If people are coughing and sneezing, and are achy in anyway, or have gastro issues, those would discourage me from being with them (and I would stay home with any of those symptoms). And many of these never have a fever.
If one does have a fever, it is recommended that one stays home for 24 hours after the fever subsides…no Tylenol or anything else to reduce that fever.
Agreed! My H never had a fever with Covid. But he was coughing, had a sore throat, runny nose, and tested positive for over a week. He isolated for 5 days, wore a high quality mask, and worked from home until he was negative. He initially tested with “just” the sniffles and a scratchy throat because we were going to party where the host had a new baby in the house.
IMO, if you have any symptoms, it’s being a good human to take precaution and give people you are going to see/stay with a heads up.
That is all very true. But what I am asking is a practical criterion we can use in everyday life. Someone is always sniffling or coughing in subway in winter. Shall I refuse to get on in it?
We obviously all have different comfort levels. I still wear a mask in crowds, including public transportation. But this is about showing up obviously sick at someone else’s house.
Right now I have covid. So does my DH. Neither of us has had a fever. The symptoms are like having a cold. Stuffy head, runny nose, intermittent cough. The only difference between this and the cold I just had (from the grandkids) was a slight headache. If we hadn’t tested we might have thought it was another cold. In this day and age, with runny noses and cough, especially if one is traveling or planning to stay with friends, IMO they should test if they have these symptoms.
They did test from what I understand.
If it’s constant hacking cough and non-stop sticky runny nose, it is easy, it looks sick. You stay in. How about sniffles and coughing? It could be something. Do I stay in every time I get sniffles? In winter? Do you?
You can mask up. They have been doing this in Japan for decades when they have those symptoms .
When I got COVID a few weeks ago, I had a fever less than a day. I was contagious for days after that and I wasn’t even coughing much at that point.
It depends on whether the sniffles/throat clearing is different than your everyday norm. Some people sniffle/throat clearing cough to a degree every single day. We do have a guy in our office (not plague boy) like this. Probably uncontrolled allergies. But I can tell the minute his symptoms deviate from his norm. One of my lovely talents (eye roll), though it helps when you sit across from them 40 hours a week.
If you don’t have symptoms like that every day, and then develop them, then yes. It’s probably something. A mild cold perhaps. Should you stay in every time? Probably not isolate for 7 days, but I would say stay away from crowds, mask if you must be in them (public transportation), you can go to work, but I would tell people “you might want to stay away. I might be coming down with something.” And if you were going to someone’s house or were having guests, I’d probably tell them the same thing. Describe your symptoms, and let them choose what they want to do.
I have not read this entire thread, but for those of you who advised that the guests should be told to go stay at a hotel, wouldn’t you also have concerns about exposing the chamber maids and other hotel workers? As you boot them from your house, would you advise your friends to alert those cleaning their hotel rooms of their illness and the need to safely disinfect after check out?
Part of the reason why I am curious is that the covid policy at D22’s college last year surprised me. If students were close enough to home to be picked up by a family member then the college asked for the students to go home. Otherwise, they were told to isolate in the room if possible --roommate should “try” to find some place else to sleep. But staying in a hotel was prohibited (though I am sure it could not have been enforced) to avoid exposing hotel personnel. I remember reading the policy and feeling surprised by it --that the college would rather potentially expose the roommates over exposing people in the hotel. On one hand, there is a good chance that the chambermaids would be hit harder with the illness, less able to take time off from work, or care for their own families while recovering from COVID than most 18 and 19yos. Still, in my mind, it would be easier to let the hotel know about the illness. Presumably the hotel can take protective measures when cleaning the room thoroughly while a roommate would be exposed to their covid roomie more like 24/7 --certainly it will be more than a short exposure.
And I don’t fully recall, but I think the students were prohibited from traveling home via public transportation if the parents could not pick them up (I may be mixing the transportation piece up with one of my kids’ boarding schools). Anyway, I had not really thought about this issue (of ill people staying in hotels during vacations) until reading the policy of D22’s college. I was very aware of the issues faced by waitstaff, housecleaners, and other domestic staff during the height of the pandemic, and I have some friends and family who felt unable to protect themselves at work and that their safety was repeatedly compromised by the thoughtlessness of their clients. But in the couple of years since the height of the pandemic, I had sort of forgotten about the topic and I never really thought about it in connection to other sorts of contagious illnesses.
I admit that I have not read how the COVID policy at her college may have changed this year. I know that some school systems are allowing covid+ students to attend class (masked). So I imagine it is all loosening up everywhere.
It doesn’t surprise me that students are confined to the campus. After the exposure, they should be quarantined.
Anyway this isn’t about Covid or flu. This is a case of a common cold. What to do if you get a cold on the road? I am interested in where to draw a line when you have a common cold. I always thought living is taking a bit of risk from others and causing a bit of trouble to others. We try to minimize of course. Every time we get behind the wheel, we have a potential to kill someone. I doubt it stops anyone here from driving. So how much sniffle and cough we should be mindful of? Most of them don’t get diagnosed beforehand.
I test when I have cold symptoms. If the test is negative I cover my mouth with my arm if I need to cough or sneeze. And I wouldn’t visit vulnerable people, either.
I cover my mouth all the time to sneeze or cough since projectiles from my mouth/nose is gross even to me. Is there a test for a common cold?
Test for COVID.
Except at her college, roommates were not quarantined just the student. So it didn’t make a lot of sense to me to keep exposing the roommate --no help was given finding other accommodations for the roommate while quarantining the students.
Anyway this isn’t about Covid or flu.
Sure. I was really just using that as an example. I had never really thought to worry about the hotel personnel’s exposure to illnesses before covid. But now that it has been brought to my attention, it has occurred to me (as I read this thread) that protecting oneself by booting the guests from my home at the last minute may mean putting other people (those who work at the hotel) at risk. I doubt it would have occurred to me if it hadn’t been for D22’s college’s policy last year.
Can return to the topic of WWYD and dispense with debate, availability of COVID tests, campus regulations, how you cough, etc
To clarify, I was not debating campus policies. I was trying to explain why what I would do with sick houseguests now is different than what I might have done five years ago. I might feel uncomfortable protecting myself at the potential expense of people with less choice and fewer resources than I have. In the past, it had not occurred to me to worry about the impact of illnesses on hotel workers. Now, I think that I would either keep them in my home and try to avoid contact OR I would strongly urge them to cut their vacation short and return home where they would be exposing no one. I probably would no longer suggest a hotel.
or RSV
We stayed at hotels while sick with covid, because we happened to be traveling. We chose hotels with balconies, so we could get fresh air in the room. When you open the balcony door and the hallway door, you get great cross ventilation. We no longer use daily maid service in hotels, whether sick or not.
We never had covid while traveling. Nearly all of our local hotels do have good cross ventilation IF windows/balconies are opened.