To actively want to be infected and get Covid out of the way...

[treeflowercat]

This might sound crazy but I'd actually quite like to get Covid over the next few weeks.

I'm triple jabbed and have never had it (even though everyone in my house has) but I hate the anxiety of planning events and holidays knowing that an infection could ruin them (a colleague recently had to postpone their long planned trip abroad due to a positive Covid test.

I also hate the feeling that I may be infected (without knowing it even after a negative LFT) when visiting my elderly parents, especially when staying with them for a few days.

I know that getting infected won't give me immunity forever, but I'd likely be at extremely low risk of infection over the spring and summer if I got Omicron now... That would be a massive relief to me.

I know I could get it severely but that's extremely unlikely, and I could get long Covid, but all in all, i'm very unlikely never to get Covid so it seems far better for me to get now and to isolate with what will probably just be a cold now in January when I've got little planned, than run the gauntlet over the spring/summer with all the anxiety this will cause.

All things considered it seems a rational weighing up of the risks, but I'm sure not everyone will see it that way.... Am I crazy?

They're still studying the after effects of covid, even for children and people who's illness seems mild at the time. Current concerns include: increased risk of heart attack, clots, diabetes, neurological problems and autoimmune disease. I wouldn't deliberately expose myself for the sake of a party or holiday until more is known about the above.

@Mumdiva99

So we all had covid for first time beginning of Dec. Youngest son has woken up with symptoms this morning and just had a positive LFT. So.....not sure your certainty about reinfection stacks up.....

You probably had Delta if it was the start of December... Omicron was only a small proportion of cases at that point. It only became dominant from mid-December.

So I'm thinking you've probably had a Delta-Omicron infection combination.

I got it right at the beginning of the pandemic and it made me relax know that it wasn’t bad and if I got it again it wasn’t going to kill me, since I had some background natural immunity.
I’ve now been jabbed three times so I know the chances of me getting it again are reduced and I also won’t have severe disease (I am not high risk anyway) so I understand where you are coming from.
There are publications noting that natural infection plus vaccine means good long term immunity.

I don’t think you understand reinfection with omicron. There’s some helpful information here: www.google.com/amp/s/www.imperial.ac.uk/news/232698/omicron-largely-evades-immunity-from-past/amp/

Getting Covid now will give you little protection from getting it again.

@containsnuts

They're still studying the after effects of covid, even for children and people who's illness seems mild at the time. Current concerns include: increased risk of heart attack, clots, diabetes, neurological problems and autoimmune disease. I wouldn't deliberately expose myself for the sake of a party or holiday until more is known about the above.

And they'll be studying it for years....Billions of people have now had it. The possibility of some issue emerging in a few years from Covid (by which time the vast majority of then world will have had it) won't stop me from living my life now.

What about a nice dose of norovirus or flu while you are at it?

@WakeUpLockie

Omg *@BonnesVacances* what does DM say about that??? Does she take it back? What an awful situation

We don't mention it. At the time I replied saying that I didn't think she understood the implication of DD catching it. And that has borne out in the decline that followed.

She paid for the stairlift (£2k+) so is trying to atone. She's very ignorant though. Still talks about herd immunity as being the holy grail. But she is at least careful not to catch it now as she realises it's a lottery whether you fully recover from it and having experienced and struggled with lockdown, she knows she wouldn't cope with long Covid for very long. At the beginning she was like other posters though, and thought catching it was getting it out of the way.

@bringmelaughter

I don’t think you understand reinfection with omicron. There’s some helpful information here: www.google.com/amp/s/www.imperial.ac.uk/news/232698/omicron-largely-evades-immunity-from-past/amp/

Getting Covid now will give you little protection from getting it again.

I disagree. I've repeatedly states that I acknowledge that omicron is much better at evading vaccines and prior infections, otherwise I would be comfortable that my boosted status gave me immunity.

But once infected by omicron, you're protected from omicron (at least for many months), in the same way you would be for other variants. Omicron protects against Delta too it seems.

Besides, if you really could catch omicron again and again every couple of weeks, we really do have to live with persistent very,
very high infection levels for the foreseeable future, with a significant proportion of the population infected at any one time with it.

Omicron is protective against Delta.

I’ve come to the conclusion (which is controversial I accept) that we need to start building up our immunity now to Covid like we do the common cold. In fact there’s been shown to be some cross reactivity from 4 of the cold viruses to Covid. Actively avoided this/changing your life/ hiding away won’t benefit you in the long term.

Long Covid is a worry I agree. But this virus isn’t going anywhere. I have to say I’m relieved my DM 71 (triple jabbed) recently had Covid, it was mild for her and she’s fully recovered. Now she has lots of lovey antibodies/t-cells to protect her in the future.
Also encouraging to see on here reports of Omicron being mild for many CEV.

Things are changing. Now I wouldn’t actively go out and get flu for example. But I’ve had flu a few times (and it was awful) but there is some benefit to building immunity to something so infectious as Covid (plus the immunity from all the vaccines).

well yes it would buy you a bit of worry free time. But not sure that would extend to the summer tbh. My daughter had it last year in Jan and again in July......(not omicron)

“But once infected by omicron, you're protected from omicron (at least for many months), in the same way you would be for other variants”.

Do you have the paper for this? This is the bit I think you’ve misunderstood and are basing the idea of getting it out of the way on.

I don’t think you understand reinfection with omicron. There’s some helpful information here: www.google.com/amp/s/www.imperial.ac.uk/news/232698/omicron-largely-evades-immunity-from-past/amp/

But of course that's the case as Omicron has mutated and therefore evaded the 'old' vaccines and antibodies from having had Delta or other previous variants!

If Omicron becomes the dominant strain then you will benefit from immunity from further omicron infections from having actually been infected with it.

@Blubells

*I don’t think you understand reinfection with omicron. There’s some helpful information here: www.google.com/amp/s/www.imperial.ac.uk/news/232698/omicron-largely-evades-immunity-from-past/amp/*

But of course that's the case as Omicron has mutated and therefore evaded the 'old' vaccines and antibodies from having had Delta or other previous variants!

If Omicron becomes the dominant strain then you will benefit from immunity from further omicron infections from having actually been infected with it.

I’m not clear on the evidence you and OP are referring to that having omicron protects you from future omicron reinfection.

No one knows how long immunity lasts so you could catch it again, you’re talking as if it’s a one time hit and you’ll be clear till the autumn or winter, that’s really not the case.

In addition it’s on its way out, soon we will stop getting tested, omicron is a bad cold at worst for the majority of vaccinated people and ninety percent are vaccinated. It’s the end of the pandemic. You don’t need to catch it.

There’s lots of information out there that Omicron is protective against Delta. We don’t know yet if Omicron is protective against Omicron but it’s not too an outlandish assumption to make.

People are mainly getting reinfected with different variants not the same one over and over again.

If Omicron remains the dominant variant having immunity against this is a good thing. At least for the next 6 months or so.

I've got it right now. Triple jabbed and still feel shocking. You don't want this OP

That's just a silly way of thinking. Why would you WANT to be ill? I can understand people wanting their kids to catch chicken pox to get that out of the way, given the vast majority of people only get it once, but something that mutates and reinfects? Pointless.

I've repeatedly states that I acknowledge that omicron is much better at evading vaccines and prior infections, otherwise I would be comfortable that my boosted status gave me immunity.

That's not, that's not how the vaccine works.

But once infected by omicron, you're protected from omicron (at least for many months), in the same way you would be for other variants.

Is this true? Have you any evidence?

I’ve literally just had it and have been fine. It was actually a relief to get it out of the way especially as I am unvaccinated so it was good to at least get natural immunity for a while now. I totally get you’re thinking!

@MintJulia

It won't achieve anything. You can get covid more than once. It's a bit like saying 'I'd quite like to catch food poisoning.'

No of course it isn’t. Have you heard of antibodies?

Why would you WANT to be ill?

You don't want to be ill, but you may WANT to give your immunity a boost by catching and fighting off omicron.

I do understand your reasoning @treeflowercat though personally I won't be. I've had it, in March 20 (we think no tests then, very mild) so I actually think it's likely I've had it asymptomatically since and not realised because I've been in close contact so many times and not tested positive then

I get where you are coming from, myself and my youngest child have it now. It’s his birthday at the end of the month, I really wanted to book him a party but didn’t because I couldn’t afford to lose money if we tested positive. I haven’t dared book a holiday for summer etc.

But now i have it it’s shite and I realise I could get it again 😩

@Egghead68

You can get it twice is quick succession, see e.g. Keir Starmer

If you're a politician you can contract the Political Variant where it gets you out of any potential situation where you might previously have considered hiding in a fridge to dodge responsibility.

Can understand your logic OP - the odds are with how it's going around, you're pretty likely to get it - we all got it over the festive period and I'm semi-relieved that the worry of the kids getting it and missing out on stuff is reduced somewhat for a while.

It won't achieve anything. You can get covid more than once. It's a bit like saying 'I'd quite like to catch food poisoning.

Ridiculous comparison.

Your immune system learns from previous infections - not only antibodies but also T cells provide long term immunity.