After I tested positive for CV...

[A930Rocket]

To be on the right side of caution when we visit my mother next Sunday, I took a Covid test this past Sunday and got the results back today, showing positive for Covid.

Two weeks ago, I had symptoms of a headache, runny nose, coughing up phlegm, etc. I chalked it up to the usual cold. It wasn’t debilitating and having asthma, my breathing was a little tight. No drama.

That said, I think after what I had, a lot of people have or had Covid and don’t realize it.

I’m sitting in my truck at work and got the results. Haven’t left the truck yet and deciding if I am symptom-free, if I’m OK to work outside, as I am in homebuilding.

I’m going to take another test today and see what happens.

Thoughts?

[Arizona_928]

Welcome to covid...

It's not as bad as the media portrayed. Ventilator my butt

[GH85Carrera]

Some of it is what version of the test are you taking?

I saw something from Elon Musk that he took the test, came up positive, took it again, negative, took it a third time came up positive, and a fourth time it was negative. So it seems 50-50 odds on that test.

The different tests seem to have different results.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/11/13/elon-musk-tests-positive-for-covid-19-and-negative/?sh=5154bcf450ca

For sure, be careful with the possibility of spreading it if you suspect you have it. It can kill others if you are indeed positive.

[ckelly78z]

Is it possible that the tests are giving positives for the common cold/flu, not necessarily Covid ?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

Welcome to covid...

It's not as bad as the media portrayed unless it is. Ventilator my butt

FIFY.

You post this like everyone has the same reaction. I'm sure you know that's not the case.

[speeder]

The symptoms range from none at all to death. For all ages. My uncle was 93, got it and no symptoms. Many 40 and 50 year olds have died.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

To be on the right side of caution when we visit my mother next Sunday, I took a Covid test this past Sunday and got the results back today, showing positive for Covid.

Two weeks ago, I had symptoms of a headache, runny nose, coughing up phlegm, etc. I chalked it up to the usual cold. It wasn’t debilitating and having asthma, my breathing was a little tight. No drama.

That said, I think after what I had, a lot of people have or had Covid and don’t realize it.

I’m sitting in my truck at work and got the results. Haven’t left the truck yet and deciding if I am symptom-free, if I’m OK to work outside, as I am in homebuilding.

I’m going to take another test today and see what happens.

Thoughts?

You should isolate until you test negative. If you are unwilling to do this, extreme masking and social distancing w no exceptions would be the distant second choice.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by speeder

The symptoms range from none at all to death. For all ages. My uncle was 93, got it and no symptoms. Many 40 and 50 year olds have died.

Good news on your uncle.

Are there less deadly strains of Covid-19 or is it a function of the recipient that determines reaction?

[Les Paul]

My parents were all set to move into assisted living a month ago. My older and younger brother were there to help as my parents had fought us every step of the way not wanting to go. They had both been falling and of course couldn’t help get the other one up. We spent a week there getting the Poa’s signed, wills updated, met with their cpa, my dad hadn’t filed his return in 3 years. Assisted living place came to their house and moved the furniture they were allowed to take. They were in my car with my brothers waiting to get tested at the gate and both came back positive. Fine by them but try getting 24 hr home care with two active cases who could barely walk by the end of that week. We lucked out and got 24 hr help.

Coming home on the 5 hr drive my wife and I started feeling bad. Next day both had high fevers. Older brother same symptoms.

The entire next week for us was the lost week. Sleeping 23 of 24, barely able to walk, couldn’t eat, didn’t even have the desire and everything was coming out the other end within minutes. Two docs in our immediate family telling us what to take. In the meantime my parents were slipping away. My mom died and somehow my dad survived. He can’t walk anymore so that is a problem. It took us 3 weeks to start feeling worth a crap and effects like no taste for me.

Apparently the cleaning lady gave it too them. She would come once a week, clean up, buy groceries etc. Try making funeral arrangement when you can barely think right. My younger brother felt bad for a couple days. Go figure. My point is there are major differences on how it attacks you. The second week my wife in tears convinced me to take us too the ER. So more meds, home confinement. We couldn’t have gone anyplace if we wanted.

We had to delay my moms service till spring. Nobody wanted to come and even with masks take a chance. Good luck to everyone out there it can be wicked.

[LWJ]

My condolences Les Paul. Your personal tragedy is awful. I wish I had words to console you in your grief.

The experience between Les Paul and the the OP show exactly the issue with COVID. It is variable. We are in the dark. People die. But many are perfectly fine.

Summary: It is a BIG BLACK HOLE of knowledge. To date. COVID has killed almost 5x that of US casualties in Vietnam. Wow.

There also are long term health issues - physical and mental that don't seem to be accounted for.

My opinion? We need to be careful. VERY careful.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

Good news on your uncle.

Are there less deadly strains of Covid-19 or is it a function of the recipient that determines reaction?

There are different strains of SARS-COV2 but the differences are minor and I've read nothing that suggests some are more/less dangerous than others.

Disease severity seems to be some combination of how much initial virus dose you get, your age and underlying condition, whether you have any pre-existing immune protection which may be from prior exposure to other coronaviruses, and a bunch of genetic and other factors that are just starting to be understood.

Most of this is not well understood yet. So as a practical matter, let's call it dose, age, health, and randomness.

[gregpark]

Keep your distance and go to work. The first wave was undetected I believe. I've talked to dozens of people who swear they had it last December or January. Fever, dry cough, felt crappy for a couple weeks, etc. If I know of so many in my small circle I'm thinking there must have been hundreds of thousands infected and recovered before March. But so few had to be hospitalized it wasn't recognized as a pandemic. I blame the media for causing hysteria. The media itself is a pandemic disease. On a global scale.

[vash]

Originally Posted by Les Paul

My parents were all set to move into assisted living a month ago. My older and younger brother were there to help as my parents had fought us every step of the way not wanting to go. They had both been falling and of course couldn’t help get the other one up. We spent a week there getting the Poa’s signed, wills updated, met with their cpa, my dad hadn’t filed his return in 3 years. Assisted living place came to their house and moved the furniture they were allowed to take. They were in my car with my brothers waiting to get tested at the gate and both came back positive. Fine by them but try getting 24 hr home care with two active cases who could barely walk by the end of that week. We lucked out and got 24 hr help.

Coming home on the 5 hr drive my wife and I started feeling bad. Next day both had high fevers. Older brother same symptoms.

The entire next week for us was the lost week. Sleeping 23 of 24, barely able to walk, couldn’t eat, didn’t even have the desire and everything was coming out the other end within minutes. Two docs in our immediate family telling us what to take. In the meantime my parents were slipping away. My mom died and somehow my dad survived. He can’t walk anymore so that is a problem. It took us 3 weeks to start feeling worth a crap and effects like no taste for me.

Apparently the cleaning lady gave it too them. She would come once a week, clean up, buy groceries etc. Try making funeral arrangement when you can barely think right. My younger brother felt bad for a couple days. Go figure. My point is there are major differences on how it attacks you. The second week my wife in tears convinced me to take us too the ER. So more meds, home confinement. We couldn’t have gone anyplace if we wanted.

We had to delay my moms service till spring. Nobody wanted to come and even with masks take a chance. Good luck to everyone out there it can be wicked.

oh no!! this is why i dont diminish peoples reactions to this as someone did above. not cool.

condonlences bud. i am so sorry.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

Is it possible that the tests are giving positives for the common cold/flu, not necessarily Covid ?

With the crappiest unlicensed serology tests that initially came in from China, almost anything was possible.

With the tests used now in the US, basically "no". Nothing is utterly impossible, but for all practical purposes, the tests respond to SARS-COV2 not other viruses.

However, diagnostic tests are not instant and perfect. It is kind of like the old "fast, cheap, accurate, pick any two" thing, but worse.

Different kinds of tests have different levels of sensitivity (how few "false negatives") or specificity (how few "false positives"). In general, false positives are much less common than false negatives. In general, the "fast tests" have more false negatives. In general, tests done very early in the disease course are more likely to return false negatives. In general, a result from a deep nasal swab that goes through a PCR process in a lab is very likely to be correct, while a Covid-positive result from a throat or shallow nasal swab that gets stuck in a machine with results in minutes is less reliable, and in a perfect world would simply be used for screening then be confirmed by a PCR test.

See https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/which-test-is-best-for-covid-19-2020081020734 for some background. It is from August, and this is all so fast-moving that I think test accuracy has improved since then.

[A930Rocket]

I’m sorry for your loss Les Paul. It’s a strange virus.

Being 61 and with asthma, but still healthy, I wasn’t overly concerned. I always wear a mask in crowded public places, stores, etc and being a germaphobe, wash my hand frequently and use hand sanitizer.

Greg, I had the flu back in January and went to the doc in the box on Saturday. The Friday before, I was sick as a dog and actually lost my balance in the shower that morning. Fortunately, it had a curtain and I fell between the toilet and the wall opposite.

That said, even if I test negative between now and next Sunday, I don’t think we are going to be seeing my mom next weekend. At 91, we want to minimize any risk to her.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

To be on the right side of caution when we visit my mother next Sunday, I took a Covid test this past Sunday and got the results back today, showing positive for Covid.

Two weeks ago, I had symptoms of a headache, runny nose, coughing up phlegm, etc. I chalked it up to the usual cold. It wasn’t debilitating and having asthma, my breathing was a little tight. No drama.

That said, I think after what I had, a lot of people have or had Covid and don’t realize it.

I’m sitting in my truck at work and got the results. Haven’t left the truck yet and deciding if I am symptom-free, if I’m OK to work outside, as I am in homebuilding.

I’m going to take another test today and see what happens.

Thoughts?

I would carefully isolate from other people. Getting up close and personal with lumber outdoors seems fine. But I'd keep my distance from others, wear a N95 mask when talking to or around others at the jobsite, and when not working I'd stay home until I test negative.

[gregpark]

Covid 19 is a fast spreasng and horrible disease. The vulnerable definitely need to isolate and take precautions. But for the younger and generally healthy it's extremely rare to be more than a bad case of a flu. If we concentrated on isolating and protecting the vulnerable in ways other than shut downs maybe we could have protected and saved our small business as well? A slow economic death is a horrible thing too. We've had one death attributed to covid of a minor in the entire state of California. A teenage girl who had health problems before. There are probably 10 million minors in the State yet the schools are shut down. The kids are the future. They need to go back to school. Not just to read and write but to learn social skills. Do we keep the schools shut for another year if the pandemic continues for another year? and are we raising a generation of germaphobes? is this a detrimental thing too? Just my opinions. And if I considered myself at risk the math would be easy for me, I'd rather be dead than live my life in fear and isolation

[red-beard]

According to the CDC, 10 days quarantine once you test positive, or from signs of first symptoms

[legion]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

Is it possible that the tests are giving positives for the common cold/flu, not necessarily Covid ?

I strongly suspect this is the case. They already test positive if you've ever had Dengue. Who knows what else they pick up?

[jyl]

Originally Posted by legion

I strongly suspect this is the case.

Based on your expertise no doubt