This is the real pandemic

In light of the current climate, I feel like my thoughts on this particular topic is now not as trivial or trifling than before.

I speak on behalf of myself when I say this: -
Calling in sick and (rightfully) skipping school/work has really never been entrenched in my culture.  In fact, I get rewarded or get praised for presenteeism when I am sick.

Actually, I don’t know if it is cultural thing or if it is a personality thing but I feel like people get unfairly scrutinised and stigmatised when they claim that they are sick and cannot attend whatever they are supposed to – be it school or work or just attending a wedding. Now, I am not talking about coughing due to chain smoking or stress. I am talking about legitimate infectious illnesses like the flu.

This leads to people literally coughing away for DAYS in confined spaces with like 5 or 10 or more other peers breathing in the same contaminated air. I personally have been terrified to go to work because I have been in that position before. And I am not exaggerating. Because when you know your colleague has been sneezing and coughing for days due to some virus, you know something is not right.

Just so it does not seem like I am a crazy person going on about my own experiences, let me throw you some statistics here. Apparently, the number of sick days taken by employees have decreased since the early 1900s. Also, studies have shown that most people do not even take sick leave and power through the illness at work.

So, it makes me wonder… Why. Why do people do this? Why is it more prevalent now than before?
I think it boils down to a few factors: -

1. Competitiveness: People don’t want to lose out to their colleagues. They feel like they have to be involved at work and stay abreast of the agenda and progress of some project or something. 
2. Mistrust: Bosses don’t trust their employees and think they are misrepresenting the truth. I know some people are indeed not very trustworthy but I implore supervisors to speak to them about it (why they are dodging work, etc) or give the benefit of doubt. 
3. Complacency: Most are us are just not very socially responsible. I have been there, done that... And it is because we think it's just flu anyway. NO. Even if it is not a lethal virus, it is not okay. This is something which must be emphasised. In fact, about 1% of people die from the "typical" influenza. While it seems insignificant, it is avoidable. We should still try to prevent these unnecessary illnesses and deaths.

I know it seems like a little late and redundant to talk about this now. But if you know you are unwell, please take the necessary precautions. And if you are in the position to allow someone to take a break, please encourage them to do so and don't indirectly coerce them to ignore the symptoms (or worse, spread to people knowingly).