Positive

On Tuesday afternoon I started to feel like I was coming down with something.  On Wednesday, I had the flu.  Typical cold symptoms - fever, chills, runny nose, body aches.  On Friday morning, I just knew it was more than the flu so I went back to St. Anne's for another PCR test.

On Friday evening I received an SMS (text message) that my results came back positive.  The official results were sent to me via e-mail with instructions that I needed to contact my GP.

I spent the weekend on quarantine, taking cold medicine, drinking lots of fluids and trying to sleep as much as possible.  On Monday, I had a video call with my GP and I was put on sick leave.  I have a follow up appointment on Thursday but hopefully I'll be able to go back to work on Monday.  

I thought the flu symptoms were part of the Covid thing but this is the worst flu that I've had in 10-11 years.  At least I haven't lost my sense of smell.  Yesterday I walked to the nearest pharmacy which is only about 250 metres from my flat.  There and back and it felt like I had walked for an hour.

My friend David offered to bring me some "badger's fat."  I had to laugh.  Apparently badger's fat is a thing in Slovakia.  From his description, it sounded like the Slovak equivalent of Vicks VapoRub.  I declined his offer to drop it off to me as he has two small kids at home and they've just recovered from it so I don't want to pass this on to anyone else.  I honestly don't know if it is really made out of actual badger fat or if that's just what they call it.

While I was at the pharmacy I wanted VapoRub so I asked for something that I could spread on my chest to help with the congestion.  

The pharmacist gave me psí sádlo, which is "dog fat".  I guess it's badger fat in Slovakia and dog fat here in Czechland.

One thing that's nice is I didn't have to deal with whole 5 different copies  of the paper based sick note system.  As of 1 January 2020, an amendment went into effect to the Sickness Insurance Act which launched electronic sick notes.  eNeschopenka is e-sick leave.

When you're too sick to work, the Czech Labour Code says that the employees pays the salary compensation for the first 14 days and from the 15th day it is paid by the District Social Security Administration (OSSZ).  If you are self-employed then the OSSZ pays benefits from the 15th day that you are unable to work.

The old 5 copy thing was a mess where some copies were for the doctor, some for the patient, plus the employer and the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSZ).  Now it is all online which means it is faster to receive payment of sickness benefits.  Everything is done via a CSSZ ePortal.