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Covid

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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:

Delatron · 17/12/2021 21:14

There’s been loads of studies on indoor versus outdoor transmission. Outdoor transmission was found to be very low. It’s not 2020 again is it? Where we are all jumping in bushes to avoid people?

LightSpeeds · 17/12/2021 21:14

The virus may have been on the shopping (which wasn't only necessarily touched by the 'picker'). Or possibly on post.

If she feels ill and has no taste (actual Covid symptoms) then why assume the test is wrong and that she needs to do another one (thereby wasting resources...)

Wilkolampshade · 17/12/2021 21:17

I would assume she either lying or very forgetful re' a contact.

VaccineSticker · 17/12/2021 21:17

I’m not surprised. There has been few anecdotal evidence about outdoor transmission of omicron. Also in cold weather the virus lingers more in mid air as opposed to the virus to dropping down faster to the ground in warmer temperatures.

Whatdoyawannado · 17/12/2021 21:17

I find this hard to believe. I've just lived in a house with three covid positive people, two being my DC, and didn't catch it. One of them sneezed in my face just after doing a PCR that came back as positive. Picking it up from shopping or a dog walk? Nah.

rrhuth · 17/12/2021 21:17

You can catch covid passing by people, although it would be very rare. But it is possible.

I guess doing a second test if possible seems wise in the circumstances.

Whatdoyawannado · 17/12/2021 21:18

Although obviously Omicron might be different - but still, hard to believe.

rrhuth · 17/12/2021 21:19

@Whatdoyawannado

Newsflash: viral spread is quite random/varied, and every individual is different

WoodenReindeer · 17/12/2021 21:20

I caught it outside. I was passing people though as walking each day. I think its very rare but obviously possible.

nordica · 17/12/2021 21:21

@Bunnyfuller

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.

Because there have been lots of studies into this. For example there have been regular tests on the transport network and big stations throughout the pandemic, testing both surfaces and air samples, and they have never detected covid. I actually find it almost hard to believe but I do trust the scientists. www.imperial.ac.uk/news/227473/covid-19-sampling-study-finds-trace-virus/

VaccineSticker · 17/12/2021 21:21

@Whatdoyawannado omicron is different. It’s extremely transmissible.

IgneousRock · 17/12/2021 21:23

It's rare to catch it from walking past someone, but possible. For example if they happened to cough as you walked past and you happened to breathe in at the wrong moment. See article below (and this was delta - omicron is more infectious).

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/100231832

Delatron · 17/12/2021 21:27

The shopping centre article? Was that indoors?

Outdoor transmission is so low I think social contact that she’s forgotten (a friend popping over) or omitted to tell you is more likely.

Pinkcurtwinsinthebin · 17/12/2021 21:29

Maybe the dog. We were told by oncologist to beware of people patting our dog or our dog interacting with other dogs.

Our dog bizarrely has leant to social distance from people and other dogs.

ScarlettSunset · 17/12/2021 21:30

How did she get the PCR results so quickly if she was only feeling unwell yesterday and it was a home test? Was it definitely a PCR or a lateral flow?

JS87 · 17/12/2021 21:31

Our loft space isn’t completely sealed with next door. No idea if it could travel up in one house and then down again in the next though.

AppleCrumbleForBreakfast · 17/12/2021 21:32

Hmmmm, I reckon there's a clandestine lover there somewhere. Maybe that's why she's cancelling you? Too busy secret snogging. I do hope so!

BurntO · 17/12/2021 21:33

I caught it outside, not socialising. It happens.

JS87 · 17/12/2021 21:33

How long after the shopping was delivered was it when she went in the garage to get it? I read something that omicron might be so much more transmissible because it costs itself in mucin so it can survive in aerosolised droplets for much longer. So if she went in the garage twenty minutes after the delivery driver it might still have been in the air?

ReeseWitherfork · 17/12/2021 21:36

But yesterday she felt ill no taste etc.
So got a PCR test at home.
Just had the results and she is positive.

Nitpicking, but this bit doesn't seem feasible.

chesirecat99 · 17/12/2021 21:36

It's improbable but not impossible. I caught a cold during lockdown when the only person I had seen in 2 weeks was the supermarket delivery man who was wearing a mask, stood back several metres and seemed perfectly healthy, for approximately 30 seconds on the doorstep. He didn't even speak to me, just waved.

COVID can stay airborne for several hours. I would guess the most likely source would be the delivery man in the garage would be the most likely explanation. My second guess would be the people she passed on the street. My third guess would be that she is one of the rare few who incubate the virus for over 10 days. My fourth guess would be air coming in from the neighbour's house through a window or ventilation fan.

Very long odds on any of those scenarios but not impossible.

If she has lost her sense of taste and smell, I would assume the PCR is correct.

PokemonGoGoGo · 17/12/2021 21:39

I can entirely believe this. Nobody remember the Australia cases who crossed paths outside (caught on CCTV) and one passed on to the other? Or people in hotel quarantine who caught it when they opened their door just after someone on the other side of the corridor who was positive and the airflow passed through the corridor? Or the fact that one asymptomatic person in Denmark passed Omicron to 70 members of his own group and 30 members of another in a restaurant in Denmark/Norway?

COVID is airborne and omicron is stupidly infectious.

Hazelnutbean · 17/12/2021 21:39

Formite transmission is rare but not impossible. If a Covid-positive delivery driver had it and coughed all over the shopping, then that's probably the most likely reason (unless she forgot about the time she snogged the postman).

ScarlettSunset · 17/12/2021 21:39

@ReeseWitherfork

But yesterday she felt ill no taste etc. So got a PCR test at home. Just had the results and she is positive.

Nitpicking, but this bit doesn't seem feasible.

I agree. Seems even less likely than catching Covid from the neighbours through the wall....

MilkBread · 17/12/2021 21:40

@ReeseWitherfork

But yesterday she felt ill no taste etc. So got a PCR test at home. Just had the results and she is positive.

Nitpicking, but this bit doesn't seem feasible.

Agree, the timeline is not right. So I don’t think she is giving you the full story.

Otherwise, omicron is even more easily transmissible than people have thought

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