Should I go to mass today?

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Butaperson

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Alright so at this moment, i’m thinking the answer is almost certainly yes, but I will ask anyways.
I have a mild cold today. Most of it is just intermittent coughing and a slight runny nose. I have a slight headache and muscle aches yesterday but they went away. Most of the reason why i assume it’s an infectious virus at all is because there’s been a kid in one of my classes who’s been coughing all over the place and most likely I caught it from him.

I don’t know about medical stuff, but it seems reasonable to me that the less the virus affects you, the less contagious you are. My coughing is not as bad as that other kid’s which seems like it would mean that I’m not as infectious as him. In this case, I feel like the best solution is to wash my hands well, sit in the back of the church with a handkerchief and try to touch as little as possible, am I right?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, I’m mostly just asking for clarification.
 
Nevermind, I asked this way too late and I’m just going to go and hope I made the right decision. At the very least, even if it’s not the best decision it can’t possibly be mortal, right? The common cold almost never has complications. And it took me days to catch that other kid’s cold, and he wasn’t being nearly as careful as I will be. Alright. Cool. If I stress about this too much it will definitely make the cold worse so I refuse to overthink it. I’m going to mass.
 
You did fine. No need to stress. And it’s good to sit where you have the least chance of communicating your virus to others, plus a verbal offer of peace instead of a handshake. The thing is, we are generally also contagious just before symptoms develop and there is no way of predicting that.
 
Butaperson said:
Alright so at this moment, i’m thinking the answer is almost certainly yes, but I will ask anyways.
I have a mild cold today. Most of it is just intermittent coughing and a slight runny nose. I have a slight headache and muscle aches yesterday but they went away. Most of the reason why i assume it’s an infectious virus at all is because there’s been a kid in one of my classes who’s been coughing all over the place and most likely I caught it from him.

I don’t know about medical stuff, but it seems reasonable to me that the less the virus affects you, the less contagious you are. My coughing is not as bad as that other kid’s which seems like it would mean that I’m not as infectious as him. In this case, I feel like the best solution is to wash my hands well, sit in the back of the church with a handkerchief and try to touch as little as possible, am I right?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, I’m mostly just asking for clarification.
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Too late now but you should have stayed away from Mass. Colds and flu are contagious no matter what you think.
In my personal opinion, anyone going to Mass knowing they are sick and could be contagious might be committing a sin by that action.
 
Butaperson said:
Nevermind, I asked this way too late and I’m just going to go and hope I made the right decision. At the very least, even if it’s not the best decision it can’t possibly be mortal, right? The common cold almost never has complications. And it took me days to catch that other kid’s cold, and he wasn’t being nearly as careful as I will be. Alright. Cool. If I stress about this too much it will definitely make the cold worse so I refuse to overthink it. I’m going to mass.
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You stated that “the common cold almost never has complications”. Well, if one is healthy, it usually doesn’t. However, your** “common cold” can easily turn into something very serious for those with compromised immune systems, such as the very young, the elderly, and those with certain chronic medical conditions. It can also cause someone to miss work if they become ill and they might not have sick days available, which could end up causing them financial distress if they miss several days of income.

Of course, none of these things may happen, but please don’t put others at risk by “blowing off” your contagious illness.

What’s done is done, but here’s a timely blog post that was on Catholic Answers when I logged on this morning- catholic.com/blog/michelle-arnold/when-to-stay-home-from-mass
 
You need to have enough faith that God trusts your ability to make a decision and is not going to send you to hell for missing Mass if you are sick. This is being scrupulous. This is a common question here. I often read them with sadness that someone thinks they might be sent to hell for this. You also don’t need to seek anyone else’s approval when you make a decision that you are too sick to go to Mass. You also don’t need to go to confession and see if the priest agrees.
 
I go to Mass even if I feel a little sick. I just don’t drink from the chalice, do not touch anyone and I sit away from others and I cough or sneeze into my shirt 🤷 Unless someone gives me a surprise hug or a kiss, they should be fine and experience have taught me that is not going to happen. Being a single guy, I often wish it would 😃 No need to be a germaphobe. It is not because I am afraid I am going to hell for missing Mass even if I am sick, it is because I love going to Mass. I don’t even miss work if I am sick, so it is just kind of how I am I guess.
 
LaughingBoy1503 said:
I go to Mass even if I feel a little sick. I just don’t drink from the chalice, do not touch anyone and I sit away from others and I cough or sneeze into my shirt 🤷 Unless someone gives me a surprise hug or a kiss, they should be fine and experience have taught me that is not going to happen. Being a single guy, I often wish it would 😃 No need to be a germaphobe. It is not because I am afraid I am going to hell for missing Mass even if I am sick, it is because I love going to Mass. I don’t even miss work if I am sick, so it is just kind of how I am I guess.
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Well you are wrong. If you have a cold or flu and cough and sneeze you don’t have to hug someone to pass on the virus.
Anyone with colds and flu should stay at home. There is nothing to be proud off going to Mass or work knowing that you can pass on a virus.
 
thistle said:
Well you are wrong. If you have a cold or flu and cough and sneeze you don’t have to hug someone to pass on the virus.
Anyone with colds and flu should stay at home. There is nothing to be proud off going to Mass or work knowing that you can pass on a virus.
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Im wrong huh? I think you are just a germaphobe. Yes, I go to work and Mass even if I am sick. That’s how I roll. Don’t touch me and you will be fine. Like I said, I cough and sneeze into my shirt and I sit away from others. When I go to daily Mass, I could have 20 pews to myself and I go to the early Sunday Mass where not that many people go, So I can still have several pews to myself. My conscience is clear.
 
LaughingBoy1503 said:
Im wrong huh? I think you are just a germaphobe. Yes, I go to work and Mass even if I am sick. That’s how I roll. Don’t touch me and you will be fine. Like I said, I cough and sneeze into my shirt and I sit away from others. When I go to daily Mass, I could have 20 pews to myself and I go to the early Sunday Mass where not that many people go, So I can still have several pews to myself. My conscience is clear.
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If you have a cold or flu and think that by sitting away from others and coughing and sneezing into your shirt means you cannot pass on the virus you are sadly mistaken. I don’t know where you got that strange medical advice.
 
I’m a healthy elderly person, but when colds hit me, they hit hard. The last time I caught one from my grandson I missed a week of work. That’s a week that now I can’t use for vacation days, since we only get 3 weeks a year.
It was because my grandson’s mother doesn’t think it’s a big deal to ask me to babysit when he’s sick. By the time I realized, it was too late to back out or make other plans. I love him dearly, but would appreciate not being exposed to viruses. At home, church or work.
Some of my co-workers are dealing with cancer, and other conditions. You never know what people’s immune systems are like.
Please be charitable and stay home when coughing or with runny noses.
 
thistle said:
If you have a cold or flu and think that by sitting away from others and coughing and sneezing into your shirt means you cannot pass on the virus you are sadly mistaken. I don’t know where you got that strange medical advice.
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Fine, tell me how I can still pass on the Virus. By exhaling? By touching the pew and someone else touching it later? I live with my elderly Grandmother, so when I am sick should I check myself into a motel to avoid being in the same house as her because I am sick? Tell me, where do I draw the line? What if I am not coughing or sneezing but just woke up feeling very weak and I know I am about to be sick. That happens to me sometimes. I rarely wake up full blown sick. I normally wake up feeling weird one day and the next day I am full on sick. What about then? I am here by open to having my mind changed… I get sick like once a year btw so this is not something I have to deal with often.
 
LaughingBoy1503 said:
Fine, tell me how I can still pass on the Virus. By exhaling? By touching the pew and someone else touching it later? I live with my elderly Grandmother, so when I am sick should I check myself into a motel to avoid being in the same house as her because I am sick? Tell me, where do I draw the line? What if I am not coughing or sneezing but just woke up feeling very weak and I know I am about to be sick. That happens to me sometimes. I rarely wake up full blown sick. I normally wake up feeling weird one day and the next day I am full on sick. What about then? I am here by open to having my mind changed… I get sick like once a year btw so this is not something I have to deal with often.
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Check with your doctor and ask him how you can spread a cold or flu virus.
You draw the line by staying at home until you recover from such things.
 
LaughingBoy,

We can spread viruses when we are sick by talking, coughing, and sneezing around someone else, and also by touching other surfaces, too.

As others have already mentioned, what may be a mild virus for one person, may be a very serious illness for someone else who has a compromised immune system, or for someone who already has other health problems like asthma. Someone who has asthma can end up with bronchitis or pneumonia from someone else’s “mild cold.”
 
I will think about staying home from Mass if I am sick. Not because I think it is a sin, but a courtesy to others. I still wont miss work though. I work in construction. Outdoors, not cramped in a office where the chances of me getting someone else sick is bigger.
 
Butaperson said:
Alright so at this moment, i’m thinking the answer is almost certainly yes, but I will ask anyways.
I have a mild cold today. Most of it is just intermittent coughing and a slight runny nose. I have a slight headache and muscle aches yesterday but they went away.
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Yes, go to mass; but be considerate of those around you. Don’t hold hands and don’t receive in the hand. Also, steer clear of the precious blood.
 
Alright well now I’m officially confused. It’s been a week, I’m still showing the exact same symptoms: minor coughing, sniffly nose, very little else. By this point I would say at least half my school is sick with the exact same thing, so chances are none of us are going to get better for weeks, at least. This is the most minor sickness that you can possibly have while still being called “sick”. How can I justify staying home from mass when this is so mild that I would not even consider staying home from school? Life doesn’t halt when you get a case of the sniffles.

Tomorrow is Sunday again and I don’t know what to do. The majority is you seem to be in favor of staying home from mass, but how can I do that when I am just going to up and go to school again immediately? When I am still going to the store, visiting friends, doing all the normal things of life…except mass? It doesn’t make any sense.

And before you give me grief for still going to school and places, I’m not in a position to stop doing that. I have missed way too many days of school already and missing more will hurt more than I can legitimately afford. I still go to the store and places because I’m trying to get all my driving practice hours in order to get my driver’s license, because driving as often as possible is important and believe it or not, I can’t take a week or two or three off of that because of a mild cold. I can’t just shut off my life all of a sudden. I still have things that I need to do that involve the outside world.

I’m really sorry, and I know this will sound horribly insensitive, but if you expect to go out into public places and never contract a cold, you’re fooling yourself. The average person gets 2-3 colds a year. I would say that’s very accurate; I usually get at least 3-4 just in the winter. If I miss mass every time I have a cold, that will be at LEAST 9-10 weeks of mass that I miss per year, not even including real illnesses like the flu that are also easily contactable during the colder months. Sorry, but that’s a little bit ridiculous.
 
I would also like the point out that I took very decent precautions last week including: Sitting in the very back corner of the church, coughing into a handkerchief (better coverage than an elbow), bringing hand sanitizer and using it often, not speaking throughout the entire mass (because when you speak, contagious spit drops can be dispersed), not shaking hands, not receiving from the chalice (my parish actually temporarily discontinued distributing the precious blood because of flu season), and finally, quickly sanitizing the area where I had been sitting and kneeling in case anybody sat there for later masses.

I will take all these same precautions tomorrow. And if you think it is a good and legitimate idea, I could take the precaution of sitting in the side chapel of the church instead of the main church. I don’t know if it counts as actually “attending” the mass, if you are not in the main church where the priest is, but you can hear everything that’s going on and it is much easier to find a seat far away from the rest of the congregation. Or I can just sit in the back of the church again, and be very careful about the people around me.
 
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