wondering if the start of the UK pandemic was earlier than officially disclosed?

[firthy85]

hello. just seen a zombie thread from 1 january last year with people talking about having this awful hacking cough, lethargy and vomiting. posters saying that they had been suffering with this virus since october/november 2019 but was just put down to a normal seasonal chest infection. when the media started to report that coronavirus had come to the UK and we saw the first cases wondering if any of the posters over on that other thread or in fact you, got a test when you started to hear about it?

I had a hideous flu at the beginning of December 2019 that totally floored me. Racing heart, wheezing, sense of taste and smell not right for months afterwards, upset stomach, no appetite and left afterwards with two or three bouts of really bad neuralgia, blurred vision and brain fog. This went on for about four months.
Dh had flu about three weeks before me, but wasn't so bad, but our ds, 13 at the time, ended up overnight in hospital; his temperature was so high he was delirious.
My colleague's 19 year old daughter ended up in ICU with a respiratory "infection".
A large percentage of our school were off, including staff with severe respiratory problems. Dh works with colleagues from both China and Italy, so it's very interesting to consider, particularly as he had two colleagues who were very poorly and suffered issues with their eyesight subsequently.

So interesting that this subject keeps popping up! My husband and I were really poorly Christmas 2019 and it went on for about 6 weeks. Both absolutely wiped up, temp, hacking coughs. Children had a touch of it too, but nothing in comparison. It was a terrible time!

@bookworm1632

My mil died of what ever had but she wasn't tested that the time but she had all the right symptoms and so did we.

I had an awful illness for pretty much all of December 2019. Flu-like, constant coughing to the point I was taking ibuprofen constantly to deal with the muscle ache from it, incredibly painful wheezy crackly breathing, about a week or so where I didn't so anything other than lie in bed sweating. I thought I was just really run down after a bad year and had a chest infection, recovered eventually but have had ongoing symptoms/post viral weirdness on and off since. I've thought about it a lot the last 12 months!

My DS developed a continuous cough over Christmas. His DW took him to the GP as he has been in bed for days. GP immediately hospitalised him. He was so ill. He lost 1 stone in weight. They just did not know (at the time) why he was so ill. So December for me. I was also so ill that my DD and DH had to take over doing everything on Boxing Day as I kept passing out and had no strength.

Early to mid December 2019 my son was off school with a flaming temperature, fatigue and the worst cough of his life. All of his friends had the same, some had vomiting too. It was intense but only lasted about 4 days. Half the local high school were off with the same symptoms on those same few days and the same at the local primary schools in the catchment. There was talk of the schools shutting to be deep cleaned but the virus went away as quickly as it started among the kids. I’m sure it was the “first wave” I’ve never in my life known a bug like that one to sweep through so many children at once. And barely any actual confirmed covid at the schools since.

I had it December 2019... started with a cold and blocked ears (totally deaf at school was interesting). Then felt like a chest infection, got worse over Christmas and new year. I was given asthma inhaler, hospitalised twice, given ECGs, oxygen, chest x rays, steroids, 3 lots antibiotics. When I lay down the pressure felt like one of my children was sitting in my chest and I was signed off work until February 2030 as too I’ll to work. Had to disclose this when I went to give blood in the May and was subsequently asked to donate convalescent plasma which confirmed I had antibodies so it was Covid.

Same at our school. We’ve not had a single confirmed covid case at our school, but lots of children, teachers and parents had nasty ‘flu’ in December and January before we heard about covid.

My work colleague had a very nasty virus in December 2019, the doctor said it was a chest infection but antibiotics didn't seem to touch it and she was off work for a long while. It's very strange.

I was ill over Christmas 2019, I had a horrendous cough, bad headaches, felt rotten, I remember being cross that I couldn’t taste my Christmas dinner!

My son who was 11 at the time got sent home on last day of term before Christmas 2019 after he had vomited.
He then developed a temparture and was wiped out and laid in bed for 3 days.
He seemed to get better for a few days and then he had a night of vomiting all night and the next day developed an awful constant cough.
He was unwell for about 2 weeks in total.
We do wonder if it was COVID!

DS1 then 8/9 certainly had an unusually hard hitting virus mid-Dec 19. I intially reported it to school as a "bad cold" and he was off for a week (he's only ever missed a single day or 48 hour rule before). About the second day in he didn't see his brother because he was still asleep when he went to school, and was done in for the night by 3pm. I checked on him at 8pm and he was in a fever in a puddle of sweat that I had to check wasn't a full bladder of wee. He rallied after a few days, then had a second wave of it. At the weekend his glands came up like mumps. I tried to ring the GP on Monday but gave up after 35+ failed attempts and at that point he began to come out of it. He was on basic function for weeks and not really full power for a few months, pretty much at lockdown.
A large number were absent or struggling with respiritory illness from school.

It is plausible that in the absence of knowing of a new virus that strongly resembles seasonal illness, that it did evade notice through a low-,risk demographic.

I am more suspicious about that nasty chest infection that DM aquired in hospital in Jan/Feb 20. She took a long time to recover despite heavy duty anti-biotics and had a DVT scare.

Both of us live in areas hit early in the furst wave.

Smallest child went down v suddenly with a high temp and horrendous cough in Nov 2019. It ripped through their class. Their best friend's mum worked with someone who had been abroad to a subsequently identified hot spot area, came into work with a hacking cough and temp , gave it to my friend and we think it then went to child's best friend and then to my child. It took ages to shift and they were coughing to the point of nearly vomiting. In all my yrs of parenting, I've not seen a bug like it. I would love to know if they all had antibodies.

CoolShoeshine, it sounds like our school. Also very low number of cases in their class/infant dept since then. Only one asymptomatic case in their class so far.

My dad died Jan 2020 after a brief upper respitory illness.
The month before my son had a horrible dry cough and high temperature, I remember my sister commenting that he must have caught that awful bug that was doing the rounds, there were several children off school at the time with similar symptoms.
If it wasn't covid it was something awfully similar but I truly believe it was covid just before it had a name xx

I had a horrible chest infection in October 2019. Coughed so much I was being sick and was struggling to take part in conversations. It really got me down. Needed a couple of days off work with it in early October and then a full week off at the end of that month. Spent that week asleep in bed. I was totally floored, have never been that ill before.

One strange symptom was that my toothpaste tasted really disgusting.

Fast forward to November 2020 and I tested positive for covid. Had a very mild case and didn't lose my sense of taste completely, except for one thing - the disgusting toothpaste taste was back.

I don't think the first illness was covid, not really. I know it was too early. But the toothpaste connection is odd. I've never experienced that before except those two times.

hello. wasn't going to post and run. its interesting that you all have had more or less the same thing. wonder if in the next couple of years when things surrounding covid have calmed somewhat there will be an operation to reexamine all the cases of late 2019 that were innitially put down to just a horific flu virus?. i know people may have said this before but what i couldn't understand is that covid was firmly established here at the beginning of march and at first government advice was to stay away from places that draw crouds such as pubs,bars,cafes etc but yet at that point they hadn't been ordered to close. i am not proud of myself now looking as i didn't change my life i went to the pub etc thinking that nothing more would really come of the advice and it would be all just a thing of the past in a few months then the following week lockdown was announced and social distancing guidelines were put in place.

Definitely! We had to close our school for a company to come and deep clean as we had so many children and staff off sick... late November I think

I was really ill in February 2020. Awful hacking cough (but no cold symptoms), temperature, headaches, lethargy and awful double conjunctivitis.

After about a week of being really ill I woke up one day and felt a bit better and thought I was getting over it. Then the next day I was worse than ever, went to GP and was diagnosed with a severe chest infection and given anti-bs. At 33, it was the first chest infection I'd ever had.

The more I've read about covid in the year since, the more I'm convinced that's what I had.

I know more people who are convinced they had Covid before it officially existed the people who have tested positive.

Yes I believe my dd had it in December 2020. I have never seen her so ill, she had three weeks off school and was coughing so much that both of her ears perforated.

@hauntedvagina

I know more people who are convinced they had Covid before it officially existed the people who have tested positive.

Good point. Me too.

My cousin is convinced she had it in October/ November 2019 as she has a seriously nasty respiratory illness she could not shift. Different antibiotics, various trips to the gp etc

@hauntedvagina

I know more people who are convinced they had Covid before it officially existed the people who have tested positive.

Haha - yes - THIS!

Yes, I was wiped out by a virus in January 2020. I went to the doctor in week 3 who advised that there was a strange virus that lasts for weeks and can turn into pneumonia. I recovered ok but it took ages to feel well again.

I'm convinced it was coronavirus, especially as I'd had contact with someone who had been to the Wuhan area and had been unwell themselves.