Covid Getting Closer to Home

[sengsational]

On the 'close to home' thing, we're having our annual winter camping event in the face of this wave. Turns out out out of 10 people, only DW and I are the only ones that haven't contacted the disease!

 

[lajolla]

I tested positive on a home test on 1/5 after having symptoms start the day before. It has been like a very bad head cold for me. My husband started having symptoms a couple of days ago and is positive as of today. Both of us are fully vaccinated and have our boosters as is everyone else we know who has contracted Covid recently. Omicron is very contagious, but the good news is that we don't need to go to the doctor or hospital since our symptoms are resolving here at home. The vaccines are doing their job.

 

[street]

I mentioned my neighbors both had covid. He had to be taken by ambulance and she stayed home to fend off the virus. He came home yesterday, and I talked to him today. He is doing very well. He was very sick man, and his wife is doing fine as of today. The doctor told him he didn't expect him to recover as well as he did. He has huge health problems and can't walk as of yet from the virus.
I'm so happy all went well with him and her. Still aren't going to get vaccinated and still to them it was a cold but yet tested positive for covid.

 

[jollystomper]

DS has a mild case of covid. Felt headachy and sinus congestion Monday night. came by last night to pick up a home test from us, and tested positive. Last night the folks at his job interestingly told him they do not "accept" the home test results. This morning he contacted his doctor today, who surprisingly said come in, we can give you a rapid test. That was also positive. He contacted work again, apparently he got someone who did not know much last light, as the folks today say certainly we accept the home test. Strange.

He is resting at his apartment, just 10 minutes away from us if he needs anything. Says he will use his quarantine time to catch up on streaming and reading (including some books he received for Christmas). He is 27, no comorbidities, vaccinated but not boosted (last shot was in June) was taking vitamin D for years since (as I have) being diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency.

 

[MichaelB]

<mod note> A reminder the thread topic is Covid affecting us, our friends and family. Discussions of Covid policy and the behavior of disbelievers are not appropriate for this thread. Some posts made yesterday were removed.

 

[Exchme]

Everyone in my best friend's family caught it (except him, he is symptom free so far) though everyone was vaxxed and thought they were being careful. His wife was just discharged from the hospital a couple weeks ago for other breathing issues, so her case is concerning.

But we are all worried about his 90 y/o MIL. She is having a real bad time, now hospitalized with COVID pneumonia in both lungs. Drs. wouldn't do monoclonal antibodies, said that wouldn't work as this was Omicron. They are doing Remdesivir and O2, if she gets worse, she will have to go on a ventilator.

At a minimum, Omicron is dangerous to old people. Since we are all aspiring to become one, hopefully people are taking what precautions they can.

We may all get Omicron eventually as it's so easy to spread, but I want my case to be one of the last ones, where Drs have learned what works best.

 

[Alan]

Everyone in my best friend's family caught it (except him, he is symptom free so far) though everyone was vaxxed and thought they were being careful. His wife was just discharged from the hospital a couple weeks ago for other breathing issues, so her case is concerning.

But we are all worried about his 90 y/o MIL. She is having a real bad time, now hospitalized with COVID pneumonia in both lungs. Drs. wouldn't do monoclonal antibodies, said that wouldn't work as this was Omicron. They are doing Remdesivir and O2, if she gets worse, she will have to go on a ventilator.

At a minimum, Omicron is dangerous to old people. Since we are all aspiring to become one, hopefully people are taking what precautions they can.

We may all get Omicron eventually as it's so easy to spread, but I want my case to be one of the last ones, where Drs have learned what works best.

Very worrying about your MIL. If it helps at all, my wife's niece, a kidney transplant patient, got Covid just after Christmas and was transferred to the Covid ward. Because it was Omicron she also was not treated with MAB but was treated with Remesdivir and something else I can't recall the name of (phone call with BIL). A couple of days ago she was recovered and moved back to the renal ward.

 

[sheehs1]

Ex-husband tested positive this past Monday am. He was exposed during the week prior by new hires in his CPA practice. We remain friendly. Since I had not been around him since New Years Eve, I had zero risk of exposure. Vaccinate, boosted and today, Thursday, he is feeling better but still sounds like he has a bad cold. (sore throat, severe cold symptoms, fatigue)

This past Sunday was my 3 year old grandsons birthday dinner. I opted to go earlier in the day for a variety of reasons, give him his present, visit with daughter, son-in-law and all three grandchildren. Aside from not wanting to drive home at night with the predicted rain, I did not want to be around the son-in-laws family as none of them have taken the virus as seriously as I have. (grandparents, brother, sister in law and 4 cousins age 3 to 10). Saturday before Sunday there had also been a birthday gathering of son-in-laws family for the oldest 10 year old cousin with a total of 6 families with children (counting other grandparents and my daughter and son-in-law).

I am at my daughters for a total of about an hour and a half on Sunday (leave by 1:00 pm). Monday, after they had gathered with son-in-laws family Sunday night, my daughter texted me that "she is not feeling great". Monday night she tested negative. By Tuesday night they both tested positive. So did the other grandparents and a couple of the other cousins are also sick-but not tested. The other brother and sister-in-law have also not tested because they don't take this as seriously. My daughters words, not mine.

My two vaccinated granddaughters, 6 and 8, are not showing symptoms but will be at home tested tomorrow with their last 2 tests (I have some I can get to them if need be).

Finally, 5 days out, I have not developed symptoms from my mid day Sunday visit and am crossing my fingers. I will probably test tomorrow to be somewhat certain. I will find it somewhat odd if I manage to avoid infection. Thankful but odd. I did not eat or drink anything while there. They seem to tying it to the Saturday gathering as another family from that gathering is also positive. But I think it's possible the one that had it could have been the oldest 10 year old cousin who came to my Daughters Sunday night with a fever. (remember, I said they were cavalier about it all ! ) Of course "who" at this point doesn't really matter.

I won't get into how I feel about the cavalier attitude of the other family. Still going to restaurants, church and outings with this surge. I am very worried about my 3 year old grandson. All last spring while he was being diagnosed with Chronic Neutropenia, he was often at Children's Hospital to get support when He could not fight off a virus or illness.

 

[Souschef]

Our son and DIL went to a NYE party. They were both vaxxed, but came down with a mild case. They are recovering right now, thank goodness.

My sister just tested positive and is isolating.

 

[pacergal]

Ugh.. DGS tested positive (home test) tuesday, we had been at the house the day before.
We were tested at Kaiser tuesday, but that was previously scheduled from exposure from DS!)--that test was negative. Everyone is triple vaxxed, except the 15 yr old and 2 year old. The 15 yr old was scheduled for his booster this week!
We are hoping the 2 year old doesn't get it from his brother. DD and DSIL tested negative so far.
We have no symptoms and did another home test yesterday, still negative.
I don't like this.
Back to not being around kids and grandkids as often, at least until this latest round peaks.

 

[Chuckanut]

We may all get Omicron eventually as it's so easy to spread, but I want my case to be one of the last ones, where Drs have learned what works best.

+1

An excellent point! The recent podcast with Peter Attia (#189) and two other doctors pointed that out. We know very much more about how to treat Covid victims than we did 18 months ago or even a year ago. And we have more tools to help with the treatment. Let's remember that so we can keep things in perspective.

 

[tmm99]

And also, you'd get better care if hospitals and the staff weren't so overwhelmed.

 

[REWahoo]

We may all get Omicron eventually as it's so easy to spread, but I want my case to be one of the last ones, where Drs have learned what works best.

And also, you'd get better care if hospitals and the staff weren't so overwhelmed.

This is exactly what I say to those who believe we should all just "catch it and get it over with".

 

[Alan]

Our son tested negative on his PCR this morning. He is also feeling much better so is going back to work. My sister is also going to work today after her week of having Covid

 

[sheehs1]

Finally, 5 days out, I have not developed symptoms from my mid day Sunday visit and am crossing my fingers. I will probably test tomorrow to be somewhat certain. I will find it somewhat odd if I manage to avoid infection. Thankful but odd. I did not eat or drink anything while there.
.

Because I was curious, I tested the same day I made this post which was 5 days after exposure. Since I did not have symptoms, it was not much of a surprise that my at home test was thankfully Negative.
I don't understand how I could have avoided infection. I was not masked and was there for an "almost" 2 hours. I mentioned to my Daughter that it is possible they were not infectious while I was there or the viral load was so very low, it was negligible.
Logically, for this to happen, it points to directly to the gathering Sunday night with the other grandparents, other brother, sister-in-law and 4 cousins, one of which came to my daughters house with a fever- and not to the Saturday gathering. But for that to happen, it might mean one can start to not feel well 24 hours after Omicron exposure since my Daughter and Son-In-law said they did not feel well late Monday night. they did test negative that night. By Tuesday night they tested Positive.

I'll test again but this all has me a bit baffled as I don't know anyone who has been exposed for 2 hours that did not come down with Omicron. I'm sure there must be situations where it has happened-I just don't know of any.

 

[donheff]

Our housekeeper came yesterday. She had a mask but mentioned to my wife that she had tested positive. It has been 6 days since she took the test and her symptoms had stopped almost immediately after that. We were both a bit concerned and should have just given her the day off but we donned our N95s and turned the large room HEPA filter on in the room we stayed in. Later in the day we let her use one of our rapid antigen tests and, sure enough, there was a very faint positive line. She is probably not massively shedding but there must still be some virus in her nasal passages. Now we will watch to see what happens to us. Hopefully nothing.

Our housekeeper is a wonderful woman. She provided home day care for our daughter for 5 years and has cleaned for us ever since. But she is a case study on how thoughtless people can be about potential virus spread. She felt bad late last week and sensibly figured she should get tested for Covid which she did on Friday. Unfortunately, the results didn't arrive until Tuesday morning. On Monday she had been symptom free for several days so she started work again - at our immunocompromised neighbor's house. If she still had some virus on Thursday, how much more must have been present on Monday? Why even take a test if you are going to go back to work before the results come in?

 

[Alan]

I'll test again but this all has me a bit baffled as I don't know anyone who has been exposed for 2 hours that did not come down with Omicron. I'm sure there must be situations where it has happened-I just don't know of any.

As I detailed above my sister caught Covid again after spending time with a co-worker (not one in her office) who tested positive a day or 2 later. By the time she had symptoms herself she had been living back home with her husband and adult daughter, and continuing to work as normal. She continued going to work and living at home for a week longer, it's not a big house to have any meaningful separation, plus you are encouraged to continue working if you have a negative LFT each day. She is back at work today and neither her husband or daughter or anyone in her office tested positive or had any symptoms.

Even though all 3 of them have had Covid, December 2020, and have since been triple vaccinated she has Lupus and so is on medications that suppress her immune system so maybe that is why she is more susceptible than those around her.

In April we spent a lot of time in our car with our son 2 days before he tested positive for Delta. He obviously was carrying a big viral load because he ended up in ICU within a few days on a ventilator, but neither of us caught it. (At that stage we had 2 doses of vaccines - AZ and Novavax)

Why even take a test if you are going to go back to work before the results come in?

I agree but there are plenty of examples of folks doing exactly this. Hopefully you will be just fine, it sounds like you took good precautions.

 

[audreyh1]

It’s tough! Way more people I know have been infected this wave, including immediate family.

Knock on wood it looks like we got through the funeral and big family gathering OK. One sibling had to miss out on the family gathering due to coming down with covid the week prior, but was able to attend the outdoor funeral at a distance. The funeral ended up having small attendance, mostly relatives, and everyone was masked.

Several who gathered have tested and all negative. Once we get home we will probably test after a few days. We have a multi-day drive home overnighting in hotels.

Lots of neighborhood activities are planned this month and next, but I’m staying away low until local prevalence drops considerably. Residents in our community do not mask. Fortunately the larger community outside is very diligent with masking, so shopping isn’t so bad.

 

[disneysteve]

Like many of you, I'm seeing more and more cases in our personal circle. I'm also seeing more and more cases that aren't so mild, even in fully vaxxed and boosted people. I've seen at least a couple of full blown, bilateral, multilobe COVID pneumonia in patients who had all 3 vaccine doses. That's pretty scary.

Extreme fatigue seems to be a common symptom with Omicron and that's really knocking people down, sometimes for a few weeks. I know two people right now who have been sidelined from work for more than 2 weeks because of that. They just don't have the energy to go about their normal jobs and lives even though they otherwise feel pretty much fine. One is in her 30s and the other is 60, so I'm not talking about elderly folks.

We're concerned about my 91-year-old mom who lives in a senior apartment building. In the past week, both the building janitor and maintenance man have come down with COVID. They are in and out of residents' apartments all day long. I'm sure they exposed many people before they got diagnosed and quarantined. All we can do is keep drilling into my mom that she MUST wear her KN95 mask properly anytime she opens her door or leaves her apartment and not to remove it for any reason until she is back in her apartment alone.

 

[Venturer]

My DD,DS/nL, & DGD left last Thursday for a trip to Dayton - Air Force museum, then on to Indy, for the Natl. Championship game, where they were surrounded by thousands of screaming, many unmasked and probably many unvaxed FANS. They got home Tuesday night, and yesterday DD called DW to inform. That she had a bad sore throat and was running a 103 fever so she was on her way home from the Dr. with covid. She had already contacted DGD's school so she was on her way to pick her up. DGD woke up this morning with sore throat and running fever of 101 so Dr. told them to watch her closely. My DD sounds horrible & feels like crap, but hopefully she won't get worse. They are isolating at home for now. So you can catch this crap outside in large crowds and unlike some people's opinion it isn't a made up thing to control people. GRR ;-(

 

[sheehs1]

In April we spent a lot of time in our car with our son 2 days before he tested positive for Delta. He obviously was carrying a big viral load because he ended up in ICU within a few days on a ventilator, but neither of us caught it. (At that stage we had 2 doses of vaccines - AZ and Novavax)

Alan: Thanks for pointing out it is more than possible to be exposed and not be infected!

 

[harllee]

Like many of you, I'm seeing more and more cases in our personal circle. I'm also seeing more and more cases that aren't so mild, even in fully vaxxed and boosted people. I've seen at least a couple of full blown, bilateral, multilobe COVID pneumonia in patients who had all 3 vaccine doses. That's pretty scary.

Extreme fatigue seems to be a common symptom with Omicron and that's really knocking people down, sometimes for a few weeks. I know two people right now who have been sidelined from work for more than 2 weeks because of that. They just don't have the energy to go about their normal jobs and lives even though they otherwise feel pretty much fine. One is in her 30s and the other is 60, so I'm not talking about elderly folks.

We're concerned about my 91-year-old mom who lives in a senior apartment building. In the past week, both the building janitor and maintenance man have come down with COVID. They are in and out of residents' apartments all day long. I'm sure they exposed many people before they got diagnosed and quarantined. All we can do is keep drilling into my mom that she MUST wear her KN95 mask properly anytime she opens her door or leaves her apartment and not to remove it for any reason until she is back in her apartment alone.

Disney Steve, I appreciated all the good advice you give us from a doctor's perspective out there on the front line. I really appreciate what you do. I have the same problem with my 90 year old mother and her masks--she will wear a cloth or surgical mask bur she says she cannot breathe with the N95 or KN94 I send her.

 

[disneysteve]

Disney Steve, I appreciated all the good advice you give us from a doctor's perspective out there on the front line. I really appreciate what you do.

Thank you harllee.


On the positive side, I will say that this week, we've started to see the demand taper a bit at urgent care. Hopefully that's the start of a trend. I had said all along that we'd see a surge after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, as those are all times when groups of people gather and spread disease. We see it annually with flu and last year and this year with COVID. So seeing the numbers start to decline in mid January was totally predictable.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

My DD,DS/nL, & DGD left last Thursday for a trip to Dayton - Air Force museum, then on to Indy, for the Natl. Championship game, where they were surrounded by thousands of screaming, many unmasked and probably many unvaxed FANS. They got home Tuesday night, and yesterday DD called DW to inform. That she had a bad sore throat and was running a 103 fever so she was on her way home from the Dr. with covid. She had already contacted DGD's school so she was on her way to pick her up. DGD woke up this morning with sore throat and running fever of 101 so Dr. told them to watch her closely. My DD sounds horrible & feels like crap, but hopefully she won't get worse. They are isolating at home for now. So you can catch this crap outside in large crowds and unlike some people's opinion it isn't a made up thing to control people. GRR ;-(

Or in a public restroom in the stadium that tends to have a lot of people. A large portion of the museum is indoors. Not saying they didn't get it outside at the game, but just that there were plenty of other opportunities to get it as well.

 

[Venturer]

My DD,DS/nL, & DGD left last Thursday for a trip to Dayton - Air Force museum, then on to Indy, for the Natl. Championship game, where they were surrounded by thousands of screaming, many unmasked and probably many unvaxed FANS. They got home Tuesday night, and yesterday DD called DW to inform. That she had a bad sore throat and was running a 103 fever so she was on her way home from the Dr. with covid. She had already contacted DGD's school so she was on her way to pick her up. DGD woke up this morning with sore throat and running fever of 101 so Dr. told them to watch her closely. My DD sounds horrible & feels like crap, but hopefully she won't get worse. They are isolating at home for now. So you can catch this crap outside in large crowds and unlike some people's opinion it isn't a made up thing to control people. GRR ;-(

I had just posted this in the other Covid thread. I'm just frustrated at some people right now and I can't get it off my chest in the "wrong" place, so posting it helps a little!