Pissed off at work...

[PearlHammer]

Work has been a nightmare all summer long working me into the fucking bone. There were weeks when I did t even get a day off. Also some crap excuses about short staffed and XYZ excuse and it's just been a piece of shit of a summer. Then work also had me studying too on top of this. If was lucky to get a day off, I had to study too.

I know COVID is wild now and it's everywhere. Many people complaining about have a 'flu' but it's not flue season.

There was an event in work at the weekend that I didn't go to. Now everyone in work is coming down with something and they are beginning to sound not too great. They sound like they have sore, dry throats and some coughs.

This is likely covid brewing. I am fuming how there is appropriate measures taken to minimise the spread of what this is. The sad is is, if I was to become ill, they would likely expect me to work still. If I get sick, I won't work. Simple as that. I really just don't like the sound of people hoarsness.

The event was on Saturday night. Today is Tuesday. Is this too quick of a time frame?

When I got ill last year with COVID, I think my exposure was likely on Sunday, I wasn't feeling well on the Tuesday and it was Wednesday when I was ill.

I am absolutely just furious because there has been nothing done to prevent the spread of what the fuck this dose is. And it's just passed on with no respect or manners. Just psychopaths making small of what they have and dismissing it as sinus or a cold.

I think we might be talking about slightly different stages of illness. I’m not suggesting people should stay out of work for weeks just because they’ve still got a lingering cough or fatigue after Covid — that wouldn’t be unrealistic.
What I was referring to is the initial infectious phase, which we know is when people are most likely to spread it to others. Even if the symptoms someone has during that phase are mild, the transmission risk to colleagues, clients, or patients can still be very high. That’s the period when I think it’s important to limit contact, because that’s when the actions of one person directly affect everyone around them.
So it’s not about imposing endless sick leave, but about recognising that the first few days of an infection aren’t just ‘personal choice’ - they have wider consequences.

@PearlHammer But the most infectious period is before you have any symptoms? And in the early days you’d not be likely to know if you have a cold or something more serious. I don’t know anyone who is testing anymore but even if you wanted to, by the time you have symptoms you’ve likely already shared it with anyone around you. I just think it’s making it harder on yourself to find this quite so frustrating. Everyone has likely had it multiple times by now and we failed at stopping that even with the lockdowns so it’s definitely not going to stop now.

ossible reply:
You’re right that a lot of the spread happens before symptoms but even after symptoms appear, people are still highly contagious.
Limiting contact can still make a real difference and stop passing illness on to more people.
So, although no one can prevent all infections, small choices lstaying home or wearing a mask around others at the beginning of an illness do help cut down the spread, especially around vulnerable colleagues or clients.
Lockdowns were never a perfect solution, but taking sensible precautions when symptoms hit isn’t about control, it’s about showing basic consideration for those around us.

I don’t think OP is expecting it to stop. What she’s asking for seems pretty sensible in light of the damage that covid is doing. There’s something extra obscene when forced upon those who have no agency - not ‘happen to catch it’- forced. We have tens of thousands of children per year in this country ending up with long covid, staff in hospitals are told to work whilst positive (1/10 cases of hospital-acquired covid lead to death), careworkers in care homes or visiting people in their homes. People go on about the sacrifices kids made in lockdown and look how we are treating them now. People talk about avoiding vulnerable people as though they know everyone’s health conditions, know what impact covid is going to have on someone, know who their colleagues live with, know which of their colleagues already have health conditions as a result of covid.
We don’t say come in to school with chickenpox or straight after you’ve finished vomiting - we know some people will still do this, we know some people may already be infected, but we try to reduce infections - not maximise them.