Are you hurting the economy....by getting sick?

A question to start things off; How many of you ever skip work, and call it, "a sick day?"
Well, for those of you who do, and don't, economists are saying that sick days are actually hurting our economy. Stats are showing that anywhere from five to twenty percent of the population get the flu each winter. Those eventually lead to over 70 million paid sick days across the country. Still don't think it is a big deal? Get this; American corporations lose over 7 BILLION dollars a year because of the flu alone? With the Asian Bird Flu starting to become an epidemic, do you think that our economy is possibly in some sersious trouble this winter? Do you buy these stats and actually believe that because people get sick, it hurts our economy. Or perhaps should we just start to learn to distinguish between the flu and being tired? Anyways, whats your opinion on skipping work. Are sick days being taken for granted, or should the government consider expanding bird hunting season this year?