This covid merry-go-round is never going to end, is it

[sixtyandsomething]

covid again, oxygen monitors again, off work again, informing all vulnerable contacts again, feeling terrible again. I have had 8 immunisations. Well, at least it isn't anything like as bad as it could be without immunisations. But this is never going to end, is it. Every year, at least 2 immunisations, and at least 2 illnesses, until the one that finishes me off , I suppose. That is without counting the disruption when someone else tests positive, instead of me.

@TempestTost so if she stops testing her symptoms will go? Righto.

My parents are in their 80s (83 & 88) and have just got it for the first time. I know about 5 people in my friendship group with it - kids at school are full of cold and coughs - lots of mouth ulcers.

Thing is if we didn't test we wouldn't know - probably how my parents ended up with it as they have carers in and it could be one of them. I only tested them as dad has a hospital appointment this week.

Nope. Neither testing nor not-testing will make any difference to the symptoms. Just like testing for RSV doesn't make any difference, which is why you can't get home test kits for it.

It's a sad indictment on what some parts of society have become. Some people (not necessarily OP) find comfort in being sick, whilst lecturing others about being healthy. Testing for COVID gives them a sense of authority they may never have previously enjoyed before in their lives that "You are not protecting others like I am, how dare you be so cruel". We have see it in fit shaming for years now (remember the outrage at the underground billboards?). And there are even utterly bizarre cases of people actively disabling themselves as they want to have a special status that accidentally disabled people have (if you don't believe me search "transabled people"). It's very sad to see this play out.

Some really good points made on this thread. Amongst the utter nonsense. Yes the OP is unreasonable. It’s a merry go round as she states for her and others like her because they are immunity compromised therefore vaccination won’t work and they can’t mount any immune response to protect them.
that is exactly the same for all other severe disease that is vaccinated against. Including seasonal flu. They rely on herd immunity.
is it worth testing. No. There is no point as treatment is symptomatic not disease based. The kit makers are now just making money off people who feel vulnerable and anxious about their health. This is not supportive.

As for covid deniers. I’d like to leave that alone and not assume any mumsnetter is that level of crazy. The OP by nature of her underlying condition will continue to be predisposed to catching any infection and having a worse response. There is pertussis (whooping cough) prevalent in community at the moment, adults are suffering from it. Vaccination occurs in the young as it’s particularly deadly to them. But it wears off so if you are exposed to it later then you can develop it. And it’s nastier than covid imo. There’s lots of nasties out there is what I’m saying. And that’s how it always was and always will be. To single one virus or pathogen is unreasonable. They are all. bad but we get on and live with it and that’s life. I would take extra precautions if I was immunocompromised as well.

It's not in the past for anyone who is immune suppressed.

Or anyone with long COVID

The state of Kansas has just announced it is suing Pfizer, read the article below for the facts 👇🏻

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/kansas-sues-pfizer-over-misrepresentations-adverse-affects-covid-19-vaccine

The attorney general of Kansas is a lunatic. An election denier, a birther, an all around nut who bolsters his views with the support of racists and Holocaust deniers. No surprise that he is also an anti-vaxxer.

People who are cev can still get home testing kits. They have to test so that they can get anti viral medication quickly

@CassandraWebb or any of those who are not vulnerable, but will become so due to covid.
There are at home tests which see whether you have flu, RSV or covid.

Yes sorry I should have added that category too!

And yes flu and all kinds of other bugs make us vulnerable as well.

I don't expect extreme levels of protection, and have children in school and so don't see any benefit in hiding from the world but it does frustrate me a lot when people think they are heroes for battling into work etc when clearly very ill with something nasty and contagious

It will be Interesting to see if anyone does any studies into why some people have just never had it? I’ve never had it despite working In healthcare and being coughed on from positive cases (latest one was after masks were removed so no protection), spending time in crowds (was at a show in Glasgow when a bad variant was doing the rounds in December 21), have kids in school (neither of them have had it either). I suppose I could have had it and been asymptomatic but would be interested to know if there is some prior immunity in people, the T cell theory that was talked about early on? I’ve only have 2 vaccines as well at the very beginning and won’t be having anymore

Why won't you be having any more? (COVID vaccines)

@Rationalmum

It's a sad indictment on what some parts of society have become. Some people (not necessarily OP) find comfort in being sick, whilst lecturing others about being healthy. Testing for COVID gives them a sense of authority they may never have previously enjoyed before in their lives that "You are not protecting others like I am, how dare you be so cruel". We have see it in fit shaming for years now (remember the outrage at the underground billboards?). And there are even utterly bizarre cases of people actively disabling themselves as they want to have a special status that accidentally disabled people have (if you don't believe me search "transabled people"). It's very sad to see this play out.

I mean this kindly: if you truly believe things like this, you should think about seeking out some help.

I have covid and as I'm immunosupressed I feel awful. I have antivirals but even so,it is stressful. It is not like other viruses as it is so much more infectious and isn't just a problem in winter.

Covid is different to other viruses because it is so much more infectious and it is not seasonal. Nobody is getting flu at the moment.

Nobody is getting the flu
Everyone is getting COVID

I think it's plain to see what the correlation is

Eh? The reason people are getting covid rather than the flu is because it is much more infectious.

No. It's because they've rebranded the flu as COVID

That's why flu cases disappeared during COVID

@wombat15 yes covid is seasonal. It’s far more prevalent in winter. Same with flu still being in population but far more prevalent in winter. Seasonal doesn’t mean that it’s not around the rest of the year. It’s to do with prevalence. No one is testing for flu. Unfortunately as we said before, some people continue to test for covid and then go on to say, like you just did, that it’s prevalent. It’s around. Not massively so. Not causing serious illness. Not causing hospital or icu admissions any more than flu or other resp viruses at this time of year.

I'm not sure what your point is. If people want things that will entitle them to medications etc, why would they think they are going to get to stop testing?

And I am not sure that's the OPs situation anyway as she would not need to be informing contacts to get antivirals.

I'm just not understanding what the OPs expectation is here.

They haven't rebranded covid as the flu. They both exist. wtf?
Some people have taken it upon themselves to rebrand covid as a cold (only covid, not other illnesses that can initially present like a cold).

People might not be testing for flu but hospitals certainly do and it is far more prevalent in the winter than the summer. Covid is not very seasonal and unlike flu is very prevalent in the summer.

Some people inform others they've been in contact with if they have come down with an illness. It can be anything from covid to chickenpox to 'don't eat x/y/z, it's been recalled'. It gives those other people a choice on what action to take/a warning.

I have to be honest and again I’m talking from my own viewpoint, as a CEV person; (autoimmune disease, affecting lungs, heart and kidneys and on long term high dose steroids and immune suppressants), I responded well to the antivirals the 2 times I caught Covid. My fear is catching whooping cough, RSV virus, measles, all of which there is no vaccine for someone in my age group or a system set up to identify and treat asap. I think Covid has just highlighted how vulnerable CEV patients are.