Are people too casual about meeting others when they might have Covid and other illness?

[MrMay]

I met a friend last week and I could have f*cking slapped him but I didn't. He told me he was sick for the past week and hee was just at the doctor. He had a terrible flu type of illness that went to his chest and his whole chest filled with phlegm. He could have told me before he met me so that I could stay away from him for a while longer in case he was still infectious.

Now his whole entire family is down with the same illness. The thing is not one of them did any covid test to at least establish if it was covid or not.

Then I met someone else who said there's a nasty dose going around and it's a chest flu and everyone has it. Again not one person alarmed or thought about covid.

Just pass it on whatever it is.

I am so sick and tired of people being so careless when it comes to their illness and sickness and noone cares any more about covid. Everyone downplaying it as if it's a little cold. It's so so so rude and careless.

How is this year's covid presenting? Is it a heavy phlegm in the chest dose?

I think people are way too casual about mixing with others when they're ill yes. It's as if they think to themselves 'well if I'm ill, then I'll let others feel the same as me'

Some people are extremely selfish and don't give a toss about passing their germs on. I work in retail, and it's disgusting how many people think nothing of coughing and spluttering right over the counter in front of you, without covering their mouths or noses. They also hold money in their mouths and pass it to you without a second thought, which is why I always wear gloves.
And as for using self service machines and coffee machines, if you could see just how many people sneeze and cough at them, it'd put you off using therm.

I don’t know anyone who tests for Covid.

I am just so sick of the callousness, the ignorance and selfishness of so many people.

I don’t know anyone who’s bothered about COVID anymore.

It’s rude to needlessly expose other people to your germs if you’re still ill. But whether it is or isn’t COVID is neither here nor there - at this point it makes no difference whether it’s that or another viral or bacterial infection that causes the same symptoms.

I do test because I have a different health condition where I experience regular infections and I need to establish if it's a flare or covid or any other illness. Two years ago I was so grateful it have tests because I was able to get anti vitals from my GP because I was very ill. I tested last year too and when I got it the first time too.

My friend had a dose two weeks ago and his mother is very unwell with the same thing. I don't understand why didn't test and at least rule it innit out and make some adjustments around his elderly mother to minimise the spread of it. It's mean.

He's talking as of it's a fact of life. He could have worn a mask around her but he didn't. I guess he's waiting for the government to tell him what to do again.

Agree if you're not well, you should stay away from others if possible, Just because you're young and fit doesn't mean everyone is. Obviously it can be difficult in practice, and young children/some adults might not realise they're infectious.
Making places healthier full stop would be a good idea. Obviously it can't happen overnight, but trying to have less crowded, better ventilated places would help. Hospitals and schools are ridiculously over crowded and often have no windows open. No one seems to care though.

I think the days of covid tests and wearing masks is long over for most people.

Why bother testing for covid? If you have a viral infection, you have a viral infection. It doesn't matter which one it is.
I do think it's polite to let people know if you have one and give them the option to cancel. I don't think people should be isolated at home with any virus. I don't think any schools or employers would accept people ringing in sick with every viral infection they get either. Life has moved on since covid lockdowns, and I for one am very pleased they have. It was hugely detrimental to children and young people.

Have I just stepped into a time machine and reappeared in 2020?

Its not about covid its about any illness if you've got the shits would you still invite people over or let them know before hand. If you had a cold, chicken pox ect do you warn people before meeting them or just go anyway. My friends are really good at pre warning me as i have lots of medical conditions and I do the same but I do have a certain family member who will happily meet you or invite you round then casually after an hour drop into a conversation how they was up all night throwing up it really pisses me off. Op you shouldn't of specifically used the word covid as you can see by the thread so far it really triggers people

No, for some of us it’s still an issue if you have underlying health conditions

People hit the height of selfishness during the pandemic. It likely won’t improve. I know barely anyone tests for Covid anymore but people who are unwell think nothing of going out in public hacking coughing and spluttering to date, exactly as you’ve described. Public transport is vile now listening to it all. People feel just about well enough to carry on out and about and screw everyone else who has to encounter them. It’s a grim state of affairs. I still do see random people wearing masks now and then but at this point I wonder if that’s because they’re ill themselves, as obviously it’s well known that masks don’t prevent illness from who you might encounter. The world changed for the worse with Covid. It’s pathetic why.

So you expect people with colds to stay in until it's gone? That's ridiculous. I do feel for anyone with health conditions that make these illness's worse but you can't expect everyone to stop when they have a sniffle. For most people COVID is now just a strain of cold, why would they pay to test for it. I've just had a cold, I felt perfectly fine but had a chesty cough for 3 weeks, was I meant to not work or leave the house for 3 weeks?
The days of isolating are over thankfully.

Unfortunate for you. But can you leave the rest of us carry on with our lives? As we did pre 2020

No one is testing because no one wants to pay for tests. We recently threw so many out in work because the date was up on them and even when they were reduced there were no takers. I don’t blame people because they are expensive and for most covid is a relatively harmless virus. I know people with other health conditions will argue otherwise but there’s plenty of other viruses that are harmful for them and have no tests.

I just wish people would say so I would have the chance to not go to something. I’m happy to be the person to stay home rather than the ill person but I’d like to know and have the choice.

I had surgery because of cancer at the start of the month, the only day I went out almost 2 weeks later someone must have been ill (one friend hugged me as he was leaving after we had been together for hours and then said he wouldn’t get too close as he was ill, but I saw lots of other people later who also hugged me so could easily have been one of them too, every single one of them knew about the cancer and surgery).

I’ve now been horribly ill for a week and the reason I’m currently awake is that I haven’t slept at all because I feel so rotten from it. I suspect it’s possibly Covid but tbh what it is isn’t as important as the fact any bug hits me really hard right now.

I’m still waiting to hear if I’ll need further treatment and if I do then I’m just going to have to avoid going anywhere I guess because I just won’t know if I’ll get ill from anyone again and I can’t risk it, even with friends it seems.

I do test because I have a different health condition where I experience regular infections and I need to establish if it's a flare or covid or any other illness.

How are you testing for other illnesses OP?

Is this 2020?

in all seriousness a bit of common sense should be applied, if you are very unwell, stay at home, otherwise just get on with it.

to the OP, there is a Covid topic on Mumsnet. You might get more interest for your thread on there

I agree. I feel so angry when I'm at work and someone's there coughing and sneezing and merrily telling everyone how ill they feel. I'd understand if we always had to be in the office but in my job we all have the ability to work from home.

I do
Haiving a compromised immune system
The flu i had last month was hell...to not pass on possible covid i test also to get anti virals for such illness.
Gosh people are ignorant to go about sick
Pisses me off
So does not covering mouth while coughing.

People are now far less likely to mention in advance being unwell than they were pre-covid.

my DD3 has a life limiting health condition. She’s been in ICU numerous times and we’ve said goodbye, expecting the worse, several times.

Pre-covid people were super cautious and polite. They’d give us a heads up about the slightest sniffle so we could avoid them. Now people have zero manners for illness around others.

I’ve lost two friends along the way who decided that their child’s wishes to spend time with one of mine meant it was ok to hide illness. Both times my DD3 ended up in ICU.

it was hard enough to balance life with children who need to live and go to school with serious ill health, now that going about day-to-day life while knowingly unwell has been normalised it’s even worse.

Yes and no. I ask people not to meet me if they’re unwell. Same as before 2020
People are very glib about it will never be them, I got hit with a diagnosis early thirties

I don’t ask people to test for our sake.
i do ask them to have the basic manners to respect that coughs and colds are a big issue for some people so to stay away from us if they have one, or give a heads up if going to a mutual event.

That seems to be beyond many folks now though. Part of the wider decline in basic manners.

It's not always possible.

Last Wednesday I had a child off sick, I felt fine. By Thursday I had a bit of a sore throat and felt like something was on its way but I had to go to work.

Felt awful Friday and over the weekend and luckily wasn't at work and didn't need to leave the house.

Still felt crap yesterday but had to do a supermarket shop and the school runs.

Still suffering today but now I have to go to work. I had time off fairly recently with the kids so really need to save it for when I really can't function.

I suspect my hayfever is contributing to me not feeling great too and that's not contagious.

People naturally do less and mingle less when they feel crap. If it's a bit of a sniffle then life carries on as planned and I don't alter anything.