'Tis the season for sick calls: Arizona sees rise in Flu, RSV cases

PHOENIX - From the cold and flu to cases of coronavirus, sick cases are on the rise, but many businesses have evolved their sick call philosophy since COVID-19.

Airplanes, Halloween and Thanksgiving get-togethers. Seeing family and friends – all helping kick off our sick season with a bang.

It's a beehive of activity inside Evolve PR and Marketing. 20-ish employees are building brands for other businesses, so staying healthy is job number one. But it isn't easy.

"At least once a week, there’s one to two people that I’m hearing from that’re not feeling well, or they’re sick, and they need to take a sick day," said Liz Renninger, Evolve PR's vice president.

The sick call pendulum has swung toward safety since the pandemic started. Many businesses are going from show up and tough it out to better safe than sorry.

"I’d rather you be at home in your pajamas, doing your work, and then coming in and maybe getting other people sick," said Renninger.

The state is seeing a recent spike in flu cases and RSV, while COVID-19 cases are down.

Dr. Thomas Whiting at Valleywise Medical Center says the ER business is booming with sick people. And if you're feeling symptoms, stay home.

"Kind of achy, sore throat, cough, those sorts of things. That’s what I would recommend you don’t go in, because that’s probably the peak of when you’re most likely to spread it," he said.

Back at Evolve, sick workers, or even kind of sick workers stay home. And work from there if they can. That keeps co-workers safe and the beehive humming.

"We don’t want people sick, you know, and I would prefer to keep my team as healthy as possible and the way to do that is to tell people to stay home," said Renninger.

Of course, not every business can be that flexible. But Dr. Whiting says things like washing hands, social distancing, and covering your face can go a long way to keep sickness from spreading. Along with calling in sick when you are.