UKC

....and how likely is it that I have and just not known?

My bro had it, my badminton chums (the relevancebeing we'rein close proximity for a good hour a week) , best mate, daughter (she was away), there's loads of it - anecdotally - local to me.

My wife and 12 year old daughter have apparently so far got off without a sniffle yet it feels everywhere. Im 46, spouse is a bit older, fully jabbed etc. We've been careful but not hermits.

Is there a gurantee that we will?

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I’ve not had it, and I spend lots of time with high risk groups. My daughter tested positive the Saturday before Xmas. We picked her up from London following Monday, double masked, drove back to Wigan. She tested negative Monday evening, Wednesday and Thursday morning so “released” her.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Many asymptomatic people won't know and many who believe current published government symptoms, that only properly applied pre alpha variant (omicron infection can be very similar to cold symptoms and estimates have been made that as high as 3/4 of colds in high infection areas might be omicron). Back in my nice majority middle class friend and family group a big majority haven't (knowingly) had covid and of those that have most caught it from their kids.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I may have had it Feb 2020, but no way of knowing if it was. Other than that, not knowingly had it and I spent the early part of the first lockdown in an elderly care home where we cared for people who did have Covid.

The care home I have been in since then has had none at all and we test regularly enough that I am pretty certain I haven't had it in that time. 

I am super careful due to my regular proximity to vulnerable people. 

In reply to Offwidth:

Interesting. Ive not had so much as a cold for yonks. The last time I had anything was flu proper a few years ago. Hit me hard for two weeks followed by a 2 month chest infection. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I haven't according to all the tests I've done. That is, LFT twice a week since last Easter plus a few PCR, having been to France three times since August. 

I am triple jabbed and so is my wife, but I have also worked in close proximity to lots of unmasked young people. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I don't -think- anyone in my household has had it  (nor my mother, my father and his partner, or my brother and his family, for that matter).

It isn't possible to be sure, of course, but it's likely that if we had it that at least one of the four of us would have had significant symptoms, and both my wife and my eldest daughter have been doing two lateral flow tests per week (and all of us have when we've had any significant symptoms), so I'd expect something to have showed up if we had it.

I think there are still quite a lot of people who haven't had it - the amount of fuss around it makes positive cases very visible, and I think can often give the impression that there's more about than there is; the amount of attention being given to covid is also definitely making people suspect they've had it when they haven't - it feels like about half of people think they had it in January-March 2020, when in reality only a very small fraction of people did.

I think this January may actually see most of us catching omicron, though, this time's a bit different (and maybe London's already there). Hopefully it won't hospitalise anything like as many people as the previous variants did - there's a huge gamble being taken, though it looks like it just might pay off.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

AFAIK... I haven't had COVID despite lots of people I mix with, including a daughter, getting it. I did an antibody test about a year ago (negative) but none since. So it's possible I had it asymptomatically... But AFAIK, not yet ..

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

We haven't had it nor any of our close and extensive family, we regularly test especially lately as we both have the most dreadful cold symptoms, sore throat/cough etc. Neighbours with school age kids have all had it recently, but recovered.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Not yet, but we are increasingly surrounded by those who have. My wife's family have members who have contracted it this week and severak close friends have now had it. Hardly any have been hospitalised though

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I've never had any symptoms and never tested positive. It would amaze me if I hadn't had it in the first wave though, I was stuck in the back of ambulances with seriously ill covid patients a few times, but that was before we were issued with LFTs to test ourselves regularly, we only went for testing then if we showed symptoms.

I sometimes feel like the only person in the NHS who hasn't had a single day off, as right from the start I've never had symptoms, never tested positive, and never been living with anyone who was positive or had symptoms!!

In reply to gld73:

I'm sure I speak for the UKC massive, and I include other known NHS, care workers and other frontliners in this too, kudos x1000 and thank you.

I hope you get a well earned break in 22.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I'm fairly sure I haven't had it, would need to have been early on and completely asymptomatic. By far the riskiest thing I've done is be in school one or two days a week when they have been fully open. At those times I have been taking 3/4 LFT's a week. Wanted to visit my 92 year old auntie over Xmas so didn't go into school during the last week. Frustratingly now is the first time in two years I've not felt 100%, but it's no more than a mild cold. Most of my family have had a "relaxed" approach to restrictions, three brothers and families were at mum's for Christmas (from Chepstow, Uganda and Venice) I met them for a walk on boxing day but now regret going in for a cup of tea but glad I sat by an open window. 13 out of  15 have now tested positive, fortunately no one seems seriously ill. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I just don't know.  I've had what has felt like a really bad cold a couple of times in the past year (sore throat, aches, lungs full of cotton wool) but tests have come back negative..

So officially not, I suppose.  And I've not had anything that's actually laid me out or caused me a hospital visit.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Not knowingly, not yet.

Many many situations dealing with covid +ve patients or we've found out they're +ve later on after dealing with another issue but somehow I seem to have avoided the 'rona.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I'd second that.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Nope, but I’m pretty sure I had it in Jan/Feb 2020 after a ski trip but no way of confirming that.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

12.7M  or about 20% of the population have had a positive test result. How about 40-60% have been infected and 60-40% have yet to be infected?

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers: Working as a home shopping delivery driver throughout, I have delivered to dozens of homes where people have been isolating with Covid. Other than standing apart, wearing a mask and hand san after each drop it’s been business as usual.  As I feature in the high risk group of people I have been concerned about staying safe but after 3 jabs and no issues I’m starting to feel a bit like I’m going to be one of the asymptomatic folk. Or maybe it’s been I’ve been lucky. Oh and wife works in retail and has done throughout, she spent 30yrs in nursery education so has been exposed to every childhood illness going and appears immune to everything. 

In reply to didntcomelast:

Thank you again

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I had something in April 2020 (rash and a day in bed with a vestibular problem) which may have been very mild Covid. Or may not. Who knows, there was no testing then. But I've had nothing since, not even a cold. Counting myself lucky, and touching wood...

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Me. Work in a warehouse part time where you would think it would be rife. It isn't. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Since I retired from teaching I've never had so much as a cold or sniffle. However I was very tempted by the HMG's offer to get back into the classroom. However, can't say I'm looking forward to it as I'm in a vulnerable group, and the under 18s the most infected group!

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I haven't had it as a confirmed case, it's possible I had it in April 2020, when my housemate lost all sense of smell and taste for a couple of weeks and I got flu like symptoms at the same time. At the time the loss of smell and taste were not considered to be COVID symptoms so they didn't test him. I have had plenty of bouts of what feels like a cold before and after Omicron kicked in but at no point have I tested LFT-positive, so who knows.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I really ought to have had it as I've been commuting to London throughout apart from March to July 2020 and Jan to March 2021. I guess I may have had it asymptomatically. 

A major change is that I no longer use the tube - I leap on to a boris bike at the station instead - if I haven't had covid that may be why, and in any event it has been a huge improvement in quality of life.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Not had it AFAIK, and hopefully will remain that way. I’m on the cautious side anyway so stay away higher risk situations and therefore not necessarily representative.

However, no one in circle of climbing and biking folk have had it either (despite some in higher risk jobs/situations) though I have a few friends and neighbours who have had it, generally mild, though there is one lady in the estate who has had long covid since early last year. Not able to walk her dog even yet.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers: You’re more than welcome. I like to think that most people in one way or another have helped people, whether that’s by nursing the ill, protecting the vulnerable or just supporting friends and family with kind words and gestures. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Nobody in my household has had it.  Mr S is a teacher, I’ve been working in an office in close proximity to other people (apart from 6weeks of furlough in April 2020), and three teenagers with the usual set of school/college, part-time jobs, contact sports and social lives.  

Eldest daughter has been in student halls since Sept and miraculously none of her flat mates had it whilst at college.  They all headed home for Xmas and many of them seem to now be infected.  She reckons she will catch it pretty much immediately on her return (she’s double vaxxed and boostered and tbh it’s probably better she gets it sooner rather than later as she’s a student nurse and due to go on placement in Feb).

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I'm a teacher so my immune system has balls of steel. All my pupils have had it and my wife and kids have had it, so I can only assume that I've had it as well but didn't notice.

Famous last words probably.

Not yet though we have avoided crowds throughout. It seems an inevitability though. Maybe exposure is preferable sooner rather than later while the booster is still  'fresh'?

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I don't believe I've had it - at least so far.

Double-jabbed, Boosted (and the flu jab for the first time as well !).

At work we have the windows open - can be bloody cold - and are well separated, plus masks worn as soon as you step away from your own desk. Two lateral flow tests a week as well in order to be let in.

Then again, I'm not exactly someone who goes out partying, and going for a motorcycle ride must be one of the safest (as regards Covid) activities around - alone and wearing what almost amounts to a hazmat suit.

Mind you, going to the supermarket (etc.) with a motorcycle helmet on - a la Darth Vader - does help to prevent infection, and strangely the security people haven't attempted to get me to remove it.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I've not officially had it, but I lost my sense of taste for ten minutes while cooking pasta and feeling 'virally' for ten weeks, and was feverish for ten weeks just before covid erupted (and apparently my 20mins of coughing one night qualified for 'the cough', which was a surprise). 

I haven't definitely had it, but I might have done.  

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Has you asked this 1 week ago my answer would be very different. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

God knows how but I've avoided Covid. Although I've had two regular colds this autumn and winter. Been testing all the time and never symptomatic. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Not had it as far I know.

I work on an ambulance so have been in contact with many covid pts, including for some fairly messy procedures. It would appear the precautions work, of my coworkers that have had it they all caught it at home and not on the job.

I also train jiu jitsu which is about as close as you can get to another body. Not caught it there despite a few teammates testing positive and some of them being unvaccinated. Regardless of politics, people have been good about being upfront if they catch it and not training sick. I have dipped a few sessions for this reason.

In reply to Deleated bagger:

Mine and the Mrs LF tests were negative too and the symptoms were just that of a heavy cold.

PCR told a different story though. 

In reply to Dax H:

Just had my PCR back, negative.

So for our family the 3 of us covid free all had negative LFT's. Of the 13 with covid 11 had positive LFT's first. The ones who tested positive on boxing day are now negative on LFT's so hopefully it won't be too long before they can fly home 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Not had it. My wife hasn’t had it either 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I've not, I'm presuming the vaccine works but maybe I had it a while ago.  My 3 year old son had it in October and coughed in my face for 48 hours solid but a pcr test and several lateral flow tests all came back negative for me and my wife.  I shared a car with my brother for two hours a couple of weeks ago and he tested positive the next day but again I just kept testing negative. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I don't think I've had it - I went on a trip to London in the February half term of 2020 and had a week feeling grotty (but not enough to not go to work) and a cough that hung around after that, so there's a very slim chance that I had back then when very little was known about it, but it seems unlikely.

I'm a teacher and loads of kids I teach each week, often a number of times a week, have had it. So have many colleagues, so I'm quite surprised I've managed to dodge it this far. Us teachers in England at least have been doing LFTs twice weekly since going back into classrooms last March at the end of the third lockdown. Loads of reasons why it seems logical that teacher should catch it: we had worked through the November lock down of 2020; it has always been difficult to ventilate classrooms well, particularly during colder months; and kids were only required to wear masks in classrooms for a very short period of time (for a few weeks after the 2021 lockdown). As soon as the law changed, mask wearing in classrooms became quite rare at least where I work - that always seemed like a distinctly bad idea. But anyway, I will be back to doing my best to keep on dodging it in just over a week's time when Omicron Term begins!

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

No-one in my household has. My son and my Dad both had phlegmy colds in the end of novemeber and tested negative on PCR and my wife and I caught that last month, and all of us including daughter have had negative LFTs throughout, me testing daily since the 13th December when I went out on the razzle.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

As far as I'm aware, I've not caught vivid either.

Don't think I've been near anybody with covid, maybe perhaps once or twice.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Still no. 

In reply to The Lemming:

Must try harder.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I've not.

But I'm in New Zealand. Hardly any of us have.

Yet.

In reply to Dr.S at work:

That did make me giggle. 😀