My older two boys had bad colds almost 2 weeks ago. They were better and back at school after 2 days. Then my youngest, 6 months old, get the cold along with a slight fever last thursday. The doctor said it was a virus and the fever was gone within 18 hours, though congestion was making her pretty miserable for a few days more (and she still has runny nose after a week). Last saturday my youngest DS was fine when he woke up, acted a bit cranky/whiny at lunchtime, then took a nap (which he rarely does now) and when he woke up he had a fever of 102. He threw up a few times on sunday, and was so listless and miserable. The fever continued at 102 (tylenol & motrin would bring it down) until monday, then he had a fever of 101 through wednesday. Thursday morning his ears hurt so I got him in to the doctor early. Meanwhile, my DH woke up monday just miserable. He stayed home from work monday & tuesday but returned wednesday.
So, yesterday I took Lincoln (youngest DS) in to get his ears checked, doctor looks him over and we talk about what he has been like all week, and he was diagnosed with H1N1 and an ear infection on top, poor little guy. Talking with the doctor, he does not bother to do the test because it has a 70% false negative rate...and H1N1 is going around badly here. I tell the doctor about DH's symptoms and he tells me "Call him and tell him he MUST leave work, and stay home until at minimum 7 days after the onset of symptoms" So, DH leaves work and plans to be home through tuesday. Which, in a way is good because he is still feeling pretty awful.
Here is the issue. DH is in sales, and does get a very small base salary. But, if he's not there he cant sell which means no commission. He also confessed that he is worried that his bosses will not pay him for this week because he only worked wednesday and about 2 hours on thursday.
So, this started me thinking (because our DS#3 come down with symptoms this evening *sigh*). How in the world are those without sick time (DH does not have any)those who are paid hourly, lower income, etc...how are they going to follow these guidelines? I am a SAHM, so once tuesday gets here, if DH is feeling better, he can head off to work. I will be here to care for any kids that come down with it.
But, from what I've learned: you are contagious for 1-2 days before symptoms start. The symptoms start suddenly, a matter of a few hours, not a day or two like other illnesses. You are highly contagious for at least 7 days after the onset of symptoms.
The CDC, doctors, everyone says stay inside, stay away from others. But, financially, there are a lot of people that *cannot* miss that much work. Financially, I'm not sure if we can...but DH is in sales and it is not responsible of him to be spreading this around. So, he will stay home till tuesday...and we will pray that his bosses don't with hold his base pay for missing so much work.
But, what of those that can't miss work? Can they stay home for a full week...then once they are almost clear to go back to work, one of their kids gets sick, and they have to stay home another week...In our case, if I was not a SAHM, and if our kids all get this (please no!) and they don't get it at the same time (remember, DS#4 got it, 2 days later DH got it, 5 days later DS#3 got it..) we could potentially be looking at 8 full weeks of having someone in the house 'quarantined'. If you do not have a SAHParent in the house...how in the world do you do that? I don't know of anyone who gets 8 weeks worth of sick days!
If it is an epidemic...if it is imperative that you stay home to stop the spread of this flu...are there programs in place to help those that are low income? Are they making it so employers can't fire someone for sick days if they or a child is diagnosed with H1N1?
It hits so fast, and it lasts so long...there are going to be a lot of people going to work while sick, sending their kids to school after dosing them with tylenol to cover the symptoms for a few hours, just so they don't lose their jobs or lose their pay for that week.
First of all I hope that all of your family (well those who are sick) get better soon and hope your whole family doesn't get it!
Second, you bring up an excellent point and one that I hope the government, or someone, is thinking about. People are not going to stay home as long as they should when they are financially pressed or if they are afraid of losing their job.
Let's think about a single mom with just one kid but very little support system. What if as the flu hit quickly and she did not have any tylenol, ibuprofen at home because she had run out and not replaced it? She would have to go out (exposing people) and get some, right? IDk but can you drive up to a pharmacy window w/o a prescription and ask for an over the counter medicine? I suppose that would be a way to avoid exposing too many people, but what about food for a week or 2 if she got sick and then her kid was sick or vice versa. If the kid is young she would have to take him/her with her when shopping.
As for sending kids to school sick you are absolutely right that it will and has happened. At my high school kids are making the decision to come to school themselves after taking medicine because they have some activity that they "can't miss". My school is "being watched" so attendence is very important to keep high. There are incentives for the kids to be at school every day or at least not miss more than 1 day, but what happens when they are sick and bringing that with them to school?
I really do hope that somewhere people are thinking about all the issues involved in H1N1 and thinking about policies before it is too late. I am disappointed that the vaccine has gotten so delayed that for many people by the time it is available it will be too late :(.
Jessi, I hope you and your family are feeling better soon...and I'm so sad that "They" were right about how this whole flu strain was going to spread so fast and be such a pest!
As far as employment, it really sucks that companies are so blind to the needs of their employees. Lemme think, have the whole office out because they don't offer sick time when employees have a SERIOUSLY contagious illness, or pay someone for a few days to keep it to themselves. I've run the gamut of sick time, from "take it when you need it " (one company, we got a day a month...holy cow, that's a LOT of sick time!) to "it's all lumped together, so if you get sick a lot, you don't have as much vacation time" (we started out at 3 weeks total, didn't go up until after 10 years with the company....it was LAME!) and right now, I'm in the middle. we have flex time (generous) and sick time, but the first day of an illness comes from flex with the rest coming from sick (that's how leaves go too, I can't complain about that!). our Safety team was trying to get HR to waive the fist-day-flex if someone had H1N1, but I haven't seen anything to make me believe they went for it. it's a shame for sure.
As for school, oh man. the policy when I was in high school was, if you had perfect attendence, you didn't have to take finals, unless the teachers absolutely required it. so we'd all find out on the first day of class which tests we could avoid and then yup, we'd all come to school sick just so we didn't have to take them. it was LUDICRUS! Seriously one of the dumbest things I've ever done....I had been throwing-up sick for a few hours at home, but somehow convinced my mom that I was ok and went to school so I could sit thru gym (counselor got me out of participating)....I sat thru 1st period chem and then when I got to 2nd period english, the test I REALLY wanted to avoid, the teacher said I looked faint and sent me home. BUT I WAS COUNTED AS PRESENT so I didn't have to take the test. it was a 24 hour bug, so I was much better the second day, but I even had a bathroom visit at school during 1st hour....I mean, COME ON. get with the times. yes, being present at school means a LOT, but taking care of yourself when you're sick means a lot too. so kids should NOT be punished because they get sick and they shouldn't be encouraged to go to school when they're sick, just to get some silly certificate that means nothing later in life. ~sigh~
Oh, BTW, I'm Coli :) I've been lurking for a bit and had to chime in :D
I don't have any sick time at work since I'm part-time. If I don't show up, I don't get paid. Luckily I've been very healthy so far <knock on wood> AND if I did have to miss a week of work well, we could easily get by since my DH is the main wage earner. But lots of people aren't so fortunate!
DH has a fairly generous sick leave policy - he accrues 10 hours a month for time off and it goes into a bank for use as sick time / vacation time. He currently has over 40 hours banked so he could lose a week.
I'm concerned about people who deal with the public who may not have sick time - waiters / baristas / sales clerks - if they have to work sick they may be spreading the disease which is pretty scary!
Thanks everyone for the well wishes! It turned out that Bastian (DS#3) did not come down with the flu as I feared. I'm thinking he just ate way too much junk and candy at his school Halloween party and made himself sick. His fever was low and was gone within a couple hours, and he felt fine again.*WHEW!*
Luckily DH did get paid last Friday, and he is headed back to work today...but he is expecting to be pulled into a conference room to talk about his missed hours. I told him that he should try to make them see it from a liability standpoint: since he was under doctors orders to stay quarantined, if he had gone to work and passed the virus to others and caused someones death and it was traced back to him, it would be the company liable since they pretty much forced him to go to work. I know, that is a completely "out there" scenario, but maybe it'll keep him from getting in trouble if his bosses put up a stink LOL
There are a lot of things about being a capitalistic society that really bother me, not the least of which is that everything is about what is best for the *company* NOT what is best for the employee or for the family.
It is a mixed message: stay home when you are sick but only if your company will allow it. And employers *say* they want poeople to stay home so they don't spread the illness, but they make it all but impossible to do so :-(
