University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Reporting and Policy (CIDRAP) has some scientific findings from colleagues at U Michigan that will surprise no one who has spent any time in an office or airport. About 75% percent of adults, they say, have hidden signs of an infectious disease in order to work, travel, or just hang out with other folks:
The article, by researchers at the University of Michigan, is based on four studies and surveys given to 4,110 survey participants. All surveys were given after March 2020, when the COVID-10 pandemic began, and initial survey participants included 399 university healthcare employees.
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Eighty-five percent of students reported concealing a contagious illness, as well as 61% of healthcare workers. Only 8% of healthcare workers and 3% of students said they concealed illness due do a university policy requirement. Instead, almost all efforts at hiding were made because of not wanting to miss social engagements, school, or work.
“Thematic qualitative coding revealed that participants frequently concealed illness because their illness would conflict with their other social goals (e.g., going on a date); very infrequently they cited pressure from institutional policies (e.g., lack of paid time off) as a motivation for concealment,” the authors wrote.
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The authors said their findings revealed an insensitivity among most participants.
“Healthy people forecasted that they would be unlikely to hide harmful illnesses—those that spread easily and have severe symptoms—but actively sick people reported high levels of concealment regardless of how harmful their illness was to others,” said Wilson N. Merrell, a doctoral candidate and lead author of the study….
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You can read more of the Michigan conclusions here, in Psychological Science.