People referring to covid as a cold

[ellie09]

On Monday I tested positive for covid. Felt horrible and took a test (even though you dont need to anymore), as I work in an office.

I have had covid a few times, as I have a really crap immune system. Ive also had several colds over the years which I tested negative for covid.

My DS came down with the sniffles last night and a cough. I rang his dad as he was meant to be staying at his dads, and he lives with his elderly mum. I told him the situation and that DS would be better staying home for a few days isolating with me (we dont know if its covid as he wont let me test him, but we can assume)

Ive felt utterly awful and like each time i've had it, my chest is in pain and it feels like someone's standing on my chest 24/7. There is a big difference between the times I had a cold, and covid (but I cant speak for others)

DS's dad brushes it off, tells me covids made up and its "just a cold" and that DS should still go round. I rang DS grandmother seeing as its her house and explained, she basically said to me, "yeah, you just have a cold, thats not real".

Is this a normal reaction now? People have covid and its just brushed off as a cold, therefore people are out spreading knowingly?

Why is your immune system crap? What are you doing to strengthen it?

I have heart problems, heart failure, heart attack, a fucked valve, atrial fibrillation. It's now beating backwards, apparently. That in turn has caused kidney failure and liver failure because of the added pressure placed on them by the heart problems. One of the many drugs has triggered diabetes. My legs are full of water. My toes keep getting infected. And many more circulation problem based miseries.

I only had high blood pressure until I caught Covid for the second time. Couple of months later, I was telling this to a ECG tech in cardiology. She said she'd heard that from a lot of people she'd tested recently.

Don't go thinking that once it's over that it's absolutely over. There is potentially damage you don't feel YET.

The third time I caught it, the fucking thing nearly finished me. Coughing and sleeping. Sleeping and coughing. No energy to stay awake when not busy coughing up hundreds of lumps of suffocating gunge every day for nearly two weeks. I'd cough so hard my throat bled. Every cough would feel like a hammer blow in my head. I'd pick my head off the pillow long enough to expel whatever wanted out before falling back exhausted. I'd try to eat and cough till I threw it up. In the end I couldn't eat, couldn't drink without chucking. I was too weak to go for a shit for 5 days. My husband had to drag me to the toilet for a piss. The trying not to panic as I struggled to breathe was the most fun part.

Yes, just a cold. To you maybe. For me not necessarily.

But, hey, bring it near me. It's fine. My desire to not repeat that experience is obviously less important than your right to cough your viral spores where you want.

If a person is ‘vulnerable’ to covid, they’re also vulnerable to myriad other contagious diseases like flu, chicken pox etc. should they be kept locked away?

Like any viral infection, it can be like a cold or feel like flu.

You've given the heads up, they're not bothered, take their lead. Vulnerable people can suffer much worse with any viral infection, not just Covid.

Your situation is made more complex by the two homes situation. If you've made the situation clear and your ex still wants to go ahead with contact so be it. If they die of covid or get long covid then that's not on you.

My friend is young but has asthma and was hospitalised last time she had it. So yes many people will just get cold symptoms but it annoys me when people assume it will just be a mild cold for everyone. I'm not saying everyone should isolate anymore, but there is often a lack of consideration with it these days.

Covid is not like a cold for most in the same way that flu is not. Both cause significantly more problems for someone immunocompromised and Covid in particular has significant other risks beyond the immediate respiratory symptoms.

While some people don’t care anymore (helped by government messaging), it’s actually a bit shit to not be in some way responsible and minimise contact where you can if at all possible. I am lucky to work in healthcare in Australia where we have to take 5 days off and are expected to test with symptoms and am glad of that because most people are still sick enough not to come
to work for a couple of days and our roster would be wiped out, let alone the effects on the extremely sick patients we care for.

Just because it’s inconvenient to have to stay home for the government and businesses doesn’t mean you are doing the right thing

I'm sure I've read that the virus which caused the 1918 pandemic is now what we refer to as the common cold. Viruses change over time, typically weakening in their effects because viruses perpetuate by being passed on, not by killing those they infect. The human immune response increases as well. To some people what is "just a cold" to others can be much more difficult to fight off.

Its their choice if they are happy seeing him with the risk of it. Its not fair of you to force him to isolate from family when its no longer required.

For children it largely is very mild, mine had no symptoms.

Nigelharnansnewwife
You are correct, both the 1918 flu & the flu that killed many in the 50s, are still circulating today with far less impact.

For some it will be similar to a cold for some similar to flu, you just treat it according to how bad you have it like any other illness. Most won't know it's Covid though so will then probably call it a cold or flu depending on severity.

No way would I test or isolate ,as far as I am concerned all of that is over thank goodness
I wouldn't visit a vulnerable person if I had any illness

The reality is we are all potentially exposed to COVID, colds, flu etc every time we go out into public. Plenty of people are asymptomatic. It is now part of the background of viruses that will be with us in perpetuity, as has happened for millennia. In future generations, kids will get it at school, probably repeatedly, they will build an immune response to it and then be unaffected or minimally affected as adults. It has to work it's way through to that point. We are at a stage in that progress where the onus of self-protection needs to be on those most at risk, same as they need to minimize their exposure to flu, because as said, plenty are asymptomatic.

I know that doesn't feel comfortable. I don't like it either. It is what our collective global inability to control it in the first place has created.

COVID is not just a cold and you were definitely doing the right thing. People are affected differently and these days we must make our own decisions. The best thing is to keep away from other people as much as possible.

. Maybe some people have more exposure to exotic cold virus varieties and can brush it off but most people in the UK cannot.

You've got this the wrong way round. Post vaccination & most people having had it before, most people in the UK can and do brush it off with mild symptoms, it is the minority who are more poorly and the death rate due to covid is now low.

The NHS website still says if you have COVID you should stay at home and away from other people.

There may not be a legal need to isolate but there is clearly still advice to reduce spread.

Anyone saying 'it's just a cold' is ignorant, and should listen to the experiences of those who have lost loved ones or are living with long COVID.

COVID is not just a cold

It literally is. What we call "a cold" is typically a blanket term covering the symptoms we get with various rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, coronaviruses, RSV etc. Runny noses, coughs & respiratory symptoms, headaches, fevers. All of these but RSV and adenoviruses in particular can very severe - RSV lands many babies in hospital on ventilators every year, but you've probably had it a few times and classed it as a bad cough.

Coronavirus 19 was a new form, what made it so dangerous was its novelty. Over time, that danger/severity has reduced, just as it has with other cold viruses. If uncontacted peoples with limit immunity were exposed to many of the viruses we live with, they could be very poorly indeed which is one reason why they are so carefully protected in countries like Brazil.

Bayern's post is very sensible

I think I had it last week as several ladies from work had it, in me it was a headache and slight sniffles, in them they were poorly. It really varies

Well I don't test, so I wouldn't know if it was a cold or Covid. I've had covid 2 times that I know of and it was a cold for me.

I can wfh so I do so if I have a cold but I'd still go out if I needed to get shopping or something, if I was feeling well enough.

Many people just cannot afford to stay at home and not everyone has the luxury of being able to wfh.

Interesting how quite a few people are not listening to the medical professionals here or the people who've been seriously ill.
Of course it's not just a cold and of course it's not ok to spread it knowingly.

It doesn't matter. People have their own families to think of. It's a luxury to be able to stay at home and not get paid in this economy.

I font see the pointing these threads ,
For most people covid is a mild illness ,yes its sways been known it can be far more serious for others
Lots of people don't have the option of isolating anymore ,my Dh had covid a few weeks ago ,he works in a ware house he can't just Work from home ,he had to go in and he was feeling pretty rubbish
We did avoid my parents ,as they are both 82 and very frail ,but we would have. Avoided them with any virus.

Covid/cold/flu all can have various degrees of severity. You had covid and were ill, others have covid and it doesn't affect them.

I don't respect people who act like it's 2020 and think having covid is a big drama.

So you think it's OK for people to just take unpaid leave and ridk losing their jobs because that's the reality for lots of people.