Coronavirus

[pumpkinpi]

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.

I read up and found that no, I wasn't positive--when they say don't read the test after 30 minutes, they really mean it. So I first tested negative on day 10, then 11, 12, and 14 on at home tests. MrPi is very paranoid about getting sick before they go to Colorado for a soccer tournament next weekend. He's been wearing a mask at home, and guilting me into wearing one too. So I took a PCR test on day 13. It came back negative. That's finally good enough for him.

I'm speculating here.....my symptoms were fatigue, fever, headache, and backache for about 2.5 days. For a short time I had a bit of chest congestion, and I still have a bit of phlegm now, but I never had a sore throat or more than an occasional cough. So could it be that my symptoms were mostly my body fighting the virus, and not from the virus itself? I've had four doses of the vaccine. It's been 4 months since my 4th dose.

Rooster did get the sore throat and cough, but otherwise had the same symptoms and duration as I did. She's only had two doses, and it's been over 6 months since her second.

[SciFiFisher]

I'm speculating here.....my symptoms were fatigue, fever, headache, and backache for about 2.5 days. For a short time I had a bit of chest congestion, and I still have a bit of phlegm now, but I never had a sore throat or more than an occasional cough. So could it be that my symptoms were mostly my body fighting the virus, and not from the virus itself? I've had four doses of the vaccine. It's been 4 months since my 4th dose.

Rooster did get the sore throat and cough, but otherwise had the same symptoms and duration as I did. She's only had two doses, and it's been over 6 months since her second.

In a way your speculation is correct. A lot of the symptoms are part of the bodies response to fighting the virus. Especially fever. And fever will make you feel achy and fatigued. So, chalk it up to some part physiological response and some part the virus causing havoc.

[Thumper]

So I'm confused. I thought I was part of the 5% of the population that really could not get Covid. Well that's not true. Basically, on the three year anniversary of the first traceable case, I tested positive. Mrs. T had been feeling crappy all of last weekend, and last week. She tested negative a time or two but tested positive Wednesday afternoon. I tested immediately and it was negative. I tested again Thursday and was negative. Friday morning I started having a couple cold symptoms, and tested positive later that morning.

It's felt like a bad hacky cold and cough, along with some lethargy in the evenings and mornings. Today is day 6 and I tested positive this morning. Mrs. T said she read that you can test positive for weeks but not be contagious. She said she was following the current CDC guidelines of 5 days of quarantine followed by 5 days of masking in public. I've never cared about getting it myself. And it currently feels like a nagging cold that I'll eventually get over as usual. But it is unacceptable for me to give it to someone else, especially if they could have worse symptoms or give it to someone at risk for a life threatening case.

I don't mind being masked up when out and about. But when should I feel safe to be in public especially in doors and especially when eating or drinking? Is it true a continuing positive test does not necessarily mean I'm still contagious? Oh, for information, I got my 4th shot (second booster) on Oct 20, so I believe it was for all the latest variants.

[Rommie]

Ah, that sucks, but glad you're doing ok Thumper! (I felt similar when I got covid, never got bad but it was more the hassle of it than anything.)

Re: the testing thing, from when I had it in June it felt like the consensus was "if you are testing positive on an at home test, you can still give it to someone." It's the PCR tests where the virus can linger for a really long time. And sure enough, around day 9 or 10 was when I no longer tested positive on at home tests, though I didn't have symptoms for a few days by that point except a slight cough.

So yeah, I wouldn't be eating and drinking in public until the 10 days are up or you're negative, whichever is first. But if you must go out, and mask up in an N95, I think that's reasonable.

Feel better soon!

[Thumper]

Thanks for the info, and the good wishes.

[pumpkinpi]

Ah, that sucks, but glad you're doing ok Thumper! (I felt similar when I got covid, never got bad but it was more the hassle of it than anything.)

Re: the testing thing, from when I had it in June it felt like the consensus was "if you are testing positive on an at home test, you can still give it to someone." It's the PCR tests where the virus can linger for a really long time. And sure enough, around day 9 or 10 was when I no longer tested positive on at home tests, though I didn't have symptoms for a few days by that point except a slight cough.

So yeah, I wouldn't be eating and drinking in public until the 10 days are up or you're negative, whichever is first. But if you must go out, and mask up in an N95, I think that's reasonable.

Feel better soon!

I was going to write pretty much the same post! I still was positive on an at home test on day 9 despite being fever free for a week and feeling fine.

I'm glad you both made it through ok. We still have a lot of it going around work, and the severity is hit or miss. No hospitalizations--- we're all vaccinated. But some just feel crummy for a couple days, others are knocked out for a week.

[Thumper]

I don't feel great, but I could function and work if need be. I actually did a little chain sawing yesterday. It's going out in public that makes me pause. Don't want to give it to anyone else. I'm frustrated that I can't know definitively when I am no longer contagious.

[Thumper]

Day 8 and probably my best day yet. But each morning when I get up, it feels like I took a half step back from the afternoon before. But that would be pretty normal for me when enduring the occasional cold virus. Hoping to work on a car this afternoon if it ever shows up. And start setting up for my outdoor Christmas lighting. By Monday, hope to be back to normal operations but I'll probably stay masked when around others especially indoors.

[geonuc]

Best wishes for not dealing with long Covid (Thumper and pumpkinpi). It's been a bit of an issue for me although getting better. My doctor mentioned that there was some evidence that the latest bivalent booster might help with that.

[Thumper]

Thanks Geo. I wish you the best. I feel mostly done with it. Energy levels coming back. But I think this cough will haunt me for a while. I think about my 4 shots and how different this may or may not have been if I wasn't double boosted.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Good to hear you two are coping well. So far, I seem to have been able to avoid catching COVID. Which, considering that all I got was two Chinese vaccine shots, rather surprises me.

[SciFiFisher]

Good to hear you two are coping well. So far, I seem to have been able to avoid catching COVID. Which, considering that all I got was two Chinese vaccine shots, rather surprises me.

Maybe the Chinese did something good.

[Sigma_Orionis]

If the news coming out from China are reliable, it sure wasn't their vaccines....

[SciFiFisher]

If the news coming out from China are reliable, it sure wasn't their vaccines....

To quote a FWIS Alum: "China quarrity goot".

[lady_*nix]

Ugh. Let's not with the racism this time please?

[lady_*nix]

Well this is bleak as fuck.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/we-re-a ... 5ccn5.html

Health experts are calling for a rethink of Australia’s COVID-19 approach after a new study showed one in 10 people will end up with “long COVID”... Each time a person is reinfected with the virus, they have the same likelihood of catching long COVID, [Prof. Brendan Crabb] said... An analysis by the US Department of Veterans Affairs of 150,000 people showed they had an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure and stroke just one year after catching COVID-19, regardless of how severe the initial infection was.

So same as early in the pandemic. Each infection compounds the risk of chronic illness, and adds cumulative damage. We are going to have an entire generation of people just dropping dead in their 40s-50s because of this, if we are lucky.

[Rommie]

I wouldn't go that far. It's pretty clear that long Covid is a serious risk, but for most people I know who have experienced it you'll have a lingering symptom (like, not tasting things) that goes away after a few months. Anecdotally, for those I know who got it twice they then have it much more mild the second time and no long Covid symptoms. Which sucks, don't get me wrong, but I don't think merits the sweeping conclusion of "We are going to have an entire generation of people just dropping dead in their 40s-50s because of this, if we are lucky" just yet.

I think what's the strangest thing about Covid is it's clear it affects everyone so differently, and there is no way to know how you'll end up before getting it. What I have read though on the topic is once you have it, you need to prioritize resting as much as possible, and take it easy for a few weeks too. Seems there's a correlation between long Covid and people trying to bounce back too fast, which is not unusual for other viruses with chronic symptoms after.

[lady_*nix]

Oof yeah, pathogens in general are nastier than people give them credit for. When I was in my early 20s I managed to get a few years of GI problems by overexerting myself too soon after getting a bad cold! And I recently talked to someone who got a permanent neurological disorder from a case of strep. And people develop ME/CFS after all kinds of viral infections...

As for COVID, IDK. Sorry for the doom and gloom but it has been a pattern - governments have underplayed how dangerous this stuff is at basically every turn, and in particular underplayed the chronic health risks. And I still can't forget early in the pandemic in the US, even before the vaccine was available, when Republicans were openly saying the elderly should die for The Economy, and a lot of Democrats were only sounding kinder by comparison. The truth revealed then was that many governments would accept mass death and disability to enrich the already wealthy and powerful, and just... it's hard for me to trust more positive takes again, when there is so so much vested interest in inurring us to the risks and convincing us to ignore the scientists.

[Rommie]

I think you're ultimately attributing too much to malice over apathy re: governments. What I mean is what was striking to me visiting Europe twice in the last year is how people care far less than even Americans do about Covid there, even in countries with pretty socialist governments by comparison (like Denmark). Not at all unusual to be the only person wearing a mask even during times when it was standard in places like Massachusetts still, for example.

I realize of course not all governments are monolithic and they all have different motivations etc. But I do think it's fair to say the average person regardless of country just doesn't care any more about Covid, masking, etc- just look at the mass protests in China for a recent example. And ultimately there's really only so much any government is going to do when the grand majority of its citizens find a policy extremely unpopular.

[lady_*nix]

Even more bleak: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02051-3

Check out the charts - vaccine status has zero impact, literally zero, on cumulative health problems from repeated COVID reinfection. Vaccines are still the best line of defense for other reasons, but they're still not as effective as we'd like.

And if I'm reading it right, the numbers look HUGE. Hundreds of long-term sequelae per thousand people for third reinfections. How'd y'all like to live in a society where half the population are too disabled to work?

[pumpkinpi]

We have another potential exposure in our house due to a sleepover. I've been telling people that I continue to wear a mask in places where most people aren't anymore (including my workplace, grrr) because the risk I am willing to take involves letting my kids get back to a healthy social life. As in, Buster having friends over/going to other friends places without insisting on masks, and Rooster having sleepovers. Wearing a mask I minimize my risk of bringing something home to them so they might miss out on those activities, and I minimize my risk to the general public/my coworkers by bringing something to them if my kid contracts it.

The first time I let down my guard was Rooster's first sleepover last summer, after which she and I both got it. Masks and isolation kept the boys from getting it.

Last Friday Rooster had a sleepover at her BFF's. She was supposed to go over to her house earlier in the week, but the mom postponed it because the BFF's sister had cold symptoms. Sister tested negative on multiple days but we still took precautions.

So yesterday I got a text that BFF's mom tested positive. She started with symptoms "a few days ago," (so Monday or Tuesday?) and thought it was the cold, but yesterday she lost her sense of smell so she tested.

It's possible mom got sick from a different exposure, or that sister had it but never tested positive. If it's the latter, covid was hanging around the house when Rooster was there!

Anyway, I'm not really that mad. I don't hold it against the family; we were both assuming the same amount of risk! It's just so ironic that a sleepover could be the cause of two runs of covid in our house. So far Rooster feels fine; today is day 5 after the sleepover and she tested negative. She is near the BFF at school, though. I wonder if mom is keeping her home.

Both kids still mask at school, and Rooster wore her mask most of the time during the sleepover. BUT she also did at the last one, and she only wears a cloth mask. (I know, that's not very effective, but we can't find any of the good ones that actually fit her. So it's better than nothing.)

[lady_*nix]

oh no! Good luck again, pumpkinpi

And yeah at this point I basically treat any "cold" as a possible case of COVID. As do all my friends. The antigen test is just a guideline, not a guarantee.

[SciFiFisher]

Sadly, it appears that we are going to be seeing this pattern for a while. COVID seems to be like the flu in that it mutates rapidly and repeat infections can happen fairly readily. Sleep overs are the ideal way to spread it. Prolonged exposure in close quarters are going to increase the chances of infection. And the home test has a fair rate of false negatives. Ideally, you have to get a lab test or treat any cold or flu symptoms as if it is COVID. Of course, there is still the challenge of COVID being infectious before and after symptoms show up. Sigh.

[lady_*nix]

The main issue I think is more that it's way more transmissible than the flu as of current strains, more on the order of measles. And in terms of death and disability risks, more like e.g. malaria, even with the vaccine. Sans vaccine it's more like Lasa fever, with 5-10% risk of death.

Basically the way we do pretty much everything is going to have to radically change in order to keep this fucker under control. In particular we will need good ventilation and air filtration everywhere enclosed. Filtration is not hard if people actually commit, but ventilation is a huge deal and a lot of companies/orgs/etc. completely ignore it.

[lady_*nix]

TBQH if I had to work in a physical office right now, I'd be
- keeping an N95 mask on at all times when inside the office
- eating/drinking only outside the building
- bringing a Corsi-Rosenthal box or equiv to the office and leaving it plugged in and running at all times near my desk.

The fact that the management would probably give me shit about that last, well, that's one of the Capitalism Problems we're looking at here: "professionalism" being more important than people's lives, even in a pandemic that killed over a million Americans.