Is it in any way possible to have had the virus in December?

[TheLadyAnneNeville]

Odd question I know but before Christmas, DS and I had what started as a cough and fever/chills. We were both bed bound for a week pretty much and weak and unwell for 14 days plus.

The reason I’m wondering is that six weeks later, when I still couldn’t breathe comfortably, I went to my GP. She gave me antibiotics and a course of oral steroids and inhalers. Even now, in March, I’m left with residual breathlessness. I still feel that I’m unable to get a full deep breath in and have needed to alter my lifestyle slightly. Just walking about, on the flat sees me breathless and my power walking and hill climbing with the dog is right out. Have opted out of an Easter family walking weekend in the Malverns because I know I’ll hold the others up and it won’t be enjoyable for me because I can’t get enough breath into my lungs.

The reason I ask is, I was talking to a friend the other day whose business has been greatly affected as a huge part of it is China based. She said that this has actually been about since last year and the conditions for it to become pandemic are now right so, it has spread.

Of course, it could have just been ordinary flu (I do have my flu jab each year) but it wasn’t a cold (no snotty sneezing as) as it literally started on my chest. DS was really weak with it. DH had it for 48 hrs and then ... nothing.

There's pretty good evidence it was here much earlier than official reports suggest.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52589449

This is one credible example in early January and I don't think it's unrealistic to suppose that some people might have been infected earlier than that.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52589449

I mentioned it upthread but are any of you going to get antibody tests?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/03/hospitalisations-flu-10-fold-higher-last-year-official-figures/

Article from Jan 3 - Hospitals reported 10x more cases of "flu" hospitalizations in q4 2019.
It is not unreasonable to think that a lot of those cases were not "flu". I doubt they were testing at all for flu or anything else, so I think corona could have been behind many of those.
2 people from my family in Spain and my MIL here in England reported very bad "flus" just before Christmas with persistent high fever and very badly sore throat.
I think it is not crazy to assume it was around us well before the hysteria kicked in.

Ds1 was very poorly early december and was in hospital for a while. Much of the ward was full of kids with a "viral chest infection". Husband was also poorly and his cough only really shifted in feb.

This is interesting, and we may never really know, as those with symptoms December/January/February weren't tested. Antibody tests might shed some light.
I wonder whether we are actually experiencing the second wave just now?

Just to add to my pp DH and I think there is a reasonable chance we had it in early Feb (after going skiing).

We were both knocked sideways by a flu like virus that took about 3 weeks to recover from (DS and DSD were fine or perhaps asymptotic).

Obviously there are many viruses that could have resulted in similar symptoms so we won't know for sure until an antibody test is available (so until then we're assuming it wasn't Covid).

We all had something that would absolutely be suspected covid now. I coughed so much I vomited on myself and it went on forever. My husband who is a funeral director remarked at the same time how increased pneumonia related deaths were coming through.

We are waiting for antibody tests arriving in the post.

I know someone who returned from Wuhan in December and his whole family then had the worst flu ever. It might not have been cv19, but chances are it was. Most people with flu don't go to hospital, so the January start date just reflects when reported cases reached 50, or whatever.

I had the same. Started late December, took until mid February to shift it. It's the only illness I've had since 2009. And guess what? I've had an antibody test, and it says that I have the antibodies. So I've had it. Since (some of) the experts say I didn't have it in December, that'll be great, because then I didn't give it everybody else!

I'm pretty convinced I had it in mid Feb. It started with a glass like pain in my chest, and then developed into the most horrific cough I've ever had, a cough that made me incontinent.

But the GP kept telling me it couldn't be Covid-19 because I'd got it in Feb. They tried to persuade me I had pertussis. The whole situation was ridiculous.

I reckon I got it from my DPs who went on a European cruise in late Jan.

I had a high temperature, horrific cough that went on for weeks, chest pain, breathlessness, basically text book covid19 symptoms. But since that was July 2013 I’m pretty confident it actually wasn’t that (my suspicion is whooping cough). Lots of people have been tested in recent weeks who were actually displaying symptoms in hospital in the middle of the peak and it turned out they didn’t have it, so what are the chances that everyone with vague symptoms before Christmas actually had it? I expect there was the odd case, but mostly, you had flu, whooping cough, a different cold virus.

I’m convinced I had it in December. Worst cough ever, I had to sleep sitting up. Shortness of breath (something I haven’t experienced before) and eventually awful conjunctivitis. My symptoms came and went over a four week period. Quite a few of my colleagues had it too.

I was unwell in early October with really bad flu. Very high temp, really really bad sore throat, cough, weakness. I suffer with asthma so sometimes when I get flu my breathing can be quite bad. I remember a couple of nights where my breathing was very bad and not something I had experienced that badly before with flu. Cough was really bad for months, still have a slight cough but definitely not as bad as it was before xmas. GP diagnosed chest infection towards end of October. But had no bloods or chest x rays or anything to determine actual cause. I do wonder given how ill I was whether Covid-19 was around as early as October. But maybe it was just a bad case of flu and a chest infection.

If you could all do antibody tests, it could help researchers know more about how long the virus has been around, and look at longer term effects.

How do you get an antibody test?

Just Google the Roche ones @chocolatesaltyballs22