I’m ill, how?

[milkcartoncat]

It’s only a cold and sore throat, I don’t suffer from hay fever so it isn’t that.

I haven’t been outside these four walls for 18 days - even for a walk or in the garden and no one else has either. 18 days ago was my last walk in the fields outside. We had a shopping delivery the day after that and nothing since. Post falls into a plastic bag tied to the letter box and I leave it for 72 hours and then take it out, open it, throw it away and wash my hands. I’ve touched the bins I suppose, which thinking about it were at the bottom of the drive (about 10 meters) so I guess I’ve been out for that, but washed my hands immediately afterwards.
How is it possible?!

@Thighmageddon the text said windows but the letter expanded and said yes we can go into the garden

I'm the same, op. Finished work on the 17th, only been to a shop twice, everything gets sanitised when brought in. Sunday I started coughing, after my throat being tickly that morning. Nothing major, but have maybe coughed 10 single coughs per day since. I'm isolating to be on the safe side, even though I'm pretty sure it's not c-19 and more likely to be hayfever.
I do have a headache though, but I'm prone to them, and I'm stressed and anxious, so putting it down to that.

Surely if one is isolating one should be be not catching any infections whether they are cold or coronavirus or whatever?

Thanks ClientQ I shall pass that on to my mother. She seems to have been missed off the shielding list and she should definitely be on there with the drugs she's taking and co-morbids along with age and general very poor health. She's not set foot outside in weeks.

I though they were advised not to go in their gardens and to crack open a window for fresh air?

My father is in the shielded group and is very, very high risk. His consultant, GP and the information from government/NHS have advised him the garden is allowed.

She seems to have been missed off the shielding list and she should definitely be on there with the drugs she's taking and co-morbids along with age and general very poor health.

May be worth her getting in touch with her GP to understand the reasoning behind her not getting a letter and the GP will also be able to advise more about her risk level

Almost certainly hayfever, which is not just sneezing and itchy eyes. You can feel quite ill with it due to the inflammation.

Surely it must be hay fever. If neither you to any of your family have been anywhere for over two weeks, it’s unlikely to be anything else. Unless it’s something with an unusually long incubation period.

whatever it is you could have picked it up from a food delivery. unless you are washing your tins and so on. I highly doubt its covid though.

Hay fever

Well you are being ridiculous OTT about it all. Leaving post in a plastic bag for 72 hours? Not even going in your garden?! Come on now, that's hysterical.

Nope, not hysterical if you keep abreast of the scientific findings
on Covid it's common sense.

Im the same. I've been in lock down for 7 weeks and I've had sore throats, sore ear, kids have runny noses and a bit of a cough and husband has had similar. We haven't been out either and disinfect shopping when we get a delivery and antihistamines haven't worked. I conclude there must be bugs that just live in the body and flare up every now and again so not everything is caught from someone else.

I think some people are more prone to illness than others. Bugs and viruses can lay dormant.

It's not common to leave post 72 hours, in fact it's a bit bonkers. Just bin envelopes and wash your hands. The temperature fluctuations post is subject to means very little virus survives.

Nope, not hysterical if you keep abreast of the scientific findings
on Covid it's common sense.

Nope, not common sense. We are not being advised to clean shopping and I'm guessing you get your "science" for social media posts circulating

Maybe passed by other people in your household? Even the other people don't have much symptoms. I had a temperature and sore throat 2 weeks after lock down, DS2 had a sore throat just before the lock down, so there was a chance that I get it from him.

Well I've been working from home for over a month and haven't caught anything from the post yet. Much more likely at the supermarket.

If we were supposed to quarantine or wash the post there would have been a public information video about it from the government and the postie would be wearing PPE.

Has the government or PHE issued official instructions that shopping/post/parcels should be washed or quarantined, as I know an awful lot of people who are becoming extremely anxious & possibly on the way to having behaviour that is becoming more like performing rituals which I really don’t think is helping mental health, I’m not being goady would genuinely like to know if shopping, parcels etc is a real & recognised risk.

Still sounds like hay fever.

Pretty sure the Government wouldn't have sent letters to every household if there was any valid research suggesting anyone has caught COVID from mail.

Thank you! @wowfudge

If we were supposed to quarantine or wash the post there would have been a public information video about it from the government and the postie would be wearing PPE.
And thank you @dontcallmelen for your above post as thats exactly the kind of point I'm trying to make. Hopefully people won't shoot you down

To the pp who thought people were only allowed to crack open a window (rather than use their gardens), this advice was for people who live in flats with no outside access, so they can get some fresh air. My brother is in the shielded group - he was never told not to go in his garden.

I'd agree that it's probably hay fever, it is quite bad this year, loads of tree pollen around at the moment. DS has had to get stronger antihistamines prescribed by the GP, usually the OTC ones work for him, but not this year.

Why are you being so excessive? Who do you live with?

It could be hayfever - its perfectly possible you get mild hayfever every year and put it down to a cold, or this is the first year you have developed something

It could be a cold/virus with a long incubation period, or a cold someone else in your household had that was relatively asymptomatic

It could be reflux, this always gives me a sore throat.

It could be you are feeling run down/dry because you havent had any fresh air in 18 days.

Theres a miniscule chance youve caught it from the bins/post

The point of isolation is to reduce risk and reduce spread. However nothing is 100%, unless you literally locked yourself in an empty room for the rest of eternity. The more we can prevent it spreading the lesser the chance of further spread. Its not a supervirus spreading through walls.

@NevilleGoddard - good point! Though I expect the conspiracy theorists are having a tinfoil hatted field day about this.

OP hayfever can give you a prickly feeling throat - for me it's more like the beginning of a sore throat than a full on sore throat.

Quarantining and washing the post is a step too far. It's like using antibac on everything: completely unnecessary and bad for the immune system. You're giving yourself another source of stress and things are bad enough without doing that.