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Original poster

Anyone had a bad fever/cough in late December/early January...

68 replies

DannyDonut · 26/04/2020 17:36

And also been tested positive for COVID or strongly suspect they’ve had it in March/April?

There’s still talk of Covid 19 having been here since the end of last year, I am highly skeptical because otherwise surely we’d’ve seen a huge increase in death rates. But I’m still hearing so many people say they’re convinced they had it around/before Christmas (including a couple who were in China in November).

I had a nasty bug early January where I was bed ridden for a few days with a fever and a nasty cough so there was definitely something going round.

But my question is has anyone had both the Christmas bug AND Covid?

OP posts:
TheDailyCarbuncle · 26/04/2020 21:41

Ok @WutheringBites. I don't agree, but time will tell.

Haybo26 · 26/04/2020 21:43

My husband woke up fit as a fiddle on 12 october....by lunch time he had a dry cough. By tea time he was running a fever that he couldn't get rid of. He lost all his appetite. His cough continued. His heart rate was raised. His lips went blue. We went the Drs, they palmed him off twice with a chest infection. I knew it was much more. I phoned 111 and they told me to get him to A&E. The nurse took one look and knew he was seriously I'll. He spent 9 days in hospital on oxygen, nebuliser, oral antibiotics. He had pneumonia.....caused by what? My husband was previously fit as a fiddle and then this happened. It has taken home 6 months to fully recover. Coronavirus has been around longer than what everyone thinks.

princessTiasmum · 26/04/2020 21:57

My daghter had all those symptoms in December and for a few weeks through Christmas and after, with temperature,and sore throat
3 lots of antibiotics, steroids and chest x ray for pneumonia, as shadow seen on lung,she was very ill with it
I still think it was connected to this virus

Grasspigeons · 26/04/2020 22:00

Have the reverse in our family. 2 travellers returning from a high risk area developed symptoms in february. Tested negative.

Grasspigeons · 26/04/2020 22:05

Sorry forgot to mention they also had the christmas/new year one. Theyve not had covid twice!

BrummyMum1 · 26/04/2020 22:16

I think you’ll find a lot of people tested positive with coronavirus have also been ill other times in the previous year as those ill enough to get a test probably have a compromised immune system. My mum had coronavirus (tested positive). She also had every cough, cold and virus going around last winter as well - because she had a low immune system. I wouldn’t overthink this, seriously.

wherestheotherone · 26/04/2020 22:17

Yes I have had both. They are not the same.

Washyourhands48 · 26/04/2020 22:19

I went to a busy UK tourist destination, very busy with international tourists on January 19

On January 23rd, I woke up feeling terrible with an awful cough, temperature (don’t know what it was), with shivers and a really bad sore throat.

I was at out of hours by the 26th, it was that bad (directed there by 111) and given amoxicillin, a week later I was at my own GP for more antibiotics. (Can’t remember the name). I never bother my GP with a cold or anything and I did get the flu jab last autumn. I was ill for 3 weeks. I’ve never felt so poorly.

Annoyingly, at the time I was just over two weeks into giving up smoking and as I felt so ill and miserable I started again. Is there anything in this nicotine and it helping against CV thing?

MoveOnTheCards · 26/04/2020 22:23

I was wiped-out late January with something that Ticked every covid-19 box and wiped me out for a good couple of weeks with the main symptoms and lingered with the cough and a tight chest for a while afterwards. At the time I wrote it off as a nasty winter virus (I had the flu jab) and went to the doc when tue fever didn’t abate and my throat was awful. Doc didn’t know what it was and suggested various remedies that didn’t have any effect. Would love to know what it was!

Derbygerbil · 26/04/2020 22:28

@TheDailyCarbuncle

You say it’s couldn’t possibly have started in November because it couldn’t have spread so quickly? That’s utter nonsense and shows no understanding of how exponential growth works. If an infected person spreads it to an average of 2.5 people over 5 days (ie an estimate of how it spreads) then 20m+ people would be infected in just 3 months.

How do you explain that excess deaths published by the ONS have only sky-rocketed over the past 3 weeks (coinciding with reported deaths) of its been around for a year+ or even been widespread since January?!

There’s an easy answer to the cause of most flu-like illnesses in January and February... it’s the flu, which some people seem to believe mysteriously disappeared this winter Hmm

Whattodowhattodooo · 26/04/2020 22:29

My Dad had the most horrendous dry cough for about 4 weeks after Christmas. Temp, headache, aches. He had a course of antibiotics for a "chest infection" which did nothing. Another course which did nothing, then just disappeared. No one else was poorly despite being in close proximity. Asymptomatic??

If he had it now they would say Covid. Wish he could afford an anti body test. I'm sure it would be positive.

LadyLindaT · 26/04/2020 22:37

I have had symptoms of a virus since the end of November and it still won't go away!
It abates, now and then, but then it comes back with a vengeance.
I wish that testing was more available.

CanIDigIt · 26/04/2020 22:53

I had the Christmas bug
Rocketing fever lasted a week. Cough so bad I thought it was whooping. Mega antibiotics doled out without Q by GP
Started with dizziness then nausea. Very ill and I have had swine flu.
3 colleagues over 3 weeks so fit the spread bill.

Except I also think I've had Corona.
DP lost smell and taste. Fever. Mild dry cough. One week to the day, Dd and myself same. 10 days of fatigue where I could not get out of bed.

It was a Christmas bug here in UK

Same as I skied in Feb.
DBilaw had been in Israel for business week before. He got a high fever. Thought his ski week was blown. 24 hrs later, back on the slopes.
DS 9 had a horrid fever that came in fast and peaked rapidly - followed by D Niece

Another winter bug. Not Corona as my entire family think

4forkssake · 26/04/2020 22:58

@moondust I didn't think there was an antibody test yet (& certainly not a reliable one) - would be interested to know how you managed to get one so I can test myself as I believe I've had it

Derbygerbil · 26/04/2020 23:00

If he had it now they would say Covid.

Or maybe, just maybe, flu. Why do people think Covid means flu no longer exists?

PicsInRed · 26/04/2020 23:12

Or maybe, just maybe, flu. Why do people think Covid means flu no longer exists?

Because they know full blown flu is much less likely if they've had the flu jab. That's an awful lot of totally failed flu jabs this year.

Derbygerbil · 26/04/2020 23:22

Amazing how all these people has Coronavirus in December and January (because the apparently the flu mysteriously disappeared so it couldn’t possibly have been the flu Hmm) and yet deaths were slightly actually below over this period.... and also amazing how despite testing in January/February, the vast majority tested were negative.

And suddenly in late March, early April, the ONS reported 8,000 or so excess deaths per week, creating an unprecedented and startling spike, with this correlating with reported surge in deaths from Coronavirus.

The reason Covid went undetected for so long in northern Italy is because doctors mistook it for the flu to begin with. It doctors could mistake it, why are you so certain you know better? They only realised when people became critical and died in far greater numbers than the flu.

BrummyMum1 · 26/04/2020 23:24

According to the Telegraph over 400,000 people have been tested in the U.K. with only 152,840 testing positive. So hundreds of thousands of people have had similar symptoms recently but don’t have coronavirus. Come on guys, other illnesses are still out there.

Derbygerbil · 26/04/2020 23:26

@PicsInRed

The flu jab this year was not even 50% effective....

“The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report features interim estimates of effectiveness for the 2019-20 seasonal influenza vaccine. According to the report, the overall estimated effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccines is currently 45%.”

Northernsoullover · 26/04/2020 23:29

I had a virus in both March and September last year. I was incredibly ill in the March and still pretty bad in the September. Had I had that in December I would have been convinced that I was an early Covid case. There are so many viruses that present similarly to Covid

Derbygerbil · 26/04/2020 23:31

The evidence that Covid was not endemic in the UK in December and January is overwhelming. I’m not saying no one had it, or that we didn’t miss many cases, but this insistence that is “must have been Covid” against all the evidence appears to be good indicator of those devoid of critics thinking skills.

PicsInRed · 26/04/2020 23:31

That seems very low.
Is that the traditional jab discussed or does it include the nasal vaccine which is known to be much less effective?

Also, is it based on tested flu status or clinical diagnoses of flu?

Derbygerbil · 26/04/2020 23:31

critical thinking skills

Slattery · 26/04/2020 23:34

@Moondust001 a reliable antibody test hasn’t actually been invented yet so your post it tosh.

Slattery · 26/04/2020 23:34

IS tosh!