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Original poster

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

247 replies

treeflowercat · 15/01/2022 05:34

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?

OP posts:
Idontbelieveit14 · 15/01/2022 10:38

@Invasionofthegutsnatchers

I've got it right now. Triple jabbed and still feel shocking. You don't want this OP
Ditto
elelel · 15/01/2022 10:39

@gogohm

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

You would still test positive if you were asymptomatic though?

Blubells · 15/01/2022 10:42

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

You don't know whether you're actually giving your immune system a boost?

Budapestdreams · 15/01/2022 10:44

It's not inevitable that everyone will catch Covid during this pandemic.

If you are female and aged 39-65 (I can't remember the exact data but about this range) you are at highest risk of long Covid.

You may catch Covid and be fine.
You may catch Covid and die (unlikely).
You may recover quickly but have long term heart or lung or brain damage.
You may develop long Covid which disables you and you are unable to work, or which means you don't have the energy to go on holiday or visit relatives.

No-one knows which outcome you will have.

Most doctors and scientists I see on social media are trying to actively avoid catching it and are aiming to be one of the people who never catches it, or at least not until it is a lot milder.

It's your choice of course, just don't make a decision you may regret.

CrunchyCarrot · 15/01/2022 10:46

How do you know you haven't had it asymptomatically? Or have contacted it and not even been asymptomatic but repelled the virus altogether? I'd stop thinking about it if I were you.

girasol · 15/01/2022 10:47

@bringmelaughter

I don’t understand your argument about reinfection. Omicron is the dominant circulating strain. If you ‘purposefully’ catch Covid now, you could still be reinfected again and again. It doesn’t get it out of the way at all.

If you have a holiday booked in say 8 weeks time, getting Covid now doesn’t get it out of the way. You could get infected again prior to the holiday and not be able to go.

I have Covid now and a holiday booked in 4 weeks time Grin and am yet to see any suggestion anywhere that I could get reinfected in that time….
Delatron · 15/01/2022 10:53

People were getting reinfected with Omicron after Delta. Not Omicron twice! If you’ve had Omicron then its fair to assume you will not get Omicron again. If another strain comes along which outcompetes Omicron (unlikely as Omicron is so infectious) you may not have full immunity against that. But that is unlikely to happen over the next few months.

If anyone has any data on reinfections with the same strain that would be good to see. It’s too early for Omicron. However I had Omicron and then my mum came down a few weeks later unknowingly with Omicron and coughed all over me and DH/DS and none of us had a reinfection. DS2 had delta in Nov and not Omicron and still didn’t pick up Omicron despite repeated exposures. Our immune systems are complicated and fabulous. You don’t just go around getting ill every month with the same virus!

rrhuth · 15/01/2022 10:56

@Blubells

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.

This doesn't seem logical for something where you can catch it repeatedly anyway. You just end up having it twice.
rrhuth · 15/01/2022 10:57

If another strain comes along which outcompetes Omicron (unlikely as Omicron is so infectious) once Omicron wanes another variant will take over

SGBK4682 · 15/01/2022 11:01

"You may catch Covid and be fine.
You may catch Covid and die (unlikely).
You may recover quickly but have long term heart or lung or brain damage.
You may develop long Covid which disables you and you are unable to work, or which means you don't have the energy to go on holiday or visit relatives.

No-one knows which outcome you will have.

Most doctors and scientists I see on social media are trying to actively avoid catching it and are aiming to be one of the people who never catches it, or at least not until it is a lot milder.

It's your choice of course, just don't make a decision you may regret."

This seems like a sensible response. Why actively try to get something where the outcomes vary wildly for different people, and the future implications are uncertain?

If you think too hard, there are any number of reasons why future plans could fail. Best approach is to make the plans knowing they may not happen and take all the precautions you can to ensure they do.

Reallycantbesarsed · 15/01/2022 11:05

Over 50 of my work colleagues got it Christmas 2020 including myself!Absolutely none of us have had it again..so agree with you OP

Blubells · 15/01/2022 11:09

This doesn't seem logical for something where you can catch it repeatedly anyway. You just end up having it twice.

Have you got evidence that people are catching the Omicron variant twice? Is be very interested!

rrhuth · 15/01/2022 11:11

@Blubells I mean COVID generally.

If you can't catch it twice, why now not later?

If you can catch it twice, why twice not once?

piney07 · 15/01/2022 11:13

I don’t think you’re crazy! I have a friend who is peeved as her DH has it and she hasn’t caught it and she has a much longed for holiday coming up in two months so really wanted to get it out of the way now when it wouldn’t impact holiday. Maybe find a friend who has it and ask them to snog you.

Blubells · 15/01/2022 11:18

*@Blubells I mean COVID generally.

If you can't catch it twice, why now not later?*

But 'Covid' is not the virus. It's the Delta or Omicron virus that infects people. If you have evidence of people being reinfected with the same variant, especially Omicron, I'd be very interested.

Regarding your question why now? The younger you are, the better outcome generally.

Original poster
treeflowercat · 15/01/2022 11:54

@elelel

"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 haven't got a scientific paper I can cite but if an omicron infection gave you no immunity to a subsequent omicron infection, it would be different to any other coronavirus (Covid-19 or otherwise) and indeed pretty much any other virus! That's just not how viruses and immunity work!

Also, if omicron didn't provide any protection against subsequent omicron infection, given it's infectivity, infections would be permanently at astronomical levels across the population, and we'd need a permanent lockdown to contain numbers.

OP posts:
Original poster
treeflowercat · 15/01/2022 12:01

@Reallycantbesarsed

Over 50 of my work colleagues got it Christmas 2020 including myself!Absolutely none of us have had it again..so agree with you OP
Indeed... I'm not sure why some people think omicron offers no protection against subsequent omicron infection, thus making it different to any other virus in existence!

I think some people just want a reason to remain scared, and searching for reasons for restrictions, mass testing and isolations to continue.

OP posts:
Original poster
treeflowercat · 15/01/2022 12:04

@CrunchyCarrot

How do you know you haven't had it asymptomatically? Or have contacted it and not even been asymptomatic but repelled the virus altogether? I'd stop thinking about it if I were you.
I could have done.... but it's the not knowing that I don't like. I'd much prefer to know with a high level of confidence that my spring and summer plans won't be ruined or that I may pass it to my parents.
OP posts:
Original poster
treeflowercat · 15/01/2022 12:05

....may pass it to my parents
Who I'm not due to see til March by the way.

OP posts:
Eggmcmuffin · 15/01/2022 12:08

I totally get you OP. Feels inevitable so might as wellhope for the best timing possible. I've currently got it, on day 5 and feel OKso pretty relieved to be honest. I'm triple jabbed and desperate to go abroad again so now looking forward to booking a holiday. Of course you can get it again, but less likely after a recent infection. It gives some peace of mind having it and being OK too. It's all about probability.

dementedpixie · 15/01/2022 12:10

I tried my best to get it when dh had it recently
Still slept in the same bed and shared the room/mealtimes with him. Took regular tests and my PCR and LFTs were all negative.

The kids didn't get it either but they avoided us a bit more and didn't sit with us for meals/during the day, etc

Tempusfudgeit · 15/01/2022 12:10

OP, I've currently got it if you'd like to come round and be coughed on? No sense of smell, pounding headache, had to call 111 last night due to breathlessness, I'm pregnant and I've had to miss my long-awaited scan. It's a barrel of laughs.

KeepYaHeadUp · 15/01/2022 12:12

YABU - I wouldn't want to risk requiring a trip to A&E/hospital/ICU at this stage.

GreenLunchBox · 15/01/2022 12:14

@treeflowercat

None of you have yet put forward a good enough reason for me not to go and get Covid over the coming weeks....

The rapid re-infection is only an issue if another evading Omicron variant arising soon... the likelihood of that doesn't sufficiently alter my risk/benefit analysis.

Maybe I'm not crazy at all... The more I think about it, the more rational it seems.

Do it then.
Stripyhoglets1 · 15/01/2022 12:14

I feel a bit like you do. I won't be taking any steps to actually catch it as ots unpredictable and the risk of long covid - but now would be a convenient time to be ill rather than randomly before a holiday etc.