Coronavirus prep
Replies
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »SummerSkier wrote: »It is starting to feel like I am in the minority for NOT having contracted Covid for the past 2 years... I wonder what the stats are going to look like for the US after this current Omicron wave goes past - even without the home test positives not being in the data most likely.
My gut feel is virtually everyone that doesn't live in a bubble will get it.
This. And you may get it without knowing, especially if the vaccine is doing it's job.5 -
SummerSkier wrote: »It is starting to feel like I am in the minority for NOT having contracted Covid for the past 2 years... I wonder what the stats are going to look like for the US after this current Omicron wave goes past - even without the home test positives not being in the data most likely.
I imagine the stats are much, much higher. I had it (fully vaxxed) and other family members had it and we did not report it just stayed home and got through it.4 -
My husband and I have been spared so far, as far as I know. Whether that will last, I have no idea. If getting Omicron leads to better immunity, I wouldn't mind, since we've both been boosted. But we won't do anything stupid to get exposed.4
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I know people who IMO live pretty well bubbled that have gotten it. I did watch a video yesterday by that "Dr. John Campbell" that gives me hope that maybe society will benefit by Omicron going through the population by potentially providing immunity to other variants like Delta. The video I watched was this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYLbJ0H8zdc 2 -
spiriteagle99 wrote: »My husband and I have been spared so far, as far as I know. Whether that will last, I have no idea. If getting Omicron leads to better immunity, I wouldn't mind, since we've both been boosted. But we won't do anything stupid to get exposed.
Be careful what you wish for. I got a "mild breakthrough" case of COVID that laid me out flat for about five weeks. I lost my sense of taste and smell on 10/24 and the first week of December was the first week after that where I didn't need a daily 1-2 hour nap just to function. Taste is mostly back and smell is maybe 50%. I was double vaxxed, and had scheduled, but not yet received my booster shot. This was absolutely the sickest I ever remember being as an adult.
I know most people don't get this sick from breakthrough cases, but I'm 47 and healthy, no co-morbidities or risk factors. I rarely go out and take precautions when I do. I did eat indoors at a restaurant about 2 weeks before I got sick. Statistically iffy for the incubation period, but the only thing I can come up with.
I've figured all along I'd get COVID eventually and just deal with it because I'm vaccinated and so it would just be inconvenient, pretty much. I was very, very wrong.16 -
Thats what happened to me on Christmas @COGypsy
I've been in bed since and have lost most appetite and have been so tired. I'm also double vaxxed and not scheduled to have a booster until Feb after 6 months.3 -
spiriteagle99 wrote: »My husband and I have been spared so far, as far as I know. Whether that will last, I have no idea. If getting Omicron leads to better immunity, I wouldn't mind, since we've both been boosted. But we won't do anything stupid to get exposed.
Be careful what you wish for. I got a "mild breakthrough" case of COVID that laid me out flat for about five weeks. I lost my sense of taste and smell on 10/24 and the first week of December was the first week after that where I didn't need a daily 1-2 hour nap just to function. Taste is mostly back and smell is maybe 50%. I was double vaxxed, and had scheduled, but not yet received my booster shot. This was absolutely the sickest I ever remember being as an adult.
I know most people don't get this sick from breakthrough cases, but I'm 47 and healthy, no co-morbidities or risk factors. I rarely go out and take precautions when I do. I did eat indoors at a restaurant about 2 weeks before I got sick. Statistically iffy for the incubation period, but the only thing I can come up with.
I've figured all along I'd get COVID eventually and just deal with it because I'm vaccinated and so it would just be inconvenient, pretty much. I was very, very wrong.
This is an example of why I'm still very cautious even after being boosted. I'm also older with co-morbidities so I wouldn't be surprised to discover I would be part of the small percentage that is protected and ends up hospitalized anyway.
Last week my parents visited their great-grandchildren even though we're in a surge. I told them I'm marking 10 days on the calendar that I will be isolating from them.4 -
@COGypsy @Chef_Barbell I wonder if you both contracted the Delta variant given the extent of your symptoms.4
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@COGypsy @Chef_Barbell I wonder if you both contracted the Delta variant given the extent of your symptoms.
Could be but since I live in NYC, the dominant strain and what's going around is Omicron.2 -
DH & I have not contracted it (as far as we know). This despite quite a bit of travel in 4Q21. And caring for an adult child who had it while staying in our house over xmas. She has had it twice. First time was Fall 2020. She was vaccinated not boosted when she got sick the second time, and she did feel really bad both times.
50yo brother (vaccinated & boosted) got it he thinks in a Wolf Creek lift ticket line outdoors a few days after xmas. He is healthy, athletic, and very active but has well controlled asthma. He was wheezing and having trouble breathing one day (that was scary). He was cross country skiing a couple miles the 2 days following that (so not feeling too bad).
DD#2 lives and works in NYC but has been working from my home (TX) since mid-Dec. Her employer emailed all employees yesterday asking them to work from home if at all possible until mid-Jan because of Omicron. Employer also has a vaccine mandate and has been giving all office employees weekly PCR tests since the Fall return to office. She has already delayed her return to NYC once and is loathe to do it again, but I really wish she would just wait out this surge. She is vaccinated and boosted and has not had it. She has 2 roommates also working from home and there is no way for them to isolate from each other (tiny apartment, shared bathroom, etc).
So I am being the worried mom right about now.
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@COGypsy @Chef_Barbell I wonder if you both contracted the Delta variant given the extent of your symptoms.
I'd say that was likely in my case. I don't remember offhand when Omicron started circulating, but since I got sick back in October, I think Delta is probably more likely. Whatever it was, I still get tired quickly, have very little smell, and plenty of brain fog almost 2 and a half months out. It sucks. It just sucks.9 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I’m a healthcare worker and I am asking that everyone tell all their friends and family to stop coming to the ER for minor illnesses and for testing. Make an appointment for a test and if you can’t get one, just stay home.
The hospitals are getting overwhelmed and the wait times are insane because of all the frivolous ER visits for tests in people with minor illness or no symptoms. Nurses and doctors are getting burnt out with the insanity of it all.
Unless you’re very sick, stay home!!
Great PSA.
Here in Massachusetts, 91% of the total population has had at least one shot and 75% are fully vaccinated, yet our little suburban hospital is overwhelmed and looking forward to help from the National Guard.
None of us have symptoms, but wanted to know how to get tested in case we develop some. I'm with the VA, so checked for my other family members. Possibly they'd use the free test service at CVS. We can't get same day, or next day, or at the closest store, but there are appts available two days out in the next town over.
https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing
I also ordered a two kit test from Amazon, which will arrive in a few weeks.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09KZ6TBNY/
And now I see I can request a free at-home kit from my state:
https://www.ondemand.labcorp.com/ma-testing
The thing is, many are coming in for unnecessary tests. For example, a mom with her 2 toddlers who have barely any symptoms came in yesterday. She tested positive and wanted her kids tested. They are not in school or daycare, just at home. I told her that they don’t need to be tested. If someone in the home tests positive and others have symptoms, then they have it too but knowing won’t change the treatment at all. It is still just let it run its course for the most part unless you’re sick enough to require oxygen and hospitalization.
Also, there are a lot of false negatives going on especially if someone tests too early. There is no point coming in and clogging the ER for a test when one barely has symptoms. They should get an appointment for a test even if they have to wait a while. Waiting a few days will lead to a more accurate test result. Coming in one day one or two of symptoms and testing negative when that person had close contact in the home with someone positive……is dangerous. That person might think they don’t have to quarantine because they are negative but in reality, they are still contagious and tested too soon.
I’m trying to educate my patients about these things.
I will say that I have yet to have to hospitalize a single vaccinated person, even the elderly ones with multiple medical issues.
We recently had a young (39) year old otherwise healthy married man and father pass away from Covid and he was unvaccinated. I have had to admit several very sick, young, otherwise healthy unvaccinated patients this past week. It is insane to me how some people are still not vaccinated.
In the previous waves there were quite a few people dying at home or shortly after admission due to silent hypoxia - so I can understand people being concerned enough to go to the hospital if they are aware of that complication even if their symptoms weren't that severe. Not sure if that is an issue with this variant, or in vaccinated people, but I have been hearing all along not to wait too long to go to the hospital, so can't really blame people who are worried.
That was my main concern throughout this, my family didn't even really get any "severe" symptoms, but I still checked them daily with the pulse oximeter to make sure. Those of us who aren't doctors or nurses only know what we have read/heard in the media, and what I heard is that people with Covid were underestimating how sick they were and were presenting at the hospital too late with dangerously low blood oxygen levels.
People are coming in with no symptoms at all. The emergency room is for emergencies.6 -
rheddmobile wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I’m a healthcare worker and I am asking that everyone tell all their friends and family to stop coming to the ER for minor illnesses and for testing. Make an appointment for a test and if you can’t get one, just stay home.
The hospitals are getting overwhelmed and the wait times are insane because of all the frivolous ER visits for tests in people with minor illness or no symptoms. Nurses and doctors are getting burnt out with the insanity of it all.
Unless you’re very sick, stay home!!
Great PSA.
Here in Massachusetts, 91% of the total population has had at least one shot and 75% are fully vaccinated, yet our little suburban hospital is overwhelmed and looking forward to help from the National Guard.
None of us have symptoms, but wanted to know how to get tested in case we develop some. I'm with the VA, so checked for my other family members. Possibly they'd use the free test service at CVS. We can't get same day, or next day, or at the closest store, but there are appts available two days out in the next town over.
https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing
I also ordered a two kit test from Amazon, which will arrive in a few weeks.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09KZ6TBNY/
And now I see I can request a free at-home kit from my state:
https://www.ondemand.labcorp.com/ma-testing
The thing is, many are coming in for unnecessary tests. For example, a mom with her 2 toddlers who have barely any symptoms came in yesterday. She tested positive and wanted her kids tested. They are not in school or daycare, just at home. I told her that they don’t need to be tested. If someone in the home tests positive and others have symptoms, then they have it too but knowing won’t change the treatment at all. It is still just let it run its course for the most part unless you’re sick enough to require oxygen and hospitalization.
Also, there are a lot of false negatives going on especially if someone tests too early. There is no point coming in and clogging the ER for a test when one barely has symptoms. They should get an appointment for a test even if they have to wait a while. Waiting a few days will lead to a more accurate test result. Coming in one day one or two of symptoms and testing negative when that person had close contact in the home with someone positive……is dangerous. That person might think they don’t have to quarantine because they are negative but in reality, they are still contagious and tested too soon.
I’m trying to educate my patients about these things.
I will say that I have yet to have to hospitalize a single vaccinated person, even the elderly ones with multiple medical issues.
We recently had a young (39) year old otherwise healthy married man and father pass away from Covid and he was unvaccinated. I have had to admit several very sick, young, otherwise healthy unvaccinated patients this past week. It is insane to me how some people are still not vaccinated.
The exception to what you’re saying here is if you are in a high risk category and eligible for antibodies. They have to be provided within the first couple of days, preferably before the person is symptomatic. If you have waited until you need oxygen you are too late for them to help.
Absolutely false. We have been giving monoclonal antibodies. They dont have to be given before symptoms develop. False false false. We give them up to 10 days of symptoms. With the new variant, the ones we have are not effective though.5 -
SummerSkier wrote: »It is starting to feel like I am in the minority for NOT having contracted Covid for the past 2 years... I wonder what the stats are going to look like for the US after this current Omicron wave goes past - even without the home test positives not being in the data most likely.
I imagine the stats are much, much higher. I had it (fully vaxxed) and other family members had it and we did not report it just stayed home and got through it.
what do you mean you didnt report it?
Don't you have to report positive RATS tests and/or follow up with official PCR test?
genuine question - we certainly have to do that here in Aust but I understand rules in different countries are different.
If you dont have to do so or people are not, even though they are meant to - then yes, your official stats will clearly be under what is actually happening
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paperpudding wrote: »SummerSkier wrote: »It is starting to feel like I am in the minority for NOT having contracted Covid for the past 2 years... I wonder what the stats are going to look like for the US after this current Omicron wave goes past - even without the home test positives not being in the data most likely.
I imagine the stats are much, much higher. I had it (fully vaxxed) and other family members had it and we did not report it just stayed home and got through it.
what do you mean you didnt report it?
Don't you have to report positive RATS tests and/or follow up with official PCR test?
genuine question - we certainly have to do that here in Aust but I understand rules in different countries are different.
If you dont have to do so or people are not, even though they are meant to - then yes, your official stats will clearly be under what is actually happening
There is no requirement to report anything in the US and there is no requirement to follow up with a PCR test after testing positive with a home rapid test. I've known quite a few people now who've tested positive since the omicron variant started spreading and they just hunker down at home.7 -
paperpudding wrote: »what do you mean you didnt report it?
Don't you have to report positive RATS tests and/or follow up with official PCR test?
Here in Ontario, public health testing is becoming overwhelmed and the latest guideline restricts eligibility for PCR tests. Contact tracing and testing is out the window at this point. So, no, a positive rapid antigen test will not be followed up with a PCR for the majority of people.
I haven't seen or heard of any requirement to report rapid test results, unless there is something to that effect in whatever literature accompanies the test itself (I've never seen one).
eta I have no idea where Sarah7591 resides, just reporting the current state of testing here2 -
paperpudding wrote: »SummerSkier wrote: »It is starting to feel like I am in the minority for NOT having contracted Covid for the past 2 years... I wonder what the stats are going to look like for the US after this current Omicron wave goes past - even without the home test positives not being in the data most likely.
I imagine the stats are much, much higher. I had it (fully vaxxed) and other family members had it and we did not report it just stayed home and got through it.
what do you mean you didnt report it?
Don't you have to report positive RATS tests and/or follow up with official PCR test?
genuine question - we certainly have to do that here in Aust but I understand rules in different countries are different.
If you dont have to do so or people are not, even though they are meant to - then yes, your official stats will clearly be under what is actually happening
In the US, I am not aware of any public requirement to report a positive finding from a home COVID test kit. If I were to test positive, I would contact anyone I felt might have been exposed so they are informed, and if I developed sufficient symptoms, I would reach out to my physician.
D has told me of three friends who contracted it (a friend, fiancee and sister cluster). All three took home kits with positive results. Only one followed up with a PCR confirmation because her "pink line" was very faint and did not believe she was positive. I am not aware of any of them reporting and they are all essentially asymptomatic (don't recall why the first of them even took the test).
And Yes, PaperPudding, IMO the totals are very under-reported because of all the home testing.
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paperpudding wrote: »SummerSkier wrote: »It is starting to feel like I am in the minority for NOT having contracted Covid for the past 2 years... I wonder what the stats are going to look like for the US after this current Omicron wave goes past - even without the home test positives not being in the data most likely.
I imagine the stats are much, much higher. I had it (fully vaxxed) and other family members had it and we did not report it just stayed home and got through it.
what do you mean you didnt report it?
Don't you have to report positive RATS tests and/or follow up with official PCR test?
genuine question - we certainly have to do that here in Aust but I understand rules in different countries are different.
If you dont have to do so or people are not, even though they are meant to - then yes, your official stats will clearly be under what is actually happening
I didn't have to report my positive results but I did get a call from the test and trace corps. They keep track of positive cases here in NYC. But that's only because I got tested at a NYC site. Home testing has no requirements to report. But there aren't many home tests available in stores here.0 -
Chef_Barbell wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »SummerSkier wrote: »It is starting to feel like I am in the minority for NOT having contracted Covid for the past 2 years... I wonder what the stats are going to look like for the US after this current Omicron wave goes past - even without the home test positives not being in the data most likely.
I imagine the stats are much, much higher. I had it (fully vaxxed) and other family members had it and we did not report it just stayed home and got through it.
what do you mean you didnt report it?
Don't you have to report positive RATS tests and/or follow up with official PCR test?
genuine question - we certainly have to do that here in Aust but I understand rules in different countries are different.
If you dont have to do so or people are not, even though they are meant to - then yes, your official stats will clearly be under what is actually happening
I didn't have to report my positive results but I did get a call from the test and trace corps. They keep track of positive cases here in NYC. But that's only because I got tested at a NYC site. Home testing has no requirements to report. But there aren't many home tests available in stores here.
Did they tell you to retest after symptoms resolved? I tested at a county site and when I spoke to the person from the health department, they specifically told me I didn't need to test again for 6 months--including for things like surgery. That was a bit of a surprise. The old guidance was that you needed 2 negative follow up tests to confirm you were over the infection.1 -
Chef_Barbell wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »SummerSkier wrote: »It is starting to feel like I am in the minority for NOT having contracted Covid for the past 2 years... I wonder what the stats are going to look like for the US after this current Omicron wave goes past - even without the home test positives not being in the data most likely.
I imagine the stats are much, much higher. I had it (fully vaxxed) and other family members had it and we did not report it just stayed home and got through it.
what do you mean you didnt report it?
Don't you have to report positive RATS tests and/or follow up with official PCR test?
genuine question - we certainly have to do that here in Aust but I understand rules in different countries are different.
If you dont have to do so or people are not, even though they are meant to - then yes, your official stats will clearly be under what is actually happening
I didn't have to report my positive results but I did get a call from the test and trace corps. They keep track of positive cases here in NYC. But that's only because I got tested at a NYC site. Home testing has no requirements to report. But there aren't many home tests available in stores here.
Did they tell you to retest after symptoms resolved? I tested at a county site and when I spoke to the person from the health department, they specifically told me I didn't need to test again for 6 months--including for things like surgery. That was a bit of a surprise. The old guidance was that you needed 2 negative follow up tests to confirm you were over the infection.
T&T didn't tell me to retest after quarantine. My job which pays separate covid pay said specifically I didn't need to be retested to come back to work. It is strange but I guess they are considering the lack of testing available right now.1
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