That is anecdata. Maybe valid for, say, January. Starting Febuary, that changed. Again anecdata, but In Germany you got up to 2 weeks of sick eave for potential COVID-19 symptoms without seeing a doctor.

I must be unlucky because my colleagues almost always come to work sneezing for a few days until (if!) they take sick days. This was right before the pandemic, when the situation was getting hot in China but not yet in Europe.

Exactly my point, before we were aware it is going to be the same in Europe. After, not so much.