Who is in the right?

[Rinmybell]

Firstly, this is about someone who is terminally ill, I don't know if it needed a trigger warning but thought I'd say in case people wished to stop reading here.

At uni I have a student in the same class, who has a life limiting condition. They are very poorly and at times it has been very touch and go. This is their second attempt at Uni. The first attempt, they lost a family member to the same illness and became very ill, also. So they dropped out. We will call them A.

Last week during seminar, A flagged up that another student (B) was ill. They were coughing and to their ears it sounded like a chest infection - which is very dangerous for A.
A spoke with the teacher and explained that one of them would have to go home. Teacher explained to B who was very upset and angry - and insisted they would not be going home, it would have to be A.
A is now very upset that extra provisions were not made for them - they have a lot of time off due to their preexisting condition and shouldn't have to take more time off for someone else's illness.
B, is cross also because they feel like they in themselves were well enough to attend, and they are not responsible for A's health.
A has now contracted a chest infection. Can't prove it was from B, but an email has now been sent out to all in the class that if any of us or children present with respiratory illness we are to stay at home.
This has now caused an outrage as people have complained today they've had to miss out today, as they have coughs.
There is another person in the class who's child also suffers with a life limiting illness, so they too agree that this should be the policy.
There is now quite a divide and people don't really know where they stand.
I already know what I think - but have been told IABU, so would kind of liked to know what others think.
So who is BU in your opinion?

We don’t actually know that B had a chest infection though?

I think I'd need to know what illness A has to make a proper judgement. Honestly if I had a life limiting illness the last place I'd want to spend my time is at uni! But each to their own. She should be spending 6 winter months of the year somewhere warm if this is such a huge issue, she could have caught that chest infection anywhere.

Could be not have worn a face mask, taken precautions such as antibacterial gel and Sat away from a?

So was B diagnosed as having a chest infection or was it just on A's say so that it 'sounded' like one?

It's a shit situation, but unfortunately I think A is being unreasonable.

As a type 1 diabetic, illnesses/ infections that are unpleasant and a pain in the ass for the majority can turn into something quite serious for me, potentially needing hospital admission. So I do understand the frustration and fear and A's rationale. I can only imagine how frantically A is trying to protect being able to complete their degree before becoming too sick to attend It's so shit for A.

Equally though, some of the other students could also be immunocompromised meaning they get lots of colds and coughs, or take a long time to fully recover and have a bit of a cough lingering - what about their education? Or people with asthma, who can be a bit 'chesty' virtually all winter but don't know if it will turn into a full blown infection?

If somebody is very sick, obviously they shouldn't come in and spread germs.

But if someone is functioning with a bit of a cold, feels well enough to attend and concentrate on the degree they are working hard on, and have spent £9k per year on....well, it seems very unfair to say they can't attend their classes.

If A has cystic fibrosis or similar, I hope the classmates make every effort to reduce the risk of infection - sitting apart, hand sanitisers, disposing of tissues, etc. Excluding A, when A is healthy, is wrong.

I'm assuming that A has CF. The only way you can manage it is really to steer very clear of anyone with a cough or a cold. It's unrealistic to ask people to stay off with a sniffle but equally other students should know to steer clear of A if they do to minimise the risk of infection.

I also suspect that A is trying to control their environment at uni as part of processing their life limiting illness, which they don't really have any control over at all. So, this is going to be very loaded - it's not fair what they are arguing other students should have to do (ie not come in with a cold) but what is happening to A is not bloody fair. At all.

A is unreasonable

I think A is unreasonable. What if it wasn't just B who was unwell but also C, D, E, F, G and H? It would be ridiculous for A to expect 7 other students to stay away from lectures etc.

If this is true then why isn’t A on preventative antibiotics?

Especially this time of year.

It’s perfectly normal for someone with a life limiting illness to be have profylactic antibiotics. Especially in winter.

No the uni should not be telling people to go home, instead they should be facilitating alternative ways for Student A to learn

Such as recorded lectures and seminars.

A. Excluding others is not a reasonable provision.

A is in the wrong.

As Ttbb said, excluding others is not 'reasonable' provision. What happens when, as is often the case at this time of year, pretty much everyone contracts a respiratory illness at some point or other.

I think it's a tough one but when people are paying £9k a year for their education, they can't be asked to stay at home for someone else.

Sorry but A is in the wrong here. It is not reasonable to expect other students to prioritize A over themselves to the extent of missing out on their own education. A needs to work with the university to arrange for things like Skype and online work to complete their course.

Prophylactic ABs won’t stop all infections. If there is an underlying infection like pseudomonas, they’re not going to be enough to ward off an infection which can only be treated with IV ABs.

Who sent the email saying people should stay at home? Is this now official university policy, or is it coming from a well meaning person within the department but not the official university line? If it’s the only official policy, will the university be leaving themselves open to being sued if someone has to miss say an important revision session and then subsequently does badly on exams? It seems like the situation is being mishandled somehow, and causing people like B (rightly or wrongly) to become resentful of how A’s illness is impacting others.

fairylight the lecturer nor he students had any place to diagnose the person with a chest infection.

It could have been just a loss viral cough.

It sounds as though all of these are a risk to person A.

My child is also on preventative antibiotics because his risk of respiratory infections and it wouldn’t enter my brain for others to not attend his class because of a cough.

I’m guessing A had CF, since a family member passed away from the same thing?

Jiggletuff no, but who can see in someone’s chest and diagnose that?

They can’t even diagnose whether it is bacterial or viral without a sputum sample sent off.
They can’t possibly assume that all people are a risk and person A should absolutely be on antibiotics if they aren’t already.

I’m guessing that the email wasn’t from the uni itself and it’s a debate amongst the students.

I work in a university. Neither of them are being unreasonable though I wish the infected people would just stop coming in because then I wouldn't keep catching stuff.

The university is being unreasonable, though - they have a responsibility towards A as a person with a disabling condition, and their disabilities team should have worked all this out in advance with A and A's lecturers so that this predictable situation already had an action plan in place. Unless A hasn't made themselves known to this team, in which case the lecturers should have gone to them as soon as A disclosed this.

And many unis have lecture capture software now - I'd be surprised if they didn't - but lectures have to be timetabled into the rooms with this capability, which is why it should have been planned in earlier. It doesn't help with seminars, workshops and labs so easily, of course.

I'm voting for the mask suggestion from cheesypastatonight —but do those things actually work?

I don't think A can reasonably expect other students to skip up to 3 weeks of lectures with a minor illness. The uni should set up videolink as pasturesgreen suggested.

One peanut allergy sufferer=blanket ban on peanut butter in school packed lunch. The onus is on the majority to make allowances for the minority. In your case OP, to the disadvantage of the majority. I'm absolutely not saying it's right, just that it's entrenched.
I think student A should not be studying in the way that they are. Their immune system cannot cope. Rightly, they'll be angry about it, but it's not anger that should be directed at the other students or the university. It's just that life is unfair.

A is being unreasonable.

Whenever I get a cold I end up with a cough that lasts for weeks. I would not miss weeks of university because of this. A needs to speak with the university and have access to online resources such as recorded lectures.

At some points of the year (like now) everyone seems to have a cough - including the lecturers. It is unfair to ask people to stay away due to this.

I don't want to state A's illness, but everyone seems to be on the right track.

They are on preventative antibiotics but they don't really do much this time of year.

No A didn't initially know it was a chest infection but was wary as the cough sounded productive. This was later confirmed and B disclosed what antibiotics they had so A had the information to give the hospital.