# The common cold and going to work



## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

Where do you stand on this?
The common cold can last a week or more. Do you expect those that are sick to stay home while they have a cold?


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

stay home


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## gleepish (Mar 10, 2003)

painterswife said:


> Where do you stand on this?
> The common cold can last a week or more. Do you expect those that are sick to stay home while they have a cold?


To a certain extent, yes. Is it a cold, or is it allergies? Sometimes it's hard to tell. I think that if you are running a fever you should stay home. 

More importantly, if you are in a situation where you cannot stay home (or are generally just out in public)--use a hanky, cover your nose/mouth and wash your hands. The amount of people I see sneeze in their hand and then try to hand me paperwork with that same hand... NO! People are disgusting. I saw a woman in the store about a week ago wipe her runny nose on her hand and up about midway on her forearm--then repeatedly picked up a tomato, looked at it and put it back, pick up another... repeat. 

So ultimately, even if you aren't suffering from a cold, or something else--wash your hands, you never know who or what touched it before you.


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## tracylee (Jun 29, 2013)

I believe people should stay home but I also realize that you can lose a job for being sick so my husband has a rule at work, if he had a cold or someone else does they are to stay out of his area. If his supervisor needs to talk to him he stands on the other side of the yellow line.


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## doozie (May 21, 2005)

It would be nice if coughers and sneezers would stay home, especially servers, cashiers, the deli guy....I cringe when served by an obviously sick individual. Unfortunantly many jobs have no sick days or so few it's unrealistic to expect sick workers to stay away.


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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

yes, absolutely. bad coughs, green or yellow nose discharge, fever - stay home!

it is both rude and stupid (IMO) to "power through" often a little rest goes a long way for healing.

I also believe children should be kept home if they are sick and not given medication in order to "make it" to school.
This happens more than you'd expect in the world of early childhood.
Don't argue it, I see it first hand.


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

Kids can get cold a few times a year easily especially because you are contagious even before you know you are sick. That would be hard for the parents because they often need to be home and off work then as well.


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

My rule was always if I didn't have a fever I went to work. I was a single mother and not making money wasn't an option. Now I'm a stay at home mom and never get a break,lol


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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

painterswife said:


> Kids can get cold a few times a year easily especially because you are contagious even before you know you are sick. That would be hard for the parents because they often need to be home and off work then as well.


Young children going to childcare sick makes more children sick. Perhaps humans should rethink having children if they aren't going to be able to take care of them when the little ones need them the most - when they are sick. 
More downfalls of an unbalanced society. 
(shrug)


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

Since I started the Best Nonnie evah gig, I didn't realize that school age kids cough, sniffle, and sneeze constantly. Who knows exactly when they start to be infectious because it's all the time. They've been taught to cough and sneeze into their elbow too, and they do. 

I wash my hands all the time, keep current on allergy meds and vaccines, and hope for the best.


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## alida (Feb 8, 2015)

If I get a bad cold I stay home from work for one, sometimes two days. I find that reduces the time I feel and sound horrible a lot which my coworkers appreciate. I do get a few paid sick days,so I still get paid - and I realize that's a option a lot of people don't have.

If I have nothing more than a mild cold I go to work, or I have on occasion worked from home.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

In a perfect world, stay home. But the reality is, some people can't afford to. Not everyone gets paid sick days. In my case, when I am not at work nobody covers my work and it piles up. And no matter how sick, I better come in on payroll day. Lots of hand washing, most of the time if one of us is sick the others don't get it. The more the job deals with the public, the more reason to stay home. Nobody wants a snotty sneezy food service worker but they are also least likely to have paid sick days.


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## Seth (Dec 3, 2012)

painterswife said:


> Where do you stand on this?
> The common cold can last a week or more. Do you expect those that are sick to stay home while they have a cold?



Depends on the details, I can isolate myself at work and not endanger others, but I did stay home Monday for a head cold. I felt like if I'd gone to work, I wouldn't have been able to do my job well, so there was no need being there.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

When I was working I didn't get paid sick days. I stayed home when really sick with a fever, despite the company begging and bribing me to come in. But I wasn't in danger of losing my job for taking a few sick days and we didn't depend on my income.

OTOH, hubby was drop dead sick and still went to work. He got it from work, no paid sick days and he would have lost his job for taking a week off. Then there was the time, at another job, he had to have a doctors excuse to miss work and despite having that they still treatened to fire him. He never took another "sick" day after that.

I've been dealing with this latest virus since December. Ran a fever for a week, even went to the emergency room. If I had a job I would have been fired.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

https://www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus#1

"A coronavirus is a kind of common virus that causes an infection in your nose, sinuses, or upper throat. Most coronaviruses are not dangerous.

Some types of them are serious, though. About 858 people have died from Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), which first appeared in 2012 in Saudi Arabia and then in other countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe. In April 2014, the first American was hospitalized for MERS in Indiana and another case was reported in Florida. Both had just returned from Saudi Arabia. In May 2015, there was an outbreak of MERS in Korea, which was the largest outbreak outside of the Arabian Peninsula. In 2003, 774 people died from a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak. As of 2015, there were no further reports of cases of SARS. MERS and SARS are types of coronaviruses.

But in early January 2020, the World Health Organization identified a new type: 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China. By late January, there were 300 confirmed cases in China and a death count that was still in the single digits, but rising. And despite airport screenings, a traveler had brought the first case to the U.S."


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

MO_cows said:


> In a perfect world, stay home. But the reality is, some people can't afford to. Not everyone gets paid sick days. In my case, when I am not at work nobody covers my work and it piles up. And no matter how sick, I better come in on payroll day. Lots of hand washing, most of the time if one of us is sick the others don't get it. The more the job deals with the public, the more reason to stay home. Nobody wants a snotty sneezy food service worker but they are also least likely to have paid sick days.


Your company needs a backup. Anyone might get hit by a truck at anytime.

Plus the go in at all costs thing is why that food worker went to work.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

If people are dealing with the public then they should stay home when they are sick rather than passing it a round to other people who also need to work.

No sick days be dammed if they let you go for staying home sick then it wasn't a very good place to work, also if you could not afford a sick day off work you also need to search for a better paying job.

By the late 1960's my employers saw the need for those sick to stay home and not spread the illness about the work place. Sick people who are constantly sneezeing and coughing can not possiably do both cover their mouth and nose and do any kind of productive work.

No they didn't pay sick pay for days off you could use vacation days and pay. But they would dock you if caught sick and trying to go to work by sending you home and when you returned give you days off as disipline to teach you in the future. By the end of 1970's they were paying sick time off at a reduced rate the rate went up as you got seniority and as you were able to not get sick and need time off.

Ya I went out with my wife just before Christmas, some sick person passed it to me and I am now just getting around where i want to be around other people. today is the 24th so I have been laid upo for nearly a month, thank you sick person who had to go to work and/or shopping.


Stay home, You might just be the reason some elderly person died.


 Al


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## Witch's Broom (Dec 23, 2017)

painterswife said:


> Where do you stand on this?
> The common cold can last a week or more. Do you expect those that are sick to stay home while they have a cold?


Sure do!

As a child I was taught, when you're sick, stay home, and I live by that to this day, unfortunately, we live in a society nowadays that is (for the most part) void of simple old-school respect.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

How about taking some personal responsibility for not getting sick and teaching our kids too? eat healthy, quit smoking, exercise, maintain a healthy weight, get the right amount of sleep, wash hands,etc.....all those boring things we read about but seldom apply.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

*STAY AWAY FORM SICK PEOPLE WHO JUST HAVE TO GO TO WORK* to infect others.

 Al


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## bobp (Mar 4, 2014)

I have never taken a sick day. I've never stayed home because I was sick. Not once.
I just choose tasks that allow me to be selective with my contact.....
But even back when I was on my tools.....I still sent to work....I might have to run to the nearest Walmart or somewhere with a clean bathroom a few times.....but I'm not missing work.....not for that....I'll take off for farm chores or issues, or fishing ect....

I really hate it when guys call in, cuuggh,cuggh,cough man I dont feel good I'm not gonna make it chuggghhh.....BS....man up, we got things to do, and you got Bill's to pay

Hence this is a small part of my early retirement to the farm plan.....I'm not allowed to say suck it up princess lol


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

I haven't had sick days in high school or work (except two days I blew out my back). When I get sick, there are Kleenex involved and mild crabbiness. I go to work and wash my hands, use hand sanitizer, cough/sneeze on my sleeve, etc. I take precautions but the world doesn't stop.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

painterswife said:


> Kids can get cold a few times a year easily especially because you are contagious even before you know you are sick. That would be hard for the parents because they often need to be home and off work then as well.


Lots of thing are hard for parents.
Making excuses helps no one at all.


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

I totally appreciate that many can’t afford to take much time off when sick. I eat out way too much, and whenever I see a cough or sneeze it makes me SO angry. But chances are they can’t afford to miss a day so me being too busy to cook is my risk to getting sick. 
It’s all about handwashing and coughing into your shirt rather than hand or to the wind. 

At my work, there’s on average 12 of us. Between swapping throughout multiple trucks between job sites over a single day and on the regular rainy days eating lunch and breaks in the truck, and the fact that the only people that take sick days are generally skipping work, illness makes it’s rounds fast. I’ve started leaving hand sanitizer bottles in each truck, and it gets used.


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## anniew (Dec 12, 2002)

I'm retired, so no work to go to. But, I have a weekly lunch group, and if any of them are sick I tell them to stay home. I will quarantine myself rather than get sick from someone who wants to share germs!


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

As a rule, if I have fever I stay home. No exceptions. If I have a bad cold I go to my job office and call everyone and tell them if they have a problem to call me if they can. If not I will go and explain what needs explaining but I don't like it. 

I hate when someone sneezes on me at work if they have a cold though.


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## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

Most teachers I know, including me, will go to work when they are sick. That’s because it is much more work to be out for the day than to come in.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

bobp said:


> I have never taken a sick day. I've never stayed home because I was sick. Not once.


In 13 years working at an automotive shop/dealership I missed 13 days. I don't recall the reasons but it had to something close to gunshot wounds, civil unrest or voting.
I was young and not making a lot, so I counted every copper penny.
My boss was the type that if you could endure flu, shingles, restraining orders, 12 oz fever, and make it to work, he would prop you up with a broom handle under your neck.
I was proud of my record; didn't have much to show for it but I was proud.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

wdcutrsdaughter said:


> Young children going to childcare sick makes more children sick. Perhaps humans should rethink having children if they aren't going to be able to take care of them when the little ones need them the most - when they are sick.
> More downfalls of an unbalanced society.
> (shrug)


I have read that children, boys especially, should be raised in a barrel and fed threw the bung until they are 18. At that point a critical decision must be made.... Open the barrel or drive in the bung!


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

SLFarmMI said:


> Most teachers I know, including me, will go to work when they are sick. That’s because it is much more work to be out for the day than to come in.


There you go! Now you save yourself a days work, at the expense of infecting a room full of kids who will then carry those germs to all their family members. And we wonder why home schooling has become popular, aside from seeing the kids getting an education.


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## anniew (Dec 12, 2002)

The topic is a good thing to think about with the coronavirus...and tomorrow the US is sending a charter plane to the epi-center to evacuate the embassy people and other Americans. 
I sure hope they fully quarantine them and the air crew for a long time since they don't know what the incubation period is yet.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

[/QUOTE]
A child living within the boundary of a barrel is not likely to pick up, nor spread germs. I picked that up in a book years ago.... Knowing me it can prolly be attributed to Robert Heinlein. I read a lot of his work during that time period, and it sounds like something he would say. He had a great understanding of people in general.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

SLFarmMI said:


> *Who do you think gave the teacher the cold in the first place? *And it’s a cold people, not the plague. Also, you can take your disdain for public schools, of which you know next to nothing, and shove it. I am not in the mood for your garbage today.


some kid that was allowed out of their barrel. I spent twelves years in public school, several more dealing with them while my kids endured the process. I know the important stuff.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

SLFarmMI said:


> Most teachers I know, including me, will go to work when they are sick. That’s because it is much more work to be out for the day than to come in.


You sound like such a martyr.

You just sent 40 kids home to make their entire family sick


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Nope, especially not when that teacher has no way of knowing a "common cold" from the corona virus.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

First cleanup. Insults directed at other members will not be tolerated under any circumstances.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> SLFarmMI said: ↑
> Who do you think gave the teacher the cold in the first place? And *it’s a cold* people, *not the plague*.


That's what they thought about this latest Coronavirus, until people started dropping like flies.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Wolf mom said:


> How about taking some personal responsibility for not getting sick and teaching our kids too? eat healthy, quit smoking, exercise, maintain a healthy weight, get the right amount of sleep, wash hands,etc.....all those boring things we read about but seldom apply.


Cause too many people making too much money selling poor quality food, tobacco/nicotine delivery devices, and forcing people to sit long periods at a job.

Logic be darned if it means losing a potential bit profit.


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## Witch's Broom (Dec 23, 2017)

My husband mentioned to me that the office staff where he works sent home an employee last year due to him showing up sick, and dear husband said it was embarrassing for the staff. Hubby said he likened it to walking a child to the door that didn't know any better, helping him bundle up by handing his hat to him, assisting him in buttoning up his coat, then telling him, you go home now and come back when you're feeling better, all while patting him on the back on his way out.

General consensus in my husbands office is, stay home when you're sick, we don't want you here making everyone sick. I think one would be hard-pressed to find a differing view in other like-work environment settings.


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## Jenn (Nov 9, 2004)

We are very careful about infection at my work- health care. When me or my colleagues stay home unexpectedly the others really suffer as do any patients we can't see or whose appointments are delayed due to overbooking. So I stay home if I won't function, not because I might be contagious if someone kissed me or touched my phone. Sometimes not functioning means I will cough too much to work if I do all the speaking my job requires more than a day or half day. I am more likely to infect someone from the sick person I just saw or the door handle than from myself. When I enter a room my patients who know me by now know I'll elbow bump them only until I've cleaned my hands. And then I try to avoid the handshake anyway- dirtiest part of most folks and not a part I need to examine if they have the crud. 

True unfairness is that, the flulike illness (but not one of the ones in the vaccine- we get those, though sometimes not before flu season kicks off) I get every winter at least once is a work related illness. But I still get charged leave if I must miss work for it. Presumably if I get a needle stick absences related to that would be workman's comp.

I wish we had higher minimum wage and paid sick leave for those who are most likely to infect others- ie not me with mandatory handcleaning every 5-20 minutes and our exam rooms scrubbed down between patients (and decontaminated if we suspect scabies etc) but food and child handlers, and parents of kids. But understand why most of those folk go to work anyway.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

SLFarmMI said:


> Most teachers I know, including me, will go to work when they are sick. That’s because it is much more work to be out for the day than to come in.


My son had one of those teachers. We all had strep throat 3 times in 3 months. My son missed 8 days of school. The school and teacher threatened us with failing him just for the absences. I was verbally harassed for keeping my sick child home when he had doctors excuses and strep throat diagnoses. When his teacher went to the hospital with scarlet fever, my son stopped bringing home strep throat. The teacher missed 2 months of school, she spent 2 weeks in the hospital.


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## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

Danaus29 said:


> My son had one of those teachers. We all had strep throat 3 times in 3 months. My son missed 8 days of school. The school and teacher threatened us with failing him just for the absences. I was verbally harassed for keeping my sick child home when he had doctors excuses and strep throat diagnoses. When his teacher went to the hospital with scarlet fever, my son stopped bringing home strep throat. The teacher missed 2 months of school, she spent 2 weeks in the hospital.


I was referring to the common cold and other minor illnesses. 

Teachers often come to work sick because it is a huge hassle to be out for the day. You have to write sub plans detailing not only the lessons for the day but all the procedures that need to be followed, which kids need to leave the room at particular times for speech, resource room, medication, etc. Then you have to make sure the plans get to the school if you decided to take that sick day after you left school the day before. Better hope the email system is up and running. Then, if you have copies that need to be made you have to make sure the originals are accessible and there is someone willing and able to make those copies and get them to the sub. Because your sub isn’t going to make copies for you. I don’t blame classroom teachers for deciding to come to work sick.

And all that is if a sub even shows up. There is a huge substitute teacher shortage nationwide. Districts are begging for subs. Since I teach the resource room, my room doesn’t get subbed out. Same with speech, occupational therapy, social work, physical therapy— if any of those providers take a sick day, our students don’t get their special education services for the day. If no sub shows up for a classroom teacher, those kids get farmed out to other classes with a packet of busy work. Seems to me it would be better to have the teacher at school even if he/she has a cold.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

She said I should not have kept my son home for an ear ache (his only symptom of strep) and bragged about how she had been coming to school with a sore throat. I suggested she see a doctor but she said that was too much of a hassle to leave that work for a sub (back before computers). After all, it was just a bit of a sore throat, nothing else.

The point is that sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and take that day off. And not complain about parents keeping their sick kids home.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Witch's Broom said:


> I think one would be hard-pressed to find a differing view in other like-work environment settings.


My wife can't work if she has fever, and has to wait a minimum of 24 hours after it returns to normal. She works in a medical clinic handling patients all day. 

Sick people belong at home.
This new Coronavirus is going to show the importance of that behavior.


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## Witch's Broom (Dec 23, 2017)

Bearfootfarm said:


> My wife can't work if she has fever, and has to wait a minimum of 24 hours after it returns to normal. She works in a medical clinic handling patients all day.
> 
> Sick people belong at home.
> This new Coronavirus is going to show the importance of that behavior.


Love the precautionary measure the clinic has in place where your wife is employed.

Yes, sick people definitely belong at home.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

I had a job for six years where we wore rubber gloves and a face mask to protect us from the explosive chemicals we worked with.

Very, very few people came into our department, I took my lunch in my truck instead of the cafeteria and have the habit ( from my wife the nurse) of washing my hands several times a day.

For six years I think I only had one cold.

Got transfered to another department where I handles material touched by other people. Within two week I was sick.

My daughter teaches first grade. She is only healthy three months out of the year.

Filthy little germ bombs.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

"SLFarmMI said:


> Seems to me it would be better to have the teacher at school even if he/she has a cold.


 I think that’s the bias of being a teacher. Believe me nobody else wants you to go to school and infect an entire town. 
That’s why we give you sick days and I’ve never heard of a teacher’s contract that didn’t include sick days


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> My wife can't work if she has fever, and has to wait a minimum of 24 hours after it returns to normal. She works in a medical clinic handling patients all day.
> 
> Sick people belong at home.
> This new Coronavirus is going to show the importance of that behavior.


The nurse working the nursery when my son was born had some sort of bug. She was coughing and her voice was hoarse. I wish she would have stayed home. Nurses working with newborns have NO business coming to work when sick!


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

SLFarmMI said:


> I was referring to the common cold and other minor illnesses.


Coronavirus first presents as a common cold.

It's better not to share.

No one cares if it causes you a little "extra work" if it means they remain healthy.
That is far more important than your minor inconvenience.
It could be life or death for them.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

painterswife said:


> Where do you stand on this?
> The common cold can last a week or more. Do you expect those that are sick to stay home while they have a cold?


While I would love for them to stay home, realistically, how many people can afford to stay home for a week?


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

mnn2501 said:


> While I would love for them to stay home, realistically, how many people can afford to stay home for a week?


 Everyone can.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

AmericanStand said:


> Everyone can.


Yeah, hows that?


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

mnn2501 said:


> While I would love for them to stay home, realistically, how many people can afford to stay home for a week?


Anyone should be able to. This is what happens when people refuse to live within their means. They invariably overextend themselves. Anyone earning as much as a teacher should have enough socked away to live quite comfortably for six months. Assuming of course they've been on the job for a year.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> painterswife said: ↑
> Where do you stand on this?
> The common cold can last a week or more. Do you *expect* those that are sick to stay home while they have a cold?


I seldom "expect" people in general to do what they *should*.
Mostly they just make excuses why they can't.

It's "just a cold", right?

It won't hurt anyone....unless they are already in poor health or have a compromised immune system. 

Go ahead and spread your germs around so your co-workers can take it home to their families.

Don't worry about Grandpa with emphysema or Grandma on chemo, or the newborn infant that just came along.

It's just a cold....right?


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

mnn2501 said:


> Yeah, hows that?


 It’s a choice


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

Yes, it would be nice if everyone was able to stay home throughout the course of the common cold. I don't see it as a reality.

I have had this cold for 9 days now and expect it to last a few more. Everyone that I have talked to in my area who has had it says it has lasted 2 weeks or more and the coughing persists longer. How can you keep a child out of school that long? How can most workers stay off work that long? We would have had no one working if all the workers that got sick stayed home that long.

The common cold is contagious before you know you have it and up to two weeks after you caught it.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

Again it’s a choice you make
Think about it during those two weeks or more would you go and visit your critically ill grandmother?

Perhaps if just one person had stayed home when they got that cold nobody at the office would’ve needed to be out because they wouldn’t have it


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

AmericanStand said:


> Again it’s a choice you make
> Think about it during those two weeks or more would you go and visit your critically ill grandmother?
> 
> Perhaps if just one person had stayed home when they got that cold nobody at the office would’ve needed to be out because they wouldn’t have it


How can you stay home before you even know you have it? Also not everyone gets it. My husband is sleeping next to me each night and not getting sick. 

How many times have you kept your children home for two entire weeks for a cold.


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

There's a difference between calling in sick when you are sick and calling in sick when you just don't feel like working that day.
Personally, I would rather you stay home if you aren't felling well.
I have to be pretty sick to stay home, and the last time I called in sick, I wound up in the hospital for 2 weeks.
The company in general would rather we stay home and not pass it around.
I'm pretty lucky in the fact I can work from home, and I'm on a salary so I get paid anyway.


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

I agree that staying home when sick is ideal. I rarely take sick days and when I am in the office, I am alone 90 percent of the time. I just don't see it as really possible for the majority of people, especially those with kids to be off the entire time they have a cold.

I myself enjoy that I am not in daily contact with the employees that have children in school. When I do get sick it is usually because I have been working closely with one of them. I don't, however, think that we should quarantine the entire household every time one of their children gets a cold.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

painterswife said:


> How can you stay home before you even know you have it? Also not everyone gets it. My husband is sleeping next to me each night and not getting sick.
> 
> How many times have you kept your children home for two entire weeks for a cold.


 Of course you can’t anything before you know about it but as soon as you do you can.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> painterswife said: ↑
> How can you stay home before you even know you have it? Also not everyone gets it. My husband is sleeping next to me each night and not getting sick.
> 
> How many times have you kept your children home for two entire weeks for a cold.


Did you keep your kids at home when they were sick?


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

painterswife said:


> Yes, it would be nice if everyone was able to stay home throughout the course of the common cold. I don't see it as a reality.
> 
> I have had this cold for 9 days now and expect it to last a few more. Everyone that I have talked to in my area who has had it says it has lasted 2 weeks or more and the coughing persists longer. How can you keep a child out of school that long? How can most workers stay off work that long? We would have had no one working if all the workers that got sick stayed home that long.
> 
> The common cold is contagious before you know you have it and up to two weeks after you caught it.


You'd have lots more workers had the sick one stayed home instead of infecting the whole crew.


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> You'd have lots more workers had the sick one stayed home instead of infecting the whole crew.


Actually, they believe one of the managers infected everyone before he even knew he was sick so no that would not be the case. He hit all the locations in one day and did a number on 90 percent of the crew. Pesky things those staff meetings are.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

My son gave his cousin chicken pox, the day before he broke out with spots. 

Some diseases are more contagious before you know you have it. And you can give people what you have before you know you are sick. That happens. If you know you are sick you should stay home or take precautions to prevent spreading your germs. The cold and flu can be spread by a sick person for up to 2 weeks from what I was reading. It would be very difficult for most people to stay home for 2 weeks. So you do what you can to keep your germs to yourself. One way is to not hug, kiss or touch other people. And stop licking your fingers before turning pages!


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

painterswife said:


> How can you keep a child out of school that long?


By contacting their teachers and getting homework so they can keep up.



painterswife said:


> How many times have you kept your children home for* two entire weeks* for a cold.


That's your fantasy figure. 



> *The contagious period for a cold lasts about three to four days into the illness.* As a general rule, people with a cold are most contagious about three days after their initial exposure to the virus.





painterswife said:


> I don't, however, think that we should quarantine the entire household every time one of their children gets a cold.


People in China thought that a month ago.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

MedicineNet, Medical News Today, National Health Service, Verywell Health and several other sites all say you are contagious a day or two before symptoms appear to until after the symptoms are gone, sometimes longer. You can be contagious 2 weeks or longer.

I kept my kids out of school that long when they were sick. At the time I didn't have an outside job and didn't have to worry about losing a job or paycheck. A couple of times they got to stay home because I was sick and just couldn't drive them to school.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

painterswife said:


> Actually, they believe one of the managers infected everyone before he even knew he was sick so no that would not be the case. He hit all the locations in one day and did a number on 90 percent of the crew. Pesky things those staff meetings are.


If he wasn't coughing or sneezing he wasn't spreading a lot of germs.

If people washed their hands more, and paid more attention to what they do, they wouldn't pick up those random germs.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> If he wasn't coughing or sneezing he wasn't spreading a lot of germs.
> 
> If people washed their hands more, and paid more attention to what they do, they wouldn't pick up those random germs.


I wash my hands every Sunday... Whether they need it or not.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> I wash my hands every Sunday... Whether they need it or not.


It must be working.
You don't sound sick.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> It must be working.
> You don't sound sick.


Haven't had a cold or flu in years!


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> Haven't had a cold or flu in years!


I haven't either, and I'm surprised because my wife has had colds and the flu.
She works at a hospital and is exposed to lots of sick people but I've been lucky to not catch anything when she brings it home.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Bearfootfarm said:


> I haven't either, and I'm surprised because my wife has had colds and the flu.
> She works at a hospital and is exposed to lots of sick people but I've been lucky to not catch anything when she brings it home.


My long standing cold/flu free record was recently broken by a quick trip to ER with my father for X-rays and I'm pretty sure I can pick the plague infected creature out of a lineup.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

Lol don’t ya hate that when ya can literally see it coming?
There has actually been a time I didn’t get on a plane. 
Ironically considering the current situation it was a time about 20 years ago and a group of 20 or so Chinese that all appeared to be ill that made up my decision. 
Seems like maybe there was one of those deadly flu’s going on back then too.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

AmericanStand said:


> Lol don’t ya hate that when ya can literally see it coming?
> There has actually been a time I didn’t get on a plane.
> Ironically considering the current situation it was a time about 20 years ago and a group of 20 or so Chinese that all appeared to be ill that made up my decision.
> Seems like maybe there was one of those deadly flu’s going on back then too.


That's about the time "Hong Kong" was going round. Any flu can be deadly.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

Come to think of it those killer flu’s come around pretty often.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

AmericanStand said:


> Come to think of it those killer flu’s come around pretty often.


Yep, every year about this time.


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

AmericanStand said:


> Lol don’t ya hate that when ya can literally see it coming?
> There has actually been a time I didn’t get on a plane.
> Ironically considering the current situation it was a time about 20 years ago and a group of 20 or so Chinese that all appeared to be ill that made up my decision.
> Seems like maybe there was one of those deadly flu’s going on back then too.


I have never flown commercial. I may have to one day but so far I have been lucky. It aint the flu I worry about the most.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

What is it you worry about the most ?


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

My daughter was a homebirth. We didn't cut the cord immediately to sell it on the stem cell market. She will get a sniffle, for like six hours, and acts like she is dying. Then she is completely recovered. The rest of us, who were not allowed optimum immune system development at birth, will get her sniffle, and become severely debilitated, fever, chills, days of congestion, ending in sometimes weeks of bronchial and/or sinus infection.

Imagine a dairy farm, where you could sell the colostrum for big bucks, and the calves that didn't get colostrum would pay you for the rest of their lives to treat them for the overall sickly state that they were in as a result of not getting colostrum.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Whenever I got a cold or saw saw exterminators spraying for lice or crabs or my stepson was sick, I took vacation leave before using my sick leave since my ex worked also but my boss knew that even out on sick leave I could still handle the PC part of my desk work telecommuting from home without charging to my usual production charge account.

I think him knowing I willingly logged in from home to handle a big part of my work load made him more willing to let me skip out for a couple days when the kid was sick or the exterminators were crop dusting for latrine cooties. LOL


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## mreynolds (Jan 1, 2015)

AmericanStand said:


> What is it you worry about the most ?


I don't worry about it at all. I just don't like being a sardine. I fly private.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

It takes some serious bucks to fly private with more room than first class.
There are only three classes of planes, planes you sit still in , planes you can move in and planes with bathrooms.


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