I’ve got Covid - help!

[justbananas42]

I started feeling a bit under the weather on Wednesday but put it down to a common cold, as I was sneezing with a runny nose and didn’t have a cough.

Yesterday lunchtime I noticed I’d lost my sense of taste and smell, so did a lateral flow test at home and it’s positive! I did another one to be sure and that was also positive. DH also did one and surprisingly his was negative.

A few questions:

1. Do I have to self isolate for 10 days after symptoms started (so until Friday 12th/Saturday 13th)? Am I okay to start going out and about after that?

1. I have a 14 month old DC and am terrified they will catch it as I have to be in close contact with them obviously. Although I am also wondering if they’ve already had it, as DC has randomly been very cranky this past week for no obvious reason.

1. Can DH still go out and about if he continues to display no symptoms and his lateral flow tests are negative? Or does he have to stay home even with a negative LFT?

1. How long should it take me to feel better and when can I expect to get my sense of taste and smell back?

Thanks!

I’m presuming you’ve done/have booked a PCR test to confirm, and your DH should get one too. The government website sets out all the up to date rules around isolation for the two of you.

Not sure what the question is for 2!

No.4 - no way to tell, I’m afraid. Some people suffer very little, others much more. I was unwell for a number of weeks and my sense of smell has not yet got back to normal nearly a year later but that’s not the same for everyone.

Hope you feel better soon!

Is there any point doing a PCR when the lateral flows have come back positive and I’ve lost my sense of taste and smell? I mean, I clearly do have it!

1. DH and I had covid a few weeks ago. Young children definitely seem to fare better as I have a 3month old and 3year old and neither caught it. I did lateral flow tests on 3yo regularly and he consistently tested negative. Obviously, between me and DH, we had to have close contact with them regularly. But both were unscathed.

1. Took me 2 and half weeks to feel better. My sense of taste is slowly returning (after a month). My sense of smell is still incredibly weak. I have to sniff something up close really hard (e.g. a scented candle) to pick up a very mild scent.

Yes I would do the pcr to get the official positive so you have it in case you need financial help and also so track, test and trace kicks in and notifies others of your positive result that way they can get a pcr too in case they are carrying covid with no symptoms.
Hope you feel better soon

Yes there is a point. Firstly for statistics, secondly so that test and trace can alert anyone you were in contact with, thirdly so that test and trace can help to figure out when/where you caught it which also helps statistically, and fourthly because they analyse the different variants which is very important for public health.
You can order a postal PCR if you don't want to do a drive through one.

@justbananas42

Is there any point doing a PCR when the lateral flows have come back positive and I’ve lost my sense of taste and smell? I mean, I clearly do have it!

Well, if the PCR comes back positive it helps with the tracking of cases and the mapping of the virus, not to mention the tracing of contacts who might unwittingly be spreading it, so yes, probably!

Also if you ended up needing medical treatment (unlikely but possible) they would want a PCR as evidence that kts covid. It might be important medically for you to have it confirmed on a PCR.

Okay thanks, we will order PCRs.

My symptoms are okay so far - it just feels like a mild cold. The loss of taste is annoying though, I love my food!

Mostly I’m so worried about my DC catching it.

On top of all the other reasons posters have given, after having Covid you cab continue to test positive for a while after you are better, no longer infectious and have finished isolating due to bit of (possibly dead) virus left. If you were to do anything that required a negative test, proof of positive PCR in the three months prior is ok to use instead.

You need to isolate for 10 days from the start of your symptoms and then, providing you are well, you can go back to normal.

In terms of your DH the rules recently changed to say that, all people living with a positive case must lateral flow test every day. If he is not double vacced however he also needs to isolate for 10 days.

I hope your symptoms stay mild.

Thanks - DH and I are both double vacced. So DH can continue to go out as long as his daily LFTs remain negative? That’s something at least.

We all had covid recently. Your isolation 10 days starts at symptoms or positive test. UNLESS you have no symptoms (ie had a positive test) and then get symptoms - then you restart.

I think also if you have non core symptoms then develop the three main symptoms you need to restart isolation. (This is Scotland at least).

I think In theory you don’t know you didn’t have a cold then get covid a few days into it. So I think your isolation starts the day you lost your sense of smell.

Also if you get a pcr you get a text which functions like a sick note which is worth having.

I have Covid as well but tested and did pcr on the day 1 of feeling unwell and my loss of taste kicked in at day 5 . You probably have had this longer than when you first tested . Definitely get a pcr test - it's more accurate and it's registered. I just did a drive through one - super easy.
I read somewhere that loss of taste /smell is a sign of recovery . Flipping annoying though!

I would order PCR tests for you all if you cannot get to a test centre today. As you have symptoms you should isolate till you get the result, but you DH can go out whilst waiting for PCR result. As you cannot isolate from DC it would probably be best that they also isolate if you suspect they have it also. If results comes back positive, test and trace should ring you to ask when your symptoms started which will then determine your isolation release date. If you order tests for you all, maybe send yours and DC first and wait a day after before sending off DH and in the meantime get him doing daily LFT.

Most people whose young children have caught covid say that it hasn’t been too bad for them and that they recover quickly, so hope that will be the case for you.

Thanks everyone. I’m going to count day one as Wednesday, when I started feeling a bit under the weather (rather than yesterday when I lost my sense of taste and smell). That means I’m on day 4 today. I think that’s reasonable?

I’m really scared of DC getting seriously ill and/or getting long Covid - I know it’s unlikely but still.

When are you most contagious - I read it’s a few days before symptoms start and up to day 5 of symptoms?

@MaryGubbins

We all had covid recently. Your isolation 10 days starts at symptoms or positive test. UNLESS you have no symptoms (ie had a positive test) and then get symptoms - then you restart.

I think also if you have non core symptoms then develop the three main symptoms you need to restart isolation. (This is Scotland at least).

I think In theory you don’t know you didn’t have a cold then get covid a few days into it. So I think your isolation starts the day you lost your sense of smell.

Also if you get a pcr you get a text which functions like a sick note which is worth having.

Oh yes - I had to send work my NHS email confirming the positive diagnosis because I needed a phased return to work and this was accepted in lieu of any further GP sick note (not sure if that’s the same for all workplaces though).

@justbananas42

Thanks everyone. I’m going to count day one as Wednesday, when I started feeling a bit under the weather (rather than yesterday when I lost my sense of taste and smell). That means I’m on day 4 today. I think that’s reasonable?

I’m really scared of DC getting seriously ill and/or getting long Covid - I know it’s unlikely but still.

When are you most contagious - I read it’s a few days before symptoms start and up to day 5 of symptoms?

Did you have a high temperature or a cough on Wednesday?

Counting starts the day after symptoms started.

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross I had a runny nose, slight cough (but not continuous) and generally just felt slightly under the weather. I didn’t take my temperature.

@Yafilthyanimal according to the NHS counting includes the dag symptoms started:

If you test positive, your self-isolation period includes the day your symptoms started

I still don’t have a cough really - I just do a very shallow cough every now and then (like every hour or so).

DH can go out if he is still negative.

Whether he should or not is down to your own personal and family ethics.

Continuous cough doesn't mean coughing all the time. They define it as 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours, or a single coughing episode per 24 hours if it lasts for an hour.

I wouldn’t describe it as an episode TBH. Just a one-off cough every now and then.

Whether he should or not is down to your own personal and family ethics.

If he’s consistently testing negative then there doesn’t seem any need for him to isolate to me. I’m not sure what that has to do with ethics really - it’s just logic! Unless I’m missing something?

@justbananas42

I still don’t have a cough really - I just do a very shallow cough every now and then (like every hour or so).

My covid cough was more like needing to clear my throat every so often.it wasn't a proper cough as such at all. It was nothing like the type of cough I had when I had pneumonia a few years before.

My covid cough was more like needing to clear my throat every so often.

I don’t feel the need to clear my throat - it’s more sudden shallow cough that comes out of nowhere!

Does anyone know about the contagious thing? I’d like to know I’m almost past the most contagious stage, just so I know there’s less chance of DH/DC getting it.