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Original poster

How can this be

67 replies

Itsmeandhim · 17/12/2021 20:27

DD has been working from home the past two weeks.
She lives on her own and had her shopping delivered.
Left in her garage as she was on the phone when it came.
The only time she has been out it's to take her dog for a walk.
On these walks she has only passed people not stopped and chatted.
Her next door neighbours have messaged to say they have covid.
But hasn't been near them. No visitors at all.
We haven't been near. But yesterday she felt ill no taste etc.
So got a PCR test at home.
Just had the results and she is positive.
How can she get covid when she hasn't been near anyone.
Can this travel through walls as that's the only explaination.

OP posts:
Invasionofthegutsnatchers · 17/12/2021 20:30

Virus on the shopping? Or door handle of the garage? You'll never know

Serenschintte · 17/12/2021 20:31

Pcr test is wrong. She should do another. Likely to be negative - happened to a friend of mine

Hellocatshome · 17/12/2021 20:32

The virus cant live for long on surfaces but can definitely be on them for a short while. So probably from handling the shopping or even walking past people if they were both unmasked and they had a high enough viral load. Its probably just a coincidence that the neighbours have got it at a similar time.

MrsTerryPratchett · 17/12/2021 20:32

@Invasionofthegutsnatchers

Virus on the shopping? Or door handle of the garage? You'll never know
Fomites aren't really a thing. I'd assume there's some airflow with next door. Shared airspace? Vents?

Or she's telling you porkies.

gulliblestravels · 17/12/2021 20:33

or the test was flawed.

thenightsky · 17/12/2021 20:35

@Serenschintte

Pcr test is wrong. She should do another. Likely to be negative - happened to a friend of mine
This.
OrangeSamphire · 17/12/2021 20:45

Is it possible she had covid more than two weeks ago, asymptomatically, and didn’t know, but the recent PCR has picked up the tail end of it?

Cupcakegirl13 · 17/12/2021 20:47

Has she really not seen seen another human for two weeks ??!

nordica · 17/12/2021 20:49

It's quite unusual to not be near anyone at all for two weeks unless intentionally isolating for a specific reason. And I say that as someone who works from home, lives alone and doesn't have a busy social life. It is however easy to forget you've had brief interactions with someone - a chat with a neighbour or another dog walker, or the postie.

Northernsoullover · 17/12/2021 20:51

FFS did you miss that she feels ill and has no taste? The PCR is not wrong in the presence of these symptoms.

Delatron · 17/12/2021 20:53

She can’t be telling the truth. You don’t get Covid through walls!

She will have been in close contact with a positive case.

CouldThisReallyBe · 17/12/2021 20:54

It must have been when she 'passed people' (but didn't stop to talk) on her walk.

Whathefisgoingon · 17/12/2021 20:55

Covid can still be spread outdoors. If she walked past someone who had just been coughing/talking loudly and had covid, it could have infected her that way.

N4ish · 17/12/2021 20:56

Not sure she's telling you the full truth of what she's been doing . . . .

mintfuschia · 17/12/2021 20:56

Sewage pipes?

www.science.org/content/article/can-you-catch-covid-19-your-neighbor-s-toilet

Possibly walking past people even without speaking to them could have done it though. Also, if the person who left the shopping in the garage took a few minutes to do so and breathed out covid, then she went in there only a short while afterwards, she could have got it that way.

SergeiL · 17/12/2021 20:58

This sounds odd to me. I believe outdoor or surface transmission is very rare. Haven’t got the stats to hand but will have a look.

Todayissunny · 17/12/2021 20:58

The dog? It could have picked it up from another dog.

SLH2003 · 17/12/2021 20:59

Or she's fibbing.....

Original poster
Itsmeandhim · 17/12/2021 21:01

She isn't lying. The reason she hasn't seen anyone is she is not only working from home but studying for some exams straight after Christmas.
She asked us not to go around because of this reason. We were supposed to be meeting on Sunday.
I've said that the test might be wrong. She is going to do another tomorrow.

OP posts:
IWannaWishYouANutNutsChristmas · 17/12/2021 21:02

Was the shopping left in the garage 48-72 hours ago?

It's airborne and stays floating in the air in indoor spaces.

If the supermarket delivery driver had it he would have breathed it out into the garage.

Was it a big order?

You'd have hope one trip wouldn't have been enough to fill the air with bloody covid.

Maybe they stood in there for a minute and checked their phone or something?

On the subject of next door, are their front doors next to each other? Could she have breathed their air just after they'd come in or gone out?

There was that well known case in Australia where someone caught it just from walking past.

I hope she feels better soon.

Delatron · 17/12/2021 21:05

No boyfriend?

It’s just so vanishingly rare to pick up from shopping like that or outdoors walking past someone.

Delatron · 17/12/2021 21:07

Two weeks is a long time to be alone. By choice. Even if studying/ working from home you can still have some social interaction.

BellaChagall · 17/12/2021 21:07

I don't believe she's caught it from shopping. Did she stop to talk to anyone, buy a coffee, something?

Bunnyfuller · 17/12/2021 21:09

People saying it’s rare to pick it up from air/shopping.

How do we know it’s rare? I know loads of people who have no clue where they picked it up, always masked/hands/face space etc.

Papyrus · 17/12/2021 21:12

If it's Omicron, I guess we don't really know how transmissible it is outside yet, so might be from walking past people.