Izella Hayes caught a stomach bug a few months ago. So did her patients.

Diarrhea, vomiting and fever ran rampant in the nursing home where she hasworked as a certified nursing assistant for 25 years, she said. Limited available sick days for workers made the spread of the virus worse.

It could spell big trouble should the novel coronavirus spread into Michigan, Hayes, 57, of Detroit said.

“Employees had diarrhea, but we still had to come to work,” she said, throwing her hands in the air as she recalled the stomach virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised employees to stay home if sick to reduce the risk of contagion when it comes to COVID-19. However, union members and health care workers such as Hayes say that's more easily said than done for Michigan workers who don't qualify for paid sick leave or have limited paid sick leave.

Hayes was one of more than 100 union members and supporters picketing Thursday for better wages, health care, and an end to excessive mandatory overtime outside her place of work, Imperial, a Villa Center nursing facility, 26505 Powers Ave., in Dearborn Heights.

She said workers face discipline if they take more than their allotted sick leave, and it may mean some work sick.

It's a statewide problem putting nursing home patients at risk of catching the novel coronavirus, said Andrea Acevedo, president of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Michigan. The union represents health care workers across Michigan.

COVID-19 affects seniors more significantly and an outbreak at a nursing home near Seattle that killed four and infected a health care worker, has left Acevedo and the health worker community feeling afraid that something similar can happen in Michigan, Acevedo said.

Michigan currently does not have any known cases of COVID-19, but current state labor laws are inadequate in protecting nursing home workers from the virus, Acevedo said.

"Workers don't have enough paid sick leave to even have the thought process of feeling like they don't have to come into work every day," Acevedo said. "They're working short-staffed, wages aren't high enough and they don't have the best health care, so they might not even go to a doctor if they experience symptoms because costs are so high."

Michigan's Paid Medical Leave Act, which went into effect in March 2019, states employers are mandated to allow employees to accrue 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year.

The law only applies to employers who employ 50 or more employees. Some other employees are also exempt, including rail and flight workers and temporary employees.

Janice Senters, business office manager at Imperial Nursing Center in Dearborn Heights, said it is following CDC measures and is "very prepared for any kind of emergency that would take place in our facility."

Imperial Nursing Center will supply COVID-19 testing to its workers at no cost, Senters said.

"We're here to make sure workers and residents are protected," Senters said.

She declined comment regarding Imperial's sick leave policy.

Addressing the union protest Thursday, Imperial said in a statement emailed Wednesday that the union declined to respond to a wage proposal. The company could not be reached for additional comment on Hayes' concerns.

Gisela Grant, a 60-year-old facility resident who rolled out in a wheelchair to aid the union workers on Thursday, said she is concerned that under-supported staff leads to poor patient health.

"I'm always catching something, and that corona thing is serious," she said.

Parilee Hadden, 56, another certified nursing assistant picketing, said she worries about elderly patients as workers risk losing precious paid time off to sick days.

“We try to come in to show that we are sick, but some of us still get penalized for going home early, because we don’t want to spread it to the elderly," she said.

If a COVID-19 outbreak were to happen in a Michigan nursing home or long-term care facility, a series of measures could be taken to limit the spread of the virus, said Lynn Sutfin, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

"This is a decision that would be made at the local level by the facility, possibly in conjunction with their local health care department," she said.

Among the steps that could be taken include:

Restricting visitors

Quarantining COVID-19 patients in their rooms

Identifying certain staff to care for infected patients

Posting signs and posters about such prevention measures as proper hand-washing techniques and how to cough or sneeze into your sleeve

Acevedo said it would be productive for nursing homes to pay for COVID-19 testing of workers. Currently, most workers have to go through their primary care doctor on their own dime, "which is unacceptable," Acevedo said.

Hayes and other Imperial employees picketing Thursday said they were unaware of any free testing, but said they signed company paperwork assuring their proper understanding of coronavirus prevention methods. Signs about the coronavirus and hand washing were posted in the facility.

As Michigan health professionals prepare for the worst, other states and Michigan institutions are eyeing the downfalls of perfect attendance, too.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called on local employers Tuesday to start offering paid sick leave if they don’t already. Kentucky currently has no cases of COVID-19.

“We have got to make sure that people stay home when they’re feeling sick until we move past this,” Beshear said. “I would encourage all those businesses that are out there that don’t currently offer paid sick leave, absolutely consider it for the next several months."

In Michigan, some universities are canceling study abroad programs and urging students not to travel to countries in which the virus is prevalent.

In a letter to Wayne State University faculty sent Wednesday, Provost Keith Whitfield asks professors to "consider reviewing your attendance policies so as to strongly encourage sick students to stay home and recover."

"We also recommend that you begin to consider ways to continue your teaching responsibilities should the spread of COVID-19 necessitate limits to people meeting in large groups (or) even the possibility of closure of the campus," the letter said.

The spread of coronavirus is a concern for all service industry workers, said Vincent Daniels, 46, of Detroit, who picketed on Thursday in hopes of forming a union for his security role at SecurAmerica.

At a prior job, when he was 19 or 20 years old, he got mononucleosis during his probationary period, when he wasn't supposed to take a day off, he said.

He faced a choice of working sick or quitting, he said. He quit.

His current company provides paid time off, with no separate designation for sick days, he said. If he got the coronavirus now, he would have to choose between taking unpaid time off, using paid time off and sacrificing vacation time down the line, or just working while sick.

"It's usually not out of malice but out of just need, desperation, 'I can't take the days off, because I have a child that needs me to buy food, or Pampers or logistics for the home and I can't afford to take that day off,' " he said of workers making the choice.

Food workers face similar concerns, said Darnictia Wright, 49, of Detroit who works at a McDonald's on 10 Mile Road and picketed on Thursday.

She worries about losing her job when she calls in sick, so she and others have worked while ill, she said.

"And you don't even want to go to work sick, because you can pass anything through food," she said." ... I see people working very hard all the time, overtime, just to make money and make ends meet and take care of their families."

Staff writer Kristen Jordan Shamus contributed to this report.

Contact Omar Abdel-Baqui: 313-222-2514 or oabdel-baqui@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarabdelb