Caught Covid outside? :(

[Threelittlegins]

My husband has been working from home for months.
We don’t go to a supermarket we have food delivered and we always wipe it down.

Since lockdown began the only places we have been is for a walk.

I take my DS for a walk to our local park most days. (Only a baby so we don’t use the play area)

On Tuesday I met up with a friend and we went for a walk around a local lake.
It was quite busy but I never had close contact with anyone.
A few runners did run past quite close though.

Me and my friend distanced the whole time.

Before our walk we visited the cafe for a takeaway coffee. It’s all done outside so we didn’t have to go in.

I did drink from a disposable coffee cup but sanitised my hands when I’d finished, washed hands when I got home.

This morning I’ve got a sore throat and a tickly cough. 😖
I’ve ordered a test.

Your sore throat could well be a mould allergy - there are an awful lot of fungal spores in the air in late autumn. Fungal spore allergies are the lesser known hayfever - try an antihistamine and see if it helps.

Not much pollen mind...reading that up thread did really make me laugh!

@Threelittlegins - covid 19 is unlikely caught from contaminated food or surfaces. There’s nothing to say myriad other illnesses are not caught that way. I think anxiety is making you obsessive! Just wait for the test result and stop trying to work out how you caught a acquired microscopic virus particles.

She can't be that worried or she wouldn't be getting takeaway coffees

Hi OP
did you join Mumsnet to make this post? Or name changed? It’s such a paranoia-fuelling post that I do wonder ....

I have an ear ache and a sore throat, other viruses are available you know, plus there's allergens, moulds etc. I would suggest stopping worrying, isolate until your test result is back then please let us know because 200+ people are wondering if you can really get covid from a paper cup or joggers (highly unlikely is exh's professional opinion by the way, he's a virologist and told me to stop worrying months ago)

@Lucindainthesky

I'm not sure if you're being deliberately obtuse OP. It doesn't matter whether the coffee was a takeaway one or not, my point was the time it takes to drink a coffee with somebody constitutes prolonged contact.

@Lucindainthesky

Okay well I’m honestly not.

I’m just telling you the circumstances.

We arranged to meet for a socially distanced walk.

When we arrived we saw that the restaurant by the lake was open for takeaway.

They didn’t allow people to go in.

The member of staff was outside on a table by the door (with a card reader) she took the order and a another member of staff came and left it on another table.

We grabbed a drink and continued on our walk. The walk would’ve taken the same amount of time coffee or not.

It’s not like we stood talking whilst we drank, we both have cup holders on our prams. We put them in there and walked along.

Lucindainthesky I don’t think getting a coffee is a sign she isn’t paranoid. She doesn’t go anywhere else, that’s not healthy.

@Lucindainthesky

She can't be that worried or she wouldn't be getting takeaway coffees

@Lucindainthesky

That’s absolutely ridiculous.

Why are you so anxious?

@Nicknacky

Lucindainthesky I don’t think getting a coffee is a sign she isn’t paranoid. She doesn’t go anywhere else, that’s not healthy.

@Nicknacky

Where else is there to go?

Other than for a walk... 🤷🏻‍♀️

You're still missing the point OP

this wasn't an interaction of a few seconds, it was prolonged contact with somebody as you had your walk / drank your coffee. That's what I'm saying. You have to accept that if you spend time with somebody there is always the risk (albeit small if outside and distanced, but not zero) that you could catch something from them. Why is that so hard to understand

Um, when I said that I wore a mask outside as a kindness to others, it wasn't because of what other people might think about me.

It's in case I do unknowingly have covid so to reduce possibility of spreading it.

I do sort of see that as kind in a public health way, but as you were.

I would put money on you not having Covid.

[quote Threelittlegins]@PrivateD00r

OP you seem annoyed with the runners, but what choice did they have when you and your friend were taking up the whole path? I am sure that was very irritating for the runners.

The path was plenty big enough for my friend and I to walk at opposite sides and any how, other people were walking at both sides so the runners weren’t just put out by me and my friend.[/quote]
You and your friend should have been in line so other people shouldn't jave had to split you. Don't blame the runners. Blame yourself

Threelittlegins Can you honestly say you can’t think of a single place to go since lockdown started to ease?

It's possible to catch a virus outside, just extremely unlikely. So you may have a bit of a cold (that's what the symptoms sound like). I wonder whether you may have some health anxiety though, which can really add to the feeling of illness. Hard to do I know (I have a relative with very bad health anxiety) but try not to obsess too much, try to keep your mind off it, take some natural calming remedies (eg chamomile, valerian or some such) and possibly keep off SM as it doesn't help with calmness! Best of luck and get well soon.

If you caught this from a disposable coffee cup while outside, this will be the world’s first confirmed case of catching Covid in this way. You should contact PHE about it.

But you’ve got a tickly cough and a sore throat, neither of which are symptoms. You’ve most likely got seasonal allergies.

ThreelittleginsWhat places did you go before COVID began? I don’t believe for a second you only went walks.

There are plenty of places to go (baring restrictions which have shut them at the moment, of course)

What do you expect the runners to do?

Accept that they can't maintain 2m distance and walk behind the OP and her friend until they go home?

OP, why do you say 'not blaming your poor friend'? If you have caught it and did it get from her, it's hardly anything to blame her for, no one needs to be blamed. The virus doesn't discriminate and your friend could easily have it. You say she has hardly left the house, well there you go, hardly isn't not at all.
I think you, and anyone else, needs got accept if they are going to be meeting up with others there is a chance of catching it. And if you are this worried and don't need to meet others or leave your house then don't.
I too have had a sore throat this autumn, lasted 2 days and then went. Maybe I should have got a test but I genuinely thought it was just a sore throat.

@MrsWarleggan

Maybe just a cold. Especially if you are walking around lakes. It's not exactly warm at the moment. Fingers crossed its not covid

@MrsWarleggan

Lakes do not contain the common cold virus, regardless of air temperature.

@Threelittlegins - no you haven't caught COVID from walking outside

Not wishing illness upon you at all but thus thread would have been more interesting if you actually had tested positive for covid and were wondering how you could have caught it, given you’ve been so careful.
As it is I know it wasn’t deliberate but I do feel cheated by the thread title! 😂
I doubt you’ve got it

@Nicknacky

On mumsnet I read about all these selfish runners who run close, breathing in peoples faces however in real life runners all give space (even pre COVID) and I give space as a runner.

But yet it happens all the time on here 🤷🏻‍♀️. And they aren’t selfish. They are just as entitled as you to be outside and use the space.

Gosh you'd be surprised to go running near where I live then, especially on the towpath - I've never encountered a more entitled group of people than as I'd say around 40% of the runners who use the space, they definitely don't seem to think it is a shared space!

CeibaTree Ditto with the walkers round here. But given that no one is more entitled than the other then it works both ways.

...which why I love running in the rain. no 'social' walking then...