Do we know more than we did a month ago about how long it's been here?

[LaurieFairyCake]

There's been multiple threads on this at the beginning with people thinking they had it and I've seen a few recent articles speculating it's been here since December
in the UK.

Anyone seen anything more definitive?

(I think I caught it Christmas Day)

[LaurieFairyCake]

Bump

[TheLadyAnneNeville]

Unsure, but would love to know. I was so I’ll in December. I’m still breathless now on mild exertion. As a fairly fit runner, that’s unheard of for me.

[Cornettoninja]

I think it’s pretty easy to deduce it wasn’t by the fact that no hospitals were reporting an increase in respiratory illnesses or increase in ICU admissions. These things are monitored pretty closely and covid-19 seems to spread pretty quickly so I think clusters would have been picked up on.

Good old flu and chest infections mimic covid pretty closely in milder cases.

If it’s a case of it was here and spread widely that’s not great news because it would imply there’s not much of a lasting immunity or it’s mutating very quickly (most viruses become weaker when they mutate so it’d be extraordinarily bad luck for this one to get stronger).

[LaurieFairyCake]

Well in my case I got it Christmas Day and then didn't leave the house for 2 weeks and saw no one. And I know half a dozen people who also picked something up (not from where I was) but also stayed in ill for 2 weeks.

I'm in London btw. So I thought if it was anywhere it was here.

[Dozer]

I think it would’ve shown up in things like hospital admissions and unexpected deaths in people in 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s.

Much more likely to have been flu. DH and DD had bad flu in Feb.

[HoffiCoffi13]

I read an article recently (which I will try and find) that basically deduced it was impossible for it to have been here any earlier than we already know about, and that it would have been normal seasonal flu that people had.

[KitchenConfidential]

With all due respect OP, you have no idea if you had it at Christmas. That could have been a really nasty dose of other seasonal flu that also did the rounds this winter.

[KitchenConfidential]

Interesting article about the earliest cases in Wuhan
www.livescience.com/first-case-coronavirus-found.html

[WorriedMutha]

When reporting on Boris Johnson this morning, the broadcast said that St Thomas's hospital had been treating Covid patients since early February. I'm sure not at the same volume but this must be an early indicator of when London victims were reaching the hospital admission stage. I too had a stinker of a cough from mid February for a month and I would love to believe it was Covid and I now have immunity but I think it's more likely to have been a winter cough.

[heartsonacake]

No, you won’t have had it Christmas Day.

[Dozer]

That’s interesting about Tommy’s.

I think there’s a lot of wishful thinking, wanting immunity!

[Connie222]

I was in A&E in December. I couldn’t say more than one word at a time my breathing was so bad. I coughed so much that my chest on one side felt like it ripped in half - the pain persisted for 8 weeks after. They diagnosed pneumonia and pleurisy and sent me away with a week of anti biotics and painkillers. I honestly thought I was dying, I couldn’t breathe and had to try and sleep sitting up. I felt like I was drowning.it was 3 weeks of hell and the pain went on in my chest until feb.

I was 39, never been ill in my life.

[Connie222]

I’m in London too. The care home I was working on, they all went to Northwick Park hospital for appointments.

[CupoTeap]

I can't reconcile the lack of hospital admissions and deaths with the theory

[LaurieFairyCake]

You're right I don't KNOW I had it at Christmas as obviously no test

And definitely wishful thinking

But it was nothing like flu (which I've had before and was so much worse - I actually wished death at one point)

It was classic Covid symptoms - tickly initial throat, sudden temperature and terrible chills, slept 15 hours (I never sleep more than 6), felt better a few days later, then dreadful a few days after that. Then terrible fatigue for 2 weeks.

[Teacher12345]

A friends Dad thought he had Lung cancer in December as he was breathless and had shadows on his Lungs.
He has been contacted late last week to say they want to test him for antibodies as soon as the test is ready as they beleive he had it.

[Firef1y72]

@LaurieFairyCake

I had the same symptoms at Christmas.

Started 23rd December, struggling with energy levels, then sore throat in the evening
24th my temperature spiked, shivering yet soaked in sweat, couldn't control the temperature no matter what. Throat felt like it was on fire, was drifting in and out of sleep.
25th Temperature still out of control. Cough developed overnight, struggling to breath. Barely able to move, ached to the bone, managed to crawl to the toilet. Couldn't eat or drink, losing track of time/delirious. Felt like I was dying, partner came close to calling an ambulance.
over next week I very slowly improved, still got tired really quickly.
Attempted to run on 1st, so slow it was unbelievable and quickly exhausted.
By the 7th I started to get a little bit of my fitness back, had still lost my voice and my heart rate was going up really quickly.
Finally got back to full fitness at the beginning of March.

And for reference, I am never ill. I exercise 3-4hours a day, run marathons...I literally have never felt so ill in my life.

[HoffiCoffi13]

We know how contagious this is. It’s currently killing 700ish people per day in the UK. If it was around then, why were there not 100’s or unexplained deaths from respiratory issues being seen every day?

[BrieAndChilli]

I’m kind of hoping it was around longer since Dec because of so I think we definitely had it between Xmas and new year.
Kids had high temps for a day and then a very mild cough for a couple of weeks. Me and DH not he other hand had roaring temp for a few days, awful dry cough, couldn’t move else we’d cough, aches but no other cold/flu symptoms like chesty cough, runny nose etc.
It took weeks and weeks to feel anywhere near better.

[Teacher12345]

@HoffiCoffi13 It was Flu season. I imagine any spike it deaths was put down to Flu/pnumonia.

[GirlCalledJames]

I had the same virus at Christmas, with a temperature, cough and tightness in the chest.
None of my family caught it and five of them caught COVID last month (confirmed by testing) so I would guess it was a different virus.

[BooseysMom]

@Connie222.. DH had pleurisy 3 years ago..it's absolutely horrific! He's having panick attacks about this virus now. Hope you're ok now.

We both had the swine

[BooseysMom]

Oops posted too soon!! Yeah swine flu about 10 years ago and that was horrific. I've never been so ill. Fevers causing hallucinations. Just felt like i was a gonner! The cough lasted 8 weeks. We eventually had Amoxicillin and that was the end of it

[ComtesseDeSpair]

I have both agreed and disagreed with this theory for a while. I also think I’ve had it, but mainly because I was in Thailand over new year staying with friends who had travelled through China during December and had coughs and fevers when we were there.

All I can conclude now is that I have a lot of friends and colleagues throughout the world, most of them young, healthy and fit. In all my years of being alive I have rarely known a single person who fits into those descriptors being so ill that they have been hospitalised with pneumonia or breathing problems. Yeah, some people I know have had the flu or bronchitis and felt terribly terribly ill and been bed-ridden with it for a week or more in previous years - but I can’t think of a single person in my acquaintance who, before the end of 2019, has needed to be hospitalised with those symptoms - and yet I know about 30 people who between December 2019 - February 2020 have experienced just that. It seems far too much of a coincidence that this year there is more than one virus with the same symptoms as Covid19 which is so serious it is putting my healthy friends into hospital.

[goingoverground]

St Thomas's hospital had been treating Covid patients since early February

St Thomas' is a High Consequence Infectious Disease Centre so patients from all over the UK were sent there while we were trying to contain COVID-19. The first patients weren't from London.

@Connie222 Did your patients go to Northwick Park because they had COVID-19 symptoms or just general healthcare appointments?