New variant - symptoms less severe??

[dublingirl66]

Hello all

We have all been struck down with covid 19

Was talking to a nurse on the phone earlier and she claims that many who have recently tested positive have milder symptoms and are sick for a shorter time with new variant
Could this be correct?
She seemed quite adamant !!?

Several people I know had confirmed Covid Covid over the Christmas break, probably the new variant as our region has 80% new variant at the local lab.
Here is a list of age and severity of symptoms:

5 and 7 year olds had sniffles and were a bit coldy.

42 yo male, no underlying conditions, had shakes and chills so bad he couldn't eat for several days and struggled to keep fluid levels up. Still recovering 2 weeks on.

45 yo female, no underlying conditions, quite unwell for several days, a lit worse than a cold, still recovering now.

79 yo male, has got a lung condition, very weak and had no appetite, doctor on 111 called paramedics out when oxygenationdropped to 91. In the end he was told to just reast at home and keep eye on oxygen levels with oximeter. Still not himself at all.

50 something morbidly obese female with sleep apnea had a really bad cold but recovered after 10 days.

DH sadly lost a colleague ages 47 with no underlying conditions. Another colleague was in hospital for a while, in.30s, no underlying conditions.

So it can vary greatly. Hope you all feel better soon.

Should check for typos before posting, sorry.

Most of the above had really bad body aches, pains, chills and loss of appetite but no cough, temperature or loss of taste or smell by the way. Still felt very poorly thpugh, with the exception of the 5 and 7 year olds, who brought it home from school!

It seems to be such pot luck who gets it and who doesn't, I've seen people who claim they've barely left the house in months catching it, yet me and dp work in construction/manufacturing outside the home, and dd went to school for most of the first wave as I was in a different KW role, and we've not had it. We don't wash hands religiously when coming home either or wash shopping etc. Fully enjoyed the EOHO in summer and had a week abroad. So it's interesting that people basically isolating are still getting sick!

@Watchingbehindmyhands

As far as I can understand there is no evidence that this wave is more or less severe than the first

No evidence? Numbers currently in hospital is an indicator, surely?

Because we have far more cases. There is no apparent difference in the percentage requiring hospitalisation but because we have more infections, there are more people in hospital.

The symptoms are different this time from what I have seen of it and the people I know who have had it; a lot of people are not seeing it start out with cough, temp and loss of taste but instead headaches, aches, fatigue.

If you look at things like the Zoe app study, headaches/aches/fatigue have always been fairly common symptoms of Covid. They aren't especially related to the mutated strain. The UK government is one of very few to have such a short, restrictive list for testing criteria. I could see why in the early days when there was a lot of pressure on the testing system, but now that seems to be better established, I'm not sure why they don't update the list. The more people who test and know they have Covid, the better if we want to stop transmission. Although it doesn't solve the issue of self-isolation not being well-monitored.

I don't think it is less severe - it has been stated from the outset that the majority of people would not be affected that badly by it (and infact a third are asymptomatic). It's just with a novel virus, the numbers of vunerable people it can infect are very high (as no protection at population level).

It is also possible in some areas (like London), that people are getting it twice - (having been asymptomatic or mild illness first time), and second time is mild.

It would make sense as viruses mutate to become more transmissible to survive but normally come at a cost of being less severe....

I think scientist won't know this yet and even if they did would be told to keep it quiet so people don't become complacent.

@BeakyWinder

It seems to be such pot luck who gets it and who doesn't, I've seen people who claim they've barely left the house in months catching it, yet me and dp work in construction/manufacturing outside the home, and dd went to school for most of the first wave as I was in a different KW role, and we've not had it. We don't wash hands religiously when coming home either or wash shopping etc. Fully enjoyed the EOHO in summer and had a week abroad. So it's interesting that people basically isolating are still getting sick!

Same here. I've not been isolating at all, don't wipe shopping or use sanitiser regularly, I work in manufacturing too and many people at my work have Covid currently, I had a mild symptom on Friday for the first time but tested negative.

We were hit by covid in the first wave. Me and DS weren't tested because it wasn't available then, but whatever we had was passed on to DH and he was hospitalised and tested positive. Me and DS were very mildly ill. I was up every day cooking and looking after DH. A colleague of mine was unwell at the same time and her GP told her they were sure she had covid. Same colleague tested positive just after Christmas. I spoke to her on the phone and she sounded like she had a heavy cold. In March there were no cold symptoms. So, pretty sure she has the new variant.
On another note, DH's family all tested positive over Christmas. His Mum, Dad and sister. He's been looking after them for three weeks. His Dad has been in ICU and ventilated, but seems to have turned a corner. DH has had no symptoms and tested negative.

@Whattheactual20201

In our hospital there is more patients now than there was in first wave.

Yep, far higher hospitalisations than before and involving younger patients. Maybe in first wave you just didn't know you had it because there was very little testing, if any, so mild symptoms were discounted.

Huge eye opener

My house

The kids weak and sleepy

Father 85 coughing weak and aches all over

My 40 d and v aches no sense of taste or smell

Cousin who gave it to us
Sneezing
Tummy upset
Nausea
Heartburn
Just feeling off

😳😳😳😳😳😳

*BeakyWinder

It seems to be such pot luck who gets it and who doesn't, I've seen people who claim they've barely left the house in months catching it, yet me and dp work in construction/manufacturing outside the home, and dd went to school for most of the first wave as I was in a different KW role, and we've not had it. We don't wash hands religiously when coming home either or wash shopping etc. Fully enjoyed the EOHO in summer and had a week abroad. So it's interesting that people basically isolating are still getting sick!

Same here. I've not been isolating at all, don't wipe shopping or use sanitiser regularly, I work in manufacturing too and many people at my work have Covid currently, I had a mild symptom on Friday for the first time but tested negative*

Being outdoors a lot is probably beneficial

Maybe you were lucky that you had it with no symptoms
Could have spread to many others ??

@lightand, I work in an office attached to a factory so fully inside, no ventilation. Agree the staff on the factory floor are probably at less risk as it's huge and very draughty!

@dublingirl66 I would have thought at least one person would have shown symptoms and been tested out of all the office staff/school/family/friends we've seen when allowed this year? If every one of us has been asymptomatic then maybe but seems unlikely?

@BeakyWinder

It seems to be such pot luck who gets it and who doesn't, I've seen people who claim they've barely left the house in months catching it, yet me and dp work in construction/manufacturing outside the home, and dd went to school for most of the first wave as I was in a different KW role, and we've not had it. We don't wash hands religiously when coming home either or wash shopping etc. Fully enjoyed the EOHO in summer and had a week abroad. So it's interesting that people basically isolating are still getting sick!

Especially with the more transmissable variant, people who were being quite careful might now be getting it. Bring on those vaccines!

I don’t think the data is showing any difference, proportionally, on how age groups are affected. Looks to be similar to the first wave.

As there are more cases, there will be more mild and more serious cases being seen.

@herecomesthsun definitely! They seem to be rolling out pretty fast now.

Ok yes makes sense

I didn't want to downplay it in my original post

Was just wondering what the nurse was referring to or if this was just based on what she has seen in one area only
Who knows

This is all just terrible
There is a way out and we can do this

Day 7 here
No energy
Mornings I try to get things done then sleep the rest of the day