This is very interesting to me, and I really do want to hear your thoughts on it.
Covid testing:
At this point in time, when we have any kind of respiratory thing going on, our thoughts naturally go to: 'What if this is covid?' We think it is important to err on the side of caution. We don't isolate, like in the bad old days, but we stay away from people. Tim stays home from church. We may take a quick run to the store, but we go early in the morning, and we wear masks.
Sometimes whatever is going on is severe, or we've got some special thing going on, we'll pick up a home test. If the symptoms warrant, we go to a walk in clinic, not only to be tested, but to get a medical opinion on whether we are seriously ill or not.
It is a crazy time.
But now there is me. I have been exposed to covid. I am showing very mild symptoms. William has spent more time that usual here last week, and he is sick too. His mother took him to the clinic where they tested him. He is negative for covid, positive for the Flu-type A.
Now, I was a little surprised when some of you suggested being tested. It had not even crossed my mind because 1) I am already taking covid precautions 2) I am not really sick sick, just mildly achey, sore throat, snuffly. No fever, although sometimes I get chills at night.
My question is two fold: 'Would you test? Why?
It certainly isn't a problem to pick up a home test. We don't keep them here. Perhaps we should.
Up until now we have tested if we have an appointment to visit any healthcare facility or a person in a vulnerable category. If we feel ill and suspect Covid we would just stay home until we feel better then test before we start going out again. Almost everyone in our small circle of friends has had it now and all were only mildly ill, so we have begun to treat it just like any other type of 'flu virus. Perhaps we are wrong. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteI would want to know for a couple of reasons. 1-long covid can occur even with mild cases of covid and this could be helpful with health insurance coverage in the future, proof that you had covid, and 2-just so I can let others knows for sure if they have been exposed.
ReplyDeleteThe home tests are also not very accurate.
If it's a mild case, the symptoms are mild, I probably wouldn't bother. PS pixie is right, those tests are inaccurate. I had covid 2 months ago, the first test I swabbed my nose and got negative results. The second test I swabbed the back of my throat and got positive. Still treated it like the flu though, avoided everyone and drank lots of fluids!
ReplyDeleteA friend with a mild case like yours tested neg for the first 1-2 days, then strong and immediate positive for a full 2 weeks, to her surprise, as she had no symptoms after the first few days. She said testing helped her avoid the temptation to escape from isolation and resume normal life, even just a little bit — at the potential cost of infecting a vulnerable person.
ReplyDeleteI had COVID last summer and was glad to test and know for sure that's what it was. Right now I have a head cold. I swear it's just a head cold. And it turned into a nasty sinus infection. I got antibiotics by doing a video call with my doctor, and it is getting better every day. But all my friends keep telling me to test, so I did. Negative. Of course, it could be a false negative, but this doesn't feel like COVID. It feels like a cold. They still exist, I'm sure. Regardless of what it is, I'm staying home. And that means I'm not going to the store to buy another test.
ReplyDeleteI have never tested, my family are so good at testing and keeping a distance when they have had Covid. It seems a healthy body only gets a mild dose of the virus, or maybe it has just mutated into a mild variant, and it is up to us when ill to test and keep at home if we show symptoms.
ReplyDeleteI have never understood any of it. I know people who have been vaccinated and caught Covid and I know people who have never had the jab and they have never caught Covid.
ReplyDeleteIt's the roll of the dice. I have a friend who has refused any of the Covid or flu shots. She even went to dinner with someone who discovered that night that he had Covid. He died 3 days later. She (thankfully) has never caught anything? Testing doesn't hurt anything. I think Pixie brought up some good points. Being a nurse, I say test (I feel Clinics are more reliable than home tests) and if it's +, then I would isolate and let others know as well as informing your GP. Good luck and feel better.
ReplyDeleteParanormal John
By all means test, you were exposed to a person who had Covid, that alone would make me get tested. I would want to know if I had it so that I could isolate from other family members. In any event, I hope you don't have it and feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteI always test, a PCR if I can get one. Mainly for the reasons Pixie states. I'm also around my 90 year old mom, 2 1/2 year old grandson and pregnant daughter. I want to know if I have/had it.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't going to test but did for two reasons particular to me. One was my grandmother passed away and I wanted to see if I could safely attend her funeral, I couldn't and also in order to get the next vaccination, which hadn't yet been made available, I have to recovered from Covid for 90 days. Since I tested positive, I am ineligible to get the booster until January.
ReplyDeleteHad it not been for those reasons, I would have just assumed and moved on with my life without testing.
By the way, the person who brought home the Covid, my oldest, never did test positive and had almost no symptoms. (She complained of a sore throat for one day.) The youngest also never tested positive though we tested her after symptoms started. Both were done with the free government rapid tests we received earlier this year and not PCR tests. All three of us adults eventually tested positive. So my conclusion is that kids might not shed enough virus for the non-PCR tests to be really accurate.
DeleteI would test because I would want to know. If it turns worse and it is early days, I could get some med. from my doctor to help me recover more quickly. You can only get that in the first 5 days of symptoms onset. Also, if people aren't letting their doctors know, how will we track if cases are ramping up again. If no one reports, everyone thinks it has gone away and stop taking precautions but I know a lot of people that are getting sick now.
ReplyDeleteWe have a few RAT kits as we call them to the hand and I've used two over a couple of years and my partner three. We tested negative. I would just want to know. Up until this year it was a criminal offence to leave your home for other than medical treatment, so you had to have a reasonable supply of test kits on hand, or at least have someone who could leave them at your door. You will want to know as soon as you are clear so you can resume normal life. We have been very cautious but perhaps it has just been luck that we haven't caught Covid...yet.
ReplyDeleteI have several home covid tests. To protect myself and have the knowledge of what's happening with my symptoms, I test myself. I've not been positive. (But I've gotten all the shots but last one, because:) when my symptoms and coughing worsened, the doc did 4 tests with one swab: I was positive for Type A flu. Probably got it from my home health patient's 3 year-old-cousin who coughed and hacked for the same 3 days I worked in the home. My asthma flares horribly if I get a bad cold, flu and had to be hospitalized for acute bronchitis for 3 days back in 2015. I would have gone to a friend's husband's funeral, but did not, so that I didn't make others sick, even though I'd been on antibiotics for 24 hours.
ReplyDeleteKnowing if you're sick, and with what, is important to protect yourselves, the people living under your roof, other relatives and friends coming and going. If your symptoms worsen, the docs can treat you more accurately. Some folks need Tamiflu if you test soon enough after symptoms. Covid still has it's med to diminish symptoms. Older folks are still getting hospitalized and the death rate is still high.
Even wearing a mask at my nurse job didn't prevent my catching the kid's flu. Still on antibiotics with far less coughing 16 days later.
A home test initially, is much easier than having to go to a clinic, and safer for all. Linda in Kansas
As we don't know for sure the long term effects of Covid I think it's wise to test. Hubby tested positive when I was sick with it but he had no symptoms. He does, however, show signs of long Covid.
ReplyDeleteMy concern at the emphasis on Covid being the baddy is that flus and RSVs and other viruses can cause serious illness as well but if it's not Covid it doesn't matter is often the refrain.
well, people can do what they want. If they want to run for a test every time they get a sniffle that's alright. However, I don't do that. I've had my five covid shots and flu shot.
ReplyDeleteI would test bc, unless you have been with absolutely no one, it would be good for others to know if they've been exposed bc you never know who will get it bad.
ReplyDeleteSomething that you might not realize is that our extended families, both Tim's and mine, are pretty much all antivaxxers and antimaskers. My kids and Tim and I are pretty much the only ones that I know of that got the vaccine.
ReplyDeletePerhaps that gives me a false sense of security. I have less chance of giving it to them than getting it from them.
I want to thank you all for your opinions. Tim and I talked it over. We got four test kits just to have on hand for when the situation comes up again.
I would test just because symptoms can sometimes worsen quickly. If you have tested positive, and things suddenly go south, you can already your plan in place to seek medical attention and get paxlovid in time for it to do you some good.
ReplyDeleteI test because I am going to visit my parents, and I don't want to be bringing them that present. I also don't want to take it into my workplace. When my 12yo got it, we tested as a joke because all she had done was sneeze - RAT test, straight to positive. We didn't get it and her symptoms were very mild. A lady I know online (through blogging) has just been widowed for a second time as her husband died from things resultant from his covid infection 20 months prior.
ReplyDeleteWe still have a couple of boxes of tests left over from our school's distribution of tests just after the lockdowns. So yeah, if I'm not feeling right I'll take a test, but more because I have the tests at hand. If I had to go out and get one I might just avoid people and wait for my symptoms to pass.
ReplyDelete