(turned into @) December Covid

[breezy8407]

RoxMonster , I also have two anecdotes that involve older parents. Both times I've had it, I've been around my parents and in-laws during holidays the days leading up to a positive test. Tests were negative the days I was with them, but tested positive after. No one I was around got it thankfully. (@@@ And this last time, neither did H or my kids @@@)

[seeyalater52]

Dec 15, 2022 8:37:10 GMT -5 beerlover said:

Thanks for that seeyalater52. I just ordered more too.

I don't love these iHealth ones, I think the Binax are a lot more user friendly, but I'll take what I can get lol.

I’m actually frustrated with the Binax ones recently and wishing we had more different kinds (and I like ihealth.) Binax was what gave us the very light false positive with my kiddo a couple months ago and I’ve seen a couple other stories of evap line/indent line/very light positives confirmed negative with PCR with this same brand so I think they may be a little more prone to that than some other brands I’ve used.

[Bad Dingo]

I like the ihealth ones, it feels like I'm doing science. I've gotten a few faulty binax ones (poorly put together with the test strip cut wrong).

[icedcoffee]

I like ihealth but not the ones where you have to transfer the liquid yourself. The newer ones where they are prefilled! #lazy

[noodleoo]

Dec 15, 2022 12:08:58 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

I like ihealth but not the ones where you have to transfer the liquid yourself. The newer ones where they are prefilled! #lazy

Same!  I'm always afraid I'm going to spill the liquid and it doesn't pour well out of the little ampule when you cut the top off.

[beerlover]

Dec 15, 2022 12:37:18 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Dec 15, 2022 12:08:58 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

I like ihealth but not the ones where you have to transfer the liquid yourself. The newer ones where they are prefilled! #lazy

Same!  I'm always afraid I'm going to spill the liquid and it doesn't pour well out of the little ampule when you cut the top off.

Yes, I think the ones I had, you had to transfer the liquid. Like, why you making me do all this work?! I don't feel well anyway! lol.

[beerlover]

Dec 15, 2022 11:47:21 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Dec 15, 2022 8:37:10 GMT -5 beerlover said:

Thanks for that seeyalater52 . I just ordered more too.

I don't love these iHealth ones, I think the Binax are a lot more user friendly, but I'll take what I can get lol.

I’m actually frustrated with the Binax ones recently and wishing we had more different kinds (and I like ihealth.) Binax was what gave us the very light false positive with my kiddo a couple months ago and I’ve seen a couple other stories of evap line/indent line/very light positives confirmed negative with PCR with this same brand so I think they may be a little more prone to that than some other brands I’ve used.

I understand! The Binax worked well for me - it lit up blazing positive right away. I didn't have any issues with light positives at all previously, that would be frustrating!

[RoxMonster]

Yeah we have the iHealth ones and had to transfer the liquid. I felt awful and it was like 6 AM and I made H do it lol. He didn't feel as poorly as I did.

One question, maybe I am dumb and missing it, but I scoured that entire box and count not find an expiration date. Where are they located?

[bee20]

@roxmonster, it's on the back of the carton, the lower right side on all the iHealth boxes I have. The expiration date has been extended a few times so double check before throwing any away.

I'm wondering if I'm somehow testing wrong. I've felt a little off but not fully sick (maybe more post-nasal drip) a few times now after direct exposures at work. I've never tested positive and never been fully sick after an exposure. I'm unclear if I'm lucky or just oblivious.

[icedcoffee]

Dec 15, 2022 15:14:25 GMT -5 bee20 said:

@roxmonster, it's on the back of the carton, the lower right side on all the iHealth boxes I have. The expiration date has been extended a few times so double check before throwing any away.

I'm wondering if I'm somehow testing wrong. I've felt a little off but not fully sick (maybe more post-nasal drip) a few times now after direct exposures at work. I've never tested positive and never been fully sick after an exposure. I'm unclear if I'm lucky or just oblivious.

I wouldn't have known if my H didn't have such bad covid symptoms.  I never would have tested for the symptoms I have now because they're pretty much the same symptoms I've had for the past 3 years of winter dust allergies.

[pixy0stix]

I'm skeptical of everyone who says they never had covid at this point. Because like above, they might have had sniffles and never tested, or been completely asymptomatic. Basically, you'd have to have had no contact with anyone to not have caught it.

[seeyalater52]

Dec 15, 2022 15:28:37 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm skeptical of everyone who says they never had covid at this point. Because like above, they might have had sniffles and never tested, or been completely asymptomatic. Basically, you'd have to have had no contact with anyone to not have caught it.

I tend to agree although we haven’t “had covid” - some part of me assumes we have even though we don’t go anywhere without an N95 and all 3 of us have always tested with rapids and PCRs at any sign of illness (and a lot of times with no symptoms too, and we require rapids the morning of any occasional unmasked gatherings with the select family and friends we do see who also take precautions.) It just isn’t a foolproof system.

[wanderingback]

Dec 15, 2022 15:28:37 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm skeptical of everyone who says they never had covid at this point. Because like above, they might have had sniffles and never tested, or been completely asymptomatic. Basically, you'd have to have had no contact with anyone to not have caught it.

Yeah I def would be the person who has had covid that is completely asymptomatic. I’ve had no covid symptoms, but I rarely get sick anyway, so that’s not unusual for me. I have been pretty conservative (I haven’t been in public indoors without a n95 mask since March 2020, except for a hand full of times when cases were really low and I ate indoors at uncrowded restaurants). So I’m assuming if I had an asymptomatic case I would have a lower viral load since I wear a mask all the time.

Neither of my (divorced) parents have had covid symptoms or known covid. My mom in particular is super careful (always masking) because she helps take care of my 105 year old grandmother (no known covid either). I just like to think that masks really do help based on all of this!!

[RoxMonster]

I’m on day 4 of Covid and right now have just awful head congestion. My cough greatly improved and is almost gone. I lost my taste/smell on day 2. Right now the most annoying thing is having my head socked in and can’t breathe through my nose. I did take some methy Sudafed this morning which helped a little but it has since gotten worse.

[icedcoffee]

Yeah I do think it's possible to have not had covid since it took us going on a cruise to get it, but I also think there are a lot of people who just never knew they had it. I'm surprised my in laws haven't had it yet since they've cruised twice since covid, but I am SURE we'd all know if she did. I cannot imagine covid being asymptomatic in her. She's a lifelong smoker for whom EVERY sniffle turns into bronchitis or worse. If she was asymptomatic then they should study her in a lab. LOL

[icedcoffee]

The weirdest part about covid for me is that at some parts in the day I feel like I could run a marathon and in other points I feel like I for sure have something. And I'm not medicating so it's not when that runs out. So weird. Like I'm not congested at all right now, but I bet I will be in like 2 hours.

[pixy0stix]

Are the blood tests to see if you've had covid still being offered? Or did they go away when the vaccines started being offered?

[seeyalater52]

Dec 15, 2022 15:55:34 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Are the blood tests to see if you've had covid still being offered? Or did they go away when the vaccines started being offered?

There are some blood tests that just test antibodies in general (which could be from infection or vaccine) but others that can tell if your antibodies are from covid only regardless of the vaccine (my kid had one which is how we knew he was placebo group in the trial.) Typically they require a doctor to order them so they’re not just available for funsies and I’m guessing most people can’t access them. They’re also not 100% foolproof as we know some people don’t seroconvert or develop a strong antibody response after infection.

[bee20]

pixy0stix, icedcoffee,
I have been testing for several days after the known exposures, it's just I haven't had a line change (and haven't been noticeably sick). It makes me wonder if I'm doing it wrong, but my partner tested positive and he and I have done them together. I have also tried using a second test on my throat and cheeks after a direct-hit exposure (8 hours in a small conference room) and was still negative. I have worked in a lab professionally so I think I'm doing it right, but I've always had some nagging doubt that I'm not infectious enough to turn the line but my body is reacting to something.

I'm sure there are also plenty of people who just don't test, that's a whole other thing.

[chickadee77]

Hopefully not jinxing us, but we haven't had it. We homeschool, H and I WFH, and we mask everywhere.

Pretty sure we had the OG, but that was prior to home testing, so 🤷‍♀️. ETA: If we did, it was mild, but my H shared a plane with someone who died about 10 days later, and two other guys on the same plane (out of, I think, six or seven total) were hospitized with a diagnosis in the same time frame that we had our symptoms. I guess we could have had something different, though.

I actually thought I had it last week after getting some dental work done (felt crappy, sore throat, headache) but all tests were negative, and no symptoms from anyone else in the family, so again 🤷‍♀️

[basilosaurus]

pixy0stix, I get what you're saying. Of course I wouldn't know if I'm totally asymptomatic. I think it's better to say "I've never tested positive" vs "I've never had it."

Jan 2020 I'd venture to guess I had it. I was living and traveling, only sometimes masked, in the first country outside China with positive cases. They'd already instituted many protocols. I ended up with a nasty cough. However, AQI where I was living at the time was often 500+ which apparently isn't even a thing, but that's what the weather report said. We regularly masked everywhere. A nasty cough was just par, enough so that there were regular school closures based on aqi during that season. It cleared up within days of going elsewhere. There were no tests. I was in an open hospital ward (20ish beds) Feb 2020 with, literally, pigeons under the bed next to me. No one bothered testing any of us or masking us.

But, the only time since then that I've had a hint of a cold multiple rt-pcr tests (didn't have home rapid at the time) were negative. I had to test b/c of international flights and a surgery otherwise I might not have bothered. So, yeah, I can see people just not knowing. I also know many people regularly tested for work who have always been negative. I kinda trust them when they say they've been lucky to escape.

[noodleoo]

I still know several people who have never had it. My sister’s family for one and I believe it because both her and her H work at universities where they were PCR tested twice weekly and her kids schools were part of the weekly pooled testing run by the state. So while I’m shocked they haven’t gotten it yet (especially being around college kids and working in person most of the time), the constant testing is hard to doubt. Unless they had super mild or asymptomatic cases very early before testing spun up.

I’m more skeptical of *all* the people I know who say they had it Jan-Mar of 2020. I think they probably had a regular cold but like to think it was Covid for some reason.

[wanderingback]

Ordering the tests never works for my apartment, so frustrating. Before I had them shipped to our other house when I was traveling there. One time I did do the service request through usps and eventually got the tests to my apartment, but same thing happened again so I did the service request again. I’m sure a lot of people just give up. I get mail here everyday so why the usps doesn’t recognize the apartment number is beyond me!

[tacom]

We still haven’t had covid, to our knowledge. I’m a very frequent tester and we’ve tested for every new cold/sniffle. Most recent test was yesterday. If multiple people are sick with similar symptoms, we test each individual. We’ve tested for known exposures, too, while asymptomatic. We had our antibodies checked last year (4 year old for his pfizer trial, me independently) and both were negative.

So it’s possible we have had it asymptomatically since then and haven’t spread it within the household I guess? But I assume there would be some household spread at this point and we would have detected it given our frequency of testing.

My son had multiple exposures at school and therapies (no masks) but has never developed symptoms after these exposures, and has tested negative. I mask at work of course, but we stopped masking as a family at school and for general /leisure outings when vaccines became eligible to all 6 months and above.

I have no explanation for why we’ve gotten so lucky.

I find bianax more user friendly but seeyalater52 our only false faint positive (confirmed by multiple negative PCRs) was from a bianax as well.



ETA

so I don’t seem nonchalant about my comment re: masking - I live in SoCal and have a child on the spectrum who struggles in different environments so 90% of what we do is outside. I still haven’t been to a large indoor event (wedding, funeral, concert etc), haven’t flown by plane, etc. We definitely aren’t back to 2019 levels of moving about society, for various reasons.

[tacokick]

I guess it’s possible we were totally asymptomatic but as far as I know we haven’t had it. I don’t want to jinx it but we haven’t had so much as a sniffle in years.

We live in a community where people still regularly mask, prioritize events and classes where they urge people to mask, go early to events and activities when we would be around unmasked people to avoid crowds.

While we always shop in person, we try to shop when it’s less crowded/shop less frequently. We don’t eat in restaurants. When it was warmer we socialized a lot outside. Inside everyone has a fan going and window open.

We primarily work from home (1-2 in office days in a private room weekly for my husband) don’t have kids, and socialize with people who are also masking out in the world. Luckily our social circle has been on the same page since the beginning and has adjusted to the new normal. We know a lot of people who have never gotten it as far as they know.

[wanderingback]

My cousin wrote a play that’s being performed soon. Although there are still people masking here, most mandates at places have been dropped. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the theater where the show is has dropped the mandate but they have 1 night a week where masks are required at the show. So I happily got tickets for that night. I wish more places did that, kind of like how there were grocery shopping hours for the elderly and disabled for awhile during the pandemic.

[seeyalater52]

Dec 16, 2022 15:08:57 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

My cousin wrote a play that’s being performed soon. Although there are still people masking here, most mandates at places have been dropped. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the theater where the show is has dropped the mandate but they have 1 night a week where masks are required at the show. So I happily got tickets for that night. I wish more places did that, kind of like how there were grocery shopping hours for the elderly and disabled for awhile during the pandemic.

I would love this. We don’t do any optional indoor activities currently because one way masking is too much of a gamble. We one way mask with N95s whenever we are indoors in public but don’t bring J inside except for daycare because his mask wearing isn’t very good still. If others were regularly masked I think it would really help us be able to get out and do more things during this dreary winter. Love that the theater is offering this and wish more places would follow suit!

[tacokick]

Dec 16, 2022 15:28:44 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Dec 16, 2022 15:08:57 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

My cousin wrote a play that’s being performed soon. Although there are still people masking here, most mandates at places have been dropped. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the theater where the show is has dropped the mandate but they have 1 night a week where masks are required at the show. So I happily got tickets for that night. I wish more places did that, kind of like how there were grocery shopping hours for the elderly and disabled for awhile during the pandemic.

I would love this. We don’t do any optional indoor activities currently because one way masking is too much of a gamble. We one way mask with N95s whenever we are indoors in public but don’t bring J inside except for daycare because his mask wearing isn’t very good still. If others were regularly masked I think it would really help us be able to get out and do more things during this dreary winter. Love that the theater is offering this and wish more places would follow suit!

It really is worth calling/contacting places and telling them your concerns. Places doesn’t know people want these things unless we tell them.

Quite a few places here are having mask required times and events because people are speaking up. The big indie craft show opened early for masks only shopping, I’ve seen mask required story hours and book clubs, exercise classes, salon days, concerts and shows. I’ve attend several craft classes at various places that require masks. There are apparently masks required movie showings and we’ve been to mask required events at museums and talks recently.

Having masked events during a public health crisis is a really a low bar for places that claim to be inclusive and open to everyone and if they aren’t meeting it, they should be held accountable and get feedback about that.

I don’t know if it would work if you live some place where absolutely no one masks ever and there is a lot of anti-science rhetoric but it’s worth a shot especially at places that say they are inclusive and/or family oriented.

ETA I also find if you attend one masked event, everyone there knows where all the other ones are. There might be more than you’d think.

[seeyalater52]

Dec 16, 2022 17:30:50 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Dec 16, 2022 15:28:44 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

I would love this. We don’t do any optional indoor activities currently because one way masking is too much of a gamble. We one way mask with N95s whenever we are indoors in public but don’t bring J inside except for daycare because his mask wearing isn’t very good still. If others were regularly masked I think it would really help us be able to get out and do more things during this dreary winter. Love that the theater is offering this and wish more places would follow suit!

It really is worth calling/contacting places and telling them your concerns. Places doesn’t know people want these things unless we tell them.

Quite a few places here are having mask required times and events because people are speaking up. The big indie craft show opened early for masks only shopping, I’ve seen mask required story hours and book clubs, exercise classes, salon days, concerts and shows. I’ve attend several craft classes at various places that require masks. There are apparently masks required movie showings and we’ve been to mask required events at museums and talks recently.

Having masked events during a public health crisis is a really a low bar for places that claim to be inclusive and open to everyone and if they aren’t meeting it, they should be held accountable and get feedback about that.

I don’t know if it would work if you live some place where absolutely no one masks ever and there is a lot of anti-science rhetoric but it’s worth a shot especially at places that say they are inclusive and/or family oriented.

ETA I also find if you attend one masked event, everyone there knows where all the other ones are. There might be more than you’d think.

This makes me think you’re the same level of covid precaution as me which makes my little heart happy. I do a round of calls on this at least once a month with specific emphasis on places I’d love to bring my 2 year old but so far it hasn’t resulted in anything. We are in a blue state but it’s unfortunately an area where continued precautions are VERY unpopular, especially when it comes to kids. I am connected with a lot of other cautious families of toddlers online and we maintain a directory of safe options for family friendly activities but there aren’t good options local to me yet. We will keep trying. For me this is a long game because my grave concerns about my kid potentially being forced to catch covid dozens of times in his lifetime are not going away any time soon. We either need to get better at masking and ventilation or make extreme leaps in the vaccine and medical prevention and treatment space stat.

[mpm]

Dec 16, 2022 17:30:50 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Dec 16, 2022 15:28:44 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

I would love this. We don’t do any optional indoor activities currently because one way masking is too much of a gamble. We one way mask with N95s whenever we are indoors in public but don’t bring J inside except for daycare because his mask wearing isn’t very good still. If others were regularly masked I think it would really help us be able to get out and do more things during this dreary winter. Love that the theater is offering this and wish more places would follow suit!

It really is worth calling/contacting places and telling them your concerns. Places doesn’t know people want these things unless we tell them.

Quite a few places here are having mask required times and events because people are speaking up. The big indie craft show opened early for masks only shopping, I’ve seen mask required story hours and book clubs, exercise classes, salon days, concerts and shows. I’ve attend several craft classes at various places that require masks. There are apparently masks required movie showings and we’ve been to mask required events at museums and talks recently.

Having masked events during a public health crisis is a really a low bar for places that claim to be inclusive and open to everyone and if they aren’t meeting it, they should be held accountable and get feedback about that.

I don’t know if it would work if you live some place where absolutely no one masks ever and there is a lot of anti-science rhetoric but it’s worth a shot especially at places that say they are inclusive and/or family oriented.

ETA I also find if you attend one masked event, everyone there knows where all the other ones are. There might be more than you’d think.

I’m in the South and don’t think that would ever work here. 😔