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?|

People should be angry at management, not their colleagues. Unless colleagues would be paid, not be judged for the absence, but still choose to work

We are expected to work if it is physically possible to do so.
Lots of employers don't pay for sick days and with COL biting a lot of people unfortunately they have to be selfish to keep a roof over their families heads.
If anyone is to 'blame' it would be employers expecting people to work when they are ill.

Easier said that done if your work doesn’t offer sick pay etc. People have bills to pay.

We would be angry that somebody came in with covid. They would be sent home. They would be paid.

You could have caught it anywhere. I have had covid twice and have no idea where I got it either time. As others have said, it is highly unlikely you got it from your colleague. It takes more than one day to pass it on.

We should be well past the point where we look around for somewhere to point the finger when we get covid. It is everywhere now and a mild illness.

People isolating with it will make bugger all difference.

Life has to go on. Most people don't test any more, so you can come into contact with covid at any time and not know it.

Employers shouldn't be expected to pay people to be off when they are well enough to work.

it is not stupid, and it is also irrelevant, whether she knew what it was or didn't, going into work was stupid - and the Op would have had to test by now and would know it was covid anyway

Your colleague was unreasonable to test, especially if the test served no actual purpose.

My place of work has made it very clear you are not to test even if symptomatic and I work with vulnerable people. You are advised unless you are physically too unwell to attend work you should still come in. We also have a very restrictive absence policy. Based on this I’d have to be pretty sick to not turn in.

I thought I had a cold a couple of weeks ago: I'd never had Covid and am fully vaccinated, so I went to work BUT I wore a mask during the journey in, and at my desk. The colleague I sit opposite was telling me that Covid was back doing the rounds and I remembered that I had a test left over in my desk drawer, so I used it.
Covid: I went home and stayed home (asleep most of the time) for two days until I felt better.
I know Covid is "just another illness" these days but I feel it's incredibly selfish not to wear a mask when in contact with other people if you are unwell, sneezing or coughing (and if you are not prepared to wear a mask you should stay at home.).

have you read the thread? have you seen the poster who's husband died of covid last year? It is not a mild illness, it is a dangerous illness that most people only get mildly. But it isn't trivial.

People who are at the prime of their health and strength trivialise covid without realising that they will be in the vulnerable category themselves sooner or later, and be seriously ill or die from it

I wasn't worried about covid at all until I became ill, and had to take medicine that puts be in the vulnerable category. Now I am off work with severe covid, and have just been in hospital for a week, still signed off and unable to return to work for the forseeable.

Does your employer pay sick pay? Have a reasonable attitude towards sickness absence? That is usually the deciding factor.

Sounds like pressure from the boss has played a role here. That is who you should be cross with, not your colleague.

Its completely understandable that people go to work if they are at risk of not being paid or facing problems from managers.

Ideally no one should go to work if they feel unwell (whatever they have) and no one should be expected to work if they feel unwell.

Yes I have read the thread and I am aware that a small number of very vulnerable people still get very ill and die from covid. Those people who are at risk know who they are. It's for them to decide how they want to manage that risk. Most of the ones I know are happy that normal life has resumed.

I have health issues that potentially make me vulnerable to severe covid and suffer from long covid. I do not expect anyone to restrict their lives for me.

We can't insist on healthy people isolating.

I am aware of and have accepted what's going on in the real world. People are not testing any more. There are no longer restrictions in place. Covid is a mild illness for the vast majority of people. Employers, not unreasonably in my opinion, expect their staff to turn up and do the job they are paid for unless they are too sick to do so.

That's how it is now. It can't be changed because some people would like to see covid restrictions in place forever.

It is not a small number off work with covid right now, it is a large number, and it isn't a small number at risk of serious illness, it is a large number ( and will be you one day) and again, even if it isn't covid, it could be flu, it could be measles, it could be something miner to you but devastating to the population if enough people get it at the same time....

if you are ill, stay home.

I’m so sorry. People really don’t understand how vulnerable some people are,

@Ponderingwindow

if only all workplaces were like that!!

However, I guess your employers trust the staff, many do not & with good reason.

@GlitteryUnicornSparkles

that is a disgusting policy, but especially when you work with vulnerable people. Can you report them to a higher authority!!

None of us is immortal you know. We're all going to die one day. Let's try to live without fear in the meantime. We cannot control the actions of others, it's exhausting and futile try. We can only control our own actions.

People who go to work with a bit of sniffles are not breaking the law and if they are well enough to work, their employer is entitled to expect them to do so.

There is no obligation to test for covid and - as far as I'm aware - there is no way for the general public to test for colds or 'flu, so most people wouldn't know what was causing their sniffles. It could easily be hayfever at this time of year.

However much you want it to happen, without legislation you can't force anyone to restrict their lives.

I hope you get well soon. At least you will have a boost of immunity for a while. ❤️

@Boomer55

I am very sorry to hear about your husband and I'm sorry you have to read posts by some unfeeling & ignorant posters 💐

This is a really callous post. The vaccines don't and can't protect people with no immune system from communicable diseases; that's what common decency is for. Still, I suppose OP should just cross her fingers that her husband doesn't get wiped out by this entirely preventable infection.

It's not 2020, no. It's 2024, Covid is still very much out there killing people, and it's still incredibly selfish and stupid to spread it knowingly.

YANBU. Your colleague is a selfish thoughtless person. She should at least have been wearing a mask.

I hope you are OK and I hope your DH doesn’t suffer - your colleague is so so selfish. I’d be very angry with her.

@S0livagant the first time I had covid I had no choice but to take 10 days unpaid off work. Well I suppose I could've gone into work, just not told anyone I had covid, and more than likely killed half the elderly and vulnerable people I looked after, but I'm not a selfish fucker so I took the loss of 10 days pay. This time when I had covid I was back at work after the 5 days incubation period. I still wore a face mask though when I went back.

If you think your boss thinks you're slacking, sounds to me that that's where the blame lies. If you work within a culture like that then it's understandable your colleague felt the need to go into work so the boss didn't think she was slacking. No point blaming our colleagues if our employers create this sort of environment.

I think you did the right thing. Someone else might not have that choice though.

You didn't get COVID from your colleague. Minimum 2 days after exposure before symptoms (average of 5) and definitely wouldn't test positive within 1 day!

Like a previous poster, I have Long Covid - I had covid in the second wave, and was hospitalised with low oxygen sats. I wasn’t ventilated and didn’t need intensive care - in fact, I didn’t really feel particularly unwell - I’ve had colds that made me far more miserable. But none of these colds have left me permanently affected, to the extent where I cannot stand for more than a few minutes - the length of a quick shower - I can’t walk any distance (walking from the loo back to the couch leaves me breathless), doing anything leaves me shaking with fatigue, and my brain is so foggy I find myself searching for simple words.

I wasn’t vulnerable, when I got Covid, or particularly unhealthy, but long covid has ruined my life, and even now, years on, the effects have not got any better - on bad days, I think they never will. I have reached the point of seriously considering applying for PIP and a blue badge, because I am pretty damn sure this evil disease has left me disabled.

Now I know that long covid is not common, but that isn’t the point I am making. What scares me is how bloody random it is - someone can be in reasonable health, and have a not-too-severe dose of covid, and can be crippled by long covid. I can’t think of another common, relatively mild illness that can so randomly cause long term disability in previously healthy individuals.

Lockdown is over.