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That is so true, Mary. Too many people think they’re showing "weakness" if they don’t drag themselves into work no matter what. It just spreads the disease everywhere. That also goes for fathers and mothers sending their kids to school or preschool or daycare, knowing full well their child is running a fever or coughing. It happens! And then, the disease spreads so badly, the school ends up having to shut down. So, RIGHT, Mary! To all workers, mothers and fathers, "Don’t be a martyr yourself and don’t let your child go to school as a "carrier."
the problem with that mary and MJ is that some bosses don’t care how sick you are. if you stay home you lose your job. we need to try telling the bosses of the world that staying home when your sick is the best option. even with drs notes i have been let go (i’m in nevada a right to work state, they can drop you for any reason and no unemployment, sux). so some ppl just to pay rent, eat and live have to go to work sick. which just sucks!!!
if i find a business knowingly admits that their workers come in sick, i boycot them and get my friends to also. with a compromised immune system i do not need to deal with businesses that do not care about their clients. PERIOD.
Nancy, I’ve been out all day so am just now able to reply. I understand what you said about bosses who don’t care how sick you are even if you bring doctors’ notes in. I don’t know the answer because even some teachers get the evil eye so to speak if they call in sick…I know. Fact is, I always thought that if I went in and continued to get worse, no school system was going to pay for my funeral or take care of my family if I "went", so I had to weigh the consequences. In other words, if there were a real flu epidemic right now (and there probably is), who would replace you or your husband for your children if you went in and became sicker and maybe even died. I don’t know about you, but there would not be a choice…. I’d have to preserve my own self.
Now, I don’t know about this strain of flu (swine) but even taking the flu shot as I did may not be the thing that wards it off. I do know that my ex-husband’s grandfather came home from WWI and had to come through NYC back in 1918 before returning to NC. By the time he got to NC he had a full-blown case of flu. Back then of course, no shots, vaccines, etc. so they just had to do the best they could. His family thought that keeping him clean was a must so they moved him from a set of dirty sheets to a bed with clean sheets. At that point, they think he contracted pneumonia due to the chills of moving to a colder bed (though clean). He was a young man. He died, leaving a young wife and 6 children who were under the age of 10. That 1918 epidemic was a pandemic. This flu is nothing to mess around with. It may not be 1918 but people should never underestimate what can happen with flu.
I will do what you asked about talking to legislators re bosses who do not understand about illness and their employees. They certainly need to turn that mindset around. And I’ll be hoping you and your family stay well and don’t have to deal with a nasty employer this go round. My best to you.
To all workers, mothers and fathers, "Don’t be a martyr yourself and don’t let your child go to school as a "carrier."
most schools make money off the kids staying home. even with a drs note in the 80’s and 90’s when my daughter was sick, they still wanted her to go to school. she had some chronic problems with sickness. so she missed A LOT. i had CPS called on me numerous times and ended up losing jobs b/c i had to stay home with her. the schools called CPS constantly EVEN with the drs notes. but i never gave in and CPS always cleared me. what really burned my buns was when one school said "she can come in even with a 101 fever!" and put it in writing. i took it to the superintendant of schools with threats from my lawyer and they finally backed off. but schools can be just as bad.
one year when my daughter was going to elementary school in san francisco there was a lice outbreak. i got the meds from the health dept (the health dept in any county has to provide it free for children) and got the remedy. when i got a drs note and asked the school principle to tell ALL the students. she refused saying it would cause a panic. i went to the superintendant and the next day she had flyers out, BUT to only HALF the students. i had to call again. then she did an announcement and gave ALL the kids flyers. so schools aren’t perfect about it either and i don’t nessasarily trust them to let parents keep their kids home.
Definitely, stay home from work. Also, if the clearning crew uses the same rag to clean your office as the others, consider locking your office door and cleaning your own office for a few weeks.
I, too, am immunosuppressed, one small papercut becomes a WWIII battle scar. So I’ve learned to keep "Wet Ones" in my car, in my offices, in my home, and use them whenever I’ve exchanged anything with anyone or touched door handles, etc. I swear by those wipes [and the flu shots].
Josie,
That is often one’s response when one hasn’t had any real experience with whatever is being reported. I live in suburban NY (not in Queens which has already reported 20 cases) and today one of our public schools was closed and is being disinfected because 3 teachers have come down with flu symptoms that resemble swine flu.
I also stopped by a friend’s house to pick up a lacrosse uniform that was being lent to my daughter by her daughter. My friend looked like she had been hit by a truck and said that she was having such trouble breathing she worried she might have pneumonia. She added that she had been sick all week and her doctor had changed her prescription twice, but she was becoming more and more debilitated with each day. I went home and read the swine flu symtoms reported in the newspaper and they matched hers. She is now at the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.
Lucinda-
I’ve had some experience with dire illness. Too much for my liking lately. I am so sorry to hear about your experience with this right now. Please accept my apologies for taking it too lightly. However, when every news station is bludgeoning fear into the nation, I must ask myself…is this helpful? Is watching the news helpful to me and my circumstances? And…how do fear hormones promote illness in our bodies? If we have a nation in an extreme state of fear, the virus won’t kill us nearly as fast as the fear. So, I see alot of media running in circles and screaming and shouting….and I ask you is it helpful? Maybe there are better options.
Hi Lucinda,
sorry to hear about your friend. Last week when this hit the news they reported 2 sick in Kansas and earlier in the day I had just stopped in that little town of about 8,000 at the gas station and got gas and some tea and I have to admit I was worrying a little if I had used my purell after I pumped and went in. feeling fine still about 4 days later but it did make me think.
Hi, Josie, haven’t "seen" you for awhile. Had to take a break from wow for awhile. I totally agree with you, and I know all the "talking heads" will do what they can to create undue panic. The only reliable source of information right now is the CDC. Listening to the networks is not feasible right now; maybe check the local news once or twice a day…
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/