How do you catch Covid-19?

[bossyrossy]

Obviously we know how those in the health service working with Covid patients catch it. Bus drivers catch it through frequent contact with the general public. Some people in the BAME community are more susceptible to succumbing to the virus. The elderly in care homes are often frail and with underlying health conditions, making them very vulnerable to people bringing the disease into the home and I know there are other people who are more at risk due to age and medical conditions. But while some are more susceptible to dying if they get it, the question is how did they catch it? Are they breaking or bending the rules that have been designed to protect us? Are they washing their hands, not mixing with others outside of their homes and doing all the other things we are advised to do or not do. I think it’s really important that this is discussed. We need to know if careless behaviour is costing lives or if those of us who are doing as we are advised by government are just as likely to contract the virus as those who are not. If you’ve had Covid-19 come clean. Did you do something that you should not have done? Do you know how you caught it?

GP said a couple of weeks ago - whether she’s correct idk - they think community transmission is relatively low and would need prolonged contact face to face eg a conversation or someone to cough and sneeze next to you . Thinks majority of contact is between public and keyworker contact eg a bus driver catches it from a passenger, doesn’t know, remains asymptomatic and carries on working, spreads it to others .

With care homes I think there’s a thought that some providers will be taking bank staff from other places eg London, and not quarantining them before letting them do shifts . Not an unusual practice before coronavirus, I’ve done shifts in Scotland with staff from southern England who admitted they did it for the pay they got from their agency .

My husband had just being diagnosed over the phone by nhs direct with coronavirus. He has all the symptoms (cough, low grade fever and shortness of breath) tests are on the way. However none of us have left the house for over a month! Go figure! The only way he could have caught it is from deliveries (mail or food)! They are not prolonged contacts and of course social distance observed and hand washing! We are absolutely stumped but just goes to show how infectious it clearly can be!

I think before it all kicked off and people were still mixing, a lot of people were actually ill with the virus, but unaware it was anything serious and continued as normal. If you think about it most people with Covid have relatively minor symptoms, similar to a regular cold, sore throat or cough, and we would just carry on, not take time off work or school, or go home to bed. If I've had colds in the past I don't take time off work, just take a lemsip and carry on. If hundreds of people did this and were actually Covid positive, you can see how easily it would spread.

Lockdown and SD has reduced this, but people with symptoms now must quarantine, so numbers are slowly reducing. Someone I know with a positive test had only been to an ice rink and supermarket so probably picked it up from a surface.

Hopefully any illness will be tested so the picture may be clearer.

I would really love to know what percentage of current new cases are hospital/ care homes and how many are likely to be caught in the community.