Am I wrong to have a few more days to recover

[M2AL]

Hi everyone my self isolation date ends tomorrow night. I still feel fatigued and occasionally breathless when I cough . I have asthma too which isn’t helping. I have been working as much as I can from home when I tested positive. However work are saying I need to be in on Thursday for an important team meeting.
I feel better than I have done in the past week bur still not 100 percent.

I feel guilty for thinking I shouldn’t go in but have been told my employer will ring me on Thursday morning am to tell me I need to get into work

If you are unwell you're unwell.

I am on my 5th week off sick with Covid. I was supported by the Covid monitoring team until out of the 'danger zone' who advised me to rest until I was better as pushing through can trigger long Covid. They also advised a phased return once I feel well enough. I am also asthmatic and also have autoimmune arthritis and EDS. The Covid team said these conditions can delay recovery.

Covid can really knock you for 6. I'm on my 3rd course of antibiotics in 4 weeks, the first for a chest infection and the second 2 for a kidney infection which hasn't shifted. Please be careful with yourself.

Also, I was told by test and Trace that isolation only ends after 10 days if you have none of the following: vomiting, diarrhoea, sneezing, runny nose or a temperature. They can call you in all they like, but any of the above means you aren't allowed to leave the house.

You can leave isolation with cough and fatigue as these can linger - I still have both almost 6 weeks later.

Your work are being idiots. The isolation period is the point after which you won't pass the virus on to others. It doesn't magically make you better - just clearly explain you are still unwell and if necessary extend your doctors note.

OP, if you try to do too much, you may well end up with long Covid - and be unfit to work for a year or more!
I am still struggling after 18 months. I was discharged from hospital after 4 days, but because I live alone I had to do everything for myself, and couldn’t rest properly.
Your health and recovery are far more important than some silly meeting - what would they have done if you had died, or been hospitalised for months? Nobody is indispensable.
They can meet without you and email you the minutes, or they can hold it on Zoom with you at home.
If necessary, get a doctor’s letter from your GP. And tell your work that harassing you while on sick leave is an offence.

I wouldn't go in & then be off sick again because in my company that would count as 2 instances of absence, and I think after 3 stuff starts to happen (not exactly sure what!)

I'd try getting a phone gp appointment to get a sick note of work are adamant you've got to go in

As others have said, the 10 days isolation doesn’t mean you’ll be fit to return to work. It’s very misleading I know of a few people who rushed back only to have to be sent home. In my opinion it takes longer and the sooner this is clarified the better. So don’t rush back till you feel well in yourself.

@icedcoffees

Have you done another test? If you are still testing positive then you absolutely need to stay home as you are infectious

This is absolutely not true - you can test positive for three months after the initial infection, it doesn't mean you're contagious.

You can test positive on a PCR for up to three months due to residual viral RNA, however if you test positive on a lateral flow then you are still infectious.

@Pissinthepottyplease

Your isolation only ends if all your symptoms excluding cough and something else has gone.

Well my DP would have had to have had about 3 months off if that were the case!

Do not work when you're sick. Your health is the most precious thing. No employer is worth harming your body for or even shortening your life for. Work when you are well enough, not before.

LindaEllen

Pissinthepottyplease
Your isolation only ends if all your symptoms excluding cough and something else has gone.
Well my DP would have had to have had about 3 months off if that were the case!

What symptoms did he have that lasted three months other than the cough and fatigue?! He must have had a horrendous time of it.