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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To go to the theatre with a cold?

129 replies

blameitonthecaffeine · 02/10/2021 09:45

I have a theatre ticket for tonight.

I had Covid 3 weeks ago but wasn't ill. I think I caught it at the theatre (can't know for sure of course but I was sitting next to someone visibly ill and it was hit and crowded).

Now I have a cough and cold. Worse than covid was for me but nothing like bad enough to have given a second thought to pre Covid.

Half of me feels I should stay at home tonight. I was uncomfortable sitting next to the ill person and if I cough or sneeze while at the theatre, I don't want anyone else to feel that way. Even though I know it can't be Covid, they don't know that. And if they catch a cold, they'll have to go through the whole testing malarkey anyway.

The other me half of me thinks that theatre tickets aren't cheap, I'm well enough to go out and that we can't go round avoiding colds forever. If people are happy to be in a theatre they are probably well aware of and happy about the risks of catching a variety of bugs.

Which half would you listen to? YABU = stay at home. YANBU = go to the theatre.

OP posts:

Scarby9 · 02/10/2021 09:48

Please don't go.

thepeopleversuswork · 02/10/2021 09:51

I wouldn’t

FlyingScott · 02/10/2021 09:52

How do you know that it can’t be covid?

Notimeforaname · 02/10/2021 09:52

I mean you're not really doing anything wrong by going.
Pre covid there were always people at shows n events with a hacking cough,it was just the norm.

But.. given how things are now,I wouldn't as it might prompt some people to say something,feel very uncomfortable and want to move away.

Totally up to you but I would probably not enjoy the show if people were visibly uncomfortable/worried around me

Kindertonguehappierlife · 02/10/2021 09:53

It’s a tricky one. If I were you and was to go, I’d wear a mask

ballsdeep · 02/10/2021 09:53

A cold was my symptom

Original poster

blameitonthecaffeine · 02/10/2021 09:53

@FlyingScott

How do you know that it can’t be covid?

Because I've literally just had Covid. You can't get it twice within 3 weeks - can you?!

Test and Trace told me not even to take tests for 3 months because I could still test positive from old virus. But that it couldn't still be active Covid.

OP posts:

sundaydayisnotmyfundayday · 02/10/2021 09:53

I understand why you would not want to waste a theatre ticket but really, at the moment your sense of social responsibility ought to be overriding that, don't you think?

ps I have just got over a cold and honestly it was the absolute worst I have felt in many years - I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
IF you decide to go then at the VERY least make sure you are wearing a face mask at all times

x2boys · 02/10/2021 09:54

I wouldnt, i have been ill all week with a, bad cough, confirmed its not covid, but i still feel rotten

Tatapie · 02/10/2021 09:54

Hmm, I wouldn't stay at home because of potentially worrying someone about Covid. I would stay at home if I was coughing and sneezing, that's just annoying in the theatre! Don't overthink it. If you can dose yourself up so your not symptomatic then go otherwise stay home.

westcountryboy · 02/10/2021 09:54

Don't go. I've always thought it was selfish and antisocial to go to places like this when ill and more so now.

Even if you don't pass on whatever you have, you could be making the people sat around you uneasy or anxious about getting ill.

WhereYouLeftIt · 02/10/2021 09:55

Don't go. Put covid to one side completely - it's something of a red herring.

Someone sitting in a theatre coughing is, and always has been, a complete pain in the arse for everyone else there. Ditto sneezing. Sniffing. Just don't go.

ButterflyAway · 02/10/2021 09:55

You can get covid twice in 3 weeks, there’s different variants. The rest advice is for LTF not PCR

Daisy95 · 02/10/2021 09:55

I'd be going, youve just had covid 3 weeks ago, you can't take another pcr for 3 months for false positives. Everyone was locked down last Christmas so colds are going to be everywhere this year. So what were never going to do anything this year? it's ridiculous now.
I'd just wear a mask throughout and enjoy the show.

ButterflyAway · 02/10/2021 09:55

The test advice*

MrsSkylerWhite · 02/10/2021 09:56

YABU: putting Covid to one side - we haven’t been inside a theatre for only two years and miss it. If you sat next to me coughing through the performance, I wouldn’t be responsible for my language.
Disrespectful to the performer.

The odd cough, of course no-one can help that. Knowingly going in with an active “cough and cold”, inconsiderate in the extreme.

BIoodyStupidJohnson · 02/10/2021 09:56

You can’t navigate your life based on what other people might think. So on that level it shouldn’t be a factor.

But if you’re coughing and sneezing, surely it would diminish your enjoyment?

Personally I’d stay away. Not because I’m worried about what other people think, but because I know I wouldn’t enjoy it as much.

Original poster

blameitonthecaffeine · 02/10/2021 09:57

Notimeforaname Yes, that's what worries me. I felt like I wanted to shuffle away from the person I (think) I caught it from there. I put my mask on and turned away from here and when I looked back, her mum had made her put a mask on too so I probably made them uncomfortable too. I don't want to make anyone else feel like that or to feel awkward myself. But at the same time it's a lot of money to waste when I'm basically fine and when are we ever going to act normally around each other again?! I guess I'm leaning towards not going but it's annoying.

OP posts:

MrsSkylerWhite · 02/10/2021 09:57

“I'd just wear a mask throughout and enjoy the show.“

Whilst everyone else has to listen to your coughing. Very thoughtful.

sundaydayisnotmyfundayday · 02/10/2021 09:58

@ButterflyAway

You can get covid twice in 3 weeks, there’s different variants. The rest advice is for LTF not PCR

Although you are correct that you can contract it twice within the timeframe you are wrong about the test advice, it applies to both PCR and LFT but definitely PCR (unless you want to isolate again because with a pos PCR you will be put into the system for T&T contact again)

shivermetimbers77 · 02/10/2021 09:58

No , don’t go.

Dontgetyerknicksinatwist · 02/10/2021 10:00

There are some horrible colds around at the moment. I’ve got one with a horribly sore throat which feel like I’ve swallowed a bag of razors. The least you should do is where a face mask when you are there to protect others

CarrieBlue · 02/10/2021 10:01

Before covid, going to the theatre with a cough or cold was incredibly selfish. Now it’s a whole level more so.

Original poster

blameitonthecaffeine · 02/10/2021 10:02

You can get covid twice in 3 weeks, there’s different variants. The rest advice is for LTF not PCR

Are you sure. I was definitely told PCR. LFTs aren't that reliable anyway so are far less likely to pick up historic virus than a PCR. I know someone who was stuck abroad and then in isolation hotel for 3 months because he kept testing postive on PCRs but an LFT wasn't sufficient to release him.

MrsSkylerWhite - totally agree that a constant cough would be extremely annoying. But I'm talking about a normal cough and cold. As in, may or may not cough or sneeze in a 2 hour window. Not, will certainly cough and sneeze multiple times in that 2 hour window.

OP posts:

Newgirls · 02/10/2021 10:02

Can you ask the box office to move the tic for you?

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