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...

My employer certainly expects you to stay off if you re ill and infectious and my colleagues would absolutely shun anyone who could pass anything onPlenty of us are older and/or vulnerable and even a cold can make you feel dreadful We only get statutory sick pay but 'if you are sick,you are sick' surely?

I absolutely did NOT use the word "selfish". Read my three posts prior to my initial response to you, if you want to/ really care. (I only keep responding because people keep @-ing me.)

Basic decency to stay away from others and work from home if you can. I am in the minority with this opinion having been around immunocompromised people. Most places don't care and want staff in regardless. Don't understand it.

I’m afraid I think it’s largely mutated now to being a very horrible bug and we all have to run along with it now, like the common cold.

If someone is very vulnerable it’s on them to take all precautions.

I don’t doubt for one second that it’s difficult and challenging - but life must go on for the majority now.

They could wear a mask and not spread it?

The one great thing about Covid is that people were made to stay home when they were poorly.

Too many workplaces make you feel guilty (or you lose pay) if you take time off.

We need to go back to having time off when feeling poorly.

Of course you can’t help needing to go to the shop etc but try and avoid going places if you can to stop the spread.

Anyone with a severely compromised immune system or over a particular age will be able to get the covid vaccine to help orotect them @LakelandHiker also the annual flu vaccine is currently being issued.

You cannot police where people go or don't go though.

@Emeraldforest If I don't work then I don't get paid at all. And can't work from home.
So unless I am bedbound then I have no choice but to go.

Given every time I’ve have Covid I’ve been asymptomatic, should I stay home permanently just in case?

Can't speak for the person you're replying to but for me it's the attitude of lots of people.

Not that many replies from people saying they always stay at home when they can, that they can't not go to work because they wouldn't get paid (which is not their fault of course), but that of course they wouldn't go to an exercise class.

A lot more saying you're not the boss of me, I'm not staying home, you can't make me stay at home, it's just a cold, colds don't matter, you've got to get on with your life, can't hide away forever and so on.

People making it really clear that it is not just about work for them, they just generally find it unreasonable for anyone to expect any kind of pro-social behaviour from them that might make their life less fun for a few days.

You're totally right that work and bad employers force lots of people to go to work, and that's wrong, but it's clear from this thread and many others that that's not the only thing driving what people do.

Not sure why someone would test and then carry on as normal. I mean why bother?

I completely get that some people need to go to work with covid assuming they are able, or they won’t get paid. However if you know you have anything contagious you should avoid spreading it as much as possible so WFH if you can, shop online and don’t go to exercise classes or group activities. Are people really that selfish that they just think, well I feel ok and i’m allowed so I am going to carry on as normal and fuck everyone else.

In 2021 and 2022 I had covid despite being vaccinated and was really ill (4 weeks off work the first time and 2 weeks the second). I wouldn’t wish it on anyone and remember it still kills people just not as many as pre vaccines.

@ToKittyornottoKitty

not everyone has a job that has cover, it’s literally me at work, to go on holiday I have to do as much as possible to prepare ahead then catch up when I get back, from holiday I work on the bits that need to be done weekly, that’s just the way it is. But I do have my own office at least, I tell my volunteers to stay clear. Not all jobs have cover. If i couldn’t work people, vulnerable people would be majorly impacted

I've been a bit "under the weather" for over a week, I'm not ill, I just don't feel completely 100%. I get limited sick pay and tbh if I rang in sick every time I didn't feel 100% I wouldn't have a job.

I went to the gym today because I feel up to it and I'll be in work in the same building for the rest of the week.

I didn't go to the gym over the weekend because I just felt too tired and felt I would be better resting.

Mine, and most places or work, now expect you to work with Covid unless you are too ill and don’t pay sickness. Treated the same as any cold

Yes you feel so guilty and come in when you aren’t feeling great

In theory yes but lots of work places have policies where if you have more than a certain amount of time off in a set period ,they give warnings etc which can eventuallly lead to dismissal.

Ian Duncan Smith was on the news yesterday moaning about how furlough has made ppl lazy and basically having a pop at people for following Covid rules,

Funny thing is though ive searched and searched but i cant find a petition from him demanding that people get their Covid fines reimbursed.
Almost as if the publics place is in the wrong.

We are permitted 3 instances a year before HR get involved with disciplinaries, those 3 instances are also unpaid

Nope, time to get on with it. Doubt anyone vulnerable lives a lifestyle that avoids suffering for people around the world so it's incredibly selfish and hypocritical to expect people to change their lives just for 'them'. It's entitled. I empathise with vulnerable people but not any more so than the people forced into modern slavery in industries that supply my consumerism.

It’s not sociopathic, it’s reality. Many people don’t get paid for being off sick and there’s no obligation to test or to isolate any more. So if you’re not ill with it, you go to work.

Not too sure why you tagged me in this post. My issue would be similar, and I couldn’t afford to take time off for a cold anyway. So I understand

And to an exercise class, apparently...!

If they feel well enough why not? It’s just a cold for most people. I’ve certainly been to a gym with a cold before. Not sure id go if I was coughing a lot as that would be annoying for others but having an illness isn’t a reason to hide away.

Interesting to see so many people think a potentially fatal disease can be ignored.

Hospital admissions Increased Baseline

The overall weekly hospital admission rate for COVID-19 increased to 2.04 per 100,000 compared with 1.75 per 100,000 in the previous week

  <a class="break-all" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2026-to-2027-season/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-report-8-october-2026-week-41" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2026-to-2027-season/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-report-8-october-2026-week-41</a>

Do the people that it's not "just a cold" for matter less?