Common colds/coughs

[Weatherforducks]

Usually, when the kids return to school/nursery after the summer holidays as a household we all get the usual round of coughs/colds/snotty noses. One of us is usually ill at any one point between September and December. But, unless we feel very poorly we carry on as usual with some over the counter medicines, early nights and a packet of tissues.

I know some people (even before Corona virus) would have said that you shouldn't go to school or work and spread your germs, but I imagine most people would battle through if it was a common cold. I guess things have changed now though and going to school or work with a cold/cough would not be responsible/socially acceptable for anyone.

I wonder how this will play out once we all return to normal (ish), will employers be understanding/will they offer increased sickness allowance? Will schools be ok with much lower attendance from pupils? Will it be the end for zero hour contracts?

Even if we have a vaccine for Corona in the not too distant future, will we all expect the same standards of health hygiene from everyone in a public place from now on (you don't go to work/school/shops if you have a cold/cough)?

I was wondering about the autumn/winter too.. self isolating due to corona symptoms will surely just not be possible?! My kid has a cough every other week, a constantly runny nose (which makes her cough, nasal drip), gets sporadic fevers, complains of sore throats etc.. we’ll be spending the entirety of winter self isolating. Let alone all the children in her nursery who will have similar illnesses and therefore all they’ve been in contact need to isolate too. Honestly, nursery will have no children or staff in for months on end! 🤯

I think once a vaccine is rolled out, then life will go back to the way it was on the whole. It’ll take a while but people will move on from the extreme hygiene need to see at the moment. No way my employer is letting people stay off work with a cold! And again, primary schools would never have kids in if they can’t attend with a minor cold!

There was another thread on this. People said hayfever and all sorts of other reasons why people get the sniffles which are not contagious. Plus how would everything function if so many people were off work?

I was thinking about this. I wonder whether our massive increase in hygiene together with social distancing might reduce the incidence of routine infections.

I don't see how people taking more sick leave will be the end of zero hour contracts?
If anything the need for such contracts will be higher as employers will have more shifts to fill at short notice and will therefore need even more flexibility from their workforce.

With regards to the zero hour contracts, I was thinking along the lines of - if people can't work, they won't get paid...so maybe they were more likely to go for jobs with a contract/sick leave in place. But maybe that was quite a simplistic view, I guess it is probably a lot more complex than that and you might be right..