FFS I’ve got suspected omicron

[PatientZerooo]

Although nobody has actually told me personally - I only know because my contacts (including DH and DC) have been contacted by T&T and told.

Took test on Tuesday, positive result on Wednesday, T&T follow up today.

I have ruined a lot of people’s plans

Don’t feel guilty. We are all doing all we can to stop it spreading (wearing masks etc..) whilst still trying to go about our everyday lives. It’s not your fault if you have picked it up, it’s highly contagious and cases are doubling in south Africa each day so they will be rising here too, we will see many more cases over the coming weeks I’m sure.

Suggest you ask them if they call again it seems quite rude

Not your fault. I hope you’re not too poorly. If your household gets it now then at least you should feel safe (and free) for Christmas

To clear up confusion: my household members have been told they are suspected omicron contacts (I know, because I took the call as the named contact for my young DC). I filled in the T&T form on Wednesday after getting my generic positive result. All of those people have now been told today to self isolate regardless of vaccination status etc. T&T won’t reveal the ID of the original contact (I did ask if it was me when they called re my DC) for GDPR reasons.

@Bobholll

Dear god OP, you can have a jolly. I’ve been to two Christmas parties this week alone. And I’ll be heading to a few dinners next week, I’ve got two kids birthday parties coming up with 30 kids plus grown ups & a neighbours Christmas gathering on Sunday! I’m not apologising to anyone. I’m bloody well enjoying Christmas!

This completely.

We can live our lives and also respect restrictions.

Industry and the economy have to pick up and lives have to be lived. Having jollies and making up for lost time is something that should be celebrated, not chastised.

There is nothing to panic about yet, masks have been reintroduced but many countries never eradicated them. Statistics have not peaked, we are on a very constant stream, in fact numbers remain LOWER than they were in October.

Approximately 50,000 people in the UK are testing positive, leaving just under 67 million who are not. Covid remains outweighed by Bronchitis, Pneumonia and colds, there is no need for panic or mass hysteria.

Experts are saying Omicron is in no way more virulent than the strains that have come before and there is ABSOLUTELY no indication that this strain, or any other, will invalidate the vaccine.

We just need to stay sensible, stay vaccinated, accept your booster and follow safety guidelines but also share a little Yuletide spirit with your loved ones!

I hope every has a safe and wonderful Christmas.

I can see why they have done it that way - you’re the Positive result, so you are isolating anyway for the required length of time. But I do think you should be given all information about your health status, which includes which variant of Covid you have.
Hope it passes by you quickly

Sorry, forgot symptom update.

Monday: slightly sniffly (put down to start of cold that kids had had, with negative PCRs). Overnight had chills and cough
Tuesday: chills/night sweats, very snotty, cough (but more throaty than chesty), insomnia
Wednesday: as above, probably worst day so far
Thursday: as above but bit better, cough slightly more chesty but productive
Friday: as Thursday, but better in self. Still v snotty though.

If it gets better from here I’ll think myself lucky. Hopefully DH (mildly vulnerable) and DC won’t get poorly. I’m double AZ jabbed and was due to be boosted next week

Ok so they don’t actually tell you re omicron, or haven’t yet

I thought they would

Maybe they don’t want to discourage testing so people don’t actually know that it was them

Feels stressful all this isolation stuff coming back in

Sorry, forgot to add - really sore throat on Tuesday/Wednesday. Completely gone on Thursday.

@PatientZerooo
I’m the northwest, but suspect I picked it up on Friday when I caught the train down to London
Looking at the news today, I’d say probably more likely caught it in the North West as there are quite a number of cases of it in that region.

How on earth do you know it's omicron? I hope you're ok

A friend has arrived in UK last week from Africa. No isolation.. straight doing the grand tour of family and friends. I declined a visit

@PatientZerooo

Sorry, forgot symptom update.

Monday: slightly sniffly (put down to start of cold that kids had had, with negative PCRs). Overnight had chills and cough
Tuesday: chills/night sweats, very snotty, cough (but more throaty than chesty), insomnia
Wednesday: as above, probably worst day so far
Thursday: as above but bit better, cough slightly more chesty but productive
Friday: as Thursday, but better in self. Still v snotty though.

If it gets better from here I’ll think myself lucky. Hopefully DH (mildly vulnerable) and DC won’t get poorly. I’m double AZ jabbed and was due to be boosted next week

I developed very similar symptoms after a trip to Manchester a fortnight ago. It was a cold (4 LFTs on successive days, all negative). No sore throat (as you describe later), however.

If you were double jabbed, wearing a mask properly and tested when you got symptoms then you did everything you could. No point blaming yourself for something you couldnt help.

If I hadn’t done a test I would assume it was a heavy cold, yes. No loss of taste/smell yet. I did a quick LFT on Tuesday thinking to reassure myself it was a cold and a line showed up. Plus a positive PCR obvs. So my sample of 1 suggests (maybe) omicron is quite cold-y, so not so different to Delta.

OP you did absolutely nothing wrong. Restrictions aren't in place so we are allowed to bloody well enjoy ourselves and you didn't do anything outside of those.

As long as the measures that are in place ARE being followed and people are getting vaxxed then go to it and enjoy christmas this year. We all deserve it after the last couple of years. I am sorry you are now unwell and hope your symptoms are mild

Glad you seem to be improving OP.

It's easy to say it's not your fault and you shouldn't feel guilty but it's hard not to. I remember feeling hugely guilty when I tested positive before they did away with isolation. Close family were massively inconvenienced, had to return from holidays etc.

Just to be clear It's Not Your Fault

You've done nothing wrong OP, please don't feel guilty.

I had a phone call yesterday saying that I have the Omicron variant. No travel and no contacts that have travelled either. Its far more widespread than we think. I haven't left the house for 6 weeks due to other reasons and caught covid last Wednesday.
They also told me that only a certain percentage of positive PCRs are sent off for sequencing, mine was just randomly picked so they called me. They are now sending special tests to the house for all of us to take.

@Waxonwaxoff0

You haven't ruined anything. A virus will do what a virus does. I hope you're feeling OK.

This Wishing you a speedy recovery OP.

I've been researching this, and I don't think they'll be able to tell anyone who has had a test if they actually had Omicron until a few weeks after the test is sent for processing, as it takes quite a long time. But they can tell you it's "suspected" Omicron based on the confirmed cases that have been picked up, and I presume some sort of modelling of spread. I wouldn't be surprised if they're telling everyone it's "suspected" Omicron, in which case close contacts need to isolate for 10 days.

Ahh, I just read your post @BigRedDuck, so it doesn't take weeks to confirm Omicron, but it's not immediate. I would think as it spreads more and more people will be told it's "suspected" Omicron, even if not confirmed, otherwise they can't limit spread of it. This can't be good, if lots of close contacts are isolating when spread is high, we're back in the realms of stuff closing down because there aren't enough staff, like the pingdemic in the summer. I wouldn't be surprised if schools close early for Christmas.

Ohh, can anyone who has had these new kinds of tests that pick up Omicron tell me if they looked different to the usual PCR tests? A new mobile testing site has sprung up in our town, and the PCR test my DCs had today were definitely different to other PCRs we'd had before. The test stick was much fatter, the tube was different, with more solution in it. I wonder if they're testing for it in certain areas.

It took them 7 days to test my positive PCR and contact me. I'm sure I read somewhere there's only a limited capability/capacity to carry out the sequencing.

Your case won’t have been sequenced, your test will have been picked up as having ‘S drop out’, which is a shorthand way they can use a standard PCR test to make a good guess that it’s Omicron. There are more cases in the north west than London, so it may not have been on the train. It’s good that it’s been picked up and track and trace have contacted your contacts.

@Orchid876 with 50000 people a day testing positive they really aren’t telling everyone they have suspected omicron. There is a shorthand way standard PCR tests can be used to make a best guess that it’s omicron.

@BigRedDuck

You've done nothing wrong OP, please don't feel guilty.

I had a phone call yesterday saying that I have the Omicron variant. No travel and no contacts that have travelled either. Its far more widespread than we think. I haven't left the house for 6 weeks due to other reasons and caught covid last Wednesday.
They also told me that only a certain percentage of positive PCRs are sent off for sequencing, mine was just randomly picked so they called me. They are now sending special tests to the house for all of us to take.

Glad it’s not just me! That makes some sense. I haven’t had the call yet although I just spotted a missed call in the house phone (which lives in the office and we rarely use) so maybe they’ll call me back. I’m assuming the train will have been full of fellow northerners so the fact it was the train to that there London may be irrelevant. We are also waiting for special tests.