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

[Sarni]

A practical question. We are COVID positive currently but have not done an official test as we do not want to be forced to take sick leave at work, so we are just self isolating until we return negative in rapid tests.

However, in a months time we are flying out to US who are requiring us to test before our flights. We are free to choose which tests we take - it can be rapid antigen, RT-PCR, RT-LAMP, basically anything.

Apparently it's quite common to test positive a month after infection, however it varies within each test. Can someone with knowledge advise us on whether it's safe to assume we are going to test negative next month on antigen/PCR/whichever? We really wouldn't want to go into 'official' quarantine right now as it's a complete clusterfeck with work or even walking the dog, and we won't be infecting anyone as we are not leaving home (except dog walks) until we are clear.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

A practical question. We are COVID positive currently but have not done an official test as we do not want to be forced to take sick leave at work, so we are just self isolating until we return negative in rapid tests.

However, in a months time we are flying out to US who are requiring us to test before our flights. We are free to choose which tests we take - it can be rapid antigen, RT-PCR, RT-LAMP, basically anything.

Apparently it's quite common to test positive a month after infection, however it varies within each test. Can someone with knowledge advise us on whether it's safe to assume we are going to test negative next month on antigen/PCR/whichever? We really wouldn't want to go into 'official' quarantine right now as it's a complete clusterfeck with work or even walking the dog, and we won't be infecting anyone as we are not leaving home (except dog walks) until we are clear.

My understanding is that PCR more likely to test positive for a very long time after recovery. So go with the antigen test. Plus you can do some trial tests with an antigen test at home first before getting the official one. Can’t do that with PCR obviously.

 

[Sarni]

My understanding is that PCR more likely to test positive for a very long time after recovery. So go with the antigen test. Plus you can do some trial tests with an antigen test at home first before getting the official one. Can’t do that with PCR obviously.

Makes sense. So probably the safest one for us is to do antigen in 7-10 days, if it comes out positive we will have to get an approved PCR and will be cleared as recovered patients within another 7-10 days, so will still be able to travel (without getting tested). As I said, clusterfeck but may be manageable. Just don't get a PCR.

 

[mitChley]

Tested positive this morning. Wife works in a hospital so has had to go and do a PCR and assuming its negative I'll be hiding upstairs in my office and a sleeping bag for the next 5ish days!

PCR now positive too, slamming headache, cough and weirdly enough, super hot ears.

 

[Andy_Cole]

A practical question. We are COVID positive currently but have not done an official test as we do not want to be forced to take sick leave at work, so we are just self isolating until we return negative in rapid tests.

However, in a months time we are flying out to US who are requiring us to test before our flights. We are free to choose which tests we take - it can be rapid antigen, RT-PCR, RT-LAMP, basically anything.

Apparently it's quite common to test positive a month after infection, however it varies within each test. Can someone with knowledge advise us on whether it's safe to assume we are going to test negative next month on antigen/PCR/whichever? We really wouldn't want to go into 'official' quarantine right now as it's a complete clusterfeck with work or even walking the dog, and we won't be infecting anyone as we are not leaving home (except dog walks) until we are clear.

Just do an LTF. The systems a joke anyway. It’s an at home test and you could get anyone to take one.

 

[Sarni]

Just do an LTF. The systems a joke anyway. It’s an at home test and you could get anyone to take one.

Not sure if they offer them online in Poland but will try. There is basically no way we will be reinfected after a month anyway so the only risk is a false positive/residual RNA.

 

[King Eric 7]

Is there anyone with young kids who is choosing not to vaccinate them? Mine are both under 12 and have had both Delta and Omicron. Everything I've read and heard suggests that natural immunity offers better protection than the vaccines and I'm reluctant to get them jabbed for the sake of it.

 

[Wibble]

Is there anyone with young kids who is choosing not to vaccinate them? Mine are both under 12 and have had both Delta and Omicron. Everything I've read and heard suggests that natural immunity offers better protection than the vaccines and I'm reluctant to get them jabbed for the sake of it.

Double vaxxed plus infection seems to give about the same protection asxtriple vaxxed in all.age groups.

Vaccination on its own, in the 5-11 age groups, only reduces infections for about a month but still shows very good results in reducing hospitalisations, which are already low but very far from nil.

 

[Pexbo]

Is there anyone with young kids who is choosing not to vaccinate them? Mine are both under 12 and have had both Delta and Omicron. Everything I've read and heard suggests that natural immunity offers better protection than the vaccines and I'm reluctant to get them jabbed for the sake of it.

Everything you’ve read and heard is wrong. The mRNA vaccines give much better and longer lasting protection than COVID infection although vaccine plus infection is even better again.

EDIT - Sorry missed the U-12 context. The above applies for adults.

 

[King Eric 7]

@Wibble you compared double vaxxed + infection with triple vaxxed, but what about unvaxxed + infection versus triple vaxxed? I'm sure I saw graphs showing no discernable difference.

@Pexbo I will have to dig out my sources so they can be critiqued here but I was under the impression that natural infection provided the same sort of protection against severe disease as triple vaxxed in both adults and children.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Is there anyone with young kids who is choosing not to vaccinate them? Mine are both under 12 and have had both Delta and Omicron. Everything I've read and heard suggests that natural immunity offers better protection than the vaccines and I'm reluctant to get them jabbed for the sake of it.

I was a bit wary but changed my mind over the last week. My wife and I are recently boosted. My 13 year old son was double vaxxed but due a booster about now. My 11 year old daughter has had one vaccine dose and was due her second dose a fortnight ago but missed it because we were on holiday. The whole family caught covid this week. My wife and I had mild sniffles. The kids were absolutely fecking miserable. Very high fevers, incredibly sore throat, hacking cough. Bearing in mind adults are supposed to get much worse symptoms than kids this brought home how much a full vaccination course takes the edge off the illness. And that’s with “mild” omicron. Things could get a lot worse if a nastier variant comes round soon.

Obviously, if your kids only had mild symptoms then that changes things. They might be naturally fairly resistant. But I felt bad seeing my kids suffering like they did and will 100% be getting them boosted asap.

 

[berbatrick]

A practical question. We are COVID positive currently but have not done an official test as we do not want to be forced to take sick leave at work, so we are just self isolating until we return negative in rapid tests.

However, in a months time we are flying out to US who are requiring us to test before our flights. We are free to choose which tests we take - it can be rapid antigen, RT-PCR, RT-LAMP, basically anything.

Apparently it's quite common to test positive a month after infection, however it varies within each test. Can someone with knowledge advise us on whether it's safe to assume we are going to test negative next month on antigen/PCR/whichever? We really wouldn't want to go into 'official' quarantine right now as it's a complete clusterfeck with work or even walking the dog, and we won't be infecting anyone as we are not leaving home (except dog walks) until we are clear.

Don't have a direct answer to your question, but - my parents recently flew to the US. Both were negative, but more importantly, the only people who verified the negative tests were the airline (at the time of checking in)- US immigration/customs didn't even look at the form or vaccinations or anything.

 

[King Eric 7]

I was a bit wary but changed my mind over the last week. My wife and I are recently boosted. My 13 year old son was double vaxxed but due a booster about now. My 11 year old daughter has had one vaccine dose and was due her second dose a fortnight ago but missed it because we were on holiday. The whole family caught covid this week. My wife and I had mild sniffles. The kids were absolutely fecking miserable. Very high fevers, incredibly sore throat, hacking cough. Bearing in mind adults are supposed to get much worse symptoms than kids this brought home how much a full vaccination course takes the edge off the illness. And that’s with “mild” omicron. Things could get a lot worse if a nastier variant comes round soon.

Obviously, if your kids only had mild symptoms then that changes things. They might be naturally fairly resistant. But I felt bad seeing my kids suffering like they did and will 100% be getting them boosted asap.

MIne had high temperatures with Delta and in particular my eight year old son's temperature took ages to come down. Me and the Mrs were equally as ill (double jabbed by then) but with no high temps. Omicron was a lot milder for them and by then me and the Mrs were recently boosted and neither of us caught Omicron.

I'm on the fence at the moment. At seems like one miniscule risk (bad reaction to vaccine) versus another miniscule risk (severe disease from covid). I guess there's also long covid to take into account. Aarrgghh!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

MIne had high temperatures with Delta and in particular my eight year old son's temperature took ages to come down. Me and the Mrs were equally as ill (double jabbed by then) but with no high temps. Omicron was a lot milder for them and by then me and the Mrs were recently boosted and neither of us caught Omicron.

I'm on the fence at the moment. At seems like one miniscule risk (bad reaction to vaccine) versus another miniscule risk (severe disease from covid). I guess there's also long covid to take into account. Aarrgghh!

If they’ve both had it twice already and didn’t get sick with their second bout I think you could definitely justify not getting them vaccinated.

Having said that, if I was you, I would probably get them jabbed about 6 months after their last illness, just to give a wee boost. Especially if there are nasty variants doing the rounds. I’m generally quick to get my kids vaccinated. I give them the flu jab every year, even though it’s not really necessary.

Don’t get too worried about long covid, by the way. Some people have had bad long term reactions to viruses since forever and that risk never kept parents up at night before so it shouldn’t now.

 

[King Eric 7]

If they’ve both had it twice already and didn’t get sick with their second bout I think you could definitely justify not getting them vaccinated.

Having said that, if I was you, I would probably get them jabbed about 6 months after their last illness, just to give a wee boost. Especially if there are nasty variants doing the rounds. I’m generally quick to get my kids vaccinated. I give them the flu jab every year, even though it’s not really necessary.

Don’t get too worried about long covid, by the way. Some people have had bad long term reactions to viruses since forever and that risk never kept parents up at night before so it shouldn’t now.

Here in England the kids get the flu jab at school, so my son gets one yearly too. We also took him for private jabs for things like chicken pox.

It's so easy to overthink things when it comes to your children! I never hesitated to get jabbed myself - it was a no brainer! Will definitely be keeping an open mind about this one but hesitant, for now.

 

[Stanley Road]

Double vaxxed plus infection seems to give about the same protection asxtriple vaxxed in all.age groups.

Vaccination on its own, in the 5-11 age groups, only reduces infections for about a month but still shows very good results in reducing hospitalisations, which are already low but very far from nil.

My neighbour is double vaxxed and double infected, just getting over the 2nd infection. She must have total immunity to......error..... fukk all basically

 

[Wibble]

My neighbour is double vaxxed and double infected, just getting over the 2nd infection. She must have total immunity to......error..... fukk all basically

She will have a reduced chance of infection and a much reduced chance of hospitalisation.

 

[Stanley Road]

She will have a reduced chance of infection and a much reduced chance of hospitalisation.

Yeah but she will get it again

 

[Wibble]

Here in England the kids get the flu jab at school, so my son gets one yearly too. We also took him for private jabs for things like chicken pox.

It's so easy to overthink things when it comes to your children! I never hesitated to get jabbed myself - it was a no brainer! Will definitely be keeping an open mind about this one but hesitant, for now.

We have high rates of vaccination in the 5-11 and 11-16 age groups with no reports of any serious side effects. So it looks like the various covid vaccines are proving safer than many of the ones you have already given your kids.

 

[Wibble]

Yeah but she will get it again

She may. We all might. But we with a massively reduced chance of serious illness or death if vaxxed/triple vaxxed.

 

[Traub]

Definitely don’t wait. Omicron peaked in Europe last month but we’re heading into another huge wave with a new variant of omicron (BA2) which could well hit you guys in the next few weeks.

Thanks, got my pfizer booster this morning.

 

[tombombadil]

A good intro to long covid

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

A good intro to long covid

Had a lady come to see me last week angry that I couldn’t help with her long-COVID symptoms. Already referred and seen by the long-COVID clinic, but still astonished that there wasn’t a medicine to help with her cognitive change and on-going fatigue since her COVID illness.

It’s a tough one to actually manage in a surgery. Because there is literally nothing we can do apart from refer to the clinic and just say that hopefully time will make things better. I think some people think there should be a magic pill to cure all ailments.

 

[Solius]

I go on one stag weekend and I catch it. Two years of dodging it ffs.

Had a dry throat last night and then today I’ve got a headache, dry cough and shivers that come and go. Line was pretty thick.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Had a lady come to see me last week angry that I couldn’t help with her long-COVID symptoms. Already referred and seen by the long-COVID clinic, but still astonished that there wasn’t a medicine to help with her cognitive change and on-going fatigue since her COVID illness.

It’s a tough one to actually manage in a surgery. Because there is literally nothing we can do apart from refer to the clinic and just say that hopefully time will make things better. I think some people think there should be a magic pill to cure all ailments.

Controversial take but I think one of the most effective ways to cut down the number of long covid cases would be if everyone stopped banging on about long covid.

 

[FC Ronaldo]

I go on one stag weekend and I catch it. Two years of dodging it ffs.

Had a dry throat last night and then today I’ve got a headache, dry cough and shivers that come and go. Line was pretty thick.

Same symptoms this end. Think there’s 4 or 5 of us here that have caught it in last few days having dodged it entirely so far. Took my mask off 4 times indoors in Cornwall, all while eating. That was enough.

Mine has been relatively mild with a noticeable decline when paracetamols wear off so I’m basically living my time in 4 hour cycles for the foreseeable future. Hope yours is light case too.

 

[Solius]

Same symptoms this end. Think there’s 4 or 5 of us here that have caught it in last few days having dodged it entirely so far. Took my mask off 4 times indoors in Cornwall, all while eating. That was enough.

Mine has been relatively mild with a noticeable decline when paracetamols wear off so I’m basically living my time in 4 hour cycles for the foreseeable future. Hope yours is light case too.

Cheers mate. Yeah my head is not great but I don’t think I need paracetamol yet. Got loads ready in case though.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Controversial take but I think one of the most effective ways to cut down the number of long covid cases would be if everyone stopped banging on about long covid.

Probably, but it’s a label isn’t it. People want a reason as to why they are feeling the way they feel. There are plenty of diagnoses we make that I’m sure not all of us feel truly exist but it gives patients closure. I won’t name what I’m referring to in case there’s someone here given the condition.

 

[mitChley]

Same symptoms this end. Think there’s 4 or 5 of us here that have caught it in last few days having dodged it entirely so far. Took my mask off 4 times indoors in Cornwall, all while eating. That was enough.

Mine has been relatively mild with a noticeable decline when paracetamols wear off so I’m basically living my time in 4 hour cycles for the foreseeable future. Hope yours is light case too.

Paracetamol pretty much shifts all mine apart from the damn blocked nose!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Probably, but it’s a label isn’t it. People want a reason as to why they are feeling the way they feel. There are plenty of diagnoses we make that I’m sure not all of us feel truly exist but it gives patients closure. I won’t name what I’m referring to in case there’s someone here given the condition.

Yeah, sure. Fair enough. I’m not denying its existence. But there’s a cohort of influential medics online drumming up an absolute hysteria about long covid, when post viral malaise has been known about forever and isn’t a big deal (for the vast majority of people). With the big psychological element in the prognosis I don’t think it’s helpful to prime everyone for a bad outcome the way they’re doing.

 

[phelans shorts]

I go on one stag weekend and I catch it. Two years of dodging it ffs.

Had a dry throat last night and then today I’ve got a headache, dry cough and shivers that come and go. Line was pretty thick.

I’m down with it at the moment too. I tested positive with no symptoms on Sunday, by Monday had the symptoms you describe then Tuesday it had improved to just headaches, Wednesday just aches and at this point I just have an incredibly raspy voice and occasional coughing but feel absolutely fine.

 

[Bebe]

Controversial take but I think one of the most effective ways to cut down the number of long covid cases would be if everyone stopped banging on about long covid.

I agree with you.

 

[Solius]

I’m down with it at the moment too. I tested positive with no symptoms on Sunday, by Monday had the symptoms you describe then Tuesday it had improved to just headaches, Wednesday just aches and at this point I just have an incredibly raspy voice and occasional coughing but feel absolutely fine.

Hoping for the same! Luckily I can smell the dinner currently being cooked so I still have my senses. We’ve separated the house as my gf is still negative. I’ve somehow landed the living room and the main bedroom.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Yeah, sure. Fair enough. I’m not denying its existence. But there’s a cohort of influential medics online drumming up an absolute hysteria about long covid, when post viral malaise has been known about forever and isn’t a big deal (for the vast majority of people). With the big psychological element in the prognosis I don’t think it’s helpful to prime everyone for a bad outcome the way they’re doing.

100%, and granted I’ve only been working as a doctor for 5-6 years - but I wouldn’t have known “post-viral” malaise/fatigue to last >4months. At least it wasn’t crammed into us at Med-school.

 

[utdalltheway]

Don't have a direct answer to your question, but - my parents recently flew to the US. Both were negative, but more importantly, the only people who verified the negative tests were the airline (at the time of checking in)- US immigration/customs didn't even look at the form or vaccinations or anything.

Correct, they rely on the airlines to do the check that you’re negative within the last 24 hours. Makes sense.
I just came back from Ireland on Tuesday and had to take an antigen test at a local pharmacy there on Monday. The airline checked it at check in.
There’s also an attestation form the airline collects as you get ready to get your boarding pass checked, at the gate.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Line was pretty thick.

That takes me back

 

[Wibble]

Controversial take but I think one of the most effective ways to cut down the number of long covid cases would be if everyone stopped banging on about long covid.

On the other hand there are lots of people with long term symptoms and we also already have a habit of largely ignoring people with long term symptoms from other viral infections.

 

[Dumbstar]

On the other hand there are lots of people with long term symptoms and we also already have a habit of largely ignoring people with long term symptoms from other viral infections.

Seriously. It's like we as a species are enjoying our demise into full on ignorance.

 

[The Cat]

That takes me back

*Snort*

 

[Amar__]

I go on one stag weekend and I catch it. Two years of dodging it ffs.

Had a dry throat last night and then today I’ve got a headache, dry cough and shivers that come and go. Line was pretty thick.

Are you still talking about the stag?