Cold and Flu Season and Mass

[garn9173]

If I have a cold, I will avoid the sign of peace and drinking from the cup, but other than that if I don’t have a fever, life goes on for me and that includes going to work and if on Sunday’s going to Mass.

The COMMON cold is as common this time of year as snow is here in Iowa.

 

[pnewton]

If I have a cold, I will avoid the sign of peace and drinking from the cup, but other than that if I don’t have a fever, life goes on for me and that includes going to work and if on Sunday’s going to Mass.

That’s my guideline. If I have a fever, I stay home. If I have a cold with no fever, then no cup or shaking. Coughing and sneezing, it happens a lot during allergy season. Allergies are not contagious.

 

[centurionguard]

Again, I have suffered from coughing and hacking continuously for the better part of 12 years now. Although I am sick, in that I suffer from an illness, I am not going to permanently cease attending Divine Liturgy because somebody, in their own lack of charity, assumes the worst about me.

I know, I’m a bit sensitive on this issue. I’m just tired of getting dirty looks and being avoided.

My apologies; I wasn’t particularly pointing your situation out. Besides I suffer with Asthma and have to take several meds and puffers. If I get into a bad coughing spell I remove myself from the congregation until feel better so as not to impose my noise on others.

And I was directing what I spoke about on people who are sick with the common cold and coughing and sneezing. These kind of ailments puts me out of commission, so I won’t attend Mass when I sick like this.

Fraternally Yours In Christ
Chris

 

[babochka]

If I have a cold, I will avoid the sign of peace and drinking from the cup, but other than that if I don’t have a fever, life goes on for me and that includes going to work and if on Sunday’s going to Mass.

The COMMON cold is as common this time of year as snow is here in Iowa.

Sounds reasonable. In the case of my family (5 kids), we could be out of commission entirely from October through April or May if we stayed away from everyday life for every cold and sniffle.

 

[snowflakeinlove]

Again, I have suffered from coughing and hacking continuously for the better part of 12 years now. Although I am sick, in that I suffer from an illness, I am not going to permanently cease attending Divine Liturgy because somebody, in their own lack of charity, assumes the worst about me.

Same here, I have pretty bad allergies, so I’m always sneezing and coughing at mass. I don’t mean to

 

[tabycat]

Seven years ago I had a premature infant who came home from the NICU on November 3rd. We were advised that because his lungs were immature and his immune system was weaker due to his prematurity, that we should avoid taking him to public places unnecessarily until flu season was over in April. This meant no grocery store, no family parties, no shopping malls, no parks, no restaurants, no Church.

We were also advised to not go out unnecessarily ourselves because of what we could bring home to our tiny boy. So, we often had others run our errands and declined almost all invitations out so that we could stay as healthy as possible. My husband’s work colleagues were all informed to stay home if they even thought they MIGHT be getting sick and my husband basically holed up in his office until the spring to avoid others as much as possible.

Even a simple cold can be life-threatening to newborns, the elderly and the immune compromised. What is just an annoying sniffle to you can literally mean DEATH or weeks of misery in the hospital to someone else, or someone else’s child.

If I could have counted on people never to go out when they were ill, maybe my husband and I would not have had to miss 6 months of Mass, and the graces associated with it while we were struggling after a traumatic birth and a two-month horrific battle in the NICU. I know we had a valid reason to avoid church, but it’s sad that people are so self-centered that they’d rather risk the health and lives of others than stay home from Mass for one or two weeks!

If you think that going to Mass when you have a cold is okay, as long as you aren’t hacking in someone’s ear, you are so wrong. Stay home! You have a valid excuse and it is not worth potentially killing someone over! If you seriously cannot go one or two weeks without the Eucharist, call the church and have a healthy lay minister bring the sacrament to your home!

Sheesh. This makes me so upset. Can’t trust anyone to be responsible anymore!

: :hug3:

 

[pnewton]

If you think that going to Mass when you have a cold is okay, as long as you aren’t hacking in someone’s ear, you are so wrong. Stay home! You have a valid excuse and it is not worth potentially killing someone over!

Sheesh. This makes me so upset. Can’t trust anyone to be responsible anymore!

Anyone who would be potential killed by someone having a cold in the same area as they are should not be out in public, as per your physician’s instructions. People are germ ridden, cold or no cold. Again, let us look to Church teaching and stick with that instead of sitting in the judgment seat over others.

 

[tabycat]

Then what is your point? It sounds like you have made your decision, namely, to sit back in judgment upon others. A valid excuse is not an order to stay away. Furthermore, illness is listed in the context of a *serious *reason. The Church does not require people to stay away. I promise you no lay person should be making up their own rules and trying to boss and bully others into staying away for the Eucharist.

People with contagious disease can use their own judgment on the matter. People with immune issues can likewise take precautions.

Sometimes taking precautions does not protact you from someone coughing and/or sneezing into their hand and then grabbing your hand in the Sof P giving you what they got.

 

[babochka]

If I could have counted on people never to go out when they were ill, maybe my husband and I would not have had to miss 6 months of Mass, and the graces associated with it while we were struggling after a traumatic birth and a two-month horrific battle in the NICU. I know we had a valid reason to avoid church, but it’s sad that people are so self-centered that they’d rather risk the health and lives of others than stay home from Mass for one or two weeks!

Sheesh. This makes me so upset. Can’t trust anyone to be responsible anymore!

You had a valid and important reason for missing Mass and all social activities for a number of months, and I congratulate you on your willingness to do the right thing for your baby. I think we should be respectful of others and avoid knowingly transmitting illness to another, but surely you realize that many, many illnesses are at their most contagious before symptoms are present. If everyone with visible signs of illness were to stay home for the duration of their illness, it would still not prevent the disease from being spread and would not have protected your baby. If you or a loved one has a condition in which the immune system is compromised, it is understandable that YOU would take extreme measures to avoid exposure. It is not reasonable that the whole world avoid church, shopping, and all other activities outside the house because of the small possibility that a person might come into contact with an immune compromised individual.

I hope you were able to have Holy Communion brought to you during this time.

Last winter, several of my children were ill with 3 days of fever, flu-like symptoms, and a cough that held on for weeks. I asked my doctor if we were contagious once the fever was gone, since we had an ongoing cough. The main reason I asked was that I didn’t want to inflict this illness on anyone else. He answered that we were most likely not contagious after the fever had been gone for 24 hours, but if we wanted to avoid dirty looks from other parents, we might want to stay home until the worst of the cough was gone.

 

[JackieMom]

Anyone who would be potential killed by someone having a cold in the same area as they are should not be out in public, as per your physician’s instructions. People are germ ridden, cold or no cold. Again, let us look to Church teaching and stick with that instead of sitting in the judgment seat over others.

But it’s a chain reaction. You get the lady next to you at Mass, a bank teller, sick, she gets your neighbor who uses her bank sick, he rings the doorbell to borrow an egg and achoo - he’s infected you. You infect your elderly mother before you realize you’re sick, and a week later she’s in the ICU. If you feel okay about potentially causing someone to die because you don’t want to stay home for one Sunday, I don’t know what to say. Too bad people with compromised immunity can NEVER attend Mass because some people can’t be bothered to miss ONE Sunday when they’re sick.

 

[JackieMom]

You had a valid and important reason for missing Mass and all social activities for a number of months, and I congratulate you on your willingness to do the right thing for your baby. I think we should be respectful of others and avoid knowingly transmitting illness to another, but surely you realize that many, many illnesses are at their most contagious before symptoms are present. If everyone with visible signs of illness were to stay home for the duration of their illness, it would still not prevent the disease from being spread and would not have protected your baby. If you or a loved one has a condition in which the immune system is compromised, it is understandable that YOU would take extreme measures to avoid exposure. It is not reasonable that the whole world avoid church, shopping, and all other activities outside the house because of the small possibility that a person might come into contact with an immune compromised individual.

I hope you were able to have Holy Communion brought to you during this time.

Last winter, several of my children were ill with 3 days of fever, flu-like symptoms, and a cough that held on for weeks. I asked my doctor if we were contagious once the fever was gone, since we had an ongoing cough. The main reason I asked was that I didn’t want to inflict this illness on anyone else. He answered that we were most likely not contagious after the fever had been gone for 24 hours, but if we wanted to avoid dirty looks from other parents, we might want to stay home until the worst of the cough was gone.

Of course we can’t always know when we are contagious. But it’s nice when people do what they CAN to protect the weakest and most vulnerable among us. Even if it means making the small sacrifice of missing one or two masses, days of work, parties, etc. so that others can be safer.

 

[garn9173]

Of course we can’t always know when we are contagious. But it’s nice when people do what they CAN to protect the weakest and most vulnerable among us. Even if it means making the small sacrifice of missing one or two masses, days of work, parties, etc. so that others can be safer.

I’m not using precious sick days at work for a COMMON cold. To be honest, it’s none of my business or concern if someone may be around me with a weak immune system, food allergies, etc. I do not buy into “it takes a village” line of thinking.

In fact, the times when I do catch a cold, I don’t bother wasting my money on cough drops, cough medicine, etc.

 

[coachdennis]

Anyone who would be potential killed by someone having a cold in the same area as they are should not be out in public, as per your physician’s instructions. People are germ ridden, cold or no cold. Again, let us look to Church teaching and stick with that instead of sitting in the judgment seat over others.

 

[babochka]

Of course we can’t always know when we are contagious. But it’s nice when people do what they CAN to protect the weakest and most vulnerable among us. Even if it means making the small sacrifice of missing one or two masses, days of work, parties, etc. so that others can be safer.

I don’t disagree. I am writing this form home on Sunday morning, while my family is at Mass, because I’m sick. Also, for some without sick leave, missing a couple of days of work is not a small sacrifice. It could mean being unable to pay the bills that month. It can also be a major sacrifice to go to work, even though you are sick, for the sake of your family.

I was responding in particular to this:

If I could have counted on people never to go out when they were ill, maybe my husband and I would not have had to miss 6 months of Mass, and the graces associated with it while we were struggling after a traumatic birth and a two-month horrific battle in the NICU. I know we had a valid reason to avoid church, but it’s sad that people are so self-centered that they’d rather risk the health and lives of others than stay home from Mass for one or two weeks!

These are extreme circumstances that call for extreme measures. Even if everyone in the world stayed home at the first sign of illness and for the duration of its symptoms, she and her family still would have been advised to stay home during this period. The consideration of others is appropriate and appreciated, but that alone would not have protected her baby and allowed to her to to Mass during this time.

 

[Saints_Alive]

I remember last year around this time, a Dominican Friar was praying Mass, and twice he pulled out his hanky while at the altar and wiped his nose. This was a weekday Mass with perhaps 60 in the pews.

I’m usually near the front, and I received Communion on the tongue from the Friar that day. Returning to my pew, I glanced around and didn’t notice anyone remaining in their pew for fear of getting sick. We all survived.

As far as catching a cold or flu from someone, I’ve always heard that once a person who is ill shows the symptoms, he/she is beyond the infectious stage. I could be mistaken

 

[garn9173]

Of course we can’t always know when we are contagious. But it’s nice when people do what they CAN to protect the weakest and most vulnerable among us. Even if it means making the small sacrifice of missing one or two masses, days of work, parties, etc. so that others can be safer.

I’m not burning precious sick time at for a common cold. I could care less and to be honest, it’s none of my business to know what if any pre-existing conditions that others around me may have. I do not buy into “it takes a village”.

 

[babochka]

As far as catching a cold or flu from someone, I’ve always heard that once a person who is ill shows the symptoms, he/she is beyond the infectious stage. I could be mistaken

I’m pretty sure that you are still contagious while showing symptoms. The fever is actively fighting off the virus, which is still present in your body. The cold virus is abundantly present in the mucous of a cold. You are often more contagious before you show symptoms, though.

 

[babochka]

I’m not burning precious sick time at for a common cold. I could care less and to be honest, it’s none of my business to know what if any pre-existing conditions that others around me may have. I do not buy into “it takes a village”.

Wow, that’s harsh. Even though we’re arguing the same side, I’m not entirely sure I want to be seen on this side anymore. We should care, simply because we care about our fellow man.

 

[coachdennis]

Colds are a part of life this time of year. Get use to it.

People should take reasonable precautions whenever possible. This is common sense.

People who extra - ordinary health concerns need to take responsibility for their extra-ordinary precautions. This is also common sense.

To expect everyone at Sunday Mass to stay home because there are special and extreme health measures among a few? This is not common sense

 

[pnewton]

If you feel okay about potentially causing someone to die because you don’t want to stay home for one Sunday, I don’t know what to say. Too bad people with compromised immunity can NEVER attend Mass because some people can’t be bothered to miss ONE Sunday when they’re sick.

No, I just don’t agree that I am going to cause anyone to die. I happen to know how to cover my mouth, avoid touching people and use hand-washing as needed. There are all levels of immunity. Those with severely compromised immunity have far less to fear from me than they do simply grabbing the handle to enter Church. My greatest danger to others is when I am oblivious to any potential illness I carry.

And no, I do not think any allergy I have will be passed on.