To think this is unfair? Covid related

[Smokedcheesyballs]

I work in a small environment and on Monday one colleague came in saying she had Covid. She did not look well and said she felt awful. A few of the staff felt that it was unethical that she was in work and potentially spreading a highly contagious virus. She did not wear a face mask.
On Tuesday I came home feeling unwell so did a test and it was positive. I have been feeling terrible and not been in work. I get the impression my boss thinks I'm slacking but I don't think I should be in.
To make matters worse I have now passed Covid onto my husband who is a very vunerable patient (has neuroendocrine cancer).
Basically am trying to ask AIBU thinking that said colleague should not have been a martyr (not sure if correct use of the word) by coming into work not to let the boss down???, and in doing so unnecessarily spreading the virus?|

Unfortunately you cannot ever prove who you caught it from, personally I think anyone unwell shouldn't go into work but people do, they need the money and some people just don't care anyway and forget how serious covid can be. I guess you just have to have vaccinations, wear a mask and keep yourself and your dh as safe as possible, hope you both feel better soon.

Is your husband eligible for antivirals?

Covid is no longer considered any more than any other cold/flu-like virus and nobody is obliged to isolate. Maybe she was being a martyr, maybe she doesn't like taking time off, maybe she didn't feel ill enough to stay off sick. Up to her ultimately.
It's unfortunate that you caught it so quickly from her and have passed it on so quickly to your husband.
Hopefully, you'll both just have a mild cold type virus.

I really doubt you got it from them. It takes more than a day to get ill. I hope your husband feels well and doesn’t have many symptoms. This is what the vaccines are for. So vulnerable people don’t get really affected.

im sorry but I’m going to say yabu. We are not in 2020 anymore

Would she have been paid if she was off sick? Is she able to work from home?

Covid is the same as any illness now. I can work from home but if I couldn't or wouldn't get paid then I'd go to work if I felt well enough.

My workplace bans people from coming into work sick for precisely this reason. It doesn’t have to be Covid, just any communicable illness and you have to stay home.

it’s better for keeping the workforce healthy, protects vulnerable employees, and it protects people with vulnerable family members. They basically have my undying loyalty because of this policy and the fact that I have a permanently vulnerable household member.

People who are ill and contagious, shouldn’t be in the office. A decent manager would have sent her home.

That's sensible and sounds a great place to work, do they get full pay when they are off, are their always enough staff to cover sickness, does everyone gave access to support.

sadly as far as employers are concerned COVID is over, and lots of employers will discipline you if you have too much time off sick. this means that people like your colleague still turn up for work, still spread this virus and the wheel continues as it were...

Your colleagues mistake was testing and then telling everyone the result without doing anything about it.

I don’t think people can be expected to stay home from work if they are unwell unless the sickness policy is generous and encourages them to.

Covid or not (don’t see the point in anyone testing!) don’t go in to work when you’re poorly and spread germs it’s just so unfair!

The truly vulnerable don’t make antibodies in response to the vaccines.

they give my DH a Covid shot every few months in the hope it does something, but his antibody checks have never been good. (He was part of a study hence the checks)

If she came in on Monday with Covid and you tested positive on Tuesday I very much doubt you caught it from her and had a positive test the day after! AFAIK it takes several days from exposure to positive test. Maybe you caught it from her on Thurs/Fri before she was showing symptoms? Or maybe you caught it somewhere else?

Thankfully we're past the covid hysteria, but I think if you've got anything infectious you should keep your germs to yourself wherever possible. If your boss is giving you a hard time for not coming in, I can see why your colleague may have dragged herself to work.

The people on this thread saying Covid is nbd are delusional. I have Long Covid and it has ruined my life. It is not a rare outcome, in fact 2 million people have it in the UK alone. And people with compromised immune systems like cancer patients can be seriously affected. Someone coming into work knowing they're positive is disgusting. And not even bothering to wear a mask? I don't know what's happened to people in the past couple of years. Caring about other people just seems to be a thing of the past.

People aren't going to take time off work especially if you work in a place like mine where they only pay SSP. I have caught it a number of time from work colleagues for this reason.

This is what a lot of people don't realise. I've had 6 vaccinations. I had an antibody test after each one and didn't develop any antibodies. I've been too ill to have the last 3 vaccines but they would have been pointless anyway

Would the colleague have been on full pay if she stayed at home?

I am SE so have to go to work unless projectile vomiting, covered in blood or unconscious and I don’t test but I wouldn’t be strolling about boasting that I had it. I would sit at my desk subtly with some tissues and get through the day.

My vulnerable husband was fully vaccinated, caught it last year, and died from it. 🤷‍♀️

It doesn't matter whether it was covid or not, going into work with an infectious illness is incredibly selfish and stupid. I'm sorry you are ill Op, I hope you and your husband get better quickly

Sometimes people need to be selfish to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. A good employer should have sent her home on full pay.

My vulnerable husband gets vaccinated on an increased schedule. He doesn’t produce antibodies the same way the rest of us do. They just keep pumping him full of vaccine hoping it will help.

There is no herd immunity like with measles or polio. The only way to protect people from diseases like Covid or flu is to consider your fellow humans.

It really annoys me too when people come into work with something obviously contagious and spread it around. I appreciate all the reasons why they may do this - but I hate it nevertheless.

However - I'm not sure that the time line is right for you to have caught covid on Monday, and then shown symptoms and tested positive the following day. The incubation period is normally longer than this.

Why did your colleague bother to test in the first place, that's stupid.

In an ideal world, covid or not, people should be able to stay home when they are unwell. In real life, it's not possible.