this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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I'm so grateful that I didn't manage to catch COVID
Yet...
The virus is far from extinction and isn't going anywhere in our lifetimes.
Expecting to never catch Covid over the next few decades is like expecting to never catch the common cold.
I think the mutations may be for the better, though. First time I got it (2nd shot), I felt like dogshit. Brain fog, sore muscles, extreme fatigue, runny nose, chills, etc. Second time I got it I felt fine except a small amount of brain fog.
How do you know you didn't catch it? One of the problems, especially early on, was that some infections were asymptomatic.
Indeed, I'm not sure even testing is sufficient. My family recently got it (my wife and I visiting my parents), but thought nothing of it for a week. My father had a sore throat, my mother had watery eyes and some nasal congestion. My father masked indoors (because I don't want a regular cold either) and chalked my mother's symptoms to seasonal allergies (the cars were covered with Pine pollen all week). Then, on the drive home, my wife felt off. 10 hours in the car together. She slept in the guest room that night and, just for grins, tested for Covid the next morning. She was positive. We called and had my parent's test - both positive. I tested negative so I packed my things and rented a hotel room for the week and worked there alone. I tested every other day and was never positive, but I cancelled all my client meetings.
I still never "got it" but...is it really feasible I didn't have some low level? This is my second trip in a car for multiple hours with someone who tested positive the next day. Granted, I'm about 4 vaccines in (2xOG, 1 updated, 1 XBB variant), but so is my wife. I have to think that I had some sub-clinical level of viral load, or at least below the antigen test threshold, but I'm thankful I escaped symptoms.
And sometimes mild enough to be mistaken for allergies
Haha it took me 3 (almost 4) years to finally catch it :(
Same. I was so (oddly) proud of my streak. Then my spouse brought it home from a meeting with friends : P
I was proud too. I was starting to think either I was an asymptomatic carrier or I was immune unlike the rest of you peasants with weak immune systems. My wife had it and I took care of her the entire time she was sick, and I never got it.
I was in the ICU COVID wing for weeks when my dad got sick (immuno compromised lung transplant situation:( ). I still never got it.
But alas, I guess I had just been lucky. I got it after last thanksgiving. The only one in my family to. My wife and baby never got it from me either. It's such a weird sickness in that sense.
For what it's worth I was all vaccinated and up to date. As soon as I was able to get each round I did. I wore a mask for a little longer than most people but haven't really worn one for a year or so? Honestly don't remember when I stopped. I wore one again when my baby was born for a few months.
Finally got it for the first time last week, tested positive on my wedding day 😭
Damn that sucks. Really reinforces the part of the vow "in sickness" though.
:-/
Have you had any flu like symptoms since 2020?
Were you vaccinated and boostered?
Lots of people like to pretend they didn't get it while not actually knowing.
Yeah, this is my 65-year-old aunt. Never got covid she says - and yet she's been sick more than once since 2019. She just never tests - so she never gets covid! Easy!
I've had the flu a few times but whenever I tested (I was quite concerned) I always tested negative. Like 3 separate flus.
You've indeed been lucky.