Going to Mass while sick

[babochka]

I can totally relate, and understand.

There are those of us who have asthma and other health issues, where a “cold” is never “minor,” but can usually turn into bronchitis or pneumonia really fast.

If you’re in that situation, the best cold prevention is frequent hand washing, and to avoid touching your face (mouth, nose and eyes), particularly during cold season. You live in a world that is filled with hazards to your health and I’m sure you’ve learned to be particularly vigilant to avoid colds, even when nobody has obvious symptoms. Most people are contagious before they even know they have a cold, as well as for a few days after. Many may still have residual symptoms, but no longer be contagious. The cold virus is everywhere. Most people who get sick probably didn’t pick it up from shaking the hand of someone with a cold, but from shopping carts or door handles. Avoiding a cold when someone is visibly coughing or sneezing is the easy part.

 

[powerofk]

If you’re in that situation, the best cold prevention is frequent hand washing, and to avoid touching your face (mouth, nose and eyes), particularly during cold season. You live in a world that is filled with hazards to your health and I’m sure you’ve learned to be particularly vigilant to avoid colds, even when nobody has obvious symptoms. Most people are contagious before they even know they have a cold, as well as for a few days after. Many may still have residual symptoms, but no longer be contagious. The cold virus is everywhere. Most people who get sick probably didn’t pick it up from shaking the hand of someone with a cold, but from shopping carts or door handles. Avoiding a cold when someone is visibly coughing or sneezing is the easy part.

Exactly. And who knows how many of us are carriers of diseases that we personally don’t get sick from, but still are able to pass on to others? Honestly, my rule pretty much is - if I would go to work (I work with children with severe special needs, many of whom have compromised immune systems), I would go to Mass. Also, for me, the time I usually feel the worst isn’t during cold & flu season - it’s during springtime allergy season, where I have the symptoms of being sick, but have to just suffer through the stuff.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I am a frequent hand washer and I still caught the cold my son and daughter-in-law had. We all live together. I hadn’t left the house since Christmas eve. I actually am surprised it took me as long to come down with it.