Have you changed you behaviour with "other" infectious illnesses?

[LegendaryReady]

I have a cold. I'm sure it's a cold, main symptoms very runny nose and a sore throat plus a bit of an earache.

I've done daily LFTs for the last few days, just in case. I'm double vaccinated and I also had Covid back in December. I know with symptoms I should have a PCR test, but I don't actually have any of the listed symptoms.

Anyway, I'm due in work today. I feel well enough to go, previously I wouldn't have dreamed of taking time off with a cold, but are things different now? I know people will be anxious around me.

Our work are asking for a LFT or PCR before coming in with cold symptoms - no-one is checking so it's personal responsibility, but I would be surprised to see someone in the office with a heavy cold.

If you can work from home I would suggest you do - no-one wants to get a bad cold and think they might have Covid. If you can't, I guess that's that. Either a day off sick or go in.

I am off today with a cold, but it hasn't gone down well
I stayed home as sneezing a fair bit and runny nose etc,
Many are wfh in my place so don't have to come in and those are the ones frowning at me staying home
I noticed this week a few people were coughing and blowing noses in office so could of caught from there although my ds had a cold a week or so ago as well.
Maybe ask your boss what your company policy is
I have a cold now and can't go away or to my hospital appts

I jbkw my boss would tell me to wfh and take it easy until I feel better

Any "issue" will be my staff disapproving, but they'll also be the ones who don't think I should be there

Lucky your boss is understanding , its funny isn't it how people judge you don't go in your skiving etc , you do go in , how dare you infect everyone with a cold .
Hope you feel better soon

I think especially now we've seen so many jobs can be done from home without any issues, it would be great if people had that option going forward. It was always one of my least favourite things about working in offices and using public transport through the autumn and winter months because you just knew the "office cold" will spread through the team one by one.

And the Delta variant can present with cold symptoms in vaccinated people.

We've been able to work from home for years, so it was already preferred that we worked from home with a cold or dodgy stomach or whatever mild illness that you could still work with.

We can't go into work with any symptoms of being ill with out a pcr test. This includes a cold. We do lfts twice weekly.

The dcs brought home colds as soon as they went back to school and I was nearly welcoming the opportunity to boost my immune system. That was back when the general consensus was that if it was snotty it wasn’t covid.

@RuthW do you have 2 pcrs weekly then ?

I wouldn’t go in to work with a cold, because if someone else catches it, they’ll have the inconvenience of isolating, testing etc. If they spread it to a child, they might have to be off school while they get a test. Even if it’s a cold, if it gives someone a cough or a temp, it can really inconvenience them.

But I have the ability to wfh so it’s not a difficult choice to make.

Some workplaces are saying if you are at all unwell stay at home and get a PCR. Which is fine but then you might have to lie to get a PCR.

But delta in vaccinated people has the symptoms you have. You don’t know it’s just a cold unless you do a PCR test, do the test and then when negative you can go to work. The more people that test when they are sure it’s not covid, will actually keep our schools open as means more infections are picked up and isolated so the kids can continue.

Drives me nuts that people think that their responsibility towards others ends at getting a bloody covid test. There are plenty of respiratory viruses and other diseases that I’m sure your colleagues would rather not catch from you too!
RSV for example is usually a “cold” in adults but kills around 80 young children in the UK every year.
Sick people stay home; healthy people as you were.

If you could tell that a cold is just a cold and not covid then we wouldn't need tests! Everyone I know who has tested positive in the last 2 months (and that's a lot) has either had cold/hay-fever symptoms or no symptoms at all.

@SweetBabyCheeses99 but then some can't afford to stay home every cold and many work places insist you are in once you have a negative pcr a cold can stick around 1-2 weeks and you can have several a year

Not exposing each other to mild respiratory and other mild viruses is going to backfire and cause lots of extra problems (greater harms). It's not a good strategy going forward.

I think the idea that you stay home for the first 24-48 hours of new symptoms (whilst you get a test) will reduce the circulation of lots of infectious diseases, which will be an overall gain.

Sick people stay home; healthy people as you were.

It's OK to say stay at home if you can work from home and still be paid, I can completely understand why people who will lose money would still be going into work.

@SweetBabyCheeses99 - how do you suggest my neighbour goes to work as a teacher with a cold/minor illness? Or my teenage cousin goes to work as a waitress with a cold/minor illness?

Some people are so privileged they can’t see the real world 🤦🏼‍♀️

[quote worriedatthemoment]@SweetBabyCheeses99 but then some can't afford to stay home every cold and many work places insist you are in once you have a negative pcr a cold can stick around 1-2 weeks and you can have several a year [/quote]
Yes but if people didn't come and spread them in public places, you almost certainly wouldn't have several a year would you?

You'd get covid several times a year if people just lived 'as normal' when they had it, as variants would have developed faster, in the exact same way that cold viruses do.