SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

Pogue Mahone

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Cheers mate. It’s already been a difficult 2 nights. I’ve left my home away from my son and wife as I know my son wouldn’t be able to distance from me. Locked myself in my parent house in my old bedroom, obviously taking care I’m safe with my parents. Everyone else has booked for a test now. Will see how contagious this is. I’d be surprised if my son and wife don’t have it.

8 nights to go!
Don’t know any of the medical history of your family so please don’t take this advice the wrong way but wouldn’t you be better off staying with your wife and kids and away from your parents? The age of your parents mean the risk to them of a bad outcome if they catch covid is many multiples higher than it is to your wife/son.

Assuming your son is quite young, the risk is so trivial it’s not worth worrying about. Plus, as you say, there’s a good chance he’s been exposed already. He may not be able to distance from you properly but your parents can’t be 100% protected either, so long as they share a house with you.

Edit: Also. Get well soon! Feels weird giving online medical advice to the only caftard I’ve ever met...
 

Andy_Cole

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Don’t know any of the medical history of your family so please don’t take this advice the wrong way but wouldn’t you be better off staying with your wife and kids and away from your parents? The age of your parents mean the risk to them of a bad outcome if they catch covid is many multiples higher than it is to your wife/son.

Assuming your son is quite young, the risk is so trivial it’s not worth worrying about. Plus, as you say, there’s a good chance he’s been exposed already. He may not be able to distance from you properly but your parents can’t be 100% protected either, so long as they share a house with you.

Edit: Also. Get well soon! Feels weird giving online medical advice to the only caftard I’ve ever met...
Obviously it was a difficult decision. My wife does need protection too. My setup here at my parents is pretty good in terms of them being safe. They literally won’t set foot in this part of the house. It is a risk though.

I perhaps made the decision in panic, so we have been talking about potentially my parents moving out to my brothers. So I’d have the place to myself. Depends on everyone’s results I guess.

My parents were already in my childcare bubble so I literally saw them hours before I had symptoms.

All a bit crazy this!
 

Pogue Mahone

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Obviously it was a difficult decision. My wife does need protection too. My setup here at my parents is pretty good in terms of them being safe. They literally won’t set foot in this part of the house. It is a risk though.

I perhaps made the decision in panic, so we have been talking about potentially my parents moving out to my brothers. So I’d have the place to myself. Depends on everyone’s results I guess.

My parents were already in my childcare bubble so I literally saw them hours before I had symptoms.

All a bit crazy this!
Grand. You’ve obviously thought it through carefully. Best of luck anyway. Crazy times indeed!
 

massi83

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Finland with a lowest rate of infection (per 14days and 100k population) in Europe at 52.8. Second lowest is over 100% more. But of course we are just kicking that can forward like a wise RABbi educated us in this thread.
 

Andy_Cole

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So my wife, son, mum, dad have all tested negative. Which I’m delighted about. But also confused. I can’t think how my son who shoves his hands in my mouth, and my wife who I share a bed with haven’t got it!
 

golden_blunder

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So my wife, son, mum, dad have all tested negative. Which I’m delighted about. But also confused. I can’t think how my son who shoves his hands in my mouth, and my wife who I share a bed with haven’t got it!
It’s so contagious but also so random. It’s weird

good luck to you, get well soon
 

Wibble

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Oddly enough i had a bland dominos last night. Either we both have covid or they changed their recipes.
The last Domino's I had was bland as feck. Proof positive that covid was around earlier than we though. About 8 years earlier.
 
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Wibble

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Hmmm. Maybe it’s different for vaccines? Can’t think why though. The more people get exposed to a new drug the better your chance of uncovering rare, serious adverse events (which is particularly important for drugs given to very large numbers of not sick people)
I couldn't find the article but I wonder if the opinion was because serious side effects that develop later than 2 months after it is given combined with the vaccine trials stopping if it becomes apparent they are more than 77% effective as it is no longer ethical to allow test subjects on the placebo to become infected (half way through the article below)?

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/07/could-a-covid-vaccine-bring-back-normality
 

Wibble

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The vaccine is done ffs. It has been for some time in many places. Problem has been the stage 3 that usually takes hundreds of millions to do( and thus many years), but now it's done with government money.
The only bit of that paragraph is that vaccine development is expensive. However everything else in there is utterly wrong.

Vaccine development is going well so far. Hopefully we will get more specific good news this month.

The length of phase 3 trials isn't anything to directly do with the cost. The urgent need has pushed the speed but not by compromising safety but by doing things like taking the financial risk of manufacturing enough subsequent phases before the previous step had reported and shortening the gaps between phases.

And government pre-purchases have given developers the confidence to risk spending big on vaccine development but barring some grants in some countries it sn't directly funded by governments.
 

Brwned

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So my wife, son, mum, dad have all tested negative. Which I’m delighted about. But also confused. I can’t think how my son who shoves his hands in my mouth, and my wife who I share a bed with haven’t got it!
Yeah, it's a weird one. It's a very contagious virus, but most people aren't very contagious. It's easier to think about as two series of coin flips.

The first one is "am I one of the contagious ones?" and if you flipped a coin 10 times, you'd only expect to see "yes" 2 or 3 times. Then you have very low odds of passing it onto anyone else even if you're with that person in the riskiests conditions for transmission. So for an individual the odds aren't bad. But those 2 or 3 times really matter for a wider population, because the odds flip for the next question.

If you are one of the contagious ones, then the answer to "will I pass it onto this person?" will be "yes" about 7 or 8 times out of 10, and if it's indoors, with poor ventilation and with lots of close contact, it's close to 10 out of 10. So those people that are contagious spread it to quite a lot of people, they might only be 2 of every 10, but they make up for it by passing it onto plenty more.

A lot of the coronaviruses that cause the common cold work in the exact opposite way, which is how we think about viruses. Most people are contagious, but no so contagious that they'll pass it onto most people that they'll meet. If you meet enough people, you'll probably pass it onto one or two of them, but you're very unlikely to pass it onto the group, and you're also very unlikely to pass it onto no-one. This one is more about the extremes. Which is why people worry about pubs and stuff, even with the precautions.
 
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Wibble

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You think we should open up to virus ridden NSW?
Wouldn't that be odd. The border restrictions remain but for a different reason.

We had zero again today but eliminationseems just beyond reach. It will never happen but I wouldn't mind a 2 week extreme lock down to eliminate it from NSW.
 

mikey_d

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So my wife, son, mum, dad have all tested negative. Which I’m delighted about. But also confused. I can’t think how my son who shoves his hands in my mouth, and my wife who I share a bed with haven’t got it!
people aren't supposed to get tests just for being in contact with a positive as people are unlikely to test positive during the incubation period so they could all have it but not yet be in an infectious period
 

fergieisold

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So my wife, son, mum, dad have all tested negative. Which I’m delighted about. But also confused. I can’t think how my son who shoves his hands in my mouth, and my wife who I share a bed with haven’t got it!
Does it just come down to genetics in the end? some people just not susceptible to it? Seems to be the same with lots of illnesses. You have something really horrible, share a bed with someone and they just don't catch it. It's weird!
 

711

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Does it just come down to genetics in the end? some people just not susceptible to it? Seems to be the same with lots of illnesses. You have something really horrible, share a bed with someone and they just don't catch it. It's weird!
I think that's part of it. It's long been noted that some people with TB and Leprosy for example would not pass it on to their spouses, they seemed immune.
 

Andy_Cole

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Does it just come down to genetics in the end? some people just not susceptible to it? Seems to be the same with lots of illnesses. You have something really horrible, share a bed with someone and they just don't catch it. It's weird!
Yup bizarre! Unless I literally caught it the day I got the symptoms. Barely saw my family that day and have isolated since. I don’t know.

Or literally like you said there’s something to do with genetics. Maybe I’m genetically not a super spreader. Or the people I’ve been in contact with are more immune.
 

Adamsk7

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people aren't supposed to get tests just for being in contact with a positive as people are unlikely to test positive during the incubation period so they could all have it but not yet be in an infectious period
Exactly this! Incubation could be short or long and testing is less reliable during this period.
 

Andy_Cole

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If anyone wants my day by day diary:

Day 1 - felt a bit wiped out. Very slightly. I still went by my normal day, didn’t cross my mind I had Covid. Still gymed.
Day 2 - also the first day of lockdown. I realised I couldn’t taste my dinner. I isolated as soon as I thought I may have Covid at my parents house.
Day 3 - had my test. Feeling fine. Taste is coming back. Smell still gone.
Day 4 - tested positive, everyone I came into contact with got the test. They found out in the evening they’re all negative. Smell coming back. Breathing slightly shortened. Not sure if it’s in my head though. Smashed out the indoor cycle twice today.
Day 5 - breathing is better. Full of energy. Taste and smell back. Will smash out more indoor cycle in a bit.
 

Don't Kill Bill

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Yup bizarre! Unless I literally caught it the day I got the symptoms. Barely saw my family that day and have isolated since. I don’t know.

Or literally like you said there’s something to do with genetics. Maybe I’m genetically not a super spreader. Or the people I’ve been in contact with are more immune.
My sons wife tested negative the day he tested positive. Two days later she tested positive.

My household has been sat waiting for symptoms to start feeling we were certain to have it, having baby sat for my grandson who also had it for hours and hours earlier in that week. 12 days in and none of the four of us has any symptoms.

Its unfathomable.
 

Jippy

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A question from newbie @BFernandes:

My wife has tested positive, I tested negative, but we both have continuous cough and difficulty breathing. I have even taken 2 tests as I felt I may have either not done the test correctly or the virus hadn't yet build up in my system to a degree where it's detectable.

Is there a possibility I had covid a few weeks ago so would no longer test positive but still have the after affects of a chest infection?

Thanks
 

Berbasbullet

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So from what I’ve seen from my friends back home it’s still not been taking seriously, people walking all around town etc. Is that fair or am I being a curtain twitching grandpa?
 

Wolverine

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A question from newbie @BFernandes:
The covid swab we recommend getting first 5 days after symptoms, false negatives can happen. In the context of wife having covid I would say both have covid.
Continous cough is to be expected, so is difficulty breathing but the later is more worrying (especially if any chest pain is involved).

Main issue is how severe the breathing difficulty is, whether its got them doing less activities and how much, is the breathlessness exertional or at rest? Best thing would be to ring the GP or 111 as its Sunday and they can both have vitals checked at a covid hot hub.

If symptoms persist then both can be referred to long covid clinic as well now but might depend on local availability (most places have them)
 

Jippy

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The covid swab we recommend getting first 5 days after symptoms, false negatives can happen. In the context of wife having covid I would say both have covid.
Continous cough is to be expected, so is difficulty breathing but the later is more worrying (especially if any chest pain is involved).

Main issue is how severe the breathing difficulty is, whether its got them doing less activities and how much, is the breathlessness exertional or at rest? Best thing would be to ring the GP or 111 as its Sunday and they can both have vitals checked at a covid hot hub.

If symptoms persist then both can be referred to long covid clinic as well now but might depend on local availability (most places have them)
The breathing difficulty does not sound good. Thanks for the reply.