When we catch a cold or the flu, we frequently have a worrying tendency to hide our sickness in order to continue with our work, travel, and social commitments.
According to Earth.com, a University of Michigan study headed by PhD candidate Wilson N. Merrell discovered that 75% of the 4,110 participants had either hidden an infectious disease in the past or intended to do so in the future.
Many said they have concealed their illnesses when traveling on aircraft, gone on dates, and interacting with others; more than 61% of healthcare professionals apparently did the same.
According to Merrell, the researchers discovered a discrepancy between people’s actual behavior and their beliefs about how they would act while ill.
“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,” Merrell stated.
The research started in March 2020 and was published in the journal Psychological Science.
In the first study, 399 university healthcare staff members and 505 students participated. They disclosed the frequency of their symptom concealing as well as the days on which they experienced symptoms.
They also disclosed how frequently they deliberately covered up symptoms, refuted the need for anyone utilizing university facilities to complete necessary symptom screens, and failed to report illnesses to others.
