To call in sick or not to call in sick? The question arises often during cold and flu season. Deciding whether you should take a day off may affect more than just you and your sickly self. People who soldier on through their illnesses by showing up at work can actually encourage more illness and cost the company money in lost productivity. When in doubt, it's often best to stay at home to rest and avoid spreading infections to others. Two days after catching a cold is when symptoms usually begin, and this is the most contagious time, when people are most likely to pass on the cold to someone else. These are the days when you notice the first signs and symptoms – sneezing, runny nose, cough. Once symptoms appear, they can last anywhere from two to 14 days and remain contagious for up to 2 weeks. You can spread the flu virus in the day or two before symptoms set in, but you won't even know yet that you're a contagion danger. You’ll typically remain contagious for up to 5 to 7 days after you’ve been sick. A few sniffles and sneezes, a cough now and then – these aren't big contagion dangers as long as you practice healthy hygiene around your workplace. Wash your hands more often with soap and water, or keep a bottle of hand sanitizer convenient. Keep your hands and germs to yourself by avoiding touching too many things around your workplace. Wipe your nose or sneeze into disposable tissues and throw them in the garbage immediately after you are done using them. But for your own good and the sake of your coworkers' health, follow these guidelines for when you should call in sick:
If your symptoms escalate, you may have another call to make, this time to the doctor's office. Seek medical attention if:
All material copyright MediResource Inc. 1996 – 2022. Terms and conditions of use. The contents herein are for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Source: www.medbroadcast.com/healthfeature/gethealthfeature/Do-It-Yourself-Cold-Relief The common cold is—as the name suggests—incredibly common. In fact, the US sees about one billion cases of the common cold each year, according to MedlinePlus, a resource from the US National Library of Medicine. That number is largely attributed to the number of viruses that can cause a cold—about 200 or so, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, and coronaviruses. But colds are also extremely contagious. The CDC says they can be spread through the air, through close contact with infected people, and even through an infected person's fecal matter (say, if they don't properly wash their hands after using the bathroom). On average, a cold is contagious for about two weeks—specifically, you will be contagious a few days before your symptoms begin and until after you are no longer symptomatic. But you are most contagious when your symptoms are the most severe, which is typical during the first two to three days of your illness. You can take all the necessary steps to protect yourself—washing your hands with soap and water, avoiding touching your face, and staying away from sick people—but chances are, you'll still cross paths with a cold virus and come down with something. But even in that case, you can still take steps to protect someone else from the fate that befell you—and that has a lot to do with knowing how long cold viruses last and how contagious they are. According to the CDC, certain things may make you more likely to catch a cold. While it's possible to get a cold anytime during the year, you are most likely to get one during the fall and winter months, commonly referred to as cold and flu season. Infants and young children will typically get colds more often than adults in a given year. And being in close contact with someone who is sick with a cold will also increase your chances of developing a cold yourself. The basics: MedlinePlus says the incubation period of a cold—or the amount of time between when you're infected and when you begin to show symptoms—is about two or three days. Unfortunately, it's during that time when you may be most contagious, Jazmine Sutton, MD, a hospital medicine specialist at Cleveland Clinic, told Health. "Most common colds are caused by viruses and the highest infectious period is usually one to two days prior to symptom onset and during the first two to three days of symptoms," Dr. Sutton said. Those symptoms Dr. Sutton is referring to are just typical cold symptoms: sore throat, runny nose, coughing, sneezing, headaches, and body aches. (Just FYI: while some colds can cause an elevated body temperature, fevers are more commonly due to the flu, COVID-19, or other viruses.) Once those cold symptoms show up, they can last anywhere from a few days to up to two weeks, per MedlinePlus. And in the majority of cases, a cold is most often not contagious after the first week. But that's not always a hard-and-fast rule; as long as you're still coughing or showing symptoms of any kind, you may still be contagious. "Sometimes, you may have a nagging cough that lingers for an additional week or two" after you've started feeling better, Dr. Sutton said. And in rare cases, Dr. Sutton added, you can still be infectious even after symptoms resolve, due to something called viral shedding, or when a virus replicates in the body and makes its way out into the environment. Basically, your best bet for protecting yourself and others during cold and flu season: Continue taking the necessary preventative measures like hand washing and physically distancing yourself from sick people. And if you do come down with a cold, it may be wise to track your own symptoms and try to isolate as much as possible during the first few days when a cold can be most contagious—and remain vigilant after that until you're back to feeling 100%. |
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