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...

Then we need to make sure we elect a government that will give us sick pay.
There are plenty of other options before you get to vulnerable people having to sacrifice themselves.

This. Most people saying “I’ve got Covid” haven’t got a clue. Almost
no one tests anymore. It’s just become a phrase say when they have a particularly bad cold or flu.
Alternatively, if you are sick and want the day off, saying you have Covid will usually get a better response than saying you have a bad cold.

And untill then?

I cant afford to, I can only work part time after getting covid then long covid. I cant even afford my rent.

@aliasfrog No work, no pay in my case. Taking time off when ill isn't a luxury I can afford.

Covid comes in all types of strengths.

Yep let’s magically elect that government in, feel free to point me in their direction. I fully agree with need proper sick pay, although that still wouldn’t mean everyone could stay home from work. But that’s not happening any time soon so it’s not a realistic solution.

And until then we financially cripple our families for the benefit of the few?

I'm guessing not many of the people posting here had the experience I did, in March 2020, of phoning round all the local undertakers trying to find one who could collect a body, and then finding all the crematoria in or near my town were so stacked that they couldn't fit in a booking for weeks.

@aliasfrog I assume them you get some sort of benefit?

For a moment I thought I'd nodded off in the bath and then woken up in 2020...

“Covid comes in all types of strengths”

Indeed. It really is all things to all people 🙄

Well I can understand that some people can't e.g. if they don't get paid when they're ill, but I don't see why you're saying it in a general way. There are obviously people who can stay at home e.g. those who get sick pay or who can work from home.

You were all happy to do that during the pandemic and then pat yourselves on the back for protecting the vulnerable.

Don't worry though, it'll never happen. Nobody is willing to even wear a mask to potentially save a life. We disabled people know where we stand in the pecking order. It sure would be nice if we didn't have to constantly be at the bottom though.

I'm bowing out of this thread now.

How do you know that noone tests? The tests are easy to find in the pharmacies. I always take one when I have a cold that I think may be Covid.

I worked throughout the pandemic so not sure what you are talking about.
There is a lot of entitlement here from people who either have cushy WFH jobs or benefits that mean they can do as they wish without working for a living.

most of us work and have to pay our own bills. We can’t lose our wages for trivial reasons.

I continue to be happy
about my workplace that bans people with known contagious illness from the building. People are free to work from home, but exposing others to illness is not acceptable.

It’s terrifying how quickly so many people went back to being selfish. Covid could have helped people learn about how disease impacts vulnerable people and chosen to do better. Truly the only option is to legislate against antisocial behavior and make people responsible for knowingly spreading disease.

I could be on my death bed and I would still have work ringing me up to cover my own shift.

That’s amazing for you but not all jobs can be done from home and not all jobs offer sick pay

If you think having Covid is always just like having a cold, you’ve never had a bad or even moderately bad case of Covid.

I caught Covid over a month ago (probably from someone with an awful cough sitting very near me in a restaurant - DH and I were annoyed at the time but there wasn’t much we could do about it - and have only just got over it. At one point my GP advised me to go to A & E for urgent blood tests as he thought I was dehydrated (terrible diarrhoea for a week, even with only drinking, hardly eating) and I needed a saline drip. The most tough person alive can’t just "go about their life" when they have a high fever, an almost continuous bad cough, low oxygen when SATS measured, and uncontrollable diarrhoea ten times a day - and certainly can’t without infecting many other people.

Luckily I’m basically healthy so didn’t need hospital admission for more than a few hours, but anybody already frail would have been in a very dangerous state. Don't be a selfish prat.

NHS?

If going to work to provide for my family makes me a selfish prat then so be it 🤣

During the pandemic my employer paid full pay if off with Covid, although I was furloughed anyway. Now I’d not be paid and could end up getting in trouble too.

Your situation sounds incredibly challenging but it’s isn’t everybody else’s fault for just living their lives.

A very large number of people are self employed. No one will pay their sick pay if they "stay home" because they've got a sore throat.

@Ponderingwindow Lucky you.
There are others of us who are not paid if off sick and can't WFH.