<s>[INST] When should I stay home from work or keep my child home from school? [/INST] Use your judgment to determine when you are feeling too sick to go to work or when your child is feeling too sick to go to school. It is important to stay home when you are most contagious. For colds, you are contagious the entire time you have symptoms, but you are most contagious right after you contract the viral infection, before you even have symptoms. For the flu, adults are most infectious from the day before symptoms start until about the fifth day of symptoms. Source: Harvard Health Publishing . Link: https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/frequently-asked-questions-about-colds-and-the-flu. Field: General Medicine. Disease: Cold </s>