Where are people contracting covid

[England101]

I work in the NHS treating patients with Covid I wear a face shield, face mask, gloves and apron. I wash my hands, change my clothes as soon as I get home and wear new clean clothes everyday l only go out for work and shopping. I use zoom to socialise and I’ve taken this time to learn ( webinars) and start yoga. lf i do go out I wear a mask, regularly sanitise my hands and sanitise any products like post that comes into my home. I do this because I’ve seen the terrible effects of Covid and I’ve NEVER had covid ( I have access to 2 home tests per week).

A few friends of mine who have been WFH or furloughed since March have managed to contract COVID in the last few weeks/months. They with live along or with a partner (also WFH or furloughed) some other very small children ( ie not in nursery or school) so I don’t understand how they have contracted the virus. Are they not adhering to the rules? Do they not wash their hands? Any thoughts?

OP you don't know you've never had it. Like most of us you only know you haven't had it for as long as testing has been available.

You could have had it and could have infected hundreds of people passing through your ward.

Very silly post for someone that claims to be a medical professional.

Plus my symptoms are all cold like. I expect there are lots of people going round with 'colds' and unwittingly spreading covid.

I either got it from the supermarket (I was wearing a mask!)

As far as I'm aware there's no evidence that wearing a mask stops you from contracting coronavirus. I think the main point of it is that it acts as a barrier to coughing and sneezing particles in someone else's direction.

I know 2 people who caught it in hospital when they were in for something unrelated.
1 from their workplace (no PPE and very difficult to distance, warehouse type environment).
1 who likely caught it from teaching their regular martial arts class (but obviously impossible to know for sure).
It’s a virus. Viruses spread. You should know that, really.

I got it from my husband, who presumably got it from the care home he works in, which is now in outbreak. He wears a mask all day everyday, and gloves and apron when near to a resident (doesn’t do personal care).

On another note - the test he did at work last Tuesday has still not come back, nor indeed has the previous one - but the one I had at a public testing site came back in 38 hours.

Oh and another friend who in the past 2 weeks has only been into hospital for a growth scan (38 weeks pregnant) has just tested positive.

Anecdotally, 80% of all the teachers and school staff I know (across many schools) are literally not going anywhere apart from school and haven't done since September, ie getting food delivered and going nowhere else but work.

We're doing that a) to prove that if we get it it's from school and b) because we care about the community and know we're the dangerous person in the shop /pub/cafe if we went.

My gran got it in hospital after being admitted for a broken leg.

She was discharged and infected my grandfather, two uncles, an aunt and my cousin, all of whom are involved in their care as my grandparents are in their 80s.

Child 1 from school in September
Child 2 from school in December
Both secondary school but different years.

Yes the only reason supermarkets are coming up highly on test and trace is because they just ask where people have been in the past week. Most people have been to the supermarket.

I really don’t think supermarkets are where this virus is spreading. People are saying hmm supermarkets or maybe my kid from school. Which do we think is more likely?

If people aren’t transmitting it by living in the same household as someone then walking past people in a large shop with a mask on isn’t high risk I don’t think.

I’ve been going to supermarkets the whole way through this. Maybe I’ve just been lucky. Also supermarket workers don’t seem disproportionately affected and they are in there all day rather than just 20 mins or so once a week...

I think part of the issue is the gov website and guidance about testing misses a lot of the symptoms. So people who just think they've eaten something dodgy or just have a headache or slight cold, are going out and about and spreading it's crazy that you only test for cough / fever/ loss of taste or smell. When gastrointestinal symptoms, headache and fatigue are also valid indicators of having the disease.

As far as I know, I have not had it. I've been lucky to live in a Tier 2 area although it was deluged in the summer by visitors and the village is now scores quite highly (relatively) for infection.
My DP & I are now living back in France and my main observation here is that as the population now wear masks (one way or another) all other protocols, such as you touch = you buy, sanitising hands & trollies, keeping distance etc, this has all gone out of the window. Proper fear has given way to "my mask keeps me safe". After a particularly gruesome trip to Lidl in Libourne yesterday, if I am spared the virus, I will be shopping at anti-social hours and going back to the strict routine we lived under in Chamonix last winter.

I think that the measures we take to protect ourselves reduce the risk but aren't 100% effective. I'm sure I have read about cases of people catching it while outdoors, while at 2m or more distance, while wearing PPE, face coverings, etc. Possibly there's even more chance of this happening now with the latest strain?

I also wonder if some people are just more susceptible than others?

and if you go to work with a cold, headache you cannot necessarily take time off, it will not go down as covid, unless you lie also to work and get a test.

I caught it giving a colleague, who also works in a supermarket , a lift. My toddler also caught it from me, my husband didn't catch it at all! We tested him at the same time as us and re tested 14 days later. Both negative

I’ve had colleagues test positive then get negative antibody tests so you can’t be certain you haven’t been asymptomatic.

No idea.. I’ve developed symptoms gotntested yesterday , I’m self isolating , I have literally not been out the house ONCE since the 22nd December... absolutely not once , my DH Is on annual leave and not been out , I can only think my eldest has brought it in from the one mate he sees almost daily OUTSIDE
Another thought would be my grandson whom lives with his mum but has other siblings
I’m completely baffled
I’ve not even walked the dog ( DD has ) but by herself not with friends they zoom all day
I’ve had an Icelandi delivery . Might have been that ?? That was NYE

If essential shops aren't spreading the virus then why would the government feel the need to close non-essential shops? It doesn't make any sense.

Do you know for sure that you haven't had it? From now back to the beginning of last year - you are certain you never had it and were asymptomatic?

Some people are super spreaders so maybe they transmit it far more easily in places others wouldn’t.

If you’re not a super spreader then you could live with someone and not spread it...

Isn't there a query about asymptomatic spread?

groups of teenage girls around the make up stands and hanging around town. None of them socially distanced or correctly wearing masks. Definitely more than one household too. Closing schools won’t reduce cases if parents don’t keep their children at home. They will all be hanging around town next week

As you know, secondary schools are not COVID secure which is why there is a delay going back to school. Teenagers mix with their friends all day in lessons at school without currently having to wear a mask, go on their yard face to face without having to wear a mask (because it's outside so that must be oK!), touch many fire doors and handrails that hundreds have just touched before them without sanitiser being immediately present. They are already in the habit of being without masks in close contact with their friends so it's fully undrestandable why they don't see the need for it at the weekend if they want to see them socially.

As much as I hate to say it because I know it would add to school staff's difficulties in terms of discipline/behaviour issues I think it's time that government admitted that if schools aren't going to go on a rota so that they can be adequately distanced all the time they're in school then they have to wear a mask all the time instead. I don't see any alternative.

They also need to allow pupils to wear whateever extra warm clothing they need if windows are open wide enough to allow adequate ventilation in this cold weather. Years ago before central heating people wore proper fibres such as wool jumpers and coats which kept you properly warm, not the crappy thin synthetic fibres of school jumpers today. Plus people wore underclothes and they don't bother today as they go back to their centrally-heated homes where they would be too warm with too many layers on.

Most people I know who have had Covid from October onwards all contracted it from their teenage secondary school children.

SIL caught as a patient in hospital last week.

I also work for the NHS in a clinical, patient facing role within radiology. All my colleagues that have caught covid, caught it at work.

You are doing all you can't to protect your self at work. Not everyone is.