no flu, no vomiting, you're "fine"... Until you're not, but you've already spread it all over the place.

And that's the real problem. And that's why washing your hands not just when you're sick but when you're well, and wearing a face mask in public if it's feasible to, are such good ideas. Neither one is 100% guarantee, but it really helps.

Same with getting a flu shot. A flu shot won't protect you against stomach bugs where you're vomiting, won't protect you against the sore throat and stuffy nose of a cold, because those aren't the same virus... The flu shot only works for a specific type of influenza, and you'd be very lucky not to pick up influenza this season (If you do get it, you know) The thing is influenza unlike a norovirus or a rhinovirus has a much higher chance of sending you to the hospital with complications such as pneumonia, and you could actually die. So, we get a flu shot.
It isn't just a protect ourselves, to protect those around us who aren't able to fight off diseases as well as we are.

But that was a good question that you had. Basically, at the very first sign of a cold, if you kept your kids home, and you had to stay home to, or if you stayed off of work, and every single person did this regardless of what their position was, yeah everything basically would shut down! Or we could afford to run a 0% unemployment rate in the country because absolutely every single person would be needed for a job because you need extra people to cover for all the sickies!!

Treasure your health. It doesn't last forever, and it's the most important thing you've got.

Wouldn't make much difference to be honest. Most colds etc are contagious before you even realise you've got one.

It's a case of common sense;
If you don't feel too bad and don't have a fever then carry on as usual.

However if you're going to be with others in an enclosed environment for hours and are trying to martyr it out with a frequent hacking cough and needing to sit down every couple of minutes, then please give in to it and stay home.

( I was with someone like this the other day and spent the whole time wishing they weren't there.)