DH has covid for the 4th fecking time

[mcterfald]

Aaarrrrggghhh so very bored of covid now.

So sick of it.

I get it's a bug deal for some but what I don't get is who is actually testing when they feel poorly? Who actually has any LFT tests? If I feel ill, my first thought isn't 'COVID!!!" but sounds like after 3 years, it still is for some people 🤷‍♀️

Well, we are. And judging by the number of positive tests I saw on social media around Christmas, quite a few of my friends are too. We we test before visiting my nan in a care home so have them in the house.

My partner is ill with a high fever, headache and sore throat today so has tested. (Negative.) Why not?

We ordered loads of free tests before the deadline. My son, in Wales ordered them too. Wales stopped giving out free tests well after England.
They are all nearly at their sell by date though
So we have tests and take them
Met up for long weekend with ten friends sharing a house and everyone took tests beforehand, we didn’t want to pass it on to our friends, all with older kids and elderly grandparents to hear later someone was I’ll or had died from Covid
A lot of people test. A lot of people are still mindful of long Covid and the potential for it to kill.
Very few still wear masks, but I’m not a sheep, I’m happy for people to stare. In fact these days everyone assumes I have covid which is why I’m wearing a mask so they keep away from me in the supermarkets etc. I’m definitely finding it easier to get a seat on the tube 😉.

Long COVID is what frightens me. That and the as-yet-unknown long term effects on the heart etc.
theconversation.com/myocarditis-covid-19-is-a-much-bigger-risk-to-the-heart-than-vaccination-174580

I did. I get free LFTs, and I needed to check if I had it then I could get anti virals
If I hadn't found out it was then I wouldn't have got them, and the covid at home team couldn't have got in touch

@MrsJBaptiste I can’t decide if you’re a crank or actually genuinely naive to the potential issues around repeated Covid infections. Its prudent to test if you have symptoms so you can keep a tally of how many times you’ve been infected plus you’d also know then not to go waltzing around busy places or visiting elderly people.

Some people availed themselves of enough of them when they were free that they still have a stockpile now. Some people still get free access for whatever reason. Other people can and will pay for them.

I don't test and clearly neither do a lot of people, but it seems fairly obvious to me where the ones who do are getting their tests from.

Not a crank! Just always surprised at the talk of testing and posters wondering if every cold is covid. Nobody in RL is like this, I only see people like this on MN.

This was the first time I’d tested in ages, because I’ve had flu before but never lost my sense of smell, and there also turned out to be a couple of cases in my building. If it had been negative I could have gone back to work as soon as I felt well enough, but now I need a negative test. I share my office with a guy who has a 5 week old baby, for starters I definitely don’t want him taking covid home with him.

How would you know though?

Most of my family and a good number of my friends still test (to the point of buying tests) if they’re going to be in contact with my DD, but I don’t imagine they discuss my DDs health with many other people.

Vaccinations reduce the severity of the illness and make hospital admission and death much less likely.

Herd immunity at work as well. IF enough people are vaccinated and that particular vaccine does lower transmission, then community levels of infection are lower, as it the risk/probability of contracting

Road accidents kill many thousands of people, and yet there is no similar fuss about the dangers of the motor car (as one example).
Life happens, we all get ill, and then eventually we all die. Making a massive drama about one particular type of illness is ridiculous and it worries me that a whole generation of children might grow up with a disproportionate fear of something common and completely normal.

By “we don’t test here” do you mean you go out and about and just don’t care about infecting others?!

Theres a circle of hell in Dante’s inferno meant for people who are this callous.

That’s kind of a false equivalence - seatbelts, speed limits and vehicle safety checks were all introduced as a way to improve safety while driving. If something new road-related was discovered that caused a large global spike in driving deaths then it would also be addressed.

There’s nothing wrong with children being brought up to understand that when you’re sick it’s generally the considerate thing to do NOT to pass it on to other people. Different people have different levels of vulnerability, and we do what we can to protect others - if you want to relate it to the road analogy then it’s why people in lorries and fast cars need to slow down for those on bikes or horses.

My teen was far worse with covid than any cold. She was shivering and sweaty for the first 36hrs. Thanks to the gov not giving them boosters she had a week off school last term. I still buy tests and check if anyone is under the weather. Somehow I've not got it yet, I've had 4 jabs.

But it's not about 'making a massive drama', as you put it. It's about realising the difficulties that can ensue and trying to avoid them. My parents are nearly 90, my dad is sole carer for my mum, when he had covid last summer he was very poorly and in bed for 10 days and I had to go and stay at their house so that I could care for mum and look after him. As well as being hugely worrying, it was massively inconvenient and caused a lot of logistical problems (needed emergency time off work etc). So yes, actually, every time I get cold/flu symptoms the first thing I do is take a test because if it's positive, you can be sure I'm not going to go and visit my parents and subject us all to the risks of going through that again.

Of course there is “fuss” about how dangerous cars are - seat belts, speed limits, traffic lights, even having a set side of the road to drive on are all examples of minimising the dangers of cars.

Common does not mean safe and should be ignored.

hopefully children will grow up understanding that not spreading your illnesses, coughs, colds and flus is absolutely the way we should live. Much better than a “fuck it I don’t care if you get more sick than me” attitude that so many have adopted since Covid.

Hence why I stick to the speed limit, wear a seatbelt, and treat every other driver as though they're an idiot
That's also why I'm vaccinated and test so I can get antivirals
It wasn't just a cold for me, and I'm trying to exercise now and my HR is through the roof. It also caused an 18 day period

Exactly for this reason less 2 thousand die of road accidents in UK each year. Even now Covid deaths are 10 times more.