To expect people ill with Covid stay home?

[LakelandHiker]

This week, my manager and a friend who goes to my exercise class are ill with Covid. I don't know if they've tested, but they've both said they have it. However one is still coming into the office and the other still attending the exercise class. AIBU or overreacting here... but why don't they stay home until clear? Even if 'feeling 95% better' wouldn't you wait until potentially exposing others? I can't help but feel mad at them both for being so selfish. I often look after an elderly relative and can't risk passing Covid on to her as she is frail. I get life can't be on pause forever but my manager can get paid sick leave and my friend can miss a class, it isn't like there's anything at stake...

I'm pretty sure I've had covid recently, but only realised it was probably covid rather than a regular cold because after 3 weeks of it I was getting weird heart rate spikes and occasionally feeling very fatigued, which is what I had back when we were testing. Plus the fact that my symptoms were still very up and down, thinking I was better one day and then wiped a few days later, compared to a cold which tends to start rough and gradually get better.

5 weeks on and I'm almost feeling myself again. I don't think my boss would have been too happy with me taking 5 weeks of sick leave though. And though I do get paid for it, it's public sector and I don't think that amount of sick leave would be particularly popular with tax payers either. We already get told it's too cushy in public sector at the best of times!

Or just skint and can’t afford to miss work cause there’s no sick pay.

If they do not feel unwell enough to stay at home then they should attend work as usual. Covid currently presents with similar symptoms to the common cold.

I I have the cold and feel too unwell I stay off. If I feel well enough to work I work.

There is also no need to test.

Perhaps I should have said that those who CAN wear a mask, should. There are clearly exceptions, including people with various respiratory conditions. I was talking about people who don’t like to be inconvenienced. I thought that was obvious, but then have to remind myself that some people struggle with comprehension.

I suspect myself and my husband had it recently. Only suspect, because of course we’re not testing….just it seemed worse than a normal cold.

I took a couple of days off work at its worst, then went back to work. I’m a bank nurse, if I don’t work I don’t get paid, so I only stay off if I’m dire. Plus I have a strong work ethic, I’d be the same if I did get paid.

covid is no worse than any other viral illness these days. The country would be on its knees if we all took time off. I get what you mean about the exercise class. I did go out with the dog for a walk but the fresh air, vitamin D etc probably helped as well as the exercise.

Worrying more about the flu isn’t backed up by research. For example, see: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971225005156

I wish people were supported by their workplaces to stay home whenever they were ill with transmissible illnesses. I think we’d all agree someone coming to work saying ‘I have norovirus!’ would be frowned on, but like flu and covid which are deadly / disabling for some and very mild for others are harder to manage. It shouldn’t be individual workers making these calls or being penalised for looking after supporting everyone’s health by staying home wherever possible when they’ve got symptoms of illness.

You’ve been brainwashed by the singing, dancing advert.

The advice is not to take any of those medications if you have a high fever.

Our company has the policy that if you have anything that can be passed on you’re either off sick if it’s bad or work from home if you’re well enough to. And yes, that goes for a cough or cold too! We were exclusively wfh during the original covid lockdown and whilst we’re now officially hybrid (2 in/3 wfh) the rule is you keep your germs away from the office. I get that life needs to go on and these things shouldn’t stop us now but that doesn’t mean we should be spreading it around if it’s avoidable

Covid is unpredictable. There is no way to know how ill you will get with it.
People should wear masks if they can't stay home until over the illness. I'd wear a mask at work and spray Lysol in the direction of the person poorly. 😁

not being nasty but flu is more of a killer to your elderly friend than covid ever was

@FunPartyIdeas - The NHS advice does, but clearly not SSP.

@HappyLizard23 I know that, for some people. living on SSP for any length of time is not practical. I have been lucky that most of my employers have topped up SSP to full pay, at least for short periods of illness. I know that many people are not that lucky. Nor have I always been that lucky, which is why I stated clearly that living on SSP for any length of time can cause financial difficulties. Not sure why you ignored that.

Yeah I’m in HR and manage sickness - say you have flu as we roll our eyes at the Covid troops. We do laugh at them still thinking if you claim covid as your sickness then it doesn’t go towards your sickness record…

I have asthma, which although mild/well controlled, makes me more susceptible to respiratory illnesses, and I take longer to get rid of them. As I mentioned above I think I had covid recently, though only with hindsight. I've been ill pretty much continuously since the end of Aug, and usually I get fairly consecutive colds until around February/March.

Should I really expect to take six months of the year off work, every year? Who pays for that?

Can you imagine the indignation if I were to claim benefits for that, given no company would keep me employed with that kind of sickness record?

It depends how unwell a person actually is. Just like a cold, COVID effects people differently. I've had COVID twice, it knocked me for six both times, so I stayed off work. Yet my husband caught it from me, the second time I had it, and he had a light head cold, and felt fine in himself.

Most employers say that you can come into work if you have COVID, unless you feel unwell. My son's school says that children can come into school with COVID, but to stay at home if the child has a temperature.

Not everyone has generous sickness benefit with their employer. Some don't pay you until the third day of sickness and others will only pay 7 days of sickness per year. Not everyone can take time off for financial reasons. Yes, it's shit, people should be able to stay off work if they feel genuinely unwell, without feeling forced to go into work.

Oh great, now im singing it. Thanks.

🎵🎵 diarrhoeeeeeah oh🎵

Covid has killed more people age 65+ since 2019, not flu.

If you have to go in for work use courtesy and wear a mask. Easy. 🤷‍♀️

BS, you can stay at home if you are office-based and as someone who remains at risk from covid (more people died with my conditions than any others) I think people are AHs if they come into public places spreading their germs.

I use viralese to try to prwvent catching vurusses because you cant trudt anyone.

@LakelandHiker you are not being unreasonable. They are AHs esp gym bunny.

Right. You call in sick at work when you're contagious with a cold or anything at all that could be passed on to someone vulnerable and compromise their health? How do you think all those elderly people caught the flu? It isn't just covid that you shouldn't pass on. And it isn't as simple as 'stay home when you have the flu'.

What about times you have covid or anything else but are asymptomatic? Do you test regularly and stay home even when you have no symptoms? Of course you don't! No one is doing that!!

No, it was just put as the reason if people tested positive. Seriously, just behave as you always have with any other flu at this point.

This!

This is someone talking sense.

In an ideal world if we aren't well we stay home however realistically many people cannot afford it or it wouldnt go down well at work. The NHS and all care facilities would be on their knees if everyone took time off everytime they have a virus. In fact the policy where I am is not to test and its up to the individual to assess if they feel able to work.

Yes some people will get very ill, like with all illnesses some people are affected more than others unfortunately, its life. We could all just stay indoors to prevent the spread of illness, keep kids off schools, never go to work etc but then again its the UK at winter so what we just shut the country down?

Covid is no worse than any other viral illness these days

You forgot the words "in my experience". Just because you weren’t very ill, that doesn’t mean no-one is.

A cold is a viral illness. For many people, Covid is much, much worse than a cold. I would have thought you, as a nurse, would know that.

How do they know they have covid? I didn’t think people tested anymore.

For some of us with asthma a cold is anything but mild. I had a cold in December and had to speak to my GP as it had gone to my chest and was making walking difficult. (My GP is about half a mile and that was a struggle)

If I get a cold in always ill for a good 3-4 weeks

But for the people for whom it is the same as a cold, how would they know? And if they did know, do you still think they should be off work every time they appear to have a cold, in case it's COVID and in case it could make someone more ill?

Honestly I think the venn diagram of 'people who think everyone with any virus should stay at home' and 'people who complain about others being workshy/soft/faking disability' would be a perfect circle.