FWIS3

lady_*nix wrote:Oh shit. Best of luck pumpkinpi.

What really worries me is that Buster is supposed to go to scout camp starting July 3rd--9 days from now. If he's going to get it, he's got to get it soon so he can get through his 5 days of isolation and hopefully test negative the day of.

Best if he doesn't get it at all. Would it be possible for him to start scout camp later if he tests positive tho? Risking a kid with COVID at the camp seems like a bad idea to me, and IDK if only 5 day isolation is trustworthy for a disease that can take more than a week just to show symptoms. The current SOP with antigen tests is to only take them 4-5 days after a possible exposure, because virus levels build up that slowly.

Yes, we would definitely ask if he could start late! It's a weeklong camp so hopefully missing the start of it would be ok. And we'd follow the camp guidelines regarding covid recovery, if they required something more restrictive than the CDC guidelines. They have already provided a covid test for him to take the day of, so it may come down to that!

Been interesting at astronomy camp because the state of Arizona bans requiring masking and vaccinations. Luckily it turns out nerdy teenagers are highly susceptible to following suggestion so if you put out a stack of masks and say it's an enclosed space, they put them on (but we just can't tell them to put them on if they take them off I guess).

Last week's didn't have an issue, and we are a few days in now so fingers crossed it stays that way.

pumpkinpi wrote:

lady_*nix wrote:Oh shit. Best of luck pumpkinpi.

What really worries me is that Buster is supposed to go to scout camp starting July 3rd--9 days from now. If he's going to get it, he's got to get it soon so he can get through his 5 days of isolation and hopefully test negative the day of.

Best if he doesn't get it at all. Would it be possible for him to start scout camp later if he tests positive tho? Risking a kid with COVID at the camp seems like a bad idea to me, and IDK if only 5 day isolation is trustworthy for a disease that can take more than a week just to show symptoms. The current SOP with antigen tests is to only take them 4-5 days after a possible exposure, because virus levels build up that slowly.

Yes, we would definitely ask if he could start late! It's a weeklong camp so hopefully missing the start of it would be ok. And we'd follow the camp guidelines regarding covid recovery, if they required something more restrictive than the CDC guidelines. They have already provided a covid test for him to take the day of, so it may come down to that!

My turn with the covid! I started having symptoms Saturday afternoon. Tired, achy, headache, mild fever. A bit of chest tightness but not so bad. Rooster is getting better too. She had fever, fatigue, and a sore throat. If she feels ok tomorrow and has no fever she can rejoin the world on Tuesday. I can go out again on Friday if covid treats me well.

I've gotta say, the hardest part of this is isolating from our cat. She has been yowling outside my bedroom all morning. The boys are gone. When they are back Buster will give her some love, but she just hates being separated from us!

The boys are fine so far. They are staying out of the house as much as possible--golfing, Twins game. Good for them!

Best of luck to both of you pumpkinpi. Hang in there

So I just had to make a list of close contacts I've had at work so my HR manager can send out an exposure notification. It was a long list. I had to go back 5 days from when my symptoms started. That's before even Rooster had any symptoms. I'm pretty sure everyone I was near was wearing masks, unless outside, and I ALWAYS wearing one.

So yeah. Keep wearing masks people. You never know what's happening around you.

I'm feeling better. This was definitely worse than "a mild cold" for me and Rooster. We were both completely laid out in bed for a day and a half, but neither of us got sick enough to need to go to a doctor. I can't even imagine how horrible it would be without a vaccine.

Glad you (and hopefully Rooster) are recovering. And yeah. Mass media have been putting a lot of energy into declaring the pandemic almost over, but it's really not even close. Under better control (in rich countries) yeah, but not over.

And yeah the vaccine absolutely makes a huge difference in serious illness, even with the newer resistant variants. One of the vaccine R&D people I follow on Twitter has discussed how Omicron variants aren't "milder" at all, it's just that most cases we're looking at are in vaccinated people; sans vaccine, it's about as deadly as the original Wuhan strain, and far easier to transmit.

My buddy tested positive Friday, he thinks he got it from a guy at work whose whole family apparently has it. I was with him a week ago Saturday and we were supposed to go out for his birthday this Saturday. That of course didn't happen. So if he had it last weekend, I'd have it by now. Dodged it again, I guess. I know he's had two shots, maybe three. I've had three. Hope everybody here that has it gets better soon.

My turn to join the covid party!

Had a sore throat at camp on Friday that frankly just felt like talking too much, but was very lightly congested on Saturday morning so took a covid test. BAM, second line, second test confirms it. So I skedaddled down the mountain and checked into a hotel room in Tucson.

The great news is firstly that no one else at camp has gotten it (and today's the last day) thanks to proactive measures, and being even more proactive once I left- I felt bad bc the trip to see the big telescope on Mt Graham got canceled due to me, but sounds like they had a fun time anyway. Second, I am very much in the mild cold camp of things- had a really nice nap yesterday, and had metallic taste on Sunday that I was paranoid about not leaving but was gone by yesterday. Even took a drive around Saguaro National Park on Sunday bc you can easily distance to do that!

Anyway, after consulting w my doctor, I'm flying home tomorrow (N95 masked of course)- gonna be real hungry/thirsty by the end of the trip, but being not at home sucks way more. Plan is the rest of the family is going to be in New Hampshire for the 4th so F is just going up there early, and I'll hopefully join sometime during the weekend once I test negative twice and ten days have passed. Luckily the 4th is also an outdoors kind of holiday.

Sorry to hear you both had a rougher time of it, pumpkinpi! For me it's more just been a hassle and inconvenience, for which I am thankful.

Shiitttt. Glad you're getting through it okay, Rommie.

Well this is interesting:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... m-symptoms

Short version, at least some long COVID cases may be due to chronic infection, not just injury from initial infection.

Ugh, I'm so sorry to hear that Rommie. I'm surprised but happy for you that your doctor said you could travel. That would have been a pain to delay your trip home. I hope the flight goes well!

We're on the upswing here. Today was the earliest Rooster could have gotten out of isolation according to the CDC but she tested positive. (Although CDC guidelines do NOT say you have to test negative to leave isolation after 5 days, but I think that's ridiculous.)

I must say, the next few weeks will be nice, with the two of us not have to worry about getting covid....for the first time since March 2020!

Yeah, she said as long as I swore to never remove my N95 and don't have symptoms it was ok. Which I don't, and as I said is gonna suck bc it's a long flight back from Arizona to not eat or drink, but whatever. I definitely got lucky though, would have really sucked to be alone and not at home and battling serious symptoms.

Apparently F is down at the house now to meet a contractor and my mom sent food with him to fill the fridge for the rest of my quarantine. So that's something to look forward to for the rest of the quarantine!

Rooster tested positive again today. She's fine except for congestion (which she always has) and a pretty bad cough. I talked to her doctor about what to do. They said that yes, she can go out again with a well fitting mask. But since she's positive she's likely still contagious, and she might as well just keep isolating if there are other people in the house. What a bummer. I'm hopeful that I will not still test positive on my end-of-isolation day because I don't have the cough and congestion. We'll just have to wait and see!

My birthday is Sunday. It was already going to be strange because that's the day MrPi and Buster were heading to scout camp, so we were going to celebrate on Saturday. Who knows what will happen now. If all goes well, Rooster and I will stay holed up, they will stay healthy and head to camp, and I can emerge from my hole on my birthday. And at least go outside!

As long as I get cake, and can taste it, it will be a satisfactory birthday.

Made it home yesterday- a fair bit hungry and a touch headachy from no food or fluids for ~7 hours, but totally worth it. Luckily, my row was empty for the hop for Tucson to Phoenix, then middle seat was free for the longer flight to Boston, so that surely helped. Hardest part was then being in the house with F and not being able to share a kiss. (I went straight to the bedroom, and he's gone now until I feel better.)

Perhaps this is rather dark humor of me, btw, but I couldn't help but notice for the longer flight the lady next to me was maskless, yet carefully wiping down everything she touched. I kept thinking to myself "lady, if only you knew..."

Rommie wrote:
Perhaps this is rather dark humor of me, btw, but I couldn't help but notice for the longer flight the lady next to me was maskless, yet carefully wiping down everything she touched. I kept thinking to myself "lady, if only you knew..."

I'm with you. When I started getting symptoms (but had just tested negative) I made one last trip to Target. For the first time I was not judging the maskless for potentially putting others at risk; I was smugly thinking, "it's because of people like me that you should be wearing one." Of course, with so much covid going around in our area, there's a good chance that a lot of them are temporarily immune and not in need of masks! I actually stopped judging people not wearing masks a while ago. I realized that a lot of the time I don't even notice who is and isn't wearing one.

Day 5 according to the CDC for me, day 8 for Rooster. She still tested positive today, but very faint compared to yesterday. I'm not due to test until tomorrow.

I miss my boys! I hate going out into the kitchen briefly and not being able to clean it. (Neither MrPi or I are super clean, but there are certain things he just doesn't get to.) I miss my cat. (There she is, yowling again outside my door.) I miss outside. I'm worried about how tired I feel when I take a walk. And I'm so, so bored. Tv, movies, podcasts, cross stitching, internet, all get old after days of nothing but those. I've read some magazines but it's really hard to focus on a book.

Fortunately I'm feeling pretty normal. A cough now and then is all I have. Poor Rooster has a pretty bad cough but otherwise she feels fine.

I've pretty much stayed away from work. We get federal emergency leave if we report our sick time related to covid. So I figure if the government is going to pay my workplace for my time off, I'm not going to work. I've just kept up with emails to some extent. I told my reports and boss to text me if there is something they need from my before tomorrow, and I've just gotten one request from my boss. Fortunately my new report started last week, and she's already been able to step in to do some things that would have just gone undone this week. I'm actually pretty proud of my supervisory skills. I'm confident in the capability of my reports to be able to cover things in my unexpected absence.

I am not looking forward to going back to work, though. I think even if I'm negative I'll stay home tomorrow and attack emails all day. I don't want to get to work and just be too exhausted to work. And I really don't' want to do zoom meetings, especially some one-on-ones I have. I might have to power through them, though. At least it's a 3 day weekend afterward. I must say, with everything going on at work and home, this was a good week to be sick.

Still keeping fingers crossed that the boys can go camping. They are fine so far but I know that every day they are in the house is a potential exposure today so we have to stay diligent. We just have to get to no symptoms and a negative test for both of them on Sunday morning. On one hand I feel like they should stay home because I'd hate for them to start having symptoms during camp. On the other hand, by being vaxxed and boosted, with no symptoms, and a negative test, they would be doing everything right.

Rooster is negative today, I'm still positive. I tried to go "back" to work today but after a few hours at the computer I felt pretty crummy. I'm glad I have the rest of the long weekend to recover.

I am anticipating that we will add COVID "boosters" to our annual flu shot regime.

100%

VERY faint line today, first time it's fading, so with 10 days tomorrow I'd say the 10 days is on the ball for me. My main complaint about all this is dang, quarantine is so boring, but if that's my worst complaint I guess I'll count myself lucky.

Side note, read a thread today on a travel subreddit I follow today that was someone asking if anyone else has had this "hostel cough" going around hostels in Central Europe. Several people chimed in to say stuff like "yeah, my throat was soooo sore after my roommate in Italy coughed all night!" etc. And I was like JFC, does the world have collective amnesia about the past 2.5 years already?!

I mean, you don't have to answer that, but just wild to read people wondering what this "weird cough going around" is and not putting two and two together.

Still positive, only day 7 for me. How is it only 7? Oh yeah, your first day is day 0. Anyway, I decided I'm not going to test tomorrow. The boys will be gone so I can go anywhere in the house I want, it doesn't matter if I'm positive! What a birthday treat.

Rommie wrote:100%

VERY faint line today, first time it's fading, so with 10 days tomorrow I'd say the 10 days is on the ball for me. My main complaint about all this is dang, quarantine is so boring, but if that's my worst complaint I guess I'll count myself lucky.

Side note, read a thread today on a travel subreddit I follow today that was someone asking if anyone else has had this "hostel cough" going around hostels in Central Europe. Several people chimed in to say stuff like "yeah, my throat was soooo sore after my roommate in Italy coughed all night!" etc. And I was like JFC, does the world have collective amnesia about the past 2.5 years already?!

I mean, you don't have to answer that, but just wild to read people wondering what this "weird cough going around" is and not putting two and two together.

It got milder so it can't be COVID.

pumpkinpi wrote:Still positive, only day 7 for me. How is it only 7? Oh yeah, your first day is day 0. Anyway, I decided I'm not going to test tomorrow. The boys will be gone so I can go anywhere in the house I want, it doesn't matter if I'm positive! What a birthday treat.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

SciFiFisher wrote:

pumpkinpi wrote:Still positive, only day 7 for me. How is it only 7? Oh yeah, your first day is day 0. Anyway, I decided I'm not going to test tomorrow. The boys will be gone so I can go anywhere in the house I want, it doesn't matter if I'm positive! What a birthday treat.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Thank you! It was the weirdest birthday ever, I spent it gleefully cleaning the house.

Today I tested the very faintist positive. I feel pretty much normal, except a bit of a cough. I'm sure if I went for a run that would be tough, but I actually hadn't been running for a while due to other issues with my lower extremities (leukocytoclastic vasculitus anyone?).

So hopefully it's back to the real world tomorrow. I'm not even going to take a break from masking, though. I've heard of people getting reinfected with omicron after just a few weeks. I'm going to treat it like I never had covid.

Glad your recovery's going (relatively) well, pumpkinpi.

And yeah, Omicron variants (there are apparently several) are really good at immune evasion. Omicron infections provide little or no protection against future infection with Omicron. (And prior infection wit the Wuhan strain makes people, incl. vaccinated people, even less protected against Omicron.)

The Omicron based vaccine candidate for the fall has been shown to produce a strong and probably lasting antibody response though. IIRC the issue is that "natural" antibodies cover a much narrower range of antigens and antigen binding sites.

Until the next dose of variants! *laugh cries*

Back to negative as of Sunday, which was indeed day 10 for me so glad that worked out as it should. Had a nice 4th of July with family, which honestly is a really outdoor holiday anyway when the weather agrees, so no worries there.

Also, most of my family members fully agreed that if they had the symptoms I did they wouldn't have bothered to test (because seriously, it was like blowing my nose two or three times a day at its peak and taking a nice nap in the morning for me). I suppose everyone, including your over-75 years old uncle, wants to think that is the reaction they will have to the virus when we actually have no idea!

Really happy we got through all this without giving it to F at least.

I am so ever so slightly positive today. Neither Rooster nor I saw the line this morning, but when I got home from work we did see one. But, I stayed masked all day in my N95 and everyone around me was masked, and I have no symptoms, so all should be ok. I'll still mask at home too, just to be safe. MrPi is back after 2 nights camping, but Buster is staying for the rest of the week.

I have to say, if they don't get sick, it's good evidence that masking and isolation WORK and/or they are super immune! I'd bet more on the former.