Say nothing

RavenBea17b

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119304728#Comment_119304728

The point is, not notified of positive test. Some people don't feel too ill, others feel dreadful, some need to be hospitalised. Others have long covid issues- tat may not have been too ill with actual infectious covid.

raxy

Anti mask brigade out in force in this thread!

Yeah covid isn't a major deal for most anymore but common courtesy still applies. They should just let you know.

Our childminder told us an entire family of another child she is minding tested positive, no issue for us but we didn't take our kids to my parents that w/e as planned as my father isn't in the best health!

I'm immunocompromised as well but not concerned for myself.

I think they should have texted so other attendees could test.

Though people like to pretend it's not, covid is still a threat of serious illness or even death (37 this week) to the elderly or immuno-compromised.

The current HSE ad "You Never Know" is trying to highlight this.

https://youtu.be/dLUwaA4YCkU

If you don't want to wear a mask.... don't. You don't have to. But don't go into shops or into work, while you have covid, even if you are asymptomatic.

I am a diabetic, and have respiratory illness, if I found out a co-worker came into work knowing they had tested positive for covid, and "said nothing" it would be very unfair. Sick pay or not doesn't give anyone the right to put anyone else's health at risk (and before anyone says it, that extends to the flu as well).

I had my second booster yesterday, and still mask in shops, and I don't care who thinks I'm crazy or looks at me askew for doing so. I have people depending on me to earn a living too.

dorothylives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119307588#Comment_119307588

Is Long Covid real though? There's a growing school of thought that it's a mixture of malingering and hypochondria.

dorothylives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119308780#Comment_119308780

If masks work and you are wearing a mask, then why should anyone else in the shop wear a mask? Seriously, it's going to be in the 20's next week and there's no way in hell I'm going to swelter with a mask over my face. I honestly don't believe they work, if they did there wouldn't have been rampant covid with huge numbers of people catching it.

I sympathise with your vulnerability, I'm vulnerable myself. The time has passed for expecting everyone else to protect you though. If vulnerable people are boosted and wearing masks then they're either going to have to get used to other people living their lives as normal or hide away indoors.

dorothylives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119308755#Comment_119308755

So, you criticise people for not wanting to wear masks any more and admit that it's not a big deal for most people anymore yet your tone implies that people not willing to wear a mask are somehow doing something wrong. Courtesy works both ways. Again, I'll say this, if vulnerable people have boosters and are wearing masks then why, other than pandering to neurosis, should the rest of the country wear masks?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119309106#Comment_119309106

Where did I ask anyone else to wear a mask?

I'll quote what I said:

If you don't want to wear a mask.... don't. You don't have to. But don't go into shops or into work, while you have covid, even if you are asymptomatic.

I think I was pretty clear what I was asking was for them to not go to shops or into work then they know they are sick.

No need to wear a mask if you're in your own home.

(ETA) Going into work when you're sick, is not "living your life as normal". If you're sick, you should be at home. That applied long before Covid ever happened.

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119305614#Comment_119305614

indeed, it seems some of the hysteria and pearl clutching is still about.

dorothylives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119307616#Comment_119307616

I'm sorry to hear that your partner has cancer and I hope that the surgeons got all of it out during the surgery. I wasn't swabbed and on the standard hospital admissions list the part at the top of the letter regarding Covid testing was scribbled out as they no longer do it for elective surgeries. Obviously cancer is different. I hope your partner makes a swift recovery, it's very difficult watching someone you love having to fight cancer.

yourdeadwright

If you get covid deal with it otherwise mind your own business ,

My family are getting on with life if someone feels a bit sick we don't even test why would we ????

If someone is in a jocker we stay at home until they feel better ,

Everyone in my family had it a least once during the testing/ restriction phase & strangely all at different times , Makes no sense as we didn't isolate from each other at all as some of the kids are too young, to keep locked up in a room , Surely we all should have had it at the same time ? ?

Like myself & the wife share a bed , at least one of the little ones does be in the bed every night ,

I'm not a covid denier or a conspiracy nut its a very real thing but obviously its not fully understood ,How can you explain a family in close contact all the time but yet we get it 1 person at a time months apart,

dorothylives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119309131#Comment_119309131

That's easier said than done. Some people live alone and don't have anyone else to do their shopping for them. All said and done, Covid is a very mild disease that is so mild many people don't even know that they have it. Yes, some people are at risk of being badly affected, maybe even die from it. But the world was brought to a halt for 2 years for them and we're looking down the barrel of a global recession that will probably claim more young/middle age lives through suicide than covid did through disease. There's too much paranoia surrounding it and too much self interest in working from home.

The money is gone, it's been spent looking after tens of thousands of Ukrainians who mostly chose not to be vaccinated. There will be no lock downs any more. People won't be able to afford to isolate at home they'll have to get on with their lives. Going to work when sick was the norm before Covid. It wasn't unusual for some workers to have to go to work sick and stay for an hour or so before their employer would allow them to go home. I wear a mask when I'm in pharmacies and on public transport or in medical areas but that's it, I'm done.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119307588#Comment_119307588

Ever heard of ME?

Many viruses have some kind of post viral syndrome, which affects a proportion of the people who get the virus. Long Covid is just another of those.

Covid isn't the flu. But it's a different virus which is similar to the flu in some ways, especially in that it can be serious for some people.

OP, if you attended a family function, and some people who were there tested positive for influenza or chicken pox a few days later, would you expect to be informed? I wouldn't.

When I looked up current HSE advice this week, it said that close-contacts don't have to test or isolate, unless they have symptoms. Two years ago, the advice was very different, because knowledge about the virus was very different.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119309817#Comment_119309817

I know its easier said then done. I spend two years dependant on click and collect for groceries because I had no one to shop for me.

So saying someone can't manage for a WHOLE WEEK in isolation without visiting the shops is just a lazy excuse. There are plenty of options now for click and collect (minimal contact) or contactless grocery deliveries to most areas, by most supermarkets - so I don't accept that as any kind of an excuse.

Working from home is an option for many now too. Many of my co-workers who contracted covid continued working, they just did so from home. I don't know where you work but going to work sick is not and was never the norm before covid, and was never acceptable. I witnessed our Director instructing people to leave and not attempt to come back into the workplace until they were fit for work - and this was long before covid ever happened. It's called having a duty of care to your employees.

I never mentioned anything about bringing back lockdowns, or masking but you seem to be off on your own rant on those.

Basically I think it comes down to common decency. You either have it, or you don't. If you do, you will at least let others know you are sick so they can avoid you and test themselves before they go near any vulnerable people in their own families.

Don't Chute!

This bullshit about it not being acceptable to go to work sick before Covid is absolute fcuking nonsense. It’s a clear attempt at rewriting history. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311268#Comment_119311268

Bullshit?

I don't know what kind of places you've worked in, but I think you're the one attempting to re-write history. It's never been acceptable to go to work sick.

Just like it's never been and is still not acceptable to send a send a sick child into a creche or into school. Would you send a child to school with an active case of chickenpox? No, you keep them home until they are not infectious.

The same applies to adults in the workplace.

No responsible employer wants sick people at work coughing and spluttering over other employees and potentially making them sick too.

Don't Chute!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311517#Comment_119311517

Are you actually trying to tell me you NEVER went to work even with a slight cold? I don’t believe that for a second.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058253497/say-nothing

Did you have it when you went, Why would you think that they did?

With this variant some people, quite a few, have it even a week or two before testing positive.

My point being you are taking a massive jump, based on no evidence.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311632#Comment_119311632

I don't give a toss what you believe.

See, here's the thing. I don't get "slight colds". I get full blown nasty ones that flatten me, and due to being immuno-com.promised and having a respiratory condition, more often than not turn into secondary infections. Which could put me out of commission for a lot longer than a day or two.

So please keep your "slight cold" at home. Or tell me about it, so I can work from home and avoid you.

Don't Chute!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311663#Comment_119311663

And I don’t give a toss what you believe either if that’s the way you want it. People like you have had your fun thinking you’re the most important people on earth for the last few years but it’s time to start living in the real world with everyone else. What you are saying is complete and utter nonsense and you have nothing to back it up with.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311674#Comment_119311674

There is no such thing as a "mild flu".

I think you're the one being a bit hysterical now Leg End Reject. No one has suggested that governments or employers will be closing down businesses or public services again. You're the one making that giant leap.

And again, I don't know what kind of **** employers some of you here have, but arriving in work coughing and spluttering was never accepted in my workplace and I did witness people being sent home.

Loss of pay will no longer be an excuse to go into work sick either, once the legislation on statutory sick pay is passed.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311710#Comment_119311710

Look it up, it's now accepted that there is indeed a mild flu and severe head colds.

I have been in work with severe colds - snots for 2-3 weeks, coughing and spluttering, hoarse and miserable. I was never once told to go home and mind myself. Oh, and I work in the public sector where ringing in sick involves an interrogation dressed up as faux concern and an immediate "Is this certified or self-certified?". That comes with an emphasis on the "self-certified" which translates into "Are you taking the piss?"

If you have a certain number of staff out on any given day the union regulation is to shut down on health and safety grounds. That's not hysteria, that's reality and I'd imagine it's worse in the public sector. So it was never common practice for employees to be sent home with a communicable infection. Creches do because they cater for those with immune systems that aren't fully developed, but outside of that it's bring your tissues and paracetamol to work with you and get on with it.

Leg End Reject

Mild flu:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/flu/expert-answers/flu-symptoms/faq-20057983

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/symptoms.htm

It's not always debilitating contrary to popular belief. Like Covid if you will.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311697#Comment_119311697

Back what up? You're the one who implied I was a liar and was re-writing history. Just because you obviously have worked in **** places with irresponsible employers doesn't mean I'm lying.

Trust me, I'm equally sick and tired of people like you who think its fine to swan around spreading your "slight colds" without thought for anyone else.

And if you think anyone who is immuno-compromised has been having "fun" dealing with all this the last couple of years, then you've lost the plot entirely.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311728#Comment_119311728

If you went into work like that for 2-3 weeks then shame on you. I hope there were no immuno-compromised people forced to working with you.

I've been in the public service since I was 17 years old, nearly 35 years, and never once have I heard of somewhere being closed down due to X number of staff being out sick or any regulation to that affect - but I also don't know where you work, so I won't be as quick to accuse you of lying or "re-writing history" as I've been accused.

I was hopeful that maybe Covid would have taught some people how to do things differently. We'll see, come winter.

I know for sure, if anyone comes into my office sick, they will be told to go home.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311748#Comment_119311748

Did you miss the whole bit about flu complications atnd the affect they can have on immuno-compromised people?

For those at high risk of flu-related complications or who have severe flu, there's a greater chance that the flu might lead to pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus infections, and, rarely, hospitalization or death. The flu can also worsen chronic health problems such as asthma and congestive heart failure.

You have an increased risk of flu-related complications if you:

• Are younger than 12 months old
• Are 65 years old or older
• Are pregnant or have given birth in the past two weeks
• Are younger than 19 years of age and are receiving long-term aspirin therapy
• Have certain chronic medical conditions, including lung diseases such as asthma, an airway abnormality, heart disease, diabetes, neurological or neurodevelopmental disease, metabolic disorders, and kidney, liver or blood disease
• Have a weakened immune system due to factors such as long-term use of steroids or other immunosuppressants, HIV, organ transplant, blood cancer, or cancer being treated with chemotherapy
• Have a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or greater
• Live in a long-term care facility such as a nursing home
• Are in the hospital

So again... stay at home and keep your "mild flu" to yourself please. It may not be mild for me, if I catch it from you.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311765#Comment_119311765

Shame on me? I didn't have a choice, not everyone can stay at home with a headcold and I usually get 2-3 a year. Do you think it's viable for me to take anywhere from 3-6 weeks off a year?

If you work in the public sector you'll be aware that Medmark decided that pregnant women, those receiving cancer treatments that affected immunity, and many others that are immunocompromised were told to work during Covid. Do you seriously think that everyone is sent home with a headcold?

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311772#Comment_119311772

Any infection can have serious consequences for the immunocompromised, no one has denied that.

You, however, denied there was such a thing as mild flu. I provided links to back up my post after you sneered at it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311775#Comment_119311775

You're public sector, you had a choice. No one was going to sack you for being ill.

Though word of advice? If you get that many severe colds a year, maybe you should look into doing something to boost your immune system.

And please don't twist my words. I never said that "everyone is sent home with a headcold". I said I had witnessed people being sent home when they were sick, even before covid happened, and that coming in sick was unacceptable.

Yes, I am aware of some of Medmark's decisions - and if anything its all the more reason why now it's even less acceptable to arrive in work sick, than it ever was. It's exactly what the HSE ad I linked to earlier was targetting - You Never Know.

Obviously it bears repeating, though if the message hasn't gotten through yet, I doubt it ever will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLUwaA4YCkU

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311781#Comment_119311781

A headcold isn't serious, it's the only illness I get so I think my immune system is just fine. I don't get stomach bugs, tonsillitis, lower respiratory infections etc., so I can live quite happily and healthily with a seasonal runny nose and sore throat.

Again, do you think I'd get away with 3-6 weeks annual sick leave for a cold? Do you not think I'd eventually be referred to Medmark and then swiftly told by them to cop on? You're aware of the requirement for medical certificates after so many days absence as well as the rolling periods for both certified and self-certified leave. Should I forego a few mortgage payments because I need to blow my nose?

You said I shouldn't be in work with a headcold and that I'd be sent home from your workplace, I haven't put words in your mouth.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311765#Comment_119311765

If you went into work like that for 2-3 weeks then shame on you. I hope there were no immuno-compromised people forced to working with you.

Here you said I should be at home with a cold.

I know for sure, if anyone comes into my office sick, they will be told to go home.

Here you said anyone sick would be sent home in your workplace.

You're public sector, you had a choice. No one was going to sack you for being ill.

And here I should stay at home because I can't be fired. So I should sit at home with my tissues while others in the private sector have to carry on because they can be fired? You have an over-inflated sense of entitlement.

Perhaps you can now show where I've apparently "put words in your mouth"?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311790#Comment_119311790

You still don't get it do you?

Your "seasonal runny nose and sore throat " which you earlier described as severe, with "snots for 2-3 weeks, coughing and spluttering, hoarse and miseurable" might not be all that serious for YOU.

But it could be very serious for someone else who picks its up from you. For example, one of those very people you mentioned who Medmark have told they must attend work despite their increased risk of serious complications.

So no, in my opinion, you shouldn't be in work in that condition, and should stay at home until you are well.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311800#Comment_119311800

Your opinion is just that. Employees are expected to turn up with headcolds, mild or severe. Even Medmark would tell me to work.

I can't take weeks off work because of your opinion. The government doesn't give a flying fūck about individuals and their opinions. We're just a number, and all of us are replaceable.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311806#Comment_119311806

So is working from home not an option for you?

Two staff members in my office called in last week, both with positive covid tests. They continued to work from home. If they had turned up in the office, yes, they would have been sent home, without hesitation.

Where I work, no one is expected to turn up to work sick, and if anyone turned up in my office with a "seasonal cold" like you described having, they'd also be told to go home until they were better. That really is all there is to it.

DLink

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311809#Comment_119311809

You work in the public sector, you might as well be living in Utopia compared to the rest of us living in the private sector, especially when you have a work shy union backing you up.

• Cold = go home, work if you feel up to it, but don't worry, we'll still give you full pay
• Stubbed toe = go home, work if you feel up to it, but don't worry, we'll still give you full pay
• covid = definitely go home, work if you feel up to it, but don't worry, we'll still give you full pay

Are you forgetting the scandal of the meat factory workers who drove some of the biggest covid clusters at the start of the pandemic because if they didn't go to work they didn't get paid? Or how about the tight arsed Irish employers who didn't have any kind of sick pay scheme, which forced you to go in to work as you lost money if you didn't?

As for the new sick pay rules, you get 3 paid days a year in 2022 & 2023, increasing to 5 days in 2024, 7 days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026, BUT.... you need to hand a doctor €50 or €60 to get certified.

I'm sorry, but if you stick your head out of your ivory tower for a few minutes and have a look at the real world you'll see that low paid employees are still being incentivised to go into work sick as they cannot afford to pay the doctor to get certified for a cold. I work with people who need to pay their TV licence by instalments FFS, they're certainly not going to pay €50 to get certified for the sniffles.

dorothylives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311099#Comment_119311099

How lovely for you. I'll say it again, many people aren't or weren't in a position to do that. There are far too many paranoid nervous Nellie's and in part I do blame the government for the insane hysteria. But people have moved on now, we won't be altering our lives any more to placate Covid hysteria. If people feel vulnerable they can stay at home the rest of us will get on with living our lives instead of hiding away paranoid about catching a mostly harmless virus.

I think in some perverse way many people who would be considered vulnerable really felt special when society had to bend over backwards to 'protect them', well those days have long gone now, thankfully. I hate to break it to people but those masks clearly don't work, if they did there wouldn't be huge infection rates in hospitals and half of the country wouldn't have had it. But again, it's just another thing to pander to the hysterical paranoia. It's over now, people are done with the nonsense.

Oh, it must be lovely to work from home, all that money you saved while all of those people on low incomes like those working in factories producing the food you eat and delivering it to shops and supermarkets and those people working in the shops that you clicked and collected from, who had to be at work to unload deliveries, stock shelves and pack the click and collect items you bought online, had to go to work to enable people like yourself to click and collect. So think before you pontificate to people on how selfish they are for not protecting you. It's not magic fairies who did that work. Not everyone was able to sit it out on the sofa on full pay.

xhomelezz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119312078#Comment_119312078

Hysteria, paranoid, mostly harmless virus, masks don't work and hysterical paranoia....Jesus another fooking stupid post..

And just to let you know, I worked all the way through pandemic and not from sofa, still can't get over the level of stupidity people can keep posting over and over again.

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119312334#Comment_119312334

It is mostly harmless.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311809#Comment_119311809

My posts clearly referred to pre Covid times and I expect that to return. No one switched to working from home because they had a cold before Covid.

Instead of grasping at straws could you please answers the questions I have asked you in numerous posts?

xhomelezz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119312421#Comment_119312421

I'm failing to find any info on that claim and I tried. "Mostly harmless" is probably used same way as "hysteria" by some posters. And I call it bullshit.

In my humble opinion.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119312596#Comment_119312596

Answer your questions so you can continue to imply I'm lying and rewriting history no matter what I reply?

In case it escaped you, I too made it very clear I was referring to pre-Covid times, as we have not been in the office for most of the last two years.

I also made this very clear that this was not just about Covid related illness but that obviously went over yours and most of the other angry heads replying too.

I don't know why you're having such difficulty accepting that turning up for work ill was not considered acceptable pre-Covid and it is even less acceptable now.

But I'm not going to waste my time to continue being told I'm a liar for stating what happened/s in my own workplace, by some pack of angry boards users trying to tell me otherwise.

I've better things to do today.

xhomelezz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119311268#Comment_119311268

Yeah, it was plain stupid to go to work sick, or dump sick kids to school before COVID, during covid and it's still plain stupid now. Whoever does that, is just complicating life for other people.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313097#Comment_119313097

So it was normal for public sector, private sector, semi-state and the self employed to stay at home while they had symptoms of any mild communicable disease? So normal in fact that you and colleagues were told to go home on full pay?

The department you work in is clearly overstaffed and under worked.

The attitude you're displaying is why a lot of people view public sector workers as entitled, work-shy wasters.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119312078#Comment_119312078

TL:DR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313184#Comment_119313184

Why don't you deal with what I actually posted, which was pretty straightforward, instead of trying to drag it off with some dramatically embellished tangents?

Thanks.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313215#Comment_119313215

I have. You're the one who repeatedly changes tack when asked a question.

Start a new thread with a poll and ask people if they were sent home with a cold before Covid.

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119312618#Comment_119312618

Look around you everyone has had it now most more than once, things are grand.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313231#Comment_119313231

I haven't changed tack, not once. Though you've attempted to re-define what "the flu" is (while totally ignoring the risk of flu complications for immuno-compromised people which is the whole point 🤔) and tried to changed what "a cold" means several times, ranging from 2-3 weeks of total misery, to 2-3 days "sniffles".

You've also made excuses that you personally can't take time of when sick, due to the threat of Occupational Health, or "missing a few mortgage payments" - which unless you've already exhausted your full 90 days full pay + 90 days half pay over the last four years, is bull. The truth is, you're choosing not to go to work when you're sick, but want to make it look like you're forced into it. And you accuse me of grasping at straws.

Whatever.

Like I said all along, and what this thread was supposed to be about, if you're sick, stay at home. Or at least let others know you're sick, so they can take the necessary precautions to avoid contact with you.

Would you like me to point out the post where I said that?

I think you'll also find the workplace has changed post-covid and employers won't be too happy when sick people turn up for work and immuno-compromised people (who previously just said nothing and tolerated it) will no longer put up with sharing a workspace with someone who is coughing and spluttering.

And yeah, that has already happened in my office since the return to work, and the cougher and splutterer was told to go home. And rightly so.

xhomelezz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313235#Comment_119313235

Not surprised I got this answer.

Bullshit keeps rolling and rolling.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313317#Comment_119313317

The whole point is that society has never adapted for immunocompromised people, apart from Covid.

Employers, even the higher-ups in the public sector, do not appreciate staff ringing in sick with a cold. A cold usually lasts at least a week, I would be sniffling for at least 2 weeks. On what planet can anyone take 2 weeks off for a cold?

You want everyone to sit at home for you, like it or not, that will never be the norm. Maybe you should go on stress leave during cold and flu season and let everyone else get on with it?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313428#Comment_119313428

You think?

Funny how after the last incident senior management followed up with a strongly worded email to all staff reminding them they had to stay at home if they were ill or dislaying any flu like symptoms.

Welcome to the new workplace, post-covid, where your coughing and spluttering won't be tolerated.