How is it possible for us to be ill when we have barely been out?

[MrsHookey]

I had sore throat and muscle aches and swollen glands last week and had to take time off sick and now the children are complaining of sore throats. We've literally been to the A&E and health surgery over the last 2 weeks, once each, wearing masks all the time. Those are the only places we have been in 12 weeks. This doesn't seem like coronavirus. How do you get ill when you haven't really seen anyone outside your family or been many places for weeks?

Masks are not infallible.

Book a test for peace of mind. A & E could have been a source as could the health centre. Symptoms seem to be vast. There is plenty of capacity.

You’ve been in the doctors and the hospital. Rife with sick prople by their nature. That’s how.

Masks protect other people from your germs, not the other way round. Have you really not been anywhere else at all? Not even to a shop?

A&E and similar places are riddled with viruses, bacteria etc. They're not the perfectly sterile places you think they are. Sick people are in there, ergo you get sick.

If you’ve been to A&E and a health surgery your risk of picking up an transmissible illness has been high - masks will protect others from you but won’t protect you from much, presumably you’ve been exposed there. It’s worth being tested for Coronavirus but could be another virus (sounds more likely as the symptoms don’t sound particularly COVID-19?)

Your symptoms very much sound like CV. Mine started with those same symptoms, especially the sore throat. I did not have a cough or loss of taste or smell. The temperature for me came later.

It doesn't matter if you stayed inside and bleached every tin of beans that came with your food shop, of whether you hugged every one of your family members daily. You are going to catch something at some point. Doesn't mean it's coronavirus. At this moment you have most likely had it already, it could be glandular fever, mine flares up with stress and right now we are in a stressful situation. Could be a cold, flu, sort throat, anything.

Book a covid test. It's easy. Just go on the gov.uk site.

Book a test...although I had the same last week, really sore throat, high temp and aching all over and just general flu like feeling and I had a negative covid result. I've hardly been anywhere either!

let us know when U get your test results?

You’ve been to A&E, a higher risk environment. Even if you were wearing a ffp3 mask you could still come in contact with your hands then touch your face, or readjust your mask.

That said flu aches and sore throats can be caused by lots of things. I get both from sinusitis when my hayfever is bad.

I have all those symptoms too (plus a splitting headache for days now) and a Covid test is being delivered to me tomorrow as I was asked by the Zoe app people to take a test for their study. I am not expecting it to be positive as I am already a Covid convalescent plasma donor. We shall see. I expect it is some other virus going around.

Why have you been to A&E with sore throats

Is this a serious question?

What you're basically saying is 'how has one of us picked up a bug having only spent a small time in a high risk area.'

It only takes a second for a virus (any virus) to breach a mask.

The two people I know that caught COVID both caught it in hospital. It’s literally probably the place with highest chance

Also, nhs staff were wearing masks in the beginning but still falling ill.

There are lots of ways to get sick and there are lots of ways for disease to spread. Out current measures are designed to prevent CV transmission. They will prevent other types of transmission. But we are not all going to stay well because we isolate and socially distance.

That about 100k people get tested per day implies that many have symptoms. Most will be like you and most will test negative. But something else will have made them sick even though they didn’t go out much in lockdown.

Can I just add my families situation?
We had something similar, all had sore throats, then headaches, aches, sore tummies and coughs and slightly feverish, nothing too pronounced but enough that we were sat with the door open in pjs with sweat running down our backs. Not feeling good at all.

It started and we all sort of thought maybe allergies but DHs breathing has been terrible.
My husband just kept saying "but tumble, I cant go to A&E. If I've got it i dont want to give anyone it, and if i dont have it, i dont wanna pick it up"

Long story short it resulted in him going to A&E a few days later when he couldnt catch his breath. For almost a week he had been using asthma pumps to help him and they were helping a bit.
He had his oxygen checked, blood pressure, heart rate, had his chest checked and Xrayed. The Drs seemed to think there was a fairly large chance he could have Covid, and told him to have a test as soon as he could. He had his test, and it was negative.
And were all better. The sore throat keeps coming and going, but were all ok.

So please try not to worry too much right now. Isolate, and have a test, but please try to stop your mind from going to a place where you think you've got it until the results are back

It's touching surfaces others have touched- shop doors or whatever etc. More Corona will be spread that way than any other I think.

And @Rumbletumbleinmytummy is right (glad you're all better BTW) it mightn't be Corona at all. xxx In fact it maybe sounds more like some other bug IDK. Just see how you go. x

We've literally been to the A&E and health surgery over the last 2 weeks

I think you have your answer!

Anyway, hope you all feel better soon!

You went to A&E with a sore throat?