Think you may have already had Coronavirus?

[focusondisney]

I was very sick in the fall and have wondered...it was a nasty chest/flu type infection. I lost a week of work. They had to give me a breathing treatment at the clinic and I had an inhaler. Looking back...possibly but who can ever know for sure how long this has been circulating? I just feel if it were here earlier than expected then wouldn't we have had this situation earlier? It just seems too contagious.

I guarantee you did not have covid- 19 in the fall.

 

[Wendy31]

Logically, I KNOW what DH & I had was NOT Covid-19, but, looking back now, I wonder.

I even joked w/ DH - ”Maybe WE are the true patient zeros!”

Any case, even at the time, I thought it was the strangest thing & still really have no idea what was happening between me & DH.

In June 2018, younger DS had a mild stuffy nose. I attributed it to being in the pool a lot since our swim team season had just started. However, he must have had a little cold, because I caught it... except I was much, much worse. And it came on suddenly. I woke w/ a slight scratchy/sore throat, &, by that evening, i was coughing. I never had a stuffy/runny nose.

I was sick from the beginning to June to halfway through mid July. Early on, there were maybe 2 days where I ran a low fever & felt chilled. The cough was awful - I would have coughing spells that would leave me breathless. I would cough & almost gag the cough was so violent & just relentless when I was having a coughing fit - l could not get any breath. I burst a blood vessel in my eye from coughing so hard. I did not go to the doctor because I have a doctor/hospital phobia, &, after the 1st 2 days, the only symptom was the awful cough.

During that time, we went on vacation to Florida. And I remember complaining that it wasn’t fair because I couldn’t taste any of the food.

IMPORTANT - DH & I share luggage & our toiletries are packed together.

Fast-forward to that August, & we traveled to Biloxi, MS, using the same luggage. On the last morning we were there, DH woke up sick w/ the exact same symptoms. He was so bad that, at first, I was afraid he had Legionnaire’s Disease. He was sick through September, developed pneumonia, & was prescribed an antibiotic & breathing treatments. The 1st antibiotic wasn’t working, so he was prescribed a stronger antibiotic. There were nights when I was seriously very worried about him. And it was a long time before he felt like himself.

Fast-foward to that December, & we traveled back to Florida &, again, used the same luggage. The day we left to return home, I woke up w/ a scratchy throat, &, by the time we got back home later that night, I was again coughing. Same exact symptoms, & I was sick through the end of January 2019.

And, it was at this point, I threw away a lot of our different packing bags & thoroughly sanitized the rest of it.

During this, our kids never got sick - just me & DH.

The timeline doesn’t fit at all w/ the current outbreak, but the symptoms are EXACT. And, even then, we thought it was all really odd w/ how it affected both DH & me & how sick we were - but the kids never were.

I don’t know... do all coronoviruses have similar symptoms?

Last week, I told DH that maybe he was in contact w/ someone at work who eventually ended up in China which meant we were actually the patient zeros.

 

[NotUrsula]

The one that is being developed in the UK is expected to cost about £6, and from the article I saw this morning it looks like it is built on a pregnancy test style cartridge using a finger-prick blood sample, similar to the type used for a blood sugar monitor.

I think the real question, for us here in the States, is if we'll be able to get access to the test being developed for global use or if we'll have to wait around for an American manufacturer to play catch up on producing one here. Because if it is the latter, the cost elsewhere isn't likely to be predictive of what we'd pay.

I’m wondering what the point of getting it is. Just so you know you had it? At this point they aren’t even sure if having it once makes you immune to getting again.
I know they say knowledge is power but in this case I’m not sure that’s true.

The knowledge of who has it has been instrumental in controlling the disease in SK without a need to shut down society. Quick easy testing, both antigen & antibody, could help us do the same.
Immunity may not last forever, but my understanding of antibodies is that if the right ones are active in your body right now, you are immune right now. Measles antibodies last a really long time. The common cold antibodies don’t.

Yes knowing who CURRENTLY has it is important. Knowing you had it 3 months ago not so much.

It is going to be EXTREMELY important for the NIH to know who has already had it, because a vaccine will not be ready for this by next flu season, so public health authorities will need that information to properly deploy treatment resources to areas most likely to need them. They will have 6 months or so to stock up and get the stuff where it needs to be.

There is probably another way to collect the data rather than asking Americans to pay for a test individually. I think that what will happen is that an antibody test will simply be added to every single bloodwork order being done in the US for the next year or so unless you can tell the doctor it has already been done. They would not even really need to tell us they are doing it. (It's not necessary to test 100% of people to get enough information for solid predictions; they just need to test a lot of us, and in particular, people who have underlying risk conditions, and they are the ones most likely to get a blood test done for another reason..) I believe that this is how they got a lot of HIV data some few years back.

 

[Colleen27]

I was very sick in the fall and have wondered...it was a nasty chest/flu type infection. I lost a week of work. They had to give me a breathing treatment at the clinic and I had an inhaler. Looking back...possibly but who can ever know for sure how long this has been circulating? I just feel if it were here earlier than expected then wouldn't we have had this situation earlier? It just seems too contagious.

It is HIGHLY unlikely that the crud that was circulating in the fall was in any way related, for exactly the reason you mention - if it had started that soon, we'd have seen deaths sooner and started investigating sooner.

Right now, the best estimate is that it came to the U.S. in early to mid January, based on when the first known fatalities happened, the contact tracing around those cases, genetic typing of the virus itself and examining records of pneumonia deaths not explained by influenza, and that the initial point of introduction was on the west coast. There have likely been tens if not hundreds of thousands of undetected cases by now, but they'd all be within the last 2 to 2.5 months.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Not going to jump on the bandwagon and insist that our household had the virus, but...
we were all seriously nasty ill in early Dec, all the way through January/Feb with something respiratory. Dry cough, aches, fever, headaches, etc.

So clearly something was already making its way through the population in midwinter, adding the COVID-19 virus was just another layer of frosting on the cake...

 

[monsterkitty]

There was a virus going around our school before Christmas break that had many of the same symptoms. It hit my period 6 kids first. A few weeks after break, it went to my period 7 class and kept making it's rounds. The week before we closed school, half of my period 2 kids were out sick. I had the dry cough they had and a slight stomach ache over Presidents' Day weekend, but that's it.

I teach at a poverty-level school and I can guarantee none of them traveled to China or had people who traveled from China that spread this virus.

 

[mikehn]

Back in January I caught a real ugly virus which turned the entire inside of my mouth into one big cold sore. The usual symptoms of fatigue, cough, sore throat, chills, fever. I never go to the doctor. But this time I did. A strep test came back negative. Doctor gave me anti biotics. Eventually it all went away after about three weeks.

 

[Searc]

Back in January I caught a real ugly virus which turned the entire inside of my mouth into one big cold sore. The usual symptoms of fatigue, cough, sore throat, chills, fever. I never go to the doctor. But this time I did. A strep test came back negative. Doctor gave me anti biotics. Eventually it all went away after about three weeks.

You didn't have COVID-19. Antibiotics don't do anything to help a virus.

DOCTORS NEED TO STOP PRESCRIBING ANTIBIOTICS FOR EVERYTHING! And people need to stop demanding them and learn some science.

 

[Heather07438]

I’m wondering if it is possible to have the flu and covid-19 simultaneously. My daughter tested positive for Influenza A, but she had the long-lasting high fever, dry cough and headache associated with covid-19. The was mid-February. The cough lasted for 4 weeks. It was probably just the flu, but I wish we had gotten this over with.

I'm trying to find a stat chart I saw released from Wuhan area early this month. It showed a small percent of the hospitalized tested positive for both Covid and flu. Looked like people can have both simultaneously.

I can no longer find this chart because my search is overwhelmed with all the 'covid is not flu' entries, lol.

 

[snappy]

No covid 19 here. DD24 had strep recur during the fall. No problems otherwise except DD29 with a cold.

 

[DLgal]

I really think my 15 year old had it in January. He had a high fever (104.5 for 4 days) and a violent dry cough and exhaustion. One of his classmates had recently returned from China over the holidays. He was sick for 4 days really badly, and then another week with the cough. A week after he got better, I came down with the worst cold I've ever had in my life, complete with the loss of smell and taste (this has only happened to me one other time, in high school). I never had a fever though.

A doctor in our area is doing drive thru antibody testing for Covid19. I am considering taking my son and having him tested, at least. I think he is charging $30/test and the results are available in 10 minutes.

 

[CarlyMur09]

We've been wondering what we had back in early Dec after our WDW Thanksgiving trip.

My twin brother has Downs and has a weak immune system, along with controllable asthma. He'd been pretty healthy, aside from some wheeziness over the weak, but we had his nebulizer and a rescue inhaler with us (after learning not to leave it home a year pritor), so he'd do breathing treatments at least once a day.

We live in SW PA, and had flown down, but had to drive back due to horrible flight prices for the way home. Took us 3 days with nights in Savannah, GA, and Williamsburg, VA. As we went from warmer climate to colder, he progressively got worse to the point that we stopped at an urgent care about 2 hours out from home to get another breathing treatment. They gave him a steroid shot, and that seemed to help temporarily, but had us monitor his blood oxygen, and told us to take him to the ER if his levels dropped below a certain level (90?). Took him home, kept him from work the next day, breathing treatments...but his oxygen levels kept dropping, so DM and DSis took him to the hospital.

They admitted him not long after, and quite a few things happened that I didn't catch it all, but he definitely had all the signs of it. They tested for everything they could think of, and it wasn't flu. Ended up with a diagnosis of upper respiratory infection and pneumonia. He spent a week in the hospital, and another week at home outside of work.

Then DM ended up with a really bad cough, which spread to my DF, all the siblings (including myself), and my aunt within the week. DSis, DM, and DA all got diagnosed with bronchitis and/or sinus infections, and everyone else was just able to self-medicate with OTC meds, but it was a rough December for our family (espeically since we had just moved into our new house in Oct , and were still living outside of our boxes/suitcases)

That's why we're taking no chances right now with this, and all of us that can work from home are to reduce any chances of DB getting this (since the chances of it being Covid that early would be very small), If they come out with an antibody test, DM may take DB to take it to see if it was that or not.

 

[lorenae]

I’m convinced that we (and our entire circle of friends) had it. It started going through our friends in late January, and we were the last to have it in early March. (We live in Florida in the winter). High fever and loss of appetite and weakness mostly, but some with a dry cough and pains. I’ve never had anything exactly like it, but I’ve been over it since about March 10 or so.

We were told to not go to the doctor or Urgent Care unless we were having trouble breathing, and at that time there was no availability of Covid-19 tests for those who didn’t have a personal history of travel to China or Italy. (My son flew in to visit from Tampa after a deployment to the Middle East/Far East on a ship- but we believe it came from a friend who had traveled and had it before my son visited).

 

[Heather07438]

This thread is responsible for making me remember

 

[monsterkitty]

It is HIGHLY unlikely that the crud that was circulating in the fall was in any way related, for exactly the reason you mention - if it had started that soon, we'd have seen deaths sooner and started investigating sooner.

Right now, the best estimate is that it came to the U.S. in early to mid January, based on when the first known fatalities happened, the contact tracing around those cases, genetic typing of the virus itself and examining records of pneumonia deaths not explained by influenza, and that the initial point of introduction was on the west coast. There have likely been tens if not hundreds of thousands of undetected cases by now, but they'd all be within the last 2 to 2.5 months.

I agree 100%. There was a virus going around that had some of the same symptoms but was not COVID 19. I'm really not sure how people in the US had COVID 19 in December or even earlier when the first patients didn't even show up in Wuhan until December. Do I fully trust that China is telling the truth about the virus statistics? No. But all evidence is pointing to it starting no earlier than December at this time.

A co-worker friend had the same virus as the students. Because she is high-risk they tested her for COVID when she was sick and it was negative. It was just a typical virus that goes around during the winter months.

 

[Colleen27]

A doctor in our area is doing drive thru antibody testing for Covid19. I am considering taking my son and having him tested, at least. I think he is charging $30/test and the results are available in 10 minutes.

I hadn't heard that an antibody test had been approved for U.S. use yet.

 

[disneypharm]

x - can't get the link to work!

 

[Darcy03231]

I think DS had it back in February. He had a high fever, cough and felt like he couldn't breathe. He spent three days in bed, which is unheard of for him. I was just getting ready to force him into going to the doctor when he turned the corner and started getting better.

 

[disneychrista]

But even if there were no protective value of past exposure, being able to count cases where people have had it and recovered would still be important to understanding the true scale of the virus's spread and getting an accurate picture of the case fatality rate.

This makes sense.

 

[DisneyOma]

It is going to be EXTREMELY important for the NIH to know who has already had it, because a vaccine will not be ready for this by next flu season, so public health authorities will need that information to properly deploy treatment resources to areas most likely to need them. They will have 6 months or so to stock up and get the stuff where it needs to be.

There is probably another way to collect the data rather than asking Americans to pay for a test individually. I think that what will happen is that an antibody test will simply be added to every single bloodwork order being done in the US for the next year or so unless you can tell the doctor it has already been done. They would not even really need to tell us they are doing it. (It's not necessary to test 100% of people to get enough information for solid predictions; they just need to test a lot of us, and in particular, people who have underlying risk conditions, and they are the ones most likely to get a blood test done for another reason..) I believe that this is how they got a lot of HIV data some few years back.

1) Do they know if people who have had COVID-19 can't catch it again a year later? Are you talking about testing populations to see who has it, or everyone, or what?

2) Yes, they would need to tell us that they are testing for something.