Something I have noticed since the start of 2022 with everything opening back up is that people are still either showing up to work or school while sick or still having some form of work to do instead of resting. I have noticed an increase in this phenomenon post covid. Now this may have always been a thing and I am more cutely aware now that the pandemic has shifted a lot of our perspectives on the world, but I feel like the use of sick days has become obsolete. I have listed below a few reasons why I stand by the statement that Covid has gotten rid of the sick day.
Just Zoom On In
One of my favorite things to come from Covid was meetings and stuff being moved to Zoom so that I could attend meetings and such without changing out of my sweatpants and physically leaving my room. This quickly became a nuisance, with my schools campus-wide wifi only really working about an hour a day and my opportunity for a break when class was canceled was demolished It really became upsetting last August when I was sent home with Covid and still had to zoom in for classes. On the bright side, I am extremely grateful that I was able to keep up with my classmates those two weeks (this was 2021 when the required quarantine was two weeks) and was not shoved behind, which would have caused a lot of problems with the rest of the semester. Realistically though, I was so sick and felt so terrible all I wanted to do was sleep but I had to stay awake to try and pay attention to the teacher I could hardly hear via Zoom. I’d also doze off a few times out of pure sickness and woke up embarrassed when it was a small group discussion I was supposed to be an active part of. While I was caught up on work, I felt like I was not really learning anything as I had to fight my body to be virtually present. This happened again last week when I had sinus infection, when I had to zoom into a meeting while battiling a terrible ear ache where all I wanted was to take medicine and sleep. Zoom has done wonders in keeping everyone connected and caught up, but it has gotten rid of the ability to rest and recover and take a true break while sick. I spent most of my time out with Covid trying to juggle zooming into class and meeting instead of laying down and sleeping to try and recover, and this has affected many people.
Nothing is Taken as Serious
I have found that recently if a sickness is found to not be Covid, it is simply pushed to to the side. Recently with cold and flu season hitting, a lot of people who are genuinely sick are slapping on a mask and going to work or class instead of resting out of fear of either being being or getting some form of punishment. Even doctors do not push further than a Covid test. When I went to the doctors for my infection earlier this week, when I told them I had taken a Covid test before that was negative they kind of went through the motions after and gave me recommendations and sent me on my way instead of testing for strep or flu. I had to schedule and go a second time, still with a negative Covid result, to get the diagnosis of a sinus infection and help. I feel like with the usage of masks people are going out more and more while sick because if it’s not Covid, it’s not too bad. This in turn spreads to others and keeps the sick cycle going. This is very prevalent in classrooms, with many of the students I work with in my field placement getting sent to school with a runny nose, bad cough, and temperature and having to be sent home. These students do show up with masks which is good, for others, but it affects others during lunch and snack and even though it may not be covid, there are still some more severe disabilities (I am a special education major so I work in a UP1 classroom) in the room that can lead to extreme consequences to the students if they get sick. This is not to blame the parents as being out of school can cause more harm than good, but it is harmful to the students and others to show up sick. I have noticed I have even gone to class while sick while wearing a mask out of fear of falling behind, and it being ok because I was covid negative, but being miserable the whole time. This isn’t even to mention those who show up sick without a mask because they know they don’t have covid so they care less about spreading it. Showing up when needed is important, but being expected to come because you are Covid negative can still have consequences.
Now Covid is a terrible disease, but it should not be the end all be all when it comes to sickness. Colds, the Flu, and infections should be seen as dangerous to others as well and people who are sick should be given time to rest and fully recover, without the fear of failure keeping them up and active. We should strive to be more ok with people simply not being present when they physically or mentally can not be. We should get full sick days back.