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.

I had the same OP. Hadn't been anywhere in close contact with anyone, but still managed to catch a cold. I was a bit perplexed, but it was just bad luck I suppose. Hope you feel better soon, and that it's not the dreaded C word.

@MarshaBradyo

Plus op could not bother as some replies have been a bit harsh.

@MarshaBradyo

Well there is that.
But I’ve been called a paranoid, misleading, path space taking, time wasting, poster.

May as well live up to some of the name calling and waste more time posting results for everyone to see. 😃

What I don't understand is why, if we are all following the rules, people are still catching colds? (The common cold is a corona virus)

Children are at school and nursery. People work in places where social distancing isn’t possible. People have caring responsibilities for others. Masks aren’t a silver bullet in preventing infections. Viruses of all types can live on surfaces.
Viruses spread. It’s what they do.

For those of you saying a sore throat isn't a symptom. Yes it is. My OH had the virus his symptoms also included extreme fatigue to the extent he wasn't able to lift his head off his pillow for the first few days, nausea and extremely dizzy. Now he's left with an horrendous cough

The common cold is a corona virus

Not necessarily. The “common cold” is usually caused by a rhinovirus but it can be caused by all sorts of things, including coronaviruses.

People are so dramatic, what happened to people catching the normal cold or flu these days? 🤷🏼‍♀️

@lovescaca

People are so dramatic, what happened to people catching the normal cold or flu these days? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Doesn’t exist. The only illness currently out there is Covid. All the other ones have disappeared.

"Next time we will rub shoulders, break the rules and potentially pass on Covid to each other, but at least that makes it easier for people like you to pass."

You do realise you can only pass it on if you have it to start with, right?

@LivinLaVidaLoki

You do realise you can only pass it on if you have it to start with, right?

Yeah! But the whole point of distancing is that none of us know if we have it, and you are contagious 48 hours before the onset of symptoms.

Just make sure you swab far back into your nose. I've done 2 tests, the second after my OH had it and we'd been in close contact for over an hour (at the time we just thought he was run down from working 12-15 hour days) mine came back negative but I don't think I swabbed long enough round my tonsils, I was sick and that went on the swab stick and I only put the swab just into my nose because it didn't feel like it would go any further back. Apparently it does and that's where you are most likely to pick up the virus on the swab. I'm on my last 5 days of self isolating much to the disgust of work

@Lozz22

Just make sure you swab far back into your nose. I've done 2 tests, the second after my OH had it and we'd been in close contact for over an hour (at the time we just thought he was run down from working 12-15 hour days) mine came back negative but I don't think I swabbed long enough round my tonsils, I was sick and that went on the swab stick and I only put the swab just into my nose because it didn't feel like it would go any further back. Apparently it does and that's where you are most likely to pick up the virus on the swab. I'm on my last 5 days of self isolating much to the disgust of work

Usually if you don’t go far enough back the result is ‘inconclusive’ rather than negative.

It is also a continuous cough, with a specific definition of the timings of the coughs, not just a cough.

What a misleading title. You haven't caught covid (or anything else) from being outside.

You've caught something either from prolonged contact with your friend or drinking from a contaminated cup.

@Lucindainthesky

What a misleading title. You haven't caught covid (or anything else) from being outside.

You've caught something either from prolonged contact with your friend or drinking from a contaminated cup.

@Lucindainthesky

Isn’t it just funny how people seem to think they know my circumstances on the day I think I may have caught something (Covid)

I did not have prolonged contact with my friend.
She’s the least of my worries, if I’ve caught something it’s not from her.

She’s a new mum, anxious and wouldn’t risk getting close to anyone, even me!

We distanced the whole time, you may see people out in walks who don’t distance, but we did!
We got a coffee which had an outdoor system, cones 2m apart for the queue, but there was only me and and my friend there.

So yes; it’s either from the coffee cup (which I sanitised my hands after, and my friend also had a coffee and is fine)
Or it’s from the several runners who didn’t give a shit about keeping any form of distance.
There were a lot of walkers around and even though we didn’t spend time with any of them, people did walk past me again, without keeping sufficient distance.

So yes; it’s either from the coffee cup (which I sanitised my hands after, and my friend also had a coffee and is fine)

I assume your mouth touched the coffee cup? And you didn’t drink out of the same cup as your friend?

@WhoopsSomethingWentWrong

I assume your mouth touched the coffee cup? And you didn’t drink out of the same cup as your friend?

Obviously.

The server had gloves and a mask on.

Unless she directly coughed a viral load big enough to infect me, onto the small hole I drank from then I still don’t think it’s the cup and more the passers / runners.

The cup could be a possible chance of transmission so who knows, but from everything I’ve read, aerosol / droplet transmission is the much more likely than contaminated objects / surfaces.

@Threelittlegins I don't think your thread title is misleading at all, not sure why people are confused. It has a ? After all.
I don't think there is any problem with you getting a test, if you have developed a cough that is after all a symptom.
I do think though if you are this worried about catching covid it probably is best not to meet up with others, I know you were social distancing but like you say there were joggers etc. Also, not getting a takeaway coffee, I mean you don't know who has touched the cup/lid.
I do find these sort of things a bit to frustrating to read sometimes, and this isn't necessarily aimed at you. But the whole, we've been at home the entire time, not seen anyone since March, had shopping delivered. I would love that choice. Like many others I've been working without adequate PPE, no distancing and no choice.
Anyway I hope you're ok and I will be interested to see the results.

[quote Threelittlegins]@Lucidas

Honestly OP reading this was a waste of time.

Don’t read it? 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s a forum. I apologise my post was a waste of your time.
I posted for a bit of reassurance and support whilst I’m feeling quite anxious.[/quote]
It was too late! The ‘aha’ moment came in the last sentence of the OP.

Nobody can reassure you. Nobody knows if you’ve got covid.

Unfortunately, I think that if you want to 100% guarantee that you don't come into two metres radius of anyone else you need to go somewhere quieter than a 'quite busy' walk around a local lake at the moment.

I've just come in from walking around our local parks. The ONLY way I could have guaranteed not going within 2 m of another person would have been to walk on the grass. It's a pleasant day and people have very limited options about what they can do out of their own home. I sprained my ankle a few weeks ago when I slipped running on grass so as to avoid overtaking people walking on the path.

I wore a mask, as I do when I'm outside, not because I'm particularly anxious about catching covid, but as pps have said, you can't be sure that you don't have it to pass on.

I take it you were wearing a mask OP? If so, your chances of having contracted covid would be even less, so that's good.

@captainprincess

But the whole, we've been at home the entire time, not seen anyone since March, had shopping delivered. I would love that choice

I’m on maternity leave, otherwise I too would be out at work.

@christinarossetti19

I take it you were wearing a mask OP? If so, your chances of having contracted covid would be even less, so that's good.

No I wasn’t, and I didn’t realise you had to wear a mask outside on a walk.

I didn’t go indoors.

But anyway, it’s just so much expended energy for potentially nothing whatsoever. The speculation around cups and aerosol transmission and vital loads. I don’t think the solution to this kind of health anxiety is to indulge it.

No I wasn’t, and I didn’t realise you had to wear a mask outside on a walk

You don’t have to. But if you’re as worried about catching Covid is this thread suggests then it would be sensible for you to make the decision yourself to wear one.

Viral*

@WhoopsSomethingWentWrong

No I wasn’t, and I didn’t realise you had to wear a mask outside on a walk

You don’t have to. But if you’re as worried about catching Covid is this thread suggests then it would be sensible for you to make the decision yourself to wear one.

@WhoopsSomethingWentWrong

A mask offers me no protection. It’s for the safety of others, not myself.

I guess I am anxious about Covid, but I go for a walk for the benefit of fresh air and it’s the one thing I do without worrying about Covid.

Only now that I have a sore throat and cough have I begun to worry about being outdoors which before I never did as I always saw it as a low risk activity.