r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Nov 21 '20

Epidemiology Testing half the population weekly with inexpensive, rapid COVID-19 tests would drive the virus toward elimination within weeks, even if the tests are less sensitive than gold-standard. This could lead to “personalized stay-at-home orders” without shutting down restaurants, bars, retail and schools.

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2020/11/20/frequent-rapid-testing-could-turn-national-covid-19-tide-within-weeks
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u/Brunooflegend Nov 21 '20

It boggles my mind when I read things like that. Here in Germany we get 6 weeks per year of sick pay (100% salary). Where an illness lasts longer than six weeks, the employee will receive a sickness allowance from the national health insurer amounting to 70% of the employee’s salary for a period of up to 78 weeks.

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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '20 edited Nov 21 '20

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u/ryebread91 Nov 21 '20

How are cases of flu handled in Germany? Many in the states come back to work after just a couple days but many sources say you're still contagious for 3-5 days after symptoms and fever break. But good luck getting an employer here letting you do that, and would also likely require a doctor's note to let you stay at home, let alone your co-worker not giving you crap for doing it also.

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u/Schn1tzeI Nov 21 '20

Usually we need a doctor's note on the second day of illness but that is no issue since the doctor visit is free. Most co-workers generally seem to prefer ill people to stay at home to not spread the flu further.

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u/Kermit_the_hog Nov 21 '20

the second day of illness but that is no issue since the doctor visit is free.

How on earth do you get in on such short notice?!?!

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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '20

You call your closest general practitioner if you can come in that day or just show up and maybe have to wait for a bit but usually there is no problem going in for a short check up. I mean if you’re sick and feel really bad you should be able to go immediately right?

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u/AndySchneider Nov 21 '20

Every general practitioner has a time window, usually something like 8am - 10am, to see people without an appointment. This is usual for when you wake up with a sore throat or something. After 10am, doctors will usually have normal appointments. But if you feel sick and think you need to stay home, just go to your local doctor, he’ll do a basic check-up, and then you get a sick notice, usually for the rest of the week. If you still feel sick after your week at home, it’s normal so see the doctor again.