Didn’t catch it despite sitting opposite friend

[Pastelcrayon]

Ok so my friend tested positive 9 days ago. I’ve been self isolating since, as I was obviously a close contact. However, I haven’t caught it, I know there’s a possibility I’m asymtomatic, but i’m also unvaccinated as I’m TTC and wanted to wait. She’s vaccinated (one jab so far). She’s been ill in bed all of last week but now is just tired. Have I got natural immunity maybe? I think I had it last March before we were testing.

Transmission isn't 100% though.

1. You may have had it either back in March, or entirely asymptotically at some other point during the past eighteen months, like apparently the majority of people, and have some immunity.

1. Think of how often you’ve shared an office with / sat next to on the train / even been in the same house when your partner or children had a cough / cold / stomach bug / other nasty and remained fine yourself. We don’t always catch viruses from those around us, even if we’ve been in close proximity. Covid is infectious, but it isn’t some super virus you’re guaranteed to catch.

Plenty of people (myself included) shared beds and everything that goes with that with partners who ended up having COVID and didn't catch it. Pretty sure my DP had the delta variant too as his only symptom was a runny nose and that's apparently more transmissible.

Me and my husband shared a bed and he didn't catch it off me last year! PCR test and everything (lied about symptoms to get one).

DD met up with two people, who both tested positive. On the same day she met up with a separate person who tested both. She was with all contacts 2+ hours inside, close. PCR and LFT tests negative and didn't show any symptoms. On the other hand, there's a local primary with 16 positive cases in a year of 30. Doesn't make sense.

You're either already had it, or you've had it asymptomatically and not known. You could test for antibodies in a few weeks and see if anything turns up. I had it asymptomatically, caught from my partner, and didn't realise till I did an antibody test many months later.

Have you tested? If so then you don’t actually know.

If not

Viral transmission is more involved than that. We've been sort of conditioned to expect proximity = guaranteed transmission = guaranteed illness but the truth is lot more nuanced than that, even for something relatively infectious.

It's totally possible to be sitting next to someone and not get it -- maybe you weren't exposed to enough of the virus, maybe you have a level of immunity either through previous exposure or naturally. Some people also 'spread' viral particles more effectively than others.

There are people who share a house, even a bed, and one gets covid and the other doesn't, so transmission isn't 100% guaranteed.

We will never know unless you get either a PCR test or an antibody test.

If you’ve not tested then you won’t actually know...

@Pastelcrayon

Have you actually had a test, or are you basing thing on the absence of symptoms ?