@ May COVID Thread

[hermione]

I called our pediatrician to ask their recommendation on the booster. I was fairly certain they would confirm my instinct to get it now. Except they did not. The nurse said that while cases are rising, severity is not. She told me that with school ending soon and a likely drop in cases within a month, they are currently recommending waiting until fall. 

So now I don't know what we will do. For us it will likely come down to the actual wording of the approval. If they say "should" get boosted, we probably will. If they say "can" get boosted, we may wait.

[noodleoo]

May 18, 2022 6:50:08 GMT -5 Susie said:

It appears this may be moot, because H & I both tested positive this morning. Even if DS can go back, neither of us can leave isolation to take him. Monday will be our day 6 and his day 10, so maybe then.

Crap!  Sorry Susie , I hope you both have mild cases.

The only silver lining is that after my family had Covid (particularly DD2 who is the only unvaxxed one that I was the most anxious about getting Covid), we were finally able to relax a little.  We enjoyed our immunity and traveled a bit, have been eating in restaurants, etc.  It has been a nice break after so long.  The relief from the constant stress and anxiety has been life changing for my mental health.

[Poppy]

May 18, 2022 6:50:08 GMT -5 Susie said:

It appears this may be moot, because H & I both tested positive this morning. Even if DS can go back, neither of us can leave isolation to take him. Monday will be our day 6 and his day 10, so maybe then.

Hugs and good luck. Does this mean that at least your H will be home to help with the kiddos?

You need a break!

[Susie]

May 18, 2022 9:55:22 GMT -5 Poppy said:

May 18, 2022 6:50:08 GMT -5 Susie said:

It appears this may be moot, because H & I both tested positive this morning. Even if DS can go back, neither of us can leave isolation to take him. Monday will be our day 6 and his day 10, so maybe then.

Hugs and good luck. Does this mean that at least your H will be home to help with the kiddos?

You need a break!

Yes, he's now home.  And thank goodness, because he's feeling much better than I am.  I was already struggling managing work + DS, and adding covid to the mix pushed me past what I could handle alone.  
This virus is so strange.  DS had a super bright test line, and a 48 hour fever as his only symptom.  H had a super bright test line and basically feels fine.  I had a fairly faint (but definitely there) test line, and I have headache, body ache, chills, dizziness, chest congestion, and cough.  I feel like crap.

Unfortunately since we tested positive at the same time, we have the max period of time where nobody can go get groceries/etc.  We're also waiting to see if DD (6 yo, vaxxed but not boosted) will get it.  It's nice to have my own timeline, but we're not through the uncertainty entirely yet.

[hermione]

May 18, 2022 10:13:36 GMT -5 Susie said:

May 18, 2022 9:55:22 GMT -5 Poppy said:

Hugs and good luck. Does this mean that at least your H will be home to help with the kiddos?

You need a break!

Yes, he's now home.  And thank goodness, because he's feeling much better than I am.  I was already struggling managing work + DS, and adding covid to the mix pushed me past what I could handle alone.  
This virus is so strange.  DS had a super bright test line, and a 48 hour fever as his only symptom.  H had a super bright test line and basically feels fine.  I had a fairly faint (but definitely there) test line, and I have headache, body ache, chills, dizziness, chest congestion, and cough.  I feel like crap.

Unfortunately since we tested positive at the same time, we have the max period of time where nobody can go get groceries/etc.  We're also waiting to see if DD (6 yo, vaxxed but not boosted) will get it.  It's nice to have my own timeline, but we're not through the uncertainty entirely yet.

Does the intensity of the color mean anything? I have been ASSuming, like a pregnancy test, a line is a line and has more to do with the amount of dye in the test? I have no idea though.

[Poppy]

May 18, 2022 10:13:36 GMT -5 Susie said:

May 18, 2022 9:55:22 GMT -5 Poppy said:

Hugs and good luck. Does this mean that at least your H will be home to help with the kiddos?

You need a break!

Yes, he's now home.  And thank goodness, because he's feeling much better than I am.  I was already struggling managing work + DS, and adding covid to the mix pushed me past what I could handle alone.  
This virus is so strange.  DS had a super bright test line, and a 48 hour fever as his only symptom.  H had a super bright test line and basically feels fine.  I had a fairly faint (but definitely there) test line, and I have headache, body ache, chills, dizziness, chest congestion, and cough.  I feel like crap.

Unfortunately since we tested positive at the same time, we have the max period of time where nobody can go get groceries/etc.  We're also waiting to see if DD (6 yo, vaxxed but not boosted) will get it.  It's nice to have my own timeline, but we're not through the uncertainty entirely yet.

I'm glad he will be home.

It is weird! DS had a positive rapid Monday morning (first symptoms Saturday night). DD and I went for PCRs Monday which came back negative even though I have been having symptoms (chest congestion and tickly throat, which I guess might be allergies) for several days. I also got a negative on a rapid yesterday even though that was when I felt worst. DD started with a runny nose yesterday which I'm assuming is covid... but she just tested negative on a rapid. Either way she will be out through the end of school since she's an unvaccinated close contact. H has been asymptomatic.

IDK, is it possible that DS's test was a false positive? [Rhetorical - I'm not actually asking people to weigh in.] This is maddening.

[Susie]

hermione I agree that “a line is a line,” but I figured a more intense test line had some correlation with amount of virus present, sort of like a brighter bfp line indicates more hcg/possibly more days/weeks along. But IDK. In the end, as you said, a line is a line.

Mine is the middle one, def the lightest in my household. Same test brand as DS’s.

[melmaria]

May 18, 2022 10:56:50 GMT -5 Susie said:

hermione  I agree that “a line is a line,” but I figured a more intense test line had some correlation with amount of virus present, sort of like a brighter bfp line indicates more hcg/possibly more days/weeks along. But IDK. In the end, as you said, a line is a line.

I think this is true.  My H tested like 5 million times (he gets access to free tests due to his part time frontline worker job) and his line started out super faint, became super dark a day later, stayed dark through day 6, and then gradually started to fade/was gone by day 12.

[TR]

May 18, 2022 12:42:50 GMT -5 mofongo said:

May 18, 2022 11:06:47 GMT -5 melmaria said:

I think this is true.  My H tested like 5 million times (he gets access to free tests due to his part time frontline worker job) and his line started out super faint, became super dark a day later, stayed dark through day 6, and then gradually started to fade/was gone by day 12.

This was our experience with it as well. Although they say you’re most contagious before symptoms, and the first few days with them. I tested negative first day, faint on 2nd and bright on 3rd. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Take this with a grain of salt, obviously, but my SIL who works as a Child Life Specialist at Johns Hopkins (so not a doctor, but doctor adjacent lol) said something this past weekend about how now people aren't testing positive until a day or two after symptoms start because the contagious period seems to be moving that direction. Who knows.

[Susie]

May 18, 2022 13:02:16 GMT -5 TR said:

May 18, 2022 12:42:50 GMT -5 mofongo said:

This was our experience with it as well. Although they say you’re most contagious before symptoms, and the first few days with them. I tested negative first day, faint on 2nd and bright on 3rd. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Take this with a grain of salt, obviously, but my SIL who works as a Child Life Specialist at Johns Hopkins (so not a doctor, but doctor adjacent lol) said something this past weekend about how now people aren't testing positive until a day or two after symptoms start because the contagious period seems to be moving that direction. Who knows.

If that's true that seems like it would be helpful for slowing down the spread.  It's a lot easier to stay home when you're feeling sick than to prospectively identify and stay home before you start to feel sick!

[Susie]

OMG, my head is going to actually explode.  Daycare director is insisting on getting a signed quarantine affidavit for DS to return to care.  We've done a million of these, because in the past we've always been able to sign it for his quarantine returns.  But this is the NYS quarantine affidavit:   coronavirus.health.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/01/Affirmation_Of_Quarantine_011222.pdf

Passage of note:  "I or my child or dependent quarantined for five (5) days following the last day of exposure to the COVID-19 positive person and have remained asymptomatic during the five (5) days."  (Emphasis added.)

I've reported DS's positive.  She knows he has covid.  She knows we have covid.  She wants me to sign it anyway because she "doesn't have clarity" from OCFS on this.  WTAF.  How does OCFS not have clarity at this point on how to handle return after known infection?

Especially because the NYS DOH has a whole separate affidavit JUST FOR THAT PURPOSE - the affidavit of isolation:  coronavirus.health.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/01/affirmation_of_isolation_011222.pdf 

I sent her a signed isolation affidavit and a hand edited quarantine affidavit striking the "asymptomatic" language and identifying his last date of exposure as "self - positive test 5/14/22."  IDK what else to do.  Kid needs to return to daycare next week because he has been out of care for 10 of the last 15 business days, I've been working FT from home this entire time, and I am having a rough go of my own covid infection, probably because I am so effing exhausted.

I am so frustrated with this daycare, this process, this pandemic.  All of it.  /vent

[mskitkat]

Susie I feel you. My boss has started sending me “uh, I know you are sick but….” emails.

We aren’t allowed to send the toddler back to daycare until she’s 10 days post positive test. She got covid on top of a cold, so I can’t go by symptom onset. She’s had a runny nose for 3 weeks! Toddler has been out of daycare since I got covid (the 13th) and didn’t test positive until the 19th. She’s not going back until June 1. Sigh.

[lea]

Kids are dropping like flies at school. This is just so exhausting. Some are way too immature to responsibly mask on days 6-10 and really should stay home longer but of course that’s a huge burden on so many working parents, especially those who don’t have paid time off. Ugh.

[magpie]

Well, we still haven't had anyone other than H test positive in my house. It's a little baffling. We did not isolate from him and were definitely exposed. I don't think one of us could have been the one to have given it to him because one of our PCR tests would have come back positive, right?

[waverly]

May 21, 2022 6:58:06 GMT -5 lea said:

Kids are dropping like flies at school. This is just so exhausting. Some are way too immature to responsibly mask on days 6-10 and really should stay home longer but of course that’s a huge burden on so many working parents, especially those who don’t have paid time off. Ugh.

I just got mine boostered and school ends June1, so I’m hoping to make it to the end. We have some fun camps and things going on this summer so hoping to avoid Covid for that also, but those events are more spread out throughout the summer.

[macmars45]

May 21, 2022 6:58:06 GMT -5 lea said:

Kids are dropping like flies at school. This is just so exhausting. Some are way too immature to responsibly mask on days 6-10 and really should stay home longer but of course that’s a huge burden on so many working parents, especially those who don’t have paid time off. Ugh.

Even if kids are great at masking, they take them off to eat lunch, a snack and drink water. How the hell do they not expect kids to spread their infection if they're still contagious during days 6-10? All the covid positive kids day 6-10 eat lunch together far away from everyone else and don't drink water except at recess? That's not even taking into account the older kids who don't get recesses or the younger ones who also nap. It all makes zero sense unless they have a negative at home test before returning to school/child care.

[Bad Dingo]

I have pregnancy test ptsd so please excuse my test anxiety. A line that shows up after 15 minutes doesn't count, right? Both DD and I are getting lines within an hour on tests we've used before and haven't had this happen. At least 5 of 20 kids in her theatre have covid. She has zero symptoms. I feel like crap (headache, cough, chest congestion). We each also took a binax and no line on that.

*TW* multiple miscarriages. When TTC I'd often get faint lines well after the designated times and then test positive days later so I still have the "a line is a line" mindset.

[curbsideprophet]

May 21, 2022 16:57:51 GMT -5 Bad Dingo said:

I have pregnancy test ptsd so please excuse my test anxiety. A line that shows up after 15 minutes doesn't count, right? Both DD and I are getting lines within an hour on tests we've used before and haven't had this happen. At least 5 of 20 kids in her theatre have covid. She has zero symptoms. I feel like crap (headache, cough, chest congestion). We each also took a binax and no line.

This is going to depend on your specific test. Many say not to read them too soon. Are you seeing the line at 15 minutes or at 1 hour? What are the instructions for this specific test?

[Dznyprnces]

COVID round 2 over here as well.

DS and I had it in January. As soon as we tested positive, XH picked up DD to try and keep her from more exposure. She never ended up with any symptoms.

Now DD has it, and for various reasons we cannot keep the kids apart like we did last time. So here’s hoping DS doesn’t end up with it again. He had it in January, so he’s past the 90 day immunity window.

They both will miss the last 2 days of school next week.

[gretchenindisguise]

May 21, 2022 16:57:51 GMT -5 Bad Dingo said:

I have pregnancy test ptsd so please excuse my test anxiety. A line that shows up after 15 minutes doesn't count, right? Both DD and I are getting lines within an hour on tests we've used before and haven't had this happen. At least 5 of 20 kids in her theatre have covid. She has zero symptoms. I feel like crap (headache, cough, chest congestion). We each also took a binax and no line on that.

*TW* multiple miscarriages. When TTC I'd often get faint lines well after the designated times and then test positive days later so I still have the "a line is a line" mindset.

We had several that gave us evaporation lines last week. Always well after the window, no color in the 2nd lines. This was with the binxax tests. PCR was negative.

[turboteal]

Bad Dingo can you get a pcr? Since you have symptoms that should be more definitive for you and you can stop the at homes knowing you have something else.

[dcrunnergirl52]

Anyone test positive on a PCR but never on a home test?

We've had various cold and viruses running through our house for weeks. First, DS3 (4 years old) had a cold for like 6 weeks with runny nose and cough, then DS2, DD, and DS1 all got it. They all got over it for about 2 weeks, and now DS3 and DS2 are back to coughing and runny nose, and DD threw up last night, and I have a sore throat. Home covid tests negative every time.

I'm tempted to take us for PCR tests b/c do we really have another random cold again!? (Which, I'm sure we do, but at this point, if we're going to get covid again, now wouldn't be the worst timing.)

[fortnightlily]

May 23, 2022 9:58:36 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

Anyone test positive on a PCR but never on a home test?

We've had various cold and viruses running through our house for weeks. First, DS3 (4 years old) had a cold for like 6 weeks with runny nose and cough, then DS2, DD, and DS1 all got it. They all got over it for about 2 weeks, and now DS3 and DS2 are back to coughing and runny nose, and DD threw up last night, and I have a sore throat. Home covid tests negative every time.

I'm tempted to take us for PCR tests b/c do we really have another random cold again!? (Which, I'm sure we do, but at this point, if we're going to get covid again, now wouldn't be the worst timing.)

I'll let you know later! Gonna go get a PCR in about an hour. I have a sore throat and congestion since yesterday after just literally having gotten over another cold. Two home tests were negative. I will be pretty surprised if the PCR is positive but I have a few appointments later this week so just doing my due diligence.

UPDATE: Negative. So just second cold in a month, wheeee.

[Bad Dingo]

May 23, 2022 9:58:36 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

Anyone test positive on a PCR but never on a home test?

When I had it in August of 2021 I had a positive PCR and symptoms for a week but never tested positive on a Binax at home.

[sonrisa]

The school fundraiser was this weekend and I've gotten two COVID notifications in the past hour.

[ggirl]

May 23, 2022 9:58:36 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

Anyone test positive on a PCR but never on a home test?

We've had various cold and viruses running through our house for weeks. First, DS3 (4 years old) had a cold for like 6 weeks with runny nose and cough, then DS2, DD, and DS1 all got it. They all got over it for about 2 weeks, and now DS3 and DS2 are back to coughing and runny nose, and DD threw up last night, and I have a sore throat. Home covid tests negative every time.

I'm tempted to take us for PCR tests b/c do we really have another random cold again!? (Which, I'm sure we do, but at this point, if we're going to get covid again, now wouldn't be the worst timing.)

We all had it beginning of month. My h and I had very obvious symptoms and turned rapids. My kid had basically nothing (a cough. Like. 1x a day) and never turned a rapid. Even after her PCR was positive.

However not sure what area you are in but right now my area is rampant with flu. My kid has a sore throat/headache and low grade fever right now and we are going to the pedi to rule out flu because it’s so bad right now.

[meganew]

We went to a Phillies game with my cousin last Wednesday- she was at our house, rode it he car, Viv sat on her lap basically the whole game. She had bad allergies and took a test right before the game that was negative, got a fever that night, tested on Thursday and it was a dark positive. GREAT. I’m suppose to be going to a weekend long bachelorette party over Memorial Day for my girlfriend and she’s flying in from Hawaii for it.

So far we’re all negative and no one has any symptoms. I’m really hoping that our recent infection in January spared us from it this time.

[Velar Fricative]

FWIW, the only people IRL that I know never tested positive at home but did test positive on PCRs were asymptomatic or had very very mild symptoms.

[kitty]

My DD just tested positive for flu A. She has a terrible sore throat, fever, headache, congestion, cough, and fatigue. She threw up a bit a couple times but I'm pretty sure it was just from coughing too hard because she was never nauseous and kept things down right afterward. We are on Day 4 of negative rapids, each 24 hours apart so the pedi said that was pretty convincing she is covid negative did not recommend a PCR (to rule out flurona). The pedi said there is a lot of flu going around.

[Poppy]

May 23, 2022 9:58:36 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

Anyone test positive on a PCR but never on a home test?

We've had various cold and viruses running through our house for weeks. First, DS3 (4 years old) had a cold for like 6 weeks with runny nose and cough, then DS2, DD, and DS1 all got it. They all got over it for about 2 weeks, and now DS3 and DS2 are back to coughing and runny nose, and DD threw up last night, and I have a sore throat. Home covid tests negative every time.

I'm tempted to take us for PCR tests b/c do we really have another random cold again!? (Which, I'm sure we do, but at this point, if we're going to get covid again, now wouldn't be the worst timing.)

H was sick and tested negative on a rapid. The next week, DS was sick and got a positive rapid on Monday and again on Wednesday. I felt sick for days and got negative rapids for 3 days straight and a negative PCR on Monday before finally testing positive on a rapid on Thursday. Best guess is that H was index case and just didn't test enough to catch it. I think especially in vaccinated people you can have symptoms for a couple days before testing positive. That's ironic because we have been sick a bunch lately and I was feeling like the boy who cried wolf with all the testing we were doing.

Hopefully you have some free tests from insurance and/or USPS to keep testing regularly.