Covid-19

[Pippedydeadeye]

Did you think you'd possibly had it, Pip?

Absolutely not at the times I actually felt ill. I had what I thought was a fairly bad cold in late Jan (documented on here), and lost my sense of smell in March (before that was recognised as a symptom & felt completely well otherwise). So in hindsight I was pretty sure, but at the time I didn’t think so.

[Pippedydeadeye]

Also! Remember when we all used to get that church photo of ParisGal’s?

[Ella77]

Yes! So weird though.

[Disco]

Absolutely what Sally said by the way.

It's interesting/ weird, isn't it. Did your family members have the same kind of ailments at the time? When I was ill Monk got nothing. I was coughing my guts up for weeks, was breathless/ shallow breathing yet he didn't have any symptoms of whatever was ailing me at all.

[Loralei]

I do feel oddly vindicated. Not more relaxed, because we absolutely shouldn’t be, but I feel happy knowing I’m possibly less likely to die. Though goodness only knows how many people I infected whenever I did have it. Let’s hope it wasn’t many, and I won’t have to answer for that at the Pearly Gates.

No beating yourself up about it If you weren't tested for it back then, and the advice was only to self isolate if you'd been abroad then what else could you do? It's easy to think in hindsight that you'd do things differently but unless you had had a positive result and then went round licking folk, you have nothing to feel guilty about!

Exactly this. J brought up the cinema trip my sister and I decided to cancel a couple of weeks before lockdown and I pointed out to him he'd been furious as the advice at that point was to carry on as usual unless you'd come back from some specific places. We felt as if we were massively overreacting at the time (but still not comfortable sitting in a cinema for 2hrs+), so there's no way employers would have countenanced self isolating against advice, even if you had an inkling.

[Pippedydeadeye]

C got really ill if it was late Jan/early Feb. The kids were both fine as I recall. They’re both incredibly hale & hearty most of the time anyway, they very rarely get ill.

[Disco]

Presumably then they all probably had it too. If it's as infectious as it's supposed to be.

[Luce]

I saw a doctor at the end of Feb/March ish, I think and he actually laughed when I asked if it might be Covid and did that sigh thing and asked if I'd been in any of the specific countries. To be fair to him, he could have been absolutely right and it could have just been a cold (I was seeing the doctor for something else and just mentioned the mild symptoms I had) rather than anything so who knows. Loads of other bugs would have been going around. The boys' symptoms (cough, temperature) didn't start till the 13th March when we self-isolated. Which felt ridiculous and a bit extra. T has had no symptoms whatsoever but he very rarely gets ill.

I'd wholeheartedly agree about not beating yourself up. Were you supposed to have magical hindsight despite what we were being told? I know it doesn't give you magical protection but its still really good that if it was so mild before it might be even more mild next time.

[emma_p]

Ooh, I’ve been offered a test via the symptom app. I’ve had no symptoms since I downloaded the app apart from very dry lips which seems to have triggered it!

[Ella77]

Very dry lips is a symptom now? I’ve had that for 3 months . (You’ve probably had it, haven’t you? Will it be the sort of test that can tell you that?)

[Topcat]

I've spoken with two healthcare clients today, one GP and one quite a long way up in a very large pharmaceutical company, and both have independently said that the NHS are bracing themselves for a crisis in November at the moment.

It'll be interesting to see if those Nightingale Hospitals slowly reappear in the coming months.

I'm also sad, everyone (not just here) is so beaten down by these lying cunts in charge that his attack on care homes hasn't really even resonated anywhere.

[emma_p]

I do think we had it right after lockdown. I had weird eyes and was slightly breathless for a few weeks after which were not symptoms shared by anyone else in the family. They had the class is temp, cough, loss of smell and taste.

It’s not the antibody test no. So I feel it’s unlikely to be a positive test based on dry lips but I will jab myself in the tonsils in the interest of science!

[Little My]

I've spoken with two healthcare clients today, one GP and one quite a long way up in a very large pharmaceutical company, and both have independently said that the NHS are bracing themselves for a crisis in November at the moment.

The school boards here have been asked to get the kids back to school a week early so that they can have more instructional time before November, just in case..

[Ella77]

Good luck, emma.

Oh, man, November. This is all a terrible dream.

[Luce]

I've been bracing myself to go in and out of lockdown, that seemed like a good thing right at the beginning of this. We'd go in and out until a vaccine/it runs its course. But it feels so shit. It also feels like the only alternative to that is a permanent lock down for a year from March 2020 to March 2021. That doesn't seem any more palatable (and is obviously too late for that now, anyway). Even though pubs are stupidly open, the world is still a very different place to when this started (most still working from home, constant monitoring, testing, hand washing, infection control everywhere etc) and I am just hoping there are enough mitigating factors that will do enough damage limitation.

[Mountain Goat]

Part of me is tempted to actually do some stuff now while it's relatively safe, before autumn hits.

The attack on care homes is so beyond disgusting. I am seeing a lot of fury about it but that shithead does something vile so often it'll be forgotten in a day or two, except some people will retain the idea that care homes are to blame, without recalling quite why they think that.

[Pippedydeadeye]

And that’s exactly what he wants.

[Mountain Goat]

Yep.

[Ruby]

Ooh, I’ve been offered a test via the symptom app. I’ve had no symptoms since I downloaded the app apart from very dry lips which seems to have triggered it!

I was offered a test as well, for having digestive issues, but they are just testing their algorithm rather than thinking you might have it. Does that make sense? I seem to have lost the ability to communicate.

I've been bracing myself to go in and out of lockdown,

Same. I think that might happen. We have been told schools have to open for all pupils in September but we are also buying-in stuff and doing training in case we need to switch to blended or remote learning.

[Luce]

I'm railing against it because its all so shit but I'm also left wondering what the alternative even is? There is the going into lockdown earlier and testing better but those things didn't happen properly. Jury still seems to be out as to whether that would have just delayed in the inevitable, anyway. There is going into lockdown and properly staying in it. But I don't think we could handle the amount of time that would be needed for that to be effective without it then causing more problems/deaths that the Covid it was trying to avoid. I'm not sure doing proper lock down for just a few more weeks or months would have cut it. So is in-and-out our only option? I feel I could just get on with it more if it was.