It’s true, some folks have a work environment that’s less conducive, which is part of my “as much as you can”. Which is really a problem with the companies. My company has uncapped sick time, and my boss is hypochondriac. So long before covid we all had it beaten into our heads “don’t come in sick”. Which in the long run is good for the company. Because then we weren’t getting each other sick. Less over all lost time to sickness, not to mention the lost productivity of people trying to “work through it”.
So companies need to be smarter. But so do people. I know how my company works wouldn’t where my wife works. They accrue sick time like vacation, and a lot of the company just use it that way. “I want a day off so I’m calling in”. Then when they do get sick they got not time accrued. And if they were uncapped you’d never see them again. So both sides need to comprehend the value of not turning the office into a petri dish.
I've been retired for some years now so I am not up to date on current sick leave policy and thinking. That said, during my working career I can count on one hand how times I had to take time off because I felt like crap after catching a bug. It wasn't for 14 days or even 5 days as suggested in the article. The worst bug I've had I cleared in about 3 days..