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Original poster

So many seem to be ill?

190 replies

Thewiseoneincognito · 08/10/2021 20:41

I’ve lost count of the number of people I know who have this ‘mystery flu’ with coughing and classic Covid symptoms and yet seem to be testing negative on LFTs and PCRs, surely it’s not just me noticing this?

DP is now ill awaiting PCR results, I have several colleagues at work ill but all have negative PCRs and LFTs. Friends of friends all in the same situation, FB has plenty of anecdotes with the same scenario too.

Every shop or business I’ve been in today had numerous people with hacking coughs and sneezes. I appreciate there will be a surge of colds and flus as we head to autumn and winter but the cold weather hasn’t really hit yet and the people I know who have been ill the last two weeks or so are all healthy young people.

I’m wondering has Covid changed and is now undectable by the tests? It’s even more maddening that no one has a mask on hardly either but let’s leave that one for another thread.

I just find it hard to believe this sudden surge of sickness is a result of lower immunity to everyday normal illnesses and that it’s a resurgence of the common cold. I don’t remember pre-covid hearing so many hacking coughs, does anyone else?

OP posts:
Turquoisesea · 08/10/2021 22:41

I’ve currently got Covid as have my DD and DS. It is exactly like a bad cold for me, no temperature, cough or loss of sense of smell, just achy and head feels totally blocked. If we hadn’t all tested positive I would say it was a bad cold. My DH has same symptoms but has tested negative so who knows!

wolfstarling · 08/10/2021 22:41

I have been in close contact with Covid since it started and have never tested positive for it by lateral flow or PCR it is a mystery really.

user1496146479 · 08/10/2021 22:42

@Jourdain11

To be absolutely honest, I think it's just October. The thing is, in "normal" times we don't really pay attention, but now everyone is on hyper alert for coughs and sniffs.
Exactly this!!
Quartz2208 · 08/10/2021 22:44

I have been on Mumsnet for awhile and generally at least once if not twice a year between October-March there is a thread about a virus that has horrible symptoms and takes a long time to recover from.

They have always been about - I think 2020 was an anomaly of not hearing it so we have forgotten

But yes it was normal pre COVID and will be normal for now on. We have always underestimated viruses

Original poster
Thewiseoneincognito · 08/10/2021 22:54

I hope you’re all right about it just being cold or flu because it feels a little too widespread and sudden to me. Interesting to see the BBC picking up on it and Sky News. Sky quoting a Dr Kit Yates saying it could be faulty PCRs or a new variant that is not being picked up by the PCRs…

OP posts:
greenlynx · 08/10/2021 23:03

DD, DH and I all have cold atm, absolutely normal in our household. Yes, DH and I feel more tired and exhausted than we would 10 years ago, but it’s just because we are older and more exhausted, nothing to do with Covid mutations. DD’s cold looks exactly as usual, she has weak immune system and go through lots of colds in a year.
The only difference this year that we are doing tests.

Unsure33 · 08/10/2021 23:11

@Thewiseoneincognito

There was a link on here about a variant in france or Belgium that is not picked up by either test.

icedcoffees · 08/10/2021 23:19

Colds have ALWAYS been widespread. Go into any school or busy office in October and they're full of people sneezing, coughing, sniffing and spluttering.

But in normal times we just got on with it and nobody stayed home unless they really felt awful. You're only noticing it because we've been taught to be hyper aware of it all due to COVID.

But you can have COVID symptoms without actually having it. Colds still exists and always will - and sometimes they do make you feel totally shit for a few days. ''Twas ever thus.

Penfield · 08/10/2021 23:36

Yes - This is happening amongst staff at our school. It's very odd.

Thekolschisonme · 08/10/2021 23:52

Agree @Unsure33 there were articles in march 2021 about a new variant in France being undetectable via conventional testing but nothing since then so who knows. May be they proved to be wrong.

ZenNudist · 08/10/2021 23:58

It's just a cold. Don't go inventing stuff.

I bet you call a cold 'flu in normal times. Do you like to overdramatise?

It's best to tell yourself you're fighting off a cold not that you must be coming down with a deadly virus!!

Silverswirl · 09/10/2021 00:07

In my view many of these people with a ‘bad cold’ will have covid but they have tested too early. If they were to test a few days on it would be positive (with a pcr)
Your not telling me that your whole family has covid, you come down feeling ill and it’s a random cold. Unlikely. I know many people that have had a negative pcr and felt ill, but gone back a few days later and done another pcr and it’s positive. Sometimes it takes time for enough virus to replicate to show on the test

Wakemeuuuup · 09/10/2021 00:16

I had this cold. I did a pcr, negative. Did lots of lateral flows, all negative. I did a 2nd pcr a week later, still negative.

The pain in my chest when I was sneezing, and the tests really made me sneeze, was so bad I had to hold my chest for 10 minutes and could barely breath.

There is definitely a nasty cold/bug doing the rounds that isn't covid. I think it was made worse by the fact that I haven't had a cold since Christmas 2019

RavingAnnie · 09/10/2021 00:29

Have you kept testing. It took me 2 LFTs and 2 PCRs and 5 days before I got a positive test after onset of symptoms.

My DS has covid at the moment and his was the same. Multiple tests before a positive result.

Don't just rely on one test.

Jourdain11 · 09/10/2021 00:56

Truth though: it's a bad cold, it's some other virus, or it's Covid. If you're feeling well enough to carry on, you do. If you don't, you don't. You may pass it on, you may not. It's nicer and more considerate if you try not to. It could be Covid or it could be a cold, or it could be another random virus, but one day it's not going to matter any more. My guess is March 2022 no more testing and no more isolating.

RobinPenguins · 09/10/2021 01:06

One of the reasons covid was so dangerous in terms of spread was that the symptoms were so much like loads of other respiratory illnesses that we shrug off. Why are people now surprised that colds and stuff still exist and make you feel poorly? (I’ve had one this week, feel like utter shit.)

It seems highly unlikely this is some kind of mutant covid that’s outfoxed all the scientists and far more likely it’s all the colds/sore throats/fluey bugs we haven’t had over the past 2 years coming back to bite us on the arse.

HardStaringBearFromDarkestPeru · 09/10/2021 01:36

Last Christmas ('I gave you my heart...') was the first December in years that I didn't have a filthy cold.
Every year, I usually went away late November/early December, invariably used to catch a lurgy & suffer at Xmas.
I know plenty of people now that have got coughs & colds.
They've done a LFT which is negative so are assuming it's not Covid - rightly or wrongly - but just their immune system unable to cope with the usual autumn/winter bugs!

blueberrymuffin88 · 09/10/2021 01:43

''Everyone has forgotten all the normal bugs that circulate during the season changes

There isn’t a conspiracy. Stop trying to find a new variant of COVID, ffs. There has been enough hysteria about that fucking virus. Pipe down''

THIS

tuesday2am · 09/10/2021 01:46

I, too, currently have this nasty cold that’s doing the rounds. Feels like a regular cold, all tests have been negative. Most likely caught it from DS who has pretty much had a permanent cold since starting nursery in August!

I agree that we’re all just hyper aware of symptoms due to Covid, and the most likely explanation is our immune systems being impacted by lockdown and therefore we’re all a bit more susceptible to the common cold at the moment!

Greytminds · 09/10/2021 01:50

In the health visiting pack for my newborn there’s a letter and guide to dealing with colds and more serious illnesses like Bronchiolitis, stating that they expect childhood illnesses to be much worse than normal this year due to the lack of circulation last year. Similarly Flu is predicted to be awful.

In the last couple of months, our 3 year old has been constantly ill with cold/viral infections that aren’t Covid according to LFT or PCR. There was also a big norovirus outbreak that closed our nursery. It’s just going to be a grim winter!

SpringRainbow · 09/10/2021 05:35

I spent a lot of time commuting precovid.

Yes, coughs and sneezing was always very prevalent. They always seemed to love standing right close to me before they starting coughing and sneezing all over the place.

There was also the frequent phone calls I would over hear about how ill they feel/ how they were up all night being sick/ they took a couple of tablets so should be fine.

Our own scientist have told us they are more worried about other winter bugs and viruses making a massive comeback more than they are worried about a surge in Covid.

Hospital numbers are fine, I think this is more just a case of people forgetting just how ill ‘normal’ bugs can make us feel.

We have spent the last 18 months hyper aware of perfectly normal bodily functions, so it’s understandable, but there has to come a point where we go back to barely registering that someone has coughed.

tiddlysquat · 09/10/2021 06:26

There's no point in testing if it takes a few days to get a positive. The positive needs to show straight away or is a complete waste of time . If this is happening I think we will see testing disappear

tiddlysquat · 09/10/2021 06:29

Perhaps this is the beginning of normal life returning. You feel ill, it could be covid, it could be another virus . Doesn't matter . For a while we will all be careful when ilI and avoid elderly or vulnerable people

underneaththeash · 09/10/2021 06:38

In the past 4 weeks, I've had a temperature/fatigue/sore throat virus and then a cold, which became a secondary bacterial chest infection. Fun!

Seriously considering going back to that mask....

Sugarandtime · 09/10/2021 06:45

@AnyFucker

Everyone has forgotten all the normal bugs that circulate during the season changes

There isn’t a conspiracy. Stop trying to find a new variant of COVID, ffs. There has been enough hysteria about that fucking virus. Pipe down.

Totally this.

Reading some threads lately it seems that some people are desperate for a positive test result. It’s very odd.

Somebody once wrote “ some people are addicted to fear like a drug addict to drugs”