I am saying that staying away from work has little to nothing to do with symptoms. It is about preventing contagion. I guess in cases of extreme symptoms, one can stay away from work, but it is mostly about contagion.
I do not know how you are not getting this. Take a healthcare worker with what is a minor cold-like symptom. That could be a disease that would kill a dozen patients with compromised immunity. Or it could be an allergy which is completely harmless to patients.
Requiring people to come to work ill has spread this disease wildly. It is a huge problem. Outside the USA, places are advertising when their employees get paid sick leave, because it means less danger to customers. Employees are not trying to hide contagious illnesses to keep from starving.
I think Typhoid Mary is the ultimate example of all this. She was a cook in the early 1900's, never had a symptom of typhoid in her life, but over the years gave it to dozens of people. She needed to be removed from the workplace. Her symptoms were unimportant in that imperative.
