Sickiness

Being sick constitutes a really particular form of temporary social exclusion. There's a social stigma in interacting with normal society when one is in a state of sickiness. People even deny that they are sick by saying things like "oh, I have really bad allergies" or something to that effect in order to be able to continue participating in society.

When one admits that one is sick, it involves telling people around them to excuse them from social niceties like giving hugs and shaking hands. Indeed, in order to not make others around feel too uncomfortable, one must also excuse oneself from social gatherings, furthering the point of social isolation due to sickness. There are also only certain people one can be exposed to while sick, and those usually don't involve the very young (ie: infants) or the very elderly and frail.

It's a bit like coming out of the closet. It's not something you can help, but if you admit to it, you have to face the social stigmas that come along with it...along with being treated a little bit like a freak. I guess the good thing about having a cold is that it's temporary.