Cold and Flu Season and Mass

[Timothysis]

Of course I go out. I just have to hope the people that went before me and with me displayed common courtesy, charity and good sense. I want to think that most people avoid going out unnecessarily while they are unwell.

That is a tall order in a nation of over 330 million people.

This goes for anything - school, work, the store, Mass. It infuriates me when parents send a sniffly, coughing child to school to infect the rest of the class just as much as it infuriates me when someone with an obvious cold plops down near me at church.

I’m sorry my going to Mass with an obvious cold infuriates you.

 

[Seeker1961]

So, you went to work five days a week for 8 hours a day with pneumonia but you couldn’t manage less than an hour at Mass on the Saturday vigil or Sunday morning?

After working 8 hours a day for 5 days all I could manage to do was sleep. I also was trying to be considerate of others. I would like to have been as considerate with those I come in contact with at my job, but that could have gotten me fired.

My confessor had much more compassion than you, thankfully.

 

[Timothysis]

My confessor had much more compassion than you, thankfully.

I have plenty of compassion, thank you. Just think about it, though. You are going to say that you managed to go to work 8 hours a day, five days a week, yet, couldn’t manage less than an hour on just one day of the weekend for Mass???

Curious.

 

[pnewton]

After working 8 hours a day for 5 days all I could manage to do was sleep. I also was trying to be considerate of others. I would like to have been as considerate with those I come in contact with at my job, but that could have gotten me fired.

My confessor had much more compassion than you, thankfully.

I would probably say much the same as you, depending on how critical the work day was. Worse case, I once had to go to work (years ago) with the flu and high (102+) fever and tough it out for half a day before I could get someone to relieve me. I would never do that at Mass.

If your confessor is also your priest, he has, by authority of the Church, full authority to grant a dispensation from Mass anyway. The question of how sick is too sick becomes moot.

We really need to quit trying to boss each other around on this. To attend or not is no one else’s decision. No one here has the right to judge another on attending, or not attending.

 

[Seeker1961]

I have plenty of compassion, thank you. Just think about it, though. You are going to say that you managed to go to work 8 hours a day, five days a week, yet, couldn’t manage less than an hour on just one day of the weekend for Mass???

Curious.

I can just feel the compassion running through that lecture…

 

[pnewton]

I disagree. USCCB published a statement.While they didn’t write it, they posted it on their website.

That statement was specific to one year, one epidemic.

 

[Timothysis]

I can just feel the compassion running through that lecture…

If it makes you feel better to say that you were well enough to work all week but not to go to Mass for one hour on the weekend, then more power to you.

 

[SecretGarden]

I think you just need to use common sense: if you are sick with a cold or flu, especially if you are coughing, blowing your nose etc a great deal because of a cold, stay home. If you had the stomach flu the day before, stay home. We can’t be selfish, it’s important to consider others because if you are very sick, chances are you will pass it onto someone else and it will create a domino effect.

As far as I’m concerned the rules are basic:

If you are sick but well enough to go to mass:

Throughout the duration of the cold or flu,
-please don’t join the community in having the wine because people don’t want to get sick. The host is ok. I think for hygienic reasons during the cold, please take it in your palm verses tongue.
- refrain from touching people, dipping your hand into the water to bless yourself. When I’m sick I will not shake hands nor give hugs. We will do the virtual thing because it’s seen as a form of respect.

If you are coughing because you are asthmatic, show people your pump so that they know it’s asthma and not a bad cold. It’s simple. Keep it in your hand and use it during mass, people will get the hint. Concerned people will ask. By simply showing the pump calms people’s fears. I have a friend who has a chronic cough and she will inform people if it’s the cough or a cold. She will also wear a mask to protect people.

I think it’s important to remember that it’s not that the person isn’t welcome into the church, it’s the cold that isn’t. We are called to worship, pray and share our lives together. The thing we aren’t called to share is the flu or common cold. We can’t protect each other all the time but we can certainly try by following some of the guidelines I listed above.

 

[Seeker1961]

If it makes you feel better to say that you were well enough to work all week but not to go to Mass for one hour on the weekend, then more power to you.

If it makes YOU feel better to completely miss the point, then keep right on doing it.

I was NOT well enough to work all week, the threat of losing my job forced me to work anyway. If I worked for a company that did not threaten to terminate people who called in, then I would have been home and probably would have recovered faster. Dr’s note or not, you still get points for calling in that can lead to termination.

There are companies all over with policies like this, most of them are the lower wage, service oriented places like retail stores, hotels and restaurants. You’ve got a lot more to worry about doing your shopping than you do about going to Mass as far as catching the flu.

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

Wow, passions sure are high on this topic.

If you go to Mass (where people are generally crowded together, a Eucharistic minister/priest is going to either come in contact with your hands or mouth, and you drink from the Cup shared with everyone else) with a contagious illness, then yes, you are purposely exposing other people to your illness. Just because you don’t see it that way, doesn’t make it less of a fact.

Colds aren’t infectious? Since when? I work in medical research and haven’t heard this wonderful news yet!

Of course colds are infectious. I never denied that. I denied that it was true or appropriate to accuse others of purposefully infecting others - i.e. deliberately.

Anyway…

If I were to catch your “cold,” I would be sick with pneumonia for 3 months.

This is one of the reasons I stopped going to Mass. Arrogant, entitled people who think their “right” to receive the Eucharist–even after the Church has SAID it’s perfectly fine not to, if you’re sick–is more important than the health of other people. Completely selfish. You have a valid excuse to miss Mass, but I don’t have a choice to avoid your germs if you do show up.

We go through the same thing every year at work. Now that the season is upon us, emails are starting to fly back and forth telling us to STAY HOME if we’re sick, to avoid infecting others. That’s common sense, common courtesy, and common decency.

Yes, as another poster pointed out, you can’t avoid germs 100% unless you quarantine yourself forever, and you will probably pick up a bug at the grocery, or your kids bring something home from school, etc. But what kind of moronic logic says “well, since you might get sick anyway, it might as well be from me!”

Jala

Gross! One more reason not to eat fast food.

My grandparents were pre-Vatican II Catholics and super devout, usually went to daily Mass, prayed a daily rosary, grandma wore mantillas until she died in 1999, grandpa was an usher for decades. Their lives revolved around their faith and their parish. Mass was simply NOT missed for any old reason. But if one of them had a cold or other illness? No way would they have put others at risk. It’s simply rude, self-centered and thoughtless. Does anyone really think God wants them to come to Mass and potentially infect others?

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.

Exactly.

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.

I sympathize.

 

[MissRose73]

When I had a nasty cold thing very early in the year, I stayed home from Mass 2 weekends in a row as I was coughing a lot plus other symptoms. I was being charitable to others in terms of not sharing my cold there plus the noise of coughing & blowing my nose would bother others. The Saturday evening Mass I attended at the time was popular with senior citizens and parents with youngsters - both who can be more susceptible to colds. Once I returned, and my symptoms were pretty much at the point where I did not bother others, I refrained a bit longer from exchanging peace and not partaking of the Precious Blood at Communion until I was symptom free.

I will NOT forgive my mother for trying to get me to visit an elderly relative who has since passed on in a rehab center many years ago when I had a cold, and she could tell I had one. She did not have an ounce of common sense that you do not expose an elderly person to a cold especially one that was recovering from major surgeries. At least others in my family did not object, and the relative had no issue with me waiting til I was recovered.

 

[MissRose73]

If it makes YOU feel better to completely miss the point, then keep right on doing it.

I was NOT well enough to work all week, the threat of losing my job forced me to work anyway. If I worked for a company that did not threaten to terminate people who called in, then I would have been home and probably would have recovered faster. Dr’s note or not, you still get points for calling in that can lead to termination.

There are companies all over with policies like this, most of them are the lower wage, service oriented places like retail stores, hotels and restaurants. You’ve got a lot more to worry about doing your shopping than you do about going to Mass as far as catching the flu.

I am not fond of employers who threaten people’s jobs when they become ill or must care for an ill family member (like a young child or elderly parent). Many places these days do not offer generous allowances for sick time so people come in with nasty colds and flu symptoms and in turn infect others. Some places give little time off because in the past people abused the privilege, others because people were not using it. Some places do not like people calling off during certain times for sickness especially from Thanksgiving to Xmas time (mainly retail jobs).

I do not mind going to Mass when others are ill around me. I certainly hope they are being charitable to others nearby them by not participating in the sign of peace as an example. I know I do my best to be charitable too. Being ill and missing Mass is not sinful and some people need to understand that.

 

[april32010]

I can just feel the compassion running through that lecture…

 

[MSSheBear]

I assumed that we are obligated to attend Mass unless we were so sick we could not or should not leave the house. I assume that means if we are too sick to go to Mass that we shouldn’t be going anyplace at all. That hardly covers having a common cold.

My elderly mother resides in a facility where the residents can be in fragile health and do not want sick visitors. Yet the employees come in sick, coughing and such. And my mother gets upset if I tell her I can’t go to see her if I am sick.:banghead:

So just staying home isn’t as a simple of a decision as it may seem. There have been occasions where I simply could not leave the house but those are rare. But that said I don’t think we need to have people going to Mass with untreated pinkeye, a fever, or an active case of the stomach flu. :twocents:

 

[LoyalViews]

That is ridiculous to say the problem is solved by going to the Latin Mass or avoiding the SOP. I hope you are joking. Any time you get people in close quarters, you have a situation where viruses and bacteria can spread. Yes, washing hands is highly recommended, but viruses and bacteria can be airborne and cause illness that way, just by breathing them in. Why do you think people wear masks? If one is sick with a cold or flu and is symptomatic, stay home. Don’t put other people at risk. Don’t let your piety make other people sick.

news-medical.net/news/2007/05/16/25192.aspx

These little buggers can travel farther than we think.

I said that with my tongue firmly glued to my cheek. Don’t worry.

In my parish, we have about 250 people to go to Mass. My villages population is only a few numbers higher than that. I know everyone, everyone knows me. We know when someone is sick, what they have, why…just because the news spreads fast! I do know that bacteria spreads quickly.

Forgive me if I have offended you, it was not my intention nor the purpose of my post

 

[Sebrina]

I’m not sure how it is with a cold virus, but with a flu virus, people can be shedding it (contagious) for at least a full day before symptoms show up. With that being said, I came down with the flu on Monday evening. I’m only now just with it enough to go on the computer. There’s no telling how many people I infected the day before at Sunday Mass when I didn’t have symptoms. I’m only grateful that during the Lord’s Prayer I didn’t have to hold anyone’s hands. (was the only person in my row). But I did shake hands for the “Peace Be With You”.

What I’m saying… I forgot what point I was trying to make. Oh… if you really do have the flu, you probably aren’t going to make it to Mass. I haven’t been sick like this in years. But, I had no clue I was going to get it or I wouldn’t have shown up for RCIA and Mass afterwards. I think this is what happens in a lot of cases with the flu, and probably with colds, as well.

 

[NovusAugustus]

The graces obtained by obtaining mass will surely be enough to overcome your fever.

Honestly…

 

[ilySHJ]

Wow …

The older I grow, the more careful I am with others and myself as well. My last two bouts with influenza lasted six weeks each. Old folk just don’t bounce like they used to.

I gave up receiving the Precious Blood many years ago because each and every time I picked up something.

To some extent we’re giving evidence of the conflicting training we had as children. Some of us learned that staying home was for the best; others of us learned to suck it up and keep going. I’m not getting in the middle of who’s right — just observing the differences.

 

[Richard320]

The graces obtained by obtaining mass will surely be enough to overcome your fever.

Honestly…

Huh? That sounds like the Christian Scientists!

 

[Saints_Alive]

Just to avoid mere speculation and my own faulty memory, I looked it up.

Yesterday, I was working at my parish booth at an international food festival. I shudder to think how many people I exposed before my symptoms appeared in the late afternoon.

I knew I’d read something about this. Nothing one can really do though until the symptoms appear.