I'm staying home right now. It started as a cold, but developed into bronchitis because I tried to ignore it. It hit me some time during holiday traveling, and could have happened anywhere along the line. Mobbed airport waiting rooms, aboard the aircraft, in crowded restaurants, in busy hotel lobbies. I caught the illness because of extreme exposure to others who were carrying it around. Of course, the frustrations, delays and winter weather were important factors, too.

If you go through any similar experiences, and just days later, feel the symptoms begin to appear. You experience raised temperature, difficulty in breathing, uncontrolled coughing, aching joints or any of the other signs that you're going to be sick, call your doctor, and stay home until he/she says you should go back to work, school or wherever you'll be among people.

I volunteer at the city's largest community center, and work with seniors who are brought there daily by their adult children for companionship. We offer them lectures, movies, card games, music, exercise, discussions and dozens of other activities. I certainly won't go back to work until my doctor gives me the OK. Those people are extremely vulnerable to winter-related, respiratory ailments. The elderly who start with common colds, and are not correctly medicated, are the most likely to develop pneumonia, the deadliest of all such diseases.

Before the age of antibiotics and all the other miracle medical cures, many people over age 60 who developed pneumonia died within a week. The disease was once called "the old person's friend" because it was thought to end life mercifully before all the usual debilitating illnesses and pains of advanced age could set in. However, today that isn't necessary if quick and proper care is provided.

If you work in education, kindergarten or nursery school, where you are closely associated with children, you should know they are also very vulnerable to contagious, respiratory ailments. You may think just a small cough or runny nose shouldn't keep you home, but before you decide to go back to work where there are children present, check with your doctor's office first. If there is a nurse on duty at your school, call in, describe your symptoms and ask if you should stay home.

Many people who are susceptible to colds now stay at home all the time due to the big surge in working at home opportunities. If that is your situation, you won't have to avoid crowds during cold season. However, if you have a cold, just be sure to take care of it so it doesn't develop into anything more serious. And by the way, keep your small kids far away from your workspace until you are better.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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