Heard something at work today that stopped my heart.

[progressive nobody]

First the good news: I think they are gearing up to keep us at home and are no longer mandating us to go to the office soon. I guess some can't due to the type of job they do but if they can get the majority of us out of the office that is a good thing.

Now for the info that really has me freaking out. Let me set the office view-- It is basically a huge room with groups of cubicles thru out the room. So the girl in the cubicle next to me tells me she was at the doctor yesterday and she was running a little fever and she has had a sore throat. She was offered a test and declined it. My heart stopped. I couldn't help it my first question is why. and her answer was I can't get sick I don't have anymore time off. (she is a single mother and I totally emphasized. I was raised by one.) I told her you need to take this seriously. She said she does but she can't miss work. She then says her son has asthma and her son is having shortness of breath and coughing but he is at his dad and they don't give him oils to help him breath. I am wearing my mask but my eyes probably showed my concern. I said you might want to get him in to see the doctor. She said she can't today because he has to go to the orthopedic doctor today. ( poor kid fell and broke his arm.) I again stressed if it was me I would get myself and son checked out.

She silent for a little bit. She then said. I know how serious the virus is but I can't afford to lose my job. I told her I understand (My husband and I had been going back and forth about what to do with my job with the lack of social distancing. I am the only one in the office wearing a mask the whole entire work day. I don't eat or drink when I am at work. Some people do not mask at all. Some will put mask on when they walk around the office but as soon as they are in the cubicle they take the mask off. I don't scream it but I want to "What the F!!! you aren't really protecting yourself or others."

I felt bad that I might have come across rude so I said. I am sorry if I sounded rude but I don't take this lightly. My husband and I both have preexisting conditions. We know 3 people who have been affected by the virus. one person had a relative that died. my husband's friend got it and died from it. My husband has another friend who ended up on a ventilator for 25 days lost 60 pounds and 3 months after getting out of the hospital last week he completed his first 40 hour work week and it took at lot at of him. I have a college friend who got it in April the first time and it was a mild case but she was down for about 3 weeks. Said it was like having pneumonia really bad. She got it again in May was placed on Oxygen and she had it another 2 and a half weeks. She thought she recovered and her Doctor thought she recovered has not had - no symptoms for 4 weeks but her tests keep coming back positive. I told her My husband and I are treating the situation like it is red(PA used color codes--we are in green now.) We only go to work and store we might get take out once in a while but we do not go anywhere we don't have to be.

She brought this up to me like she was asking for my advise and I told her as such. I told her I totally understand her fears and worry but if she didn't take care of herself how can she take care of others. She was silent again. then she started making calls about trying to get her son seen before going to the orthopedic doctor.

I hope I am able to work from home soon and not go to the office. I am also worried I overstep and it could just be a sinus infection as it is time of the year.

[qazplm135]

1. if it's nothing, she'll find out and have peace of mind

if it's something, she'll find out and take appropriate action.

I get her mindset. The threat of losing her job is real, and immediate and clear. The threat of COVID is more nebulous, and the possible outcome is more varied, but the worst case scenario is way worse than just losing your job.

But humans just aren't good at that kind of thinking. We are designed to prioritize the immediate threat over the hypothetical threat even if the worst case scenario of the latter is more dangerous. That's why we have to think harder, and it's why she was asking for your advice. She was worried but her default mode was "I don't want to risk this immediate threat."

[The empressof all]

2. We need to start pressuring employers to step up more

Those employers who need to have on site staffing need to recognize and prepare for extended sick leaves and begin to put those policies in place including plans for extended home quarentines when family members get sick. In addition these employers need to begin to address the fact that they have benifited from the free child care our educational systems have provided allowing their staff to work without paying for the supervision of their child. It may be time to look start looking at more creative methods for scheduling and providing on site child care for their employees.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. Well, if she gets sick ensough she'll have to take time off,

maybe even spend time in the hospital. For months perhaps. How is that better than taking some time off now? Not to mention that declining the test itself has no effect on whether or not she really has the virus.

[Squinch]

4. This is horrifying. Much as I sympathize with the woman, the alternative here is death to some of

her office mates. And death to some of the other patients at her son's orthopedists.

Death.

I just had my annual checkup. I'm in NY. They staff told me of a person in March who lied and said she did not have a cough or fever. She came into the office, coughed and infected most of the staff. The staff was out, the patients who caught it did not have access to their doctor for weeks. Some died. My doctor now says she is living with terrible guilt, though by her account to me she did everything right. In fact, she went way over and above what other doctors do.

My heart is broken for her and for her patients.

This is what this woman is exposing you to. Your colleague might not have any days left in her bank, but that does not give her the right to kill you.

[crickets]

5. You did a good thing today.

You got her attention, and made her stop and think. It sounds like she's been trying hard not to think about it, hoping that it will just pass her and her family by. She reconsidered and took action. That's a positive. Avoiding tests won't make it go away. Getting tested and taking steps to deal with the results are things she needed to do and it sounds like she's going to do it. You may have saved her life, or her son's life, or the lives of people at work she might otherwise have infected if she's ill. If she's not, testing may give her and everyone around her peace of mind, another win. Go you.