To tell you I had the "flu" that's going round, and it was actually covid

[DucklingDaisy]

I suppose it doesn't make much difference now, but I kept nodding my head in agreements with threads on here describing a bug going round. Then I realised I'd totally lost my sense of smell so I dug out a lateral flow...

I know you're supposed to treat it like any other illness, but I cancelled (and still paid) a cleaner who was supposed to be coming today because I thought it would be very immoral not to. I'd probably have done that for flu tbf. We're supposed to be hosting my sister-in-law for Xmas. She's not got anywhere else to go but I don't know if she'll want to come to a plague house. Both the kids have developed temperatures today :(

Having no sense of smell isn't going to be brilliant for cooking, either.

I have Covid. It has presented itself as a bad cold. The only reason I tested is that I was supposed to be meeting 3 friends for coffee today, two of whom would be in the vulnerable category.
I'm gutted at the timing. My mum was supposed to be coming for Christmas Day, and I was looking forward to her company. It'll just be me and the kids now, which is fine.
I don't know how to play it. Can I go out for Christmas food if I wear gloves and a mask and use a self-service till? I hate the thought of passing it to anyone. But at least now that I know about it, I can be as careful as I can.
It's my 3rd time getting it. I do NOT have an active social life. But working in a peripatetic school role should come with danger money!

Myself and the kids had a fluey type bug but my partner had covid.
There's all types of germs flying around

Thank you. I don’t recognise this country after 12 years of the Tories. Our services are all broken 😔

I never said it would fully protect me.

But I wear a proper mask and it very obviously does give me some protection.

Why else would doctors, nurses and other health professionals wear masks (even pre-COVID)? Masks help to prevent cross-infection. No one said it was an absolute guarantee.

But this kind of comment was exactly what I was alluding to earlier. Just pull your socks up and get on with it, COVID is just a cold blah blah. We're all going to get it so don't bother doing anything to reduce the risk.....

You may not know what the common cold does to the body but scientists do. It doesn't have the same effect on organs, nor on the brain, as COVID. Colds have been around a long time and the effects of the virus are well known. This is not the case with COVID.

Research suggests that COVID is affecting the brain and causing other systemic long-term problems (as a PP pointed out). This is even in cases where the COVID infection seemed to only produce mild symptoms akin to a cold. And in young, healthy individuals.

Plus there's Long COVID too.

Now it may be that the numbers involved in serious long-term complications turn out to be minimal. The point is that we don't know.

So while we're waiting for the scientists to do their thing, I'm going to try and avoid COVID. I've not caught it so far and fingers crossed it stays that way. I've not caught any of the unpleasant bugs going around either. I wear a mask in busy shops and I'm self-employed as a copywriter so I've been WFH for more than 12 years. I would have to be really unlucky to catch it and I don't see it as inevitable.

Yeah I lost my sens of smell too.

I didnt bother with a lateral flow,.just assumed it was Covid.

Very chesty.
Kept coughing

Started with aches and chills. But no obvious fever.

@ExhaustedFlamingo most don't have the luxury of wfh etc so can't avoid
Teachers , nurses , super market workers

I completely get that. Some people are exposed to more risk than others. If you’re very keen to avoid covid it’s really hard if you work in that kind of front-facing environment.

But that’s not the point I was making.

I was saying that it’s not just like a cold because of the long-term effects, and that it can help to wear a mask if you go somewhere crowded indoors. Both of those points still stand.

If the number of cases in the community reduced and spread was minimised, nurses/doctors/teachers etc would be at less risk too.

As @ExhaustedFlamingo says, get yourself a proper mask like a 3M Aura N95 (eg on Amazon), it can be worn more than once and it definitely offers much superior protection. There's no need to think we're all going to get it anyway, there's a lot one can do on an individual level to protect from infection.

And if you have kids in school and nurseries please demand that they install HEPA filters in all the rooms, they are cheap (can DIY one for 80 quid) and they will make a real difference to the amount of airborne illness that your children get. If anything good comes of COVID it should be better air quality in schools, there's absolutely no need for them to be cesspits of infection.

www.airbon.co.uk/post/diy-air-purifiers here's the link to DIY filters. Also use these at home especially if you're having guests.

A few weeks ago both my children had temps and felt too rough for school for a couple days but otherwise just seemed to have cold. I woke with a nasty headache a few days later and felt too poorly for work. Over weekend both children were complaining about not being able to smell or taste dinner. Had a spare test so one took it and it was positive for covid. I've taken two weeks to feel better so guessing I've had it too although has mostly been Headcold symptoms.