To ask if you think yourself or your family had covid before it was a thing.

[Starry4120]

I’ve heard so many reports that people were very ill before covid was seen as a major issue here in the U.K.

Obviously there is no way to know. Even with an antibody test you may not have long lasting antibodies and we don’t know how long we are in immune. So it really doesn’t make a difference if we have or not. We still need to act like we haven’t of course.

Back last January, nearly a year ago. Both dc were extremely poorly suddenly. Both had high fevers. As a parent I’ve never seen them as ill, both were very fatigued. It started with Dd, then a few days later DS. They did not have a cough whilst they had a fever but they had a cough shortly after the fever subsided. Dd coughed non stop for a week, she just couldn’t stop and it would make her vomit it was that bad. Doctors had no answer. Even said it could have been scarlet fever with the rash 🤷‍♀️

Many children in DD’s class had similar. Many of the teachers did too. I remember a teacher saying many of them had been off with a bad cough/chest they couldn’t shift fully for weeks.

A child in DS’s class travelled to China for a holiday (if I can remember rightly) not long before Christmas, came back and went off ill herself shortly after. Makes you wonder. Of course it could be a complete coincidence!

The only thing that makes me think they did
Not have covid is that both myself and partner did not get ill despite having a lot of close contact with dc (as all parents do). Saying that I was very poorly Christmas 2019!

It really makes no difference but wondering what others views are on this matter?

I believe I had it in December 2019.

It started with several severely enlarged cervical lymph nodes which has never happened to me before so knew it was something strange. I didn't cough but I felt tight chested, fatigued, my taste and smell were dulled (although not lost completely) and had a low grade fever for around 2-3 weeks. I generally felt wretched and it took a good 6 weeks to feel normal again. I work face to face with Chinese nationals on a daily basis so it is plausible that I caught it at work while it was emerging in China late 2019.

Not me but a close friend of mine, yes. She attended a tech conference with a lot of Chinese and Asian people and got horrendously ill afterwards for weeks. All the symptoms, fever, chills, terrible cough. I really think she should have been hospitalised but she wasn't at the time.

This was December 2019

Yes. Ds2 and I (both asthmatic) were quite poorly in January 2019. Both ended up on extra steroids as asthma really played up. Both had hacking cough, very breathless, were shattered and ached all over, not cold / flu symptoms though.
I’ve had an antibody test at work (nhs) and don’t have antibodies. But.. one colleague who had confirmed covid in April didn’t have antibodies when tested and another who also had covid In April still has her antibodies.

We were some of the people disappointed to get negative antibody results, as were many of our friends. My family members is a nurse and she said that half the hospital staff were sure they'd had it, but all who tested showed up negative for antibodies and many have subsequently actually got covid.

So many people thinking they've had it is dangerous for taking more risks and also people having an idea that herd immunity is likely because lots of others have 'definitely had it'.

I definitely think I did, Dec/January like a lot of other people. I have autoimmune illnesses so get sick a lot but this was very different. It took a good 8 weeks to get over the cough, it made me think about when I had whooping cough as a child. Everyone else in the house came down with it after me but not as severe.

As others have said there will be no way of knowing. Even the “long COVID” symptoms wouldn’t be recognisable to me as they mimic by AI symptoms.

OP, I was reading your OP thinking it was probably just another virus until you said about the China link. You may find this article interesting. www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/coronavirus-andy-gill-death-gang-four-catherine-mayer-a9524071.html%3famp

Yes to the breathlessness too. I don't have any underlying conditions, or asthma, but it was worrying at times.

If it was officially declared by/to the WHO in December then it must have been in China for a least a month beforehand, maybe more, before China told the WHO. In one or two months a lot of people come and go from China. Wuhan is a big developed city, students, international business etc. It's highlyl likely that it would have been in the UK and elsewhere before we were officially told about it and so people wouldve had it.

Christmas 2019 I developed a cough that I couldn't get rid of. It was so bad I'd wet myself 3/4 times a day. Was checked at GP twice and the second time they gave me anti biotics but said they weren't sure what it was or why it wasn't going. My daughter got the same cough and a rash too and was rushed to hospital with suspected sepsis but just sent home on anti biotics too. Took about 5 weeks before we both felt ok again.

Got covid in Nov. No cough but headache and dizziness and dd was same.

Last February here for our family. It started with dd, she had a horrendous cough and couldn't breath properly when she was running about outside. She was admitted to A&E and needed oxygen, this often happened during winter from when she was a baby to around age 4, as she was born prematurely, but was fine each winter until last year. Her twin then developed the cough, as did dh and I. Her teacher also commented on her cough to me but she had no other symptoms alongside it.

I work for a Chinese company and was talking via Skype to my boss who commented about my bad cough and how I should have it checked. This was around the time China was locking down so quite memorable.

I don't think we'll know for sure but dd's awful cough isn't something I'll forget.

I was ill for about 6 weeks jan/feb 2020 with tiredness and cough. Also had conjunctivitis for about 4 weeks which I read later on could be a symptom 🤷‍♀️

DH came back from oz in January and was ill in bed for 2 weeks, completely floored. Doctor thought it was a virus. DD2 then got ill too but hers took 7 weeks to clear. She had a terrible hacking cough and would vomit probably 5 nights out of 7. She would cough up white chunks of stuff, I don't know what it was? She was diagnosed with asthma but the inhaler didn't work. Eventually, she got an ear infection, conjunctivitis, rash and then a fever and went floppy and doctor finally saw us again and she was given antibiotics and got better straight away.

I was ill for about 6 weeks jan/feb 2020 with tiredness and cough. Also had conjunctivitis for about 4 weeks which I read later on could be a symptom

Impossible to know, but in February my older child had a horrible cough and high temperature, I had a fever and loss of taste, followed by 6 months of exhaustion, younger child had mild cold symptoms and husband had a fever, aches and (for the first time in his life) conjunctivitis. My older child had a school event he really wanted to attend (doing a test to access something he really wanted) and after what came next I'm mortified to remember that the teacher persuaded me to dose him up with calpol and send him in for an hour to do the test. He did sit it in a separate room to the other kids, but supervised by this teacher! Hard to realise that we had such a cavalier attitude, but of course we all thought (maybe rightly) that it was 'just a cold'. Back in those days(!) teacher wouldn't have dreamed of wearing a mask because of a kid with a cold, and we just thought he was very kind to facilitate DC doing the test.

Dec 2019 - 3 y/o had sudden onset fever. I couldn’t bring it down, despite calpol etc. She’s my 3rd child and I’ve never had a child I’ve been that worried about before, or unable to at least get temp to reasonable level with meds and environment changes. . The next day I felt ill too, and we both spent 48 hours asleep/resting in my bed together. DH moved into her room. Then she bounced back completely, as kids do, and I returned her to nursery the next day - went home and slept all day again by myself. So on for 4-5 days. After that I could function but had an awful residual cough/wheezing/breathing issues for approx 3-4 weeks. My SIL is an ITU nurse and was v cross with me around Christmas last year because I was refusing to see a GP and yet clearly looking/sounding/feeling dreadful. I was coughing myself sick regularly and I was in bed by 8pm for weeks, absolutely wiped out. I’m still not 100% sure my breathing is as it should be when I’m out for a run, 12 months later.

I have no idea whether I had covid or something else. Both DD and I had the flu vac much earlier in the winter of 2019, so I doubt that it was flu, and the symptoms weren’t quite right for that, especially for DD. I put it down to a ‘virus’ and spent a lot of time telling my SIL and others that I wasn’t going to see my GP because ‘they can’t do anything for a virus anyway, I just need to ride it out’ (I am also a HCP myself).

Interestingly though if it was covid, my DH, other children, elderly in laws and SIL and family never caught anything - despite being in close proximity a lot of the time.

I’ll never know. More than my symptoms, the uncontrollable fever, extreme tiredness but super quick bounce back for my DD is the thing that really makes me wonder. It would be my first thought if it happened today, knowing what we know now.

I had a horrible respiratory virus last January. Bad cough, fatigue and I ended up passing out one evening at home and was taken to hospital. I wasn’t admitted and my vitals were fine though so I suspect it wasn’t covid on balance but I wouldn’t be overly surprised if I find somewhere down the line I have antibodies.

DH and I were both unwell in March. Routine testing wasn't available here then (not UK) so we just isolated until we felt better. I hope we had it because although it was nasty, neither of us were really sick. Young adult DS didn't catch it at all, he normally does if one of us catches a cold.

Yes. My DD was hospitalised just before Christmas 2019 with breathing difficulties. It was busy and the nurses said how they usually get a lot of children with similar symptoms over winter but it had started early that year. My toddler son was ill with similar symptoms about a week later. I can’t even remember if I got it too as it wasn’t a thing back then! I’m convinced that she had covid though.

@Sparklingbrook

DS2 and I were very ill in February. If we had the same now I would be assuming a positive test would be the outcome.

Similar to me.

Covid was not on my radar at all but I remember sitting on my bed at the end of February saying to my husband that I wish I knew what this bug was as it was really weird!

Symptoms:

Severe sore throat
Fatigue
Nausea and vomiting
High temperature
Cough
What I described as “like being bunged up but not” ie couldn’t taste anything
Severe muscle aches especially when I coughed
Diarrhoea

It was like a combo of the cold, flu and norovirus

Lots of people in my work had it too and one colleague has since been told by her GP it sounded like Covid, although there was no testing. Another had been admitted to hospital for breathing problems

@waterlane

DH came back from oz in January and was ill in bed for 2 weeks, completely floored. Doctor thought it was a virus. DD2 then got ill too but hers took 7 weeks to clear. She had a terrible hacking cough and would vomit probably 5 nights out of 7. She would cough up white chunks of stuff, I don't know what it was? She was diagnosed with asthma but the inhaler didn't work. Eventually, she got an ear infection, conjunctivitis, rash and then a fever and went floppy and doctor finally saw us again and she was given antibiotics and got better straight away.

If antibiotics cured it, it wasn't COVID.

I was quite rough at the start of February with a cough that came out of nowhere coupled with fever and chills. I lost my appetite and was generally wiped out for a good couple of weeks. The cough seemed to take ages to go. My husband was fine. I was travelling to town every day on the train. At the time I dismissed it as just another virus but you do wonder.

My partner is convinced we had it in dec 2019. Whatever it was, it knocked us both for six. He had issues with his chest for months after and we both had a cough for ages.

For £60 you can get an antibody test online that will tell you for sure if you've already had it.

Yes. Also have a close link with group who went to China just before too.

Friend who got it, almost certainly from us has been tested for antibodies. He's had some 'unusual' results which are being investigated further.