How am I ill?

[Newnamenewopenme]

I’m full it cold. It’s just a cold, but it’s horrendous. We’ve not been anywhere because we have had shopping delivered and as we are both teachers and back at school we thought it was best to avoid family and friends for a couple of weeks to see how it all plays out.

I don’t go near kids at school, both mine and the kids hands are washed constantly and the classroom is wiped down regularly. I’ve not been near other staff as my classroom is miles away and the day is so chaotic I just don’t get chance.

How can I still have a cold? I can barely breathe I’m so bunged up and I don’t think it’s deserved! 😭

AIBU to be think someone is breaking into my house on a night and sneezing on me? There is no other explanation!

Germs are airborne.
Social distancing is a joke.
Kids don't wash their hands.
No one has any sort of immune system right now because they haven't left the house for six months.

The 2 metre doesn't do much if someone is actually coughing or sneezing. Droplets can travel several metres.

Are you serious? 7 m this in and you don’t know the COVID symptoms?
Persistent/continuous DRY cough (not phlegmy/ catarrh cough!)
Fever
Loss of taste and smell
NOT...
bunged up/stuffy/runny snotty nose
Chesty cough
Sore throat
Runny eyes

So many people have said they have not had the classic symptoms with it. Several have said they have had an extremely sore throat with it and other symptoms that aren't listed as the classic ones.

Are you serious?7 m this in and you don’t know the COVID symptoms?

Sore throat, conjunctivitis, etc., are considered less common symptoms of Covid, according to WHO. Of course, like any symptom, the cause can be unrelated to covid also.

The PHE/NHS symptom list is, by no means, comprehensive.

www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_3

3 of my 4 teens now have very bad colds. All within 3 days of each other.

And the little darlings have passed it on to me

After spending 6 months without human or germ exposure I do wonder if immune systems are more prone to picking them up now.

@Staffy1

*Are you serious? 7 m this in and you don’t know the COVID symptoms? Persistent/continuous DRY cough (not phlegmy/ catarrh cough!) Fever Loss of taste and smell NOT... bunged up/stuffy/runny snotty nose Chesty cough Sore throat Runny eyes*

So many people have said they have not had the classic symptoms with it. Several have said they have had an extremely sore throat with it and other symptoms that aren't listed as the classic ones.

I think the huge problem we face is that not everyone has the classic symptoms.

OP, you could have touched a door handles, toilet handle, lift buttons, pens, railing, light switch, shopping, anything, that had viral cells then touched your face and, voila, you've got your cold.

@SeenYourArse cough, temp and change in sense of taste or smell are the most common symptoms not the only symptoms. I ‘only had a cold’ in fact I went into work because ‘I’d bet my life on it because I have no covid symptoms’. Guess what, I tested positive for covid and now my whole department is having to isolate. Yes I eventually lost my sense of taste and smell but it was the very last symptom I got a week down the line as my ‘cold’ started to subside. I’ve had no cough and no fever. The WHO actually states that whilst less common sore throat, headache and runny nose are coronavirus symptoms. Don’t be fooled into thinking you’d know because its not that easy.

I teach in FE, and the college have done an amazing job of making it Covid-safe. I taught two face to face classes of 15 or fewer students, all spaced out, one way systems, disinfectant all over the place, then the college switched to remote teaching due to the uptick in cases. I still managed to get a cold.

We don’t have a car so have always had shopping delivered, but I am going to the M&S foodhall for bits and bobs. I’ve been in a coffee shop three times, and a bar twice, since March. No public transport. I agree with pp that our immune systems are wrecked after lockdown.

You work in a school and are confused how you got a cold?

Children with a cold will be snotty, they will be touching their face/rubbing their nose all the time. Then they touch everything else. Its highly unlikely that 30 4 yr olds are all washing their hands adequatly between touching their faces/mouths, and theu are touching the rest of the school

Children will sneeze and spread germs, they will shout, cough. Class rooms are not clinical environments, there are a hell of a lot of surfaces and a hell of a lot of people all in a small room, there is no way you can continuously disinfect to prevent the spread of a cold in that type of environment.

All viruses are not the same, they have different particle size, different survival times outside the body, different mechanisms or working on the body. We do understand how virus transmission works but to be quite honest its nigh on impossible to prevent the spread of a virus in a school environment

Also to balance I work for the Nhs, theres no way my immune system is fucked but I still got a cold. Colds are highly infectious

Maybe you've been a bit run down lately?

Cant say I've had so much as sniff in about 6 years. Because sleep is my number one priority lol. Sod everything else haha xD Tired? Bed. Sad? Bed. Stressed? Bed. Angry? Bed. The cure to all ills lol.

Same here. Awful cold and ended up taking time off. I never usually take time off but don't want to spread nasty germs around even if it's not covid.

I think it's the fact we're mixing again after months of being outdoors & staying away from people.

I have not seen any convincing evidence yet that our immune systems are significantly different just becuase of a few months social distancing. If you had been exposed to more bugs over lockdown the only difference is you would have had them then, not now.

someone is breaking into my house on a night and sneezing on me

This is EXACTLY what's happening; lock all you doors, spread flour on the floors beneath windows and other points of possible ingress and then follow the footprints in the morning. Show the police, they have skilled trackers who will find even the smallest grain of flour and can follow the trail for miles.

He's (imaginatively) called The Phantom Sneezer because that's what he does. He will come back several times over the weeks to ensure you do become absolutely FULL of cold. Keep a baseball bat by your bed and put raw onion under your pillows; it's the only thing that can bring you salvation now.

Probably lots of weakened immune systems making people more vulnerable to the stuff we are normally in contact with and fight off all the time.

All in the spirit of social distancing, lack of social interaction, constant hand washing, use of hand sanitizer and constantly wiping down surfaces and generally shielding our bodies from things they should be in contact with on a regular basis.

You're in a school! Pretty obvious that they're just circulating everywhere airborne.

When I opened the post I thought you were going to say you were still shielding!

Yes he government is paying for staff training to redeploy staff to work in the 'break in and sneeze on people' department which is next door to the 'I am being judged' department and around the corner from the 'youse are all big meanies' one

There is absolutely no other explanation I just really hope you are not a science teacher

I have a gold, I’m working from home so no ide how I got it. I go out to the supermarket and that’s it!

Another one with a cold here too! Currently awake coughing and snotty

It doesn't matter how thoroughly everyone is wiping surfaces and using hand sanitizer. If You are in a building where there are lots of other people about, and in a classroom with those people, then you are going to catch illnesses.

Schools are germ pits. Kids were back and within a week they got colds and so have I now!
@SeenYourArse unfortunately the UK has an exceptionally narrow list of recognised Covid symptoms.

www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/what-you-need-to-know-about-coronavirus-covid-19#symptoms

Somebody infected touches something, you touch if fairly soon after. Then you touch your face.

That's how i got mumps as an adult, i was the only person in my city with it but had spent a day shopping in another city where they had a new small break out.

Mumps as an adult really sucks.

I agree it will be from the surfaces.

@TheRuleofStix I’m not sure about primary having more exposure, I’ve taught around 220 kids so far this week for at least an hour each!

Yesterday a 5 year old who's hand I was holding lifted my hand to his face and used it to wipe his nose. (not envy)