This weekend, I had a couple of events to attend. As I would be in close proximity to family, I had decided not to attend and stay home as I did not wish to spread colds or anything worse to others. I caught a cold this week after attending an event. While I will alwaya take measure to try and prevent catching a cold (occasional mask wearing, hand washing etc) in truth, I may not have this cold if others had also been sensible. I am not saying not to go out but anyone with a cold should take measure to stop the spread of germs, particularly avoiding close contact with others.
Living in post covid times, it amazes me how some conduct themselves in public. Times have changed and we do need to be so much more conscious of germs and attempting to not pass even a common cold onto others. This is just my opinion but is the voice of someone who has a weakened immune system and is more susceptible to germs. I am likely more paranoid and the first to admit that, but do believe we should help protect each other.
Recently, I have seen behaviours ranging from not washing hands in the public toilet through to coughing in public, without making effort to cover their mouths even when possible. While not always possible to control when you cough, I would always try to move away from others when coughing. Is it a lack of consideration or just a lack of awareness?
As I have to be particularly careful, I take precautions to avoid spreading/picking up germs while also watching out for others. I will still occasionally mask up at larger events like the theatre.
This week I was in a difficult situation that ultimately lead me to getting this cold (hopefully just a cold). While I will not go into the details of the event, a host with a cold was not taking sufficient measures to prevent passing their cold on to others. They sniffed through a talk, touched items that they passed to others and came into physical contact with others. Being in close proximity, I feared getting a cold. Despite a lot of hand sanitiser, I now have that cold.
Yes, lergies and bugs will always spread but we can be more careful and attempt to protect others if we have a bug. I wish I had stepped away but did not want to be rude. Now having gained that cold, I wish I had perhaps moved away but was in a public forum.
If you are presenting to a group and it is felt still okay to proceed, it has to make sense that you attempt to create a contactless environment and sufficient space from others. Yes that can be hard but if you can’t do that, is it sensible for the health of others to proceed? In my opinion due to possibilities of Covid, attempts to minimise the spread of even a cold needs to be taken much more seriously than it appears to be. It amazes me that as a society, it does not feel like we have learned anything from the pandemic.
The truth is that for most of us, we can’t be actually sure what we are suffering from, hence the need to take care. Is it just a harmless cold or more?
The lesson I have learnt is that if in this situation, I think I just need to act and move away from the person even if an event where you are attempting to gain a good view. While I appreciate that my views in this post may divide opinion, I should point out that I am more susceptible to germs. I am now on Lemsip and Vitamin c trying to keep the symptoms as mild as possible. Please do comment below.
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