I agree that there is a prevailing attitude in society nowadays that you sort of have to "harden up" and "get on with it" if you get sick - especially if it's only a cold. However, COVID-19 might be changing that. Certainly, in New Zealand, following a sudden community outbreak in Auckland, one of the messages being drummed into us is "If you're sick, STAY HOME and DO NOT GO TO WORK". The advice is that if you have respiratory symptoms, do not go out unless it's to get a coronavirus test. What is more, for the first time,
mandatory quarantine has been introduced for people who have tested positive. A hotel in Auckland that was already being used for positive cases caught in our managed isolation facilities (also converted hotels) is now being used to accommodate the city's community cases. Something that perhaps Enid Blyton's characters wouldn't find too strange!
Meanwhile, in Melbourne, one reason why the virus has spread so severely in that city is because people have been getting sick and going to work anyway! And this was the case even when they knew they'd tested positive! Very poor form, but perhaps a reflection of the ingrained mentality of "soldiering on" if you're feeling a bit under the weather.
I'm no stranger to enforced quarantines, actually - my mother kept me home and in bed whenever I got sick as a child - and that happened rather often!
She would wear a face mask around me too, which seemed a bit OTT back then, but is kind of funny in view of how big a deal face masks have become today! And she didn't get my colds too often either, so food for thought about the effectiveness of masks, perhaps. Thankfully I've generally enjoyed much better health as an adult. I had a cold at the start of the year, and it was my first respiratory illness since 2005! It lasted two weeks. I didn't stay in bed for this year's bug, but I didn't go out too much either, even though COVID-19 had not yet cast its shadow on the world. My reason for staying around the house was more that I didn't want to aggravate it. I'm self-employed, so that wasn't an issue. But although I got up and dressed every day, I suppose I did effectively self-isolate before that became a thing in subsequent months.