Stay Home!
Tuesday, January 25th, 2005My nose alternates between running like an open water main and stopping up like a clogged drain. My eyes burn and water. My throat is raw. My head feels like an overfilled balloon. My lungs feel heavy and I can barely breathe. I have felt this way since Saturday. I have a cold. And I’m pissed.
I don’t know where I picked up the germ. It could have been anywhere — the gym, the grocery store, the gas station — but most likely the source was work. The building I spend 40+ hours a week has turned into an eight-story germ incubator. Every floor has its particular flavor of cold germ, but those of us who travel from floor to floor in search of accurate product information are susceptible to all of them.
In order to stop this communicable disease merry-go-round, all we need to do is one thing: STAY HOME! If you are sneezing, sniffling, or coughing, do NOT come to work. You’re not helping your own productivity and, in fact, you could be affecting the productivity of those around you by spreading your germs.
Those of us with compromised immune systems are at more risk than most. So, if you’re sick and you stubbornly decide to come to work anyway, do NOT come near me, and do not touch anything that I might touch. Also, sneeze and cough into a clean tissue, throw it away (don’t reuse it), and then go WASH YOUR HANDS.
The guy who sits in the cube next door sniffled and sneezed all day on Wednesday. I told him that he had a cold and needed to go home, but he insisted that it was just allergies. The next day, he called in sick, but he, being a stoic type, returned on Friday. I suspect that the germs from his cold migrated to my nasal passages sometime between Wednesday and Friday evening, because by Saturday, I was down for the count.
A few cold germ facts from commoncold.org, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and other sources: The incubation period (from the time the cold germs attack until symptoms peak) is typically 36-72 hours. The common cold is contagious between 24 hours before onset of symptoms until 5 days after onset.
What does that mean? If you’re sniffling and sneezing, you’re CONTAGIOUS. Get your ass home and stay there until you’re better. Don’t make me call your mother.