Has anyone here caught the Virus, or know anyone who has?

[ShokWaveRider]

No one in our area or circle of friends has. I have been out to local grocery and hardware stores in the last few days and all has appeared normal.

Yesterday we went to Best buy to look at OLED TVs, it was not busy but not empty either.

Costco was another story, the line to get in was so long we did not even bother to stop, we do not need them that bad. Amazes me how folks panic.

 

[Rianne]

I probably know many who have it, but there's so little testing here, I don't know. Our major hospital got 50 test kits. So, I treat everyone as if they have it. I'll smile, nod my head so not to be rude, but keep my distance.

 

[Franklin]

Wave Rider, that's a great question. I was wondering with so many members here (in many different locations) we might have some real stories that need to be shared. Thanks for asking. DW and I are hunkered down and not traveling. We feel fine and have not been tested. Ive been remodeling a house and have practiced Social distancing.

 

[FIREd]

As far as I know, I haven’t. Last week I had a runny nose, irritated throat (from post nasal drip most likely), and I felt tired but no cough and no fever. I assumed those symptoms were due to seasonal allergies, as Spring is having an early start this year. But I have had two degrees of separation from several confirmed cases.

 

[USGrant1962]

As far as I know, I haven’t. Last week I had a runny nose, irritated throat (from post nasal drip most likely), and I felt tired but no cough and no fever. I assumed those symptoms were due to seasonal allergies, as Spring is having an early start this year. But I have had two degrees of separation from several confirmed cases.

I'm afraid that allergy season is going to add to the panic and demand on COVID-19 test kits for no reason.

 

[Moemg]

I do not know anybody who has it but we are still isolating .The local hospital has several cases in ICU.

 

[braumeister]

I'm afraid that allergy season is going to add to the panic and demand on COVID-19 test kits for no reason.

No doubt. This is always a rough time of year where I live because of tree pollen. Many of us suffer greatly from that.

 

[Kwirk]

I don’t know and I can only know with reasonable certainty after somebody has been tested or shows clear clinical signs. Testing is still not widely available and results may take 5 days to return (local VA hospital where my daughter is an RN with grossly insufficient protective equipment).

I’m assuming that everybody but my wife is infected. We are isolating, including from family. Good luck to you all.

 

[VanWinkle]

nope, I have not heard of anyone I know having the virus at this time.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

I'm afraid that allergy season is going to add to the panic and demand on COVID-19 test kits for no reason.

Was sure I had IT yesterday until I noticed the fresh pollen covering everything that had not been there 8 hours prior.

 

[COcheesehead]

I know one person, a 30 something year old.

 

[ripper1]

Where the hell are these test kits. What are we becoming a third world country. America is not so great is it.

 

[RunningBum]

Will know sometime today if I have an indirect contact. A doctor who occasionally works with my GF's clinic has symptoms and is being tested. He was working there Thursday. Luckily my GF was away with me last week and she has stayed away this week so far until they find out if he has it and has exposed others in the clinic. So, no exposure to her or me from this.

Panic? I'm not reading many of the related threads but the exposure numbers in the US line up with where Italy was a week or so ago, and it sounds like things are very bad in Italy. I hope that the social isolation keeps things from getting that bad. Whether this shows it was too much panic for no reason, or a very proper response to keep it from getting bad will be in the eye of the beholder, I suspect.

 

[tb001]

I was very sick for ~5 weeks in late Jan/most of Feb. Symptoms were totally consistent with covid. When I went to urgent care the dr told me he’s seen 30 plus people/day with the same symptoms. Did I have it, who knows. But when all is said and done I think we’ll find out a lot more people in our community were exposed/had the virus than we knew.

I have a friend on quarantine. She’s an employee in a hospital in an outbreak area. She has been sick with classic symptoms for 5+ days and only just was able to be tested. So far she’s been negative for all other URIs and they’re waiting on covid test results.

 

[easysurfer]

Thankfully, not yet.

 

[misanman]

GS's girlfriend has been tested (on Friday) but doesn't have the results yet.

 

[W2R]

I probably know many who have it, but there's so little testing here, I don't know.

Same here. All along, over 1/3 of tests in Louisiana have come out positive. For example, using today's updated numbers, thus far in Louisiana there have been 457 tests and 171 of those were positive for coronavirus (4 of whom died of it). Our positive cases are apparently entirely due to community spreading; these are not just special instances due to travel and we have well documented community spreading here. Because of this high rate of positive results, I wonder if there might be a huge pool of untested infected people out there.

Also, even if tested, the only way we would have of knowing that someone we know has it would be if they e-mailed us saying that. We aren't going out and mingling with people any more.

 

[pacergal]

I am sure there is a huge amount of positives out there, just no testing available. The lack of availability in this country to me, is unconscionable. We were offered tests from WHO and declined. WTF Now we are scrambling to catch up.
I think as more testing becomes available, the numbers will naturally skyrocket. Then the panic will really set in for folks who are not on board with the thought of social distancing yet.
DH was ill a few weeks ago, DS ill now. All symptoms except fever, so I am fairly certain it is normal URI virus. But no testing, so not sure. Some people are positive with NO symptoms. Doing everything I can to stay healthy physically and mentally.
Today the sun is out and it's a good day.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Nevada has a big shortage of tests. I don’t know anyone with it.

 

[Spock]

Where the hell are these test kits. What are we becoming a third world country. America is not so great is it.

Surgeries were being canceled due to a shortage of gowns clear back in January before anybody but beer drinkers and solar astronomers could spell corona.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-01-surgical-gown-shortage-states.html

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

... Doing everything I can to stay healthy physically and mentally. Today the sun is out and it's a good day.

 

[NW-Bound]

I was very sick for ~5 weeks in late Jan/most of Feb. Symptoms were totally consistent with covid. When I went to urgent care the dr told me he’s seen 30 plus people/day with the same symptoms. Did I have it, who knows. But when all is said and done I think we’ll find out a lot more people in our community were exposed/had the virus than we knew.

I have a friend on quarantine. She’s an employee in a hospital in an outbreak area. She has been sick with classic symptoms for 5+ days and only just was able to be tested. So far she’s been negative for all other URIs and they’re waiting on covid test results.

On the positive side, if a person is truly infected with Covid-19, but does not get bad enough to be hospitalized, then it can still end well. People do recover from it.

The main thing is to treat any unknown flu as Covid-19 and to avoid infecting others. Come to think of it, why would anyone want to be infected with the normal flu either?

 

[Ian S]

My best friend's real estate agent's 70 y.o. husband is sick with a confirmed case. That same friend's daughter is an ER doc in the Colorado Springs area and has had exposure to a number of sick people with the symptoms but is terribly frustated that she is still unable to do testing unless the person is sick enough to be admitted to the hospital. She is resigned to the notion that she will get infected and it's only a matter of when. Fortunately she is young and healthy so should be able to beat the virus.

It's unconscionable that our vaunted system of scientific research failed so miserably to get these test kits produced. In contrast, it's amazing what other counties like South Korea were able to do: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/asia/coronavirus-south-korea-testing-intl-hnk/index.html

 

[sengsational]

The idea that people in places without documented community spreading think they're currently surrounded by many infected people seems unjustified to me. I understand keeping out of harm's way, and don't blame people from practicing how it will soon certainly be, though.

So I'm not saying it won't happen (that a high % of encounters will be with an infected person), I'm saying that, right now, you simply can't cover up people showing up at the hospital that can't breath. I presume that will happen 5 or 7 days after they're exposed. I want testing as much as the next guy, but people entering the ER that can't breath is a reasonable, albeit slightly delayed, proxy.

Once the ER's start counting cases like this, you can back-up the clock by a week and get a reasonable estimate on the percent of the community that were infected a week earlier. I presume that will be a very, very small number at the time that the very first ER cases are reported. But in my case, AFAIK, the ER's aren't getting anybody like that, so I presume that if there are people walking around my geography that "have it", that percentage is vanishingly small. Again, I'm not licking grocery cart handles, but we planned to "just live our lives" until there was significant risk. Alas, our state has closed sit-down restaurants. So much for living our lives normally. We're done going out for a long time. It feels weird.

 

[HarveyS]

I do not know one person with the virus, or anyone with a community contact.