If you've had it, where did you catch it?

[dullmiserablepeople]

I've just read another thread where someone was stressed on an outdoor walk seeing people touching gates, brushing past her etc. The responses were that the risk outdoors is very low, and that the real risks are in care homes, hospitals etc.
So I'm curious as to people's experiences on here.
I work in healthcare. The (very) few people at work who've had it seem to have had DC's with symptoms first. One friend had it, but had no idea where she got it from.

Where did you (or think you you did) catch CV?

[Dannn]

NHS ICU nurse and I had symptoms at the start of March, the week before we started looking after confirmed positive patients. So either caught it in the community or of course could have got it in work before we started swabbing patients / using PPE.

I wasn’t tested at the time but have since had a positive antibody test, interestingly only 13% of my colleagues had a positive antibody test - I was surprised this wasn’t higher.

[Freetodowhatiwant]

A respiratory specialist my DS (5) sees at the hospital for asthma reckons by older child had it over Xmas by all the symptoms. We were in spain when it got really bad but I have no idea where he got it from as he had had a cough for quite a while before that. Not sure it it was the same cough that became acute and non stop on Boxing Day. Before that we have been in the UK doing the usual end of term stuff. A lot of his school friends also had the same symptoms over Xmas.

[redroses86]

2 weeks before lockdown, early March. I sat next to a lady in a full day meeting, she was coughing continuously. Kept laughing that it wasn’t Covid. At the time everyone just smiled and laughed too, it felt like it was still in Wuhan then. Later in the day she mentioned she’d been to Italy at half term.
5 days later my symptoms started.

[chipsandgin]

I haven’t had it but I have a group of friends in London who believe it was picked up on the tube & then from a night socialising together in the infected couples house whilst incubating the virus but not unwell - the 2 of them had it first then all 8 others a few days later to varying degrees.

[MrsGrindah]

How can anybody know exactly where they caught it ( unless you’d been in isolation and only let one person in I suppose). That’s the difficulty with viruses .v easy to transmit but so hard to isolate the source.

[BackInTime]

I think there are quite a few people who think they have had it but probably have not. No way of knowing for certain unless you had it confirmed with a test or have had an antibody positive result.

[annabel85]

@redroses86

2 weeks before lockdown, early March. I sat next to a lady in a full day meeting, she was coughing continuously. Kept laughing that it wasn’t Covid. At the time everyone just smiled and laughed too, it felt like it was still in Wuhan then. Later in the day she mentioned she’d been to Italy at half term.
5 days later my symptoms started.

I bet she's popular. Ridiculous to come in.

[KnobChops]

I had a venous antibody test at work (NHS) that was positive. I had mild symptoms in March before the lockdown (myalgia, fatigue, low grade temp for a day), no cough but a week later felt mildly SOB, sore eyes and lost smell. There was no swab test available for staff at the time plus there was a lot of emphasis on a cough which I never had. Caught it from tube or work most probably. DH had myalgia and a fever and DD no symptoms from us but GP thinks she had it after ski trip as coughed for 2 months (but didn’t pass it to us). I look forward to testing DD for antibodies.
Be wary of thinking you had it Earlier in the year without a positive swab or blood test as loads of people reported symptoms in Feb and so on but have tested neg. There were other resp viruses circulating all winter.

[nannyplumsmagranny]

Family member got it from someone in his work. They work outdoors but shared tools, same lunch breaks, in the van together.

Colleague returned from Italy end of January.

[MedSchoolRat]

I thought the blood group thing wasn't about risk of catching it but about risk of it being worse outcome.

[ToothFairyNemesis]

It’s both.

[Walkaround]

Dsis and whole family have positive antibodies. The children got mild cold-like symptoms first, shortly after they closed schools. One child also mild abdominal issue. Dsis then got the worst headache she has ever had in her life, she couldn’t even stand up with it, was ill in bed for a few days with high temp, only ever got a mild cough, feeling OK after a week, no further issues, hardly any coughing involved for anyone. Her dh wasn’t aware of having had symptoms.

[onlinelinda]

It depends on how long the incubation was. Either I got it from dinner with a doctor (earlier) or from DH, who worked in an area where it was. Or he got it from travelling. Or I got it from the hairdressers or from a lady who stayed with someone who had returned from Italy. All within a 9 day period, with me getting it day 11.

[ToothFairyNemesis]

Average incubation time is five days.

[U8myufo]

From my job working at a boarding kennels late January. Coming into contact with folks post holiday. Had no work there since March though :(

[SockYarn]

I haven't had it but a close friend has. Her DH caught it on a weekend in London at the beginning of March, in and out of various pubs, went to the theatre, and a big concert.

Nobody else I know has had it and lots of my friends are nurses/doctors or other healthcare workers who have been in hospitals throughout.

[Sharkerr]

Husband is a hospital doctor dealing with covid patients. We’re sure he got it from work then passed it onto me and our baby. I’ve had the antibody test which was positive.

[onlinelinda]

@knobchops I suppose it's possible antibodies drop to undetectable levels after that amount of time?

[Elevenerife]

At the hospital on a covid ward. I was with my mum for her final days.

[MrsBennetsnerves]

Im sorry for your loss, Elevenrife.

The week before lockdown I went food shopping a couple of times and was in two different bars two days apart. So it's one of those situations. I wasn't tested but had the common symptoms plus some uncommon ones. I also got sick 8 weeks later and had a positive swab test. If I caught it then ra,ther than virus reactivation, that was definitely from food shopping in a local corner shop where people were not distancing carefully at all.

[Gwenhwyfar]

@MrsGrindah

How can anybody know exactly where they caught it ( unless you’d been in isolation and only let one person in I suppose). That’s the difficulty with viruses .v easy to transmit but so hard to isolate the source.

"How can anybody know exactly where they caught it ( unless you’d been in isolation"

Well, I'm not in isolation, but I am in lockdown. It's apparently very difficult to catch outside with fleeting contact so if I got it, I'd know it was the supermarket wouldn't I. Until recently we were told to shop as infrequently as possible, so I'd know which supermarket I'd been to in the last 5 days.

[Yellredder]

Known five people to have it - all elderly. Two caught it in care homes and died. Two in hospital, and one survived but passed it onto their spouse on discharge as they were discharged with symptoms.

[Loughrigg77]

We came down with symptoms a week after we got home from Center Parcs in March. We hadn't been anywhere else as a family so we must have caught it there. Would love to know exactly where - swimming pool, restaurant, on a surface in the lodge?

[aimingforthesky]

Confirmed case and antibodies, (blood group A). NHS staff on covid ward and at same time as 2 colleagues.

[CountessFrog]

I know a lot of people who’ve had it in the last 6 weeks. Their jobs are:

GP
Hospital phlebotomist
Undertaker
GP

I knew of other cases earlier in the year where it was less clear where they’d picked it up. I worked with one of the nurses who has died, lots of his patients had it, however he also worked in a nightclub.