Just got shouted at in a coffee shop for coughing in public 🥴

[wildgreyocean]

I know I’m not being unreasonable here but I just need some reassurance! I was in a coffee shop after popping to the shops and got a tickle in my throat. I’ve had a cold all week but nothing too severe. I coughed and next thing I know an old man is shouting at me that I’m being selfish and should be self isolating at home, and “don’t I know the NHS is on its knees?!”

AIBU to think this is a total overreaction to a cough?!

Re neonates dieing

I have no idea re numbers catching it in hospitals but obviously if babies are in hospital they can be infected there just as anywhere else if ill and contagious people are nearby or infecting surfaces

neonates are very vulnerable
2.3% of world deaths of babies up to 27 days old die from RSV
caught from others having cold like symptoms.

Its mentioned on the nhs website with stats on the nih article below

If it is well established then there will be sources. Post them.

I posted the UK Health Security Agency guidance of 2 December 2025 verbatim and you think it shows I’m paranoid ? 🤣

You wouldn’t happen to be one of those FBS who don’t believe in germ theory and would cut an umbilical cord with a rusty fork?

Go look for them yourself. I fell for your post sources thing before and you didn’t even read the links much less click on them to read the sources.

How about you post sources showing that newborns have never died from viral or bacterial infections in hospital?

No, burden of proof is on the person making the claim.

I’m ND and if you were too, you’d have had a lifetime of studying humans so you’d know the basics.

And your "sources" were MSN (who even uses that now?) and other social media.

I went to uni to study healthcare (ODP). I would could not submit coursework that used MSN and social media as references.
Everything we did had to be based on evidence based health care. MSN and red tops don't count.

You’re fine. OP knew she had a cold and she did nothing to minimise exposing others to her germs and is defending her behaviour as well as saying Covid was “hysteria” and she would have done nothing differently even if she knew her cold were actually Covid.

Please don’t assume all ND folk “know the basics”

YANBU. He was being a complete and utter idiot. I bet he wouldn't have yelled at you if you were a man. Silly twit trying to exert his dominance over a woman in a cafe. I hope you stayed and enjoyed your coffee.

She coughed into her elbow. That was what was recommended during Covid.

Why is it not good enough for you now?

Firstly, I did not post any SM references.
Secondly, this is a forum thread. It’s not a peer review chat on research presented for publication.
Thirdly, did you ever finish Uni?

You are still ill and went out not shocked you got the reception you did, you were selfish going out spreading your germs.

This isn’t a courtroom. Public health evidence doesn’t work on “prove Nurse A caused Baby B illness or death”. Policy exists because the risk is well established, even if individual causation isn’t publicly documented.

It's not hard to understand is it? Babies are significantly immuno deficient compared to much older children and adults, transmissable illnesses exist, nurses aren't magical unicorns that never get ill, babies can and do get ill from transmissable illness and yes some die. That's how the policy works, it understands the risk.

This is verging on science denying now.

Because she should not have been drinking coffee in the cafe in the first place. She should have got a take away coffee or skipped it after her essential food shop.

I don’t assume all ND folk do, I just happen to be familiar with this particular poster.

She was perfectly fine to do so. She felt well, coughed into an elbow and did not cough all over everyone else.

At what point would you allow her to go into a cafe?

Firstly, yes, you did.
Secondly, if you are going to insist on people following medical guidelines then you could at least post them from a medical source and not dig up museum grade websites like MSN.
And the last question is totally irrelevant to this thread.

No they were not social media. A few were MSN. Lots of other sources were posted including a few from UK.gov

And none applied to OP anyway.

Having looked a little further
This shows hospital acquired RSV carries a higher death rate amongst children that are in hospital than those in the local community.
Results of 27 research studies in 11 countries

I’m a bit confused OP was in a coffee shop not on a neonatal ward or did I get that wrong?

We have gone from a quick coffee to her being a baby killer. Get a grip people.

This is MN. OP is killing babies stuck in hospital now. It is the MN hyperbolic way.

I posted nothing from social media. Social media are sites like instagram, facebook, TikTok, Reddit…..online news outlets are not SM. Anyone who has done any research knows the difference.

I did post the guidance from UKHSA dated 2 December 2025 and your response was to say that a common cold is not a respiratory illness. Are you sure you studied healthcare at University?

Well you claimed expertise so I think it’s fair to ask if you actually got a Uni degree or just attended Uni.