Epidemic!

It seems there is an epidemic of cold and flu. Most people I know have had or currently have a cold or flu symptoms.

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to avoid people who've felt ill. The wife got a really bad flu on Friday and has been sick, tired and sleepy all weekend. So I slept in the other room, took a Vitamin C every day, kept the windows open and tried to keep my distance from her. Which was surprisingly difficult, it made me realise I like cuddles more than I thought I did! blech! ;)

And I thought I'd been successful in avoiding any illness, even though people around me were dropping like flies with runny noses, nausea and sore bodies! But no. I woke up this morning feeling freezing, sore all over and with a killer headache. So it's a pain in the ass, especially since I'm going to Berlin on Friday.

This led me to think about how people in the UK are far too willing to infect each other with minging viruses and colds. People who are ill go to work, thinking they should just 'power on through', and possibly unknowingly infect lots of the people they come into contact with.

For example, my wife is an optometrist and went to work on Saturday because she felt she had to because she doesn't get sick pay(!) and because she had to phone in a couple of weeks ago for another heavy cold she'd had. Her symptoms were so bad that she doesn't remember her working day, doesn't remember anything about the patients she had and had to turn her light off and sleep on the floor at lunchtime to avoid what she thought was a distinct possibility of fainting.

Good for her, you might think - and that's fair enough. But she should not have been allowed to go to work and probably pass her flu onto the people she was working with and her patients.

I think there should be rules in the UK about avoiding spreading these viruses and infections, especially if you work with the public. In the wife's case, she should have been told to go home straight away as soon as it became clear she was ill.

But now I'm ill, and I'm working today. So I should take my own advice and go home. But how bad would it have looked if I'd phone in sick on the first Monday back after Christmas/New Year?

"Hypocrite!" shout the non existent readers of this blog, "Hypocrite!"

But if there were rules in the workplace around sending ill staff home, then my boss would've told me to leave. Which would've been better than me awkwardly telling him I'm ill and need to get some rest.

Lemsip Max Cold and Flu Direct: Genius. Just hope I don't get a cough before I go to sub-zero Berlin, I can imagine getting whacked in the face by angry, sleepy roommates.