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Home > Healthy You > Protecting Your Health > Cold and Flu Remedies > Are You Sick Enough to Call in Sick?

Are You Sick Enough to Call in Sick?

Play it safe to protect your own health and your co-workers’

Flu

What Is Contagious?

Every time you sneeze or cough, you fill a three-foot air zone with droplets that carry your infection. That air can stay infected for several minutes, says Luther Rhodes, M.D., chief of the infectious disease division at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. And every time you touch a doorknob, pencil or anything else, the germs stay on the surface anywhere from minutes to hours.

“It’s easy to infect those around you, especially during the first one to three days of your illness when you’re the most contagious. Stay home during that time,” Rhodes says. “Also, don’t call in sick when you’re not ill. Make sure you have your sick days when you really need them.”You wake up congested, achy and coughing. Should you go to work or call in sick? The answer depends on your symptoms and work environment, says Henry Liu, M.D., a family practice physician at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “Toughing it out at work may just make you sicker and infect those you work with,” Liu says. “If your child is sick, be especially careful to evaluate the symptoms and protect the health of classmates.”

In deciding whether you or your child should stay home, here are the signs to watch for:

  • A temperature of 101 degrees or higher, especially if you have chills or other symptoms. You may have the flu or another serious infection. Have a professional exam.

  • Yellow or green discharge from your nose, throat
    or eyes. You may have a viral or bacterial infection that is contagious.

  • An uncontrollable cough. You’re not only ill, but you’ll pass germs more easily.

  • White spots on your tonsils or swollen, grape-size glands that are sore to the touch. You may have strep throat. Stay home and call your doctor.

  • Vomiting or diarrhea. If you’re otherwise healthy, stay home for at least a day or until the symptom passes. If
    possible, drink fluids to prevent dehydration.

    Also, take a sick day if:
  • You work closely with others. Going to work puts co-workers at risk because you infect the air around you and any surface you touch.

  • You’re on medication that impairs your ability to drive and operate machinery. Stay home for your own safety.

    Want to Know More? For a guide to preventing the spread of germs, call 610-402-CARE.

    • This page last updated 2/12/08 04:08 PM
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    hon cod ©2008 Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network
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    Lehigh Valley Hospital has campuses in Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa. and serves the Pennsylvania communities of Easton, Doylestown, Quakertown, Hazelton, Lehighton, Perkasie, Pottstown, Pottsville, Reading, Scranton, Wilkes Barre, Stroudsburg, and the Poconos and also Phillipsburg and Flemington, N.J., and western New Jersey. You don't have to travel to Philadelphia or New York for quality health care.

    		 
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