> "workers are getting sick" doesn't imply any sort of blame.

Indeed.

Instead the headline is "workers are calling out sick in droves".

[EDIT] gruez noted below that the original post was based on an error, please don't punish their Internet points too much.

It implies that companies are being denied their rightful labor

The framing of "calling out sick" instead of "getting sick" is what sort of implies some blame for workers. It isn't a super strong connotation, but it does exist.

"in droves" isn't exactly a neutral expression, either. Says something about how they see workers.

To me it implies that they're actually calling out. Prior to 'rona it was normal to get sick and still go to work in many industries.

my bad, I didn't realize that "getting sick" wasn't the original wording.