Is it really possible some people had cv earlier in the year?

[Butterbear86]

It seems unlikely as surely we’d have seen a massive rise in cases sooner?
However my dad - works in an area with a lot of people from China - had something so similar mid January. It started with a terrible head ache and then a fever, followed shortly by a cough. He coughed so much he couldn’t stand up and he was really ill for three weeks and quite unwell for another three - so six weeks in all. He also lost his appetite and lost a stone and a half. He’s never usually ill and has the flu jab every year. If he had that now we’d say it was covid-19 but I guess it probably wasn’t. My mother had it but like my dad. She was more tired and developed a cough but was better within about two weeks. Or so and was never as unwell to begin with.

Yeah could be, but many of us experience january flu, which does just that to the body... Every year NHS struggles with flus.
Many Ppl seem to fail to distinguish between cold and flu.

I was wondering this too. My partner was really poorly with what we thought was flu early November when he come back from Prague, couldn't breathe etc. also my ds then got ill late November, had a temp for five days, couldn't get out of bed for a week and terrible cough (he does have asthma) we knew he was very poorly as what five year old stays in bed for a week!!
But as you say, why the sudden rise in cases now if it was around earlier! I guess we will never know really

I'm not convinced. I just think there were some other really nasty viruses around this year. DD had a terrible virus with cough at the beginning of January. It completely wiped her out. She was off school for nearly two weeks, feverish for days. She coughed for nearly two months and wasn't herself for weeks. However, she'd had no contact with anyone who had been in China. We live in a small village and hadn't been out and about much over Christmas or before as the weather was so wet.

I have a couple of friends that say the same and were ill over Christmas. The symptoms fit.
Hopefully the anti bodies test will be available soon and we can see how many are already immune.

I don’t think so, there’s always a lot going around.

A year ago at new year my partner and I had a lot of the symptoms. Started with a new persistent dry cough, then a fever, tiredness, achey limbs. If we had it now we’d be convinced it were that.

This says first case in China was 31/12/19.
It's a good read too.

https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-ten-reasons-why-you-ought-not-to-panic-132941?utmsource=linkedin&utmm_medium=bylinelinkedinbutton

I had exactly the same thing in January, and I’m never ill. The most awful headache, fever, hideous cough, sore throat, etc.

I felt really unwell for about 3 weeks but only had 5 days off work - should’ve taken longer off but I always feel guilty (I’m a TA) for letting down students and work colleagues.

I put it down to having seasonal flu, but who knows what it was.

I think the issue is the symptoms are so varied and are similar to other viruses like the cold or flu that no one knows, nor will they know.

But as you say, why the sudden rise in cases now if it was around earlier

But we’re only testing cases in hospital. It’s entirely possible that it’s been going around for a while, people coped with it at home, and no-one made the connection with COVID-19 till the media picked up on what was happening in other countries and testing and study which was done there first.

There was a really nasty virus which was doing the rounds in Nov and Dec last year. Started off like a cold, then went into flu-like symptoms but with an awful hacking cough which was non-stop to the point that it was making me vomit.

It knocked me for six - was off work for a week but it took me almost three to feel better and the cough went on for nearly two months. I know quite a few people who had it.

I wonder, because I had the most persistent dry cough at the end of January, felt short of breath, headaches, etc. I remember telling people it was very unlike me to suffer so much with a cough, it's not something I'm prone to. Unfortunately I didn't self isolate at all or stop going work because coronovirus wasn't on my radar.

The first case wasn’t at the end of December. An English guy over there teaching was very ill in November. He was told in January by the hospital he attended that it was CV.

So it was circulating freely in November. Presumably people would have been coming back to the U.K. from China in higher numbers as well for Christmas and new year (particularly to London) so it is feasible we could have had it here in December.

The first case was mid November. They didn't realise at first, why would you l guess until the first person became seriously ill and they couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong.

I thought so too after I had that what you are describing over Christmas. I now have what is probably coronavirus. I’m on the “my lungs are on fire” thread. So no, I don’t think this was it. More likely to be related to 2019 Aussie flu.

The first case in China was 31/12/19

That’s the date the Chinese reported the outbreak to the WHO, it had been around for 4-5 weeks by then, according to some reports.

www.livescience.com/first-case-coronavirus-found.html

I've seen this going around on Facebook and the answer is no. More people could have died and testing hughlighted. There are lots of nasty viruses around as well as every year people getting pneumonia and bronchitis in the back of these and every year it's done people's first time getting these.

AlinaSquareQueen You shouldn't feel guilty about taking time off work but you should feel as guilty as hell for going into work whilst infected and playing Russian roulette with other peoples health.

Sadly I think it's wishful thinking.

I was ill over NY and asked my friend on Friday about whether it could have been CV.
She is a GP and working on the frontline.
She believes the cases would have risen rapidly if this was the case.
Hospitals and Dr’s surgery’s would have become overwhelmed much sooner.

I'm not convinced.

People here reporting their husband and child or parent had it. Yet we know it's highly contagious, so why didn't those other family members get it and why didn't it spread faster?

At Christmas everybody I knew had a cold. Now colleagues say that this was probably it!
This may give them a false sense of security

I don't think it is impossible, I guess we'll know for sure when/if the antibody test becomes available.

I suppose it is possible, I wonder if some CV hospital admissions and deaths at the end of last year were recorded as seasonal flu? Would be interesting to know if the figures are higher than expected/average.

The fact that he had links with China makes it possible I suppose - more likely than the other experiences. Guess we will never know unless tested for antibodies.

I had an absolutely awful virus in mid January-mid feb. Started with fever and sore throat, then dropped into my lungs - raw airways, feeling like they were on fire, just breathing was an effort, no appetite for a week or two, odd metallic taste and no sense of smell/taste, horrendous cough that was making me sick. Extreme fatigue, lasting several weeks. I think there is a reasonable chance that was covid, I work at a large university with a significant international cohort and in a department that has routine collaboration and exchange of people with mainland China, including Wuhan. A few colleagues were also unwell in the same time period. Given the demographic of the university is heavily weighted to people in their 20s it’s entirely possible that it was circulating asymptomatically within the community. We didn’t start testing here until much later, so even if vulnerable people had been hospitalised they wouldn’t have been tested. Immunity testing will be an important part of allowing the community to come out of lockdown

We were all ill, one after the other, mid February onwards. Headache, fever, fatigue, aching limbs, persistent dry cough, shortness of breath. Not tested as the advice was that you had to have been abroad, but we have wondered if we could have had it.