How I Got Covid by Letting My Guard Down Part II

[Buckeye]

So I mask indoors but not out. Hot and humid, perspiration now.

In the previous thread there was talk about outdoor concerts or events.

I wonder about walking by people because the R0 of some variants are estimated to be as high as 10 or 13.

The other thing is, you can be walking briskly around several people on a warm summer day with minimal wind and you can smell and breathe in cigarette smoke.

Fact that the smoke hit your olfactory nerves means aerosols carrying the virus can also reach your nose and mouth in similar conditions. Hell I’ve smelled cigarette smoke coming from across the street with cars whizzing by.

Hopefully, in most of these situations, you don’t breathe in enough infectious aerosols — they still don’t know what the infectious dose or viral load is, if there is such a thing.

We went to Magic Kingdom last Wednesday. Quite a busy/crowded day with LOTS of kids in the crowd. We wear KN95 masks whenever we are indoors (restroom, picking up food, standing in line, in any store) and eat outdoors. Saturday morning I woke up with one ear stuffed up. Within a couple of hours, both ears and my sinuses were plugged and I was not feeling well. Hubby was hours behind me.

On Monday, 5 days after likely exposure, I took a PCR test at the VA and it was negative, 'just' a head cold. I haven't had a cold in 3 years and I have been miserable. It's Friday and I'm finally feeling like I've kicked it. I was pretty sure it was only a cold because I didn't have the headache, fatigue, temp, or chills people who have COVID typically complain about. Even though it's 'only' a cold, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

The cold did earn me $150 from the RSV vaccine trial I am participating in because I had to go in Tuesday for a nasal swab. They were just tickled I had actually followed directions and reported my symptoms after they lingered for more than 24 hours.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for the interesting discussion.

Note that we closed this after post(s) trolling the thread were removed.