Here’s How Germs Travel In Your Office When Someone Comes To Work Sick

It may surprise you to know that the most common way in which the common cold spreads isn't through sneezing. "Colds are primarily transmitted from person to person via hands contaminated with nasal secretions. Less often, viruses that cause colds can be transmitted by touching a contaminated surface or via sneezing or coughing," wrote Dr. Daniel Sexton and Dr. Micah McClain for Up To Date.

If you have to go to work sick: Hand sanitizer is your best friend. Avoid touching your coworkers or sharing materials with them if possible, and use anti-bacterial wipes or gel on your hands regularly, even if you haven't had a coughing fit in hours.

This is one of the better-known ways in which your deskmates could get your illness. "When an infected person coughs or sneezes, their cold or influenza virus becomes airborne and survives for approximately one hour in the air. If another person inhales the air carrying the cold or flu droplets, they can catch the virus," says the Virtual Medical Clinic.

This inhalation doesn't 100 percent guarantee that your deskmate will catch the illness, though. Health24 points out that there are three factors that can determine how likely it is that inhalation will mean a person catches an illness: how many droplets they inhale, their level of immunity, and whether the person who sneezed or coughed is actually contagious. People with good immune systems will have a lower chance of catching anything from you.

If you have to go to work sick: Try to catch all your coughs and sniffles in tissues or and dispose of them quickly, away from others. Sneezing into your elbow can also help.

Sharing an area with a sick person doesn't mean you're likely to get ill from touching what they've touched. A lot depends on what you share and what it's made of. "Viruses generally remain active longer on stainless steel, plastic and similar hard surfaces than on fabric and other soft surfaces," says the Mayo Clinic. "Other factors, such as the amount of virus deposited on a surface and the temperature and humidity of the environment, also determine how long cold and flu viruses stay active outside the body." If you live in a city with cold, dry winters and share a pretty warm, humid office, you may be less likely to transfer illness to others, according to studies cited by Harvard Health.

If you have to go to work sick: Err on the side of caution and clean your own area regularly. Don't share plastic or metal utensils or tools if possible. If there are communal objects, like the office stapler, wipe 'em down after you use them. And stay away from the office kitchen, which has a lot of shared objects that could carry or transmit viruses; bring in lunch from home.

There's a strong upside to cubicles, even if they do make you feel a little like a lab rat: they can protect others from your germs. "One study of more than 1,800 Swedish workers found that people in open plan offices were nearly twice as likely to take short term sick leave (of one week or less) than those who worked in private offices. A survey from Denmark showed employees in open plan offices were 62 percent more likely to take a sick day than those with their own separate office," reported Kaleigh Roberts for Motherboard in 2016.

If you have to go to work sick: Relocate to a cubicle or office if possible, or put yourself in a corner of an open office that's less exposed to others.

Working while sick can be tough, but sometimes, it can't be avoided. If you take the right steps while at work, though, you can protect your deskmates from getting the same thing.