Infections are much higher than we think?

[Baullocks]

So, I know a few people who’ve tested positive -

My colleague and his wife had it so mild it was basically a cold but the wife insisted on getting checked.

A friend only got checked because her daughter was positive, all she had was a headache.

Then there are my daughters who’s symptoms are a runny nose and stomach pain, I only tested them as I had a weird hunch. I’ve since spoken to one of my youngests teachers (also a friend) who said she’s concerned as several children complained of stomach pain last week and loads had runny noses, you just wouldn’t think to test them.

Basically none of these warranted a test, none of them had any of the 3 main symptoms.

Having seen this first hand it’s nothing like what they’re saying, for my kids this has been a bad stomach bug, not a respiratory infection at all.

I can’t help thinking that there are thousands if not millions more with this in the uk and that the numbers are completely wrong.

They really need to change the testing requirements urgently to get a better idea of who is and isn’t infected, I just don’t think anyone’s bothering because they think it’s something else.

And no I’m not scare mongering I don’t care for all that rubbish, I’m just shocked how much the symptoms are veering from the guidelines.

Four of my family members have had it. Three were asymptomatic and picked up due to routine tests provided by their employer. One died. The person that died was terminally ill and would possibly not be alive now if she hadn't got covid but it was a horrendous death.

@Baullocks

So, I know a few people who’ve tested positive -

My colleague and his wife had it so mild it was basically a cold but the wife insisted on getting checked.

A friend only got checked because her daughter was positive, all she had was a headache.

Then there are my daughters who’s symptoms are a runny nose and stomach pain, I only tested them as I had a weird hunch. I’ve since spoken to one of my youngests teachers (also a friend) who said she’s concerned as several children complained of stomach pain last week and loads had runny noses, you just wouldn’t think to test them.

Basically none of these warranted a test, none of them had any of the 3 main symptoms.

Having seen this first hand it’s nothing like what they’re saying, for my kids this has been a bad stomach bug, not a respiratory infection at all.

I can’t help thinking that there are thousands if not millions more with this in the uk and that the numbers are completely wrong.

They really need to change the testing requirements urgently to get a better idea of who is and isn’t infected, I just don’t think anyone’s bothering because they think it’s something else.

And no I’m not scare mongering I don’t care for all that rubbish, I’m just shocked how much the symptoms are veering from the guidelines.

100% agree. They really need to update their NHS testing system. Loads of people with covid ate presenting with headaches, runny noses, gastro problems etc. Of the people I know who have had it, none of them had high temps or continuous coighs.

There must be thousands of people who think they have it, try to do the right thing by booking a test, but get refused because they don't tick the 3 main boxes.

It's a shambles.

@Northernbeachbum

I cant decide if that's worrying or actually a good thing that maybe its becoming milder so people aren't even recognising it?!

I agree. I'm in Kent and everyone I know who has had it recently has basically had a cold. So I can't work out if it makes me less anxious that lots of people now have no symptoms or very mild ones

@niynycachu

I also wonder if this is going to have long term consequences along the lines of asbestosis. We know that the virus attacks the lung, it's going to take decades for scientists to see if asymptomatic people go on to develop lung condidions such as emphysema/copd with no other environmental reason than Covid 2019.

You took the words out of my mouth. All these people being so blase about it have no idea whether problems will show up in middle age. A young person with covid may very well be asymptomaric but something could be silently working away , causing chronic long term damage that will only show up years later. As you say, similar to good or asbestosis.

So little is known about the loing term effects and that's what worries me.
Not so much for myself but for my children.

Copd not Good

I’ve been up since 1am with crippling stomach pains and have just been sick. I feel like total shit. I just filled in the form online to get a test and apparently my household isn’t eligible for anymore tests at this time?! WTF?? There are 4 people in my home and 2 of them were tested last Wednesday, why does that mean my husband and I can’t get checked???

So you have a house limit on postal tests which is less than the number of people living in your home??!?! This is such a joke

I agree. My friend had covid recently. She was fairly unwell. Her husband and 2 kids also positive. Her DH had one day headache and the kids had runny noses. That was it!

The shingles thing is interesting. I'm fairly convinced I had Covid in March, not tested because they were only testing hospital admissions then. I got a shingles flare up after I recovered.
Also - I teach in a huge school and loads of kids were off with stomach upsets then returned with snotty colds. This was the week before last.
Does make you wonder.

OP as your daughters are positive so are you. No need for a test.
If they had enough and enough resouces you could have one. But as there is not, no need.
If I do not remember wrong, Johnson's wife, then pregnant, did not have a test herself. He was positive and in hospital. She had symptoms, but no test for her. Diagnosis is straight to covid.

I had it early March after daughter returned from Austria skiing. It started for me with itchy eyes and diarrhoea! On day 9 it progressed to my lungs but that's another story!

Agree with above poster OP, assume you have it and don't bother with a test.
Hope you recover soon

@MushMonster

OP as your daughters are positive so are you. No need for a test. If they had enough and enough resouces you could have one. But as there is not, no need. If I do not remember wrong, Johnson's wife, then pregnant, did not have a test herself. He was positive and in hospital. She had symptoms, but no test for her. Diagnosis is straight to covid.

Totally agree with this but when I called 111 for advice regarding my heart disease and having covid they just kept saying ‘yes but you haven’t actually tested positive, you need to do a test’, even though I’ve spent the week isolating and caring for my two positive girls with the same symptoms. So they’re asking me to order a test in order to confirm my case and treat me properly yet I can’t get one. This is such an absolute mess.

ONS and Zoe give estimates on cases and they have been very similar since the start.

My main symptom was a dangerously high uncontrolled blood pressure, requiring hospital treatment. A slight cough came a week later. I was tested on hospital admission where it was discovered I was positive. Thinking back I also has breathlessness, chest tightness and pains/aches in my legs.

My colleague developed shingles when her positive case was discovered.

Many of our colleagues main symptom was a really bad headache for a few days before either getting a bit breathless, a cough or losing their sense of smell and/or taste. The younger colleagues ,singly only had a headache and a slight 'cold like' symptom.

The young children (4-7y) I know who have tested positive have had a headache and/or sickness bug instead of one of the Iain testable symptoms.

My 91y nana caught COVID in hospital but was symptom free at he time. That isn't why she was there. She died with covid but not of covid, it isn't mentioned on her death certificate.

Few of the 20-30+ people I know who have had covid have started with one of the key 3 symptoms. For most the cough or the change of smell/taste came later. Very few had a temperature,

Fwiw no one else in my family tested positive when I had covid. Dh slept in the same bed as me before, during and after, except when I was in hospital, and was fine throughout.

@Baullocks

So, I know a few people who’ve tested positive -

My colleague and his wife had it so mild it was basically a cold but the wife insisted on getting checked.

A friend only got checked because her daughter was positive, all she had was a headache.

Then there are my daughters who’s symptoms are a runny nose and stomach pain, I only tested them as I had a weird hunch. I’ve since spoken to one of my youngests teachers (also a friend) who said she’s concerned as several children complained of stomach pain last week and loads had runny noses, you just wouldn’t think to test them.

Basically none of these warranted a test, none of them had any of the 3 main symptoms.

Having seen this first hand it’s nothing like what they’re saying, for my kids this has been a bad stomach bug, not a respiratory infection at all.

I can’t help thinking that there are thousands if not millions more with this in the uk and that the numbers are completely wrong.

They really need to change the testing requirements urgently to get a better idea of who is and isn’t infected, I just don’t think anyone’s bothering because they think it’s something else.

And no I’m not scare mongering I don’t care for all that rubbish, I’m just shocked how much the symptoms are veering from the guidelines.

The Zoe app data is likely more accurate as they take into account a wider range of symptoms and all a protein of those to test. It seems to be diverging somewhat at the moment and they think it's because it's not picking up infection that is caught in hospital.

If what you are saying is right, we'll have more people with immunity and a lower death rate compared to actual infection rate.

That should say ask a proportion of those to test.

( I haven't had my second coffee yet)

I’m wondering if I had it this weekend. Pounding headache Sat and Sun, really tired but couldn’t sleep, aches snd just off.

I’ve got a test - if I do it now, is it too late?

When we went into lockdown, I started a productive cough, which I attributed to my usual hay fever/asthma at that time of year. On the Tuesday evening, I felt a little hot, took my temperature and found it was 36.9, when I normally run at 36.4. When I got undressed on the Tuesday night, there was a patch on the top of one toe as if I had scraped it against something when barefoot, but I had no memory of doing anything like that. On the Wedesday morning my temperature was back to normal.

I didn't get a test because I didn't fit the criteria as they then were, and Covid Toe hadn't yet been publicised.

After a week, the cough just stopped.

I've been wondering whether it was covid ever since.

All of you saying they need to widen the testing criteria, you do realise that at some point in the very near future all the testing centres will be shut and the only time people may get tested is if they are admitted to hospital (bit like the gbs test they do on pregnant women). Do you really think that the testing centres are going to stay open after the vulnerable have been vaccinated? We don't have testing centres for flu (yes I know its not flu) or any of the other hundreds of diseases we could catch from each other.
As for the op, once the vulnerable have been vaccinated, it'll good thing that so many have mild or even no symptoms. It'll be much like with a cold, some people aren't affected at all, some feel pretty lousy, a few get seriously ill and yes a small number die. (Oh and some get post viral syndrome).

@Whatever9999

All of you saying they need to widen the testing criteria, you do realise that at some point in the very near future all the testing centres will be shut and the only time people may get tested is if they are admitted to hospital (bit like the gbs test they do on pregnant women). Do you really think that the testing centres are going to stay open after the vulnerable have been vaccinated? We don't have testing centres for flu (yes I know its not flu) or any of the other hundreds of diseases we could catch from each other. As for the op, once the vulnerable have been vaccinated, it'll good thing that so many have mild or even no symptoms. It'll be much like with a cold, some people aren't affected at all, some feel pretty lousy, a few get seriously ill and yes a small number die. (Oh and some get post viral syndrome).

Agree with you. I think test centres will be a thing of the past by the summer

Yes, testing for a range of symptoms would seem to make more sense, this is the kind of scenario the lateral flow tests are ideal for.

But the apparent 'mildness' of Covid in most people is what has been said all along. Majority are either asymptomatic or have a mild illness. The issue with a novel virus is there are initially few breaks in the chains of transmission - so making those who are vunerable prime targets. And on a population level that is a huge number of people. Which is why you need to suppress the virus.

The idea has never been to stop people catching it because each individual was at risk, but to stop the spread at the population level - protecting vunerable people and health care resources.

This is why they don't need to vaccinate everyone. Once they have vaccinated vunerable then they will accept that it will run in the general population. It is too widespread now to kill it totally.

I AM LIVID.

I called 119 to get a test as 111 want me to test positive before they hand out advice. Guess what... no home tests available! I just spoke to my sister who said her fucking MIL who thinks this is all a load of BS ordered her grandchildren to all be tested so she could see them Xmas day!!!!! So I can’t get a test even though both my kids are sick with it and I have a heart condition yet that selfish *^%# ordered a load so she could enjoy her Christmas. I feel like shit and so do my kids and I’m absolutely sick of all of this and all of these twats!!!

Sadly I think a few people will have taken that approach just before Christmas.

Can you get drive/walk through tests?