What Would You Do If COVID Affected Your Work Standing in Idaho?

What would you do? What would you do if you found yourself testing positive for COVID and it was going to cost you a bonus? COVID has continued to rapidly spread through the Magic Valley and Twin Falls and it seems more like 'when' someone will get it as opposed to 'if'. It raises a moral and ethical question though; when you begin to feel symptoms do you notify your work or do you try to play it off? What if missing a day of work would cost you a bonus or you miss out on something special that day? What is the right way to approach the situation?

Do You Have To Notify Work You 'May' Have COVID?

In today's times, nobody wants to admit to being sick, especially since they have COVID. You can't go anywhere, you feel like crud and you can't be around anyone other than the people you live with. It makes for a long, boring, miserable week and it isn't fun. You have to use sick days, or may have to work from home if you can manage it. It brings up a dilemma of when do you get tested and how do you go about notifying work. Do you let them know ahead of time or do you try to hide it for as long as possible? By regulations, you are supposed to tell your company when someone in the house has symptoms or when you have them, but it is easy to hide, so what do you do?

Do Morals and Ethics Play a Part in How You Handle It?

While there is a moral and ethical dilemma here, how much does that play a factor in your decision? If a coworker gets sick, do you feel guilty? We often have to make tough decisions in life, especially when it comes to money. If it could cost you a bonus or affect you at work, is it worth the risk? If someone got sick and it affected them in the long run, then the guilt would most likely get to me. Some places have different guidelines then other such as mandatory vaccinations, non-mandatory vaccinations and how long you must stay out. 

My son was recently sick with COVID symptoms and I had to decide what to do. I called my boss and we discussed it. I felt right keeping everyone in the loop, but if it had cost me money or affected my standing at work, it would have been easy to not tell anyone. Nobody at work would know my son was sick and the thought crossed my mind to not tell anyone. I did what I thought was right in the end, but did I need to? For the record, he did not have COVID. If you need to get tested, there are free tests by the way. 

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For the last couple of years, we have all been learning and navigating this curvy road called COVID. There are protocols in place and proper ways to go about things, but at times human instinct and internal debates make us want to do other things. The next time you feel sick and think you may have it or that someone living with you has it, will you tell your boss, or show up until you physically don't want to? What would you do?