Page 8 | How sick are people really getting with Covid?

DockOTheBay · 21/12/2021 12:29

@rrhuth

As I said - this thread is going to turn into a covid denying mess of 'we need to end isolation' and 'most cases are mild'.

Even in March 2020, the estimated number of cases resulting in hospitalisation was 8.2% - see link for source. Is has never been the case the most cases were severe, the vast majority have always been mild (remember 30% have no symptoms at all, you can't get milder than that) Now, with a milder variant and a huge number of people vaccinated, even fewer cases will be severe.

www.imperial.ac.uk/news/196573/covid-19-one-five-over-80s-need-hospitalisation/

rrhuth · 21/12/2021 12:43

@DockOTheBay that is the point I was trying to make - the vast number of mild cases are not really the issue - it is the percentage/number of non-mild cases we need to worry about.

rrhuth · 21/12/2021 12:44

Especially with omicron it is heavily weighted towards the mild end

We don;t have data to support this yet

AngelsWithSilverWings · 21/12/2021 12:44

@oftenbaffled yes the vaccine had no time to make any difference. I was so cross as he was supposed to have been vaccinated in August when he was still 15 due to my DD being CV but our GP surgery refused three times to arrange it. In the end they agreed to do it after they took three weeks processing my formal complaint but by then he had turned 16 and I had taken him to a walk in centre the day after his birthday. If they had down their job properly he may not have got so unwell and may not be having continuing issues now.

AngelsWithSilverWings
Fit and healthy DS16 tested positive 2 days after his first vaccine.

Was pretty much unconscious for two days. Very painful headache and high temperature for the first two days and then the cough developed. Was able to function almost normally after 4 days but had to have an afternoon nap most days for the rest of his isolation period.

None of us caught it from him ( he isolated in his bedroom and had sole use of the main bathroom)

He is still struggling with headaches and fatigue 8 weeks later. Not great when trying to do GCSE revision.
Essentially he was unvaccinated when he caught it

BigSandyBalls2015 · 21/12/2021 12:47

I think people’s perception of ‘very unwell’ differs hugely. Obv hospitalisation is a serious matter but I know some people who seem to have a very low threshold for any sort of pain or illness.

My brother was ‘in agony’ with a little splinter, for example. Surely agony is reserved for really serious shit?!

dameofdilemma · 21/12/2021 12:52

The science and numbers say that only a small percentage of people who get it need hospitalisation and a smaller percentage die due to covid.

This.

Stats from gov.uk (from last 7 days):

Positive cases - 584,688

Deaths - 786

Hospital admissions - 6053

So that's 1.17% of positive cases resulting in hospital or death.

That's over 98% of cases NOT resulting in hospital or death.

Add into the mix that not all of the population are vaccinated.
Add into the mix that not all positive cases will have tested (so the actual number of positive cases is likely to be higher).

Logically, that 1.17% is likely to be lower if everyone was vaccinated and everyone was testing daily regardless of symptoms.

worriedatthemoment · 21/12/2021 12:54

@BigSandyBalls2015 yes def how many people do you know who had a cold and would claim they had flu etc before
I think i have had flu once in my life and it was way way worse than the worst cold I have had

ThatsNiiice · 21/12/2021 13:06

Thankyou for all of your lovely replies, and tips about the Morrisons groceries through Amazon. I didn't know that, Thankyou!

nomoneytree · 21/12/2021 13:13

I've been really ill for me. Haven't needed to call a doctor but literally unable to work (from home) at all for over a week. I normally lemsip up and go to work. Crushing tiredness, headache, vomiting, nausea, occasional breathlessness. I'm mid 40's and a bit fat (size 14).

DockOTheBay · 21/12/2021 14:32

[quote worriedatthemoment]@BigSandyBalls2015 yes def how many people do you know who had a cold and would claim they had flu etc before
I think i have had flu once in my life and it was way way worse than the worst cold I have had [/quote]
This is definitely true. I have a friend with kids the same age as mine. Every time they get a cold its "horrendous" and "a really awful cold" and they don't sleep and everyone feels awful for weeks. I find it really hard to believe as everyone else just has a cold, feels a bit grotty and gets over it.

Also with covid I think the constant assumption that covid is awful makes people more likely to play it up as worse than it was. If you tell someone you tested positive for covid, they always say "oh how awful, I hope you're not too ill" whereas if you cancelled plans for a cold it would just be "Ok get well soon"

alongwayhome · 21/12/2021 17:14

DH had it two weeks ago (double jabbed plus booster) he barely knew he had it. Occasional cough, stuffy nose for one day, no aches/temp/loss of smell. SIL has it now, also triple jabbed. She's had what seems like a bad cold.

Thisisworsethananticpated · 21/12/2021 17:22

I was off sick for two weeks
It was ducking horrible
Twice jabbed too

alphabetsoup1980 · 22/12/2021 09:09

I'm really ill. It started with tightening of my chest, then a fever of 41. My temperature is STILL 39 after 3 days. I have never coughed so much in my life and haven't eaten one thing in 3 days due to no appetite and no taste. I have had a blinding headache for 2 days and aches and pains. I'm monitoring my oxygen as its bordering on 92-94

My husband has it and is nowhere near as bad!

Its like supersonic flu.... honestly, never felt so ill....

loveablequalities · 22/12/2021 15:04

I've been off work for six weeks. I genuinely thought it was going to be like a cold but it hasn't been. I'm totally wiped out by it. There's no rhyme or reason to it. Two friends are similar to me but most folk I know who have had it have been only mildly ill and back on their feet within a fortnight. You just don't know how it will affect you

BradleyCooperwillbemine · 22/12/2021 16:16

My mother got covid about 6 weeks ago, whilst recovering from pneumonia in hospital. She was ill at home for 2 weeks. We had to take her to A&E one night and had the paramedics round another night as her oxygen levels were so low. She didn't have to stay in. This in turn caused multiple pulmonary embolisms and right heart strain. This is still classed as a mild case of covid. She was double jabbed.

NobbyButtons · 22/12/2021 16:32

DS (10) - no symptoms at any point.
DD (8) - cold-type symptoms for two days (sore throat, said things tasted funny).
Neither child passed it onto us (we've both had the booster).
My dad (73) - mild cold and loss of sense of taste for a few days. He only did a PCR because he was due to travel abroad. His wife (79) had similar mild symptoms. They're both boosted.
Niece (18) - no symptoms
Nephew (17) - felt a bit rubbish for a few days (didn't pass it onto parents).
It seems to vary such a lot. Some of the parents at school who've had it said they felt terrible for a few days despite being double-jabbed.

oftenbaffled · 22/12/2021 16:36

@BradleyCooperwillbemine

My mother got covid about 6 weeks ago, whilst recovering from pneumonia in hospital. She was ill at home for 2 weeks. We had to take her to A&E one night and had the paramedics round another night as her oxygen levels were so low. She didn't have to stay in. This in turn caused multiple pulmonary embolisms and right heart strain. This is still classed as a mild case of covid. She was double jabbed.

Pneumonia In hospital I can’t think of many more conditions that would be more vulnerable to any respiratory secondary infection, not just COVID

herecomesthsun · 22/12/2021 16:37

@dameofdilemma

The science and numbers say that only a small percentage of people who get it need hospitalisation and a smaller percentage die due to covid.

This.

Stats from gov.uk (from last 7 days):

Positive cases - 584,688

Deaths - 786

Hospital admissions - 6053

So that's 1.17% of positive cases resulting in hospital or death.

That's over 98% of cases NOT resulting in hospital or death.

Add into the mix that not all of the population are vaccinated.
Add into the mix that not all positive cases will have tested (so the actual number of positive cases is likely to be higher).

Logically, that 1.17% is likely to be lower if everyone was vaccinated and everyone was testing daily regardless of symptoms.

well, 1.17% is not quite right because the hospitalisation figures and deaths are relevant for the lower numbers of infections 1,2,3 or 4 weeks ago, which is when those people would have become ill in the first place.

But it is right that most people with covid won't need hospital and won't die, of course.

The number of people seriously ill will also reduce when the promising treatments in the pipeline become available to the most vulnerable people.

Newnamedillydally · 22/12/2021 16:38

A few friends- fairly mild. Work colleague however recently died. Seems to be a bit of a Russian roulette.

oftenbaffled · 22/12/2021 16:45

So interested to know vaccine status for all these experiences out of interest!

BradleyCooperwillbemine · 22/12/2021 16:45

Oftenbaffled - I agree. She was actually out of the wards and in a rehab unit and tested positive on the day she was sent home. So bad timing.

SLH2003 · 22/12/2021 16:55

@MothExterminator

I am not at all trying to be goady here. DC2 has Covid, we are on the last day of isolation.

DH and I, both double jabbed and boosted, negative PCR and no symptoms. DC1 and DC3, negative PCR and no symptoms. DC2 (family’s Covid case) had a cough and a runny nose, no temperature at any point but was Covid positive. Symptoms lasted for 2 days.

So far I have entertained 3 children at home for 9 days (all plans cancelled, replaced by TV and video games), looking at day 10 today and this is lighter than most colds and apparently not very transmissible (DC2 regularly comes to my bed in the night). Or maybe the rest of us has it earlier without symptoms?

What are other people’s experiences?

A family I know all caught it. Son asymptomatic Mother mild flu like symptoms Father died.

traka · 22/12/2021 16:58

I work in an office of four people inc myself. All three colleagues currently off with covid, I'm in on my own

One has had a bad headache for two days and one has a bad cough, he said it's not as bad as the flu. Not sure about the third colleague

All of them are double jabbed, none have had the booster

Trinacham · 22/12/2021 17:23

I'm unvaccinated and caught covid at 17 weeks pregnant. It was milder than a common cold. I had a runny nose and sneezing. I feel a lot worse when I have a cold. I was so bored having to isolate as I felt so well! All my family members who've had it have been similar - my nephew, my niece. My sister was probably the most poorly but still nothing bad, just like a bad cold for her. I don't know anyone who has been very poorly with it yet, apart from a colleague who had it more like Flu.

Sherwil16 · 10/03/2022 11:55

I am on day 10 of positive tests. I had very minor symptoms (what someone called the onset of a cold that didn't go anywhere) that ended on day 4. At the beginning of the pandemic and when people had the various forms of covid during pre lft days, there was no home testing and we were told to isolate until symptoms went. Now, we can lateral flow test daily once we've had pcr confirmation, so we know that positive tests can continue well after original symptoms have stopped. I phoned 119 today and was told that I would no longer be infectious after day 10 (according to research carried out over the past 2 years) and could stop self isolating. Anyone else had/ taken that advice?