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Original poster

Tom Hanks - those aren't the symptoms we've been told

43 replies

DoubleAction · 12/03/2020 07:12

[[BBC News - Tom Hanks coronavirus: Actor and wife Rita Wilson test positive
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-51847198 Tom Hanks]]

Tom and his wife have tested positive. They dont seem to be very ill which is good news and consistent with the advice that for most it is a minor illness, but the symptoms he reports are nothing like the cough and temperature we've all been told are the only things to cause concern. In fact they're exactly what I've had all week (aching and shivers) which has been "proving" that I can't possibly have it.

I dont, I haven't been in contact and as it happens, I've been fairly isolated this week anyway, as I do feel quite ill, but I might have taken more precautions re family.

OP posts:
onalongsabbatical · 12/03/2020 07:17

But how do you know you haven't been in contact? Before getting ill, have you been on a bus or train or plane, in a supermarket, or shop, or café 'or gathering? Have you touched things that were just touched by other people?
If the answer to any of that is yes, you COULD have been in contact. That's the reality. Yes it's a small chance but that's EXACTLY how it spreads.

Original poster
DoubleAction · 12/03/2020 07:22

Well exactly sabbatical. I've followed all advice and don't have the right symptoms anyway according to official advice. I am generally very unconcerned about these things but something is starting to not sit right. If I do have it, I struggled on at work with a cold (school) for the first few days, DH has been going to work on the tube, DS1 works in a customer facing role and DS2 has been at college. I'd be a proper super spreader Shock

OP posts:
onalongsabbatical · 12/03/2020 07:30

Trouble is they are not testing enough people. I mean, without a test we can't know one way or the other. All I can suggest is you ring 111 today and if you're seriously worried self-isolate anyway. Don't forget we HAVE been warned that in week or two we are all probably going to be asked to self isolate for any possible symptoms, so you're just getting ahead of advice if you do that. Sorry it must be really hard. And I think as a society we have to get over the idea that if we spread we're somehow guilty. The only guilt would be someone deliberately saying fuck you I don't care if I give it to anyone. The rest of us just make the best decisions we can with the help of the best advice we can get.
Get well soon! Fingers crossed you don't have it. Flowers

haveyoutriedgoogle · 12/03/2020 07:31

🤨 they’re the exact symptoms they’ve told us to be looking for here (fever, chills, cough, sore throat) ....

OhLookHeKickedTheBall · 12/03/2020 07:36

The symptoms they describe are what DH had last week and was told he just had the flu without being tested as he wasn't in known contact. I'm the same this week, despite having had the flu jab unlike DH and have been told the same - no known contact so no worries. Am beginning to wonder if I'm spreading it about. Not that I'm able to do much atm anyway, but am having to do school runs.

LuxLFC · 12/03/2020 07:42

I thought the same thing! Also I could've sworn in the beginning one of the symptoms was sore throat, then it wasn't. I am so confused by it all.

Original poster
DoubleAction · 12/03/2020 07:42

Are they haveyoutriedgoogle?

"We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that come and went. Slight fevers too."

He doesn't mention the cough that we've been told is key and only Rita had "a slight fever"

OP posts:
AintNobodyHereButUsKittens · 12/03/2020 07:44

This is the WHO symptom summary (via Wikipedia)
So it’s correct to say that chills are an unusual symptom but they don’t mean it’s definitely not COVID 19
.

Tom Hanks - those aren't the symptoms we've been told
ComeOnGordon · 12/03/2020 07:44

I could have written his post - mild fever, on and off chills but I’ve also got a dry cough and I’m SOB. I’m not in the UK - there’s over 1500 cases in my country but even tho I work in a hospital they won’t test me because I wasn’t in a risky area 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ Surely the moment has passed for it just being people who’ve been to risky areas - those people have been to supermarkets and hospital appts and everywhere I’ve been in the last 10 days so it’s a def possibility that I’ve got it.

So I’m staying home today but my kids are out and about living their lives and possibly spreading it around.

Hightechlowbudget · 12/03/2020 07:47

The only guilt would be someone deliberately saying fuck you I don't care if I give it to anyone

Like our Prime Minister who even though he's recently been in contact with Nadine Dorries has said he doesn't need a test because he has no symptoms. That's Trump level of ignorance.

LightAsTheBreeze · 12/03/2020 07:52

DH has diarrhoea which is low on that list and a fever at the moment, I have put him in isolation anyway as I don't want the shits. Its bad enough keeping stuff separate for a couple of days and having extra washing of towels etc. Don't fancy a couple of weeks of it.

Chloemol · 12/03/2020 08:08

It says they had fevers, that is a sign

Original poster
DoubleAction · 12/03/2020 08:09

All the NHS advice is there's no cause for concern unless you have a dry cough and breathlessness along with the other symptoms though.

OP posts:
lubeybooby · 12/03/2020 08:12

well they have tested positive so we now know these can definitely be symptoms and it might not be straightforward sore throat, dry cough and raging fever. I'm glad they don't seem to be feeling too awful but it's early days and I hope it doesn't get worse.

I suppose it depends which strain you get too

Original poster
DoubleAction · 12/03/2020 08:16

Quite, that was my point. That the report seems to go contrary to the advice we're being given.

OP posts:
Nekoness · 12/03/2020 08:17

I’ve had a low fever for days now. It’s unsettling because when I get a common cold, I always get a sore throat.
I’m “self isolating” best I can without being panicky about it, but in reality if I do have Coronavirus, I’ve been happily spreading it about in the week previous to my fever. 😷

I read yesterday on another AMA Reddit a doctor advised if you have running nose and runny eyes, it’s a cold (not covid).

Sniffles seems to be the only “sure” thing right now to define a common cold as just a cold.

Anyone see that bbc video of how you get tested for it? Both parties wearing face masks (and the nurse explains why). Yet the general public has been told face masks don’t make a difference. 😷

Fivefourthree · 12/03/2020 08:54

He also said that they just went and got tested, 'as we all should'. In UK it's impossible to be tested unless you are known to have been in contact with someone known to have.

Fivefourthree · 12/03/2020 08:56

There is a lot of contradictory advice out there.

Nekoness · 12/03/2020 08:59

I’m assuming he had to get tested as if he’s working on a movie, there’s a huge insurance policy in place in case one of the main actors can’t film and production has to be suspended.

BackInTime · 12/03/2020 09:07

How can people know for certain that they have been in contact with someone who has had it or not. If you've been out and about at work, shopping, public transport etc then you could possibly pick it up. Isn't that the whole point about this virus that it spreads so easily and remains in surfaces?

megletthesecond · 12/03/2020 09:20

This is why I'm pissed off when people come to work with colds.

Fivefourthree · 12/03/2020 09:23

Yes exactly. You're asked if you've been in places where it's active. We live in a place where there are cases in UK but that doesn't count.

LemonSucker · 12/03/2020 09:23

I have just woke up to a sore throat, cough, tight chest and feel hot. I have been washing hands well, not touching face, etc. I havent had a cold for years, of all the days to get one, I will have to self isolate now for 7 days

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 12/03/2020 09:24

I don't suppose they have enough capacity to test everyone who has a cough/fever/sniffle, so they're saving them for the ones with known exposure as a priority.
I doubt they'll get to having enough capacity to test every possible person as well.

scubadive · 12/03/2020 09:27

@DoubleAction

Hi op, there was someone on the radio from China yesterday who had had it and he described all the symptoms as 3 phases as follows:

  1. a cold which you then seem to get over followed by
  2. flu like symptoms (these would fit with your aches and shivering) again you then feel you are getting over this but then followed by
  3. chest pains and breathing difficulties, this is the phase was most people who are hospitalised need hospital treatment.

So I think lots of people may think they just have a cold and carry on spreading it, before they realise. The government definitely havn’t advised on all these different phases of the virus. They just keep repeating a temperature.