Head Tale

It Finally Got Us (Well, My Son Anyhow)

It’s a very informal sample but through social media posts, talking to work colleagues and other family and friends, I’ve noticed a big increase in the “I’ve avoided it for 2.5 years but it finally got me” reports of people getting Covid.

Our family is no exception – after two and a half years where, almost unbelievingly, we’ve managed to avoid Covid (even with a nurse working in a hospital setting, a librarian in a public-facing role (and in a job where we hand out Covid test kits, often with people oversharing *why* they want them!) plus kids in two different schools), it finally got us.

Well, one of us.

On Saturday October 1, Pace had symptoms but didn’t test positive until Sunday.  He immediately isolated (I joked with one friend that as a teen boy, he’s probably been isolating in the basement since long before Covid!) and basically lived there for a week and a half.

His tests are still showing positive but our understanding is that this doesn’t necessarily mean he’s still contagious – that usually wanes within 5-10 days or so (unless he’s a super-spreader of course!)

Again, almost unbelievingly, no one else in the family has tested positive in the ensuing nearly three weeks – even though we have been testing pretty much daily if not multiple times per day.

Sasha has been dealing with some stomach pain off-and-on since before Pace had Covid but no other symptoms – other than the pain getting worse lately (and after visits to two different doctors, still no solution either unfortunately.) 🙁

I’ve been sick too so have been composing lists in my head the past week or so:

REASONS I PROBABLY HAD COVID
* as I said off-the-top, I’m seeing a huge number of people who avoided it for 2.5 years reporting that they got it.

* was fairly closely exposed to Pace for at least a day before he tested positive and went into isolation

* had multiple other recent confirmed exposures to Covid+ people (mostly while wearing a mask though)

* by being alive and going about my business, I’ve probably been exposed to lots of other Covid+ people without realising it. (Some people have observed “If you have *any* symptoms right now, it’s probably Covid” which may or may not be the case.)

* I’d say generally people are being less cautious and acting like Covid is over so that’s increases the risks for everyone of catching it.

* Covid symptoms typically last longer than flu symptoms and I’ve been feeling sick for about a week now

* We’ve been testing negative but Rapid AntiGen Tests aren’t perfect (I think I read they’re about 70% accurate?)

* Their accuracy can also vary depending on the variant that’s prevalent at the time

* Though I’ve tried to be pretty diligent about masking at work and while out and about, I’m not always consistent.

* I also don’t wear an N95 as often as I should (also seeing a huge increase in people who didn’t mask before now masking or people who wore surgical masks switching to N95s)

REASONS I PROBABLY DIDN’T HAVE COVID
* Someone made a pretty obvious point: “Regular old colds and flus still exist too, you know.” (and it is cold/flu season)

* Some Covid-like symptoms might even be allergies (someone posited in a Reddit discussion about the amount of sickness in Regina right now) that farmers combining plus some very windy weather meant there was a lot more dust in the air and this could cause eye irritation, runny noses, etc!).

* People are likely more susceptible to colds/flus after two years of isolation/social distancing/masking/gargling with sanitizer every time you leave your house!

* although RATs aren’t 100% accurate, it is *very* unlikely that three different people, all in the same family and exposed to the same positive family member, would all continue to test negative without at least one positive hit.

* I laid in bed last night wheezing and wheezing is a well-known symptom of Covid! 😉

That last one is a bit of a joke about well-known anti-vaxxer, Mark “Wheezin'” Friesen, who nearly died when he got Covid.  But if you look at a list of common symptoms for people who have Covid but *don’t* test positive which could indicate either way – that I did have it or I didn’t since less than half of my symptoms match up with the most common symptoms for people who have Covid but don’t test positive (I’ve bolded the ones I’ve had below):

• body aches
• stuffy nose or runny nose
• cough
• diarrhea
• fatigue
• fever or chills
• headache
• nausea
• new loss of taste or smell
• shortness of breath or trouble breathing
• sore throat
• vomiting

Of course, it’s not on the list above but pink eye is a huge flag for undiagnosed Covid and I had a pretty bad eye infection last week including a trip to my optometrist last weekend to get a prescription to deal with it.

So it’s hard to say.

I want to continue to believe that I have never had Covid (and am happy to at least be able to say I’ve never tested positive. Er, knock on wood!) But Covid feels like a horror movie monster, stalking us in slow motion but always right behind us, no matter how fast we run.

Although we all get our vaccines as soon as we are eligible, Shea has a theory – Pace was furthest out from his last booster shot (nearly eight months) while the rest of us had been boosted in the last month or two meaning our immunity was likely very high compared to his which may be the reason we didn’t get it.

So perhaps that was enough to keep us from having a positive result whether we had it or not even though Pace had it and was around all of us while likely contagious for at least a day or two before he tested positive.

I won’t get into it here but there all sorts of related issues I keep thinking about – people who don’t have sufficient sick time to stay home if they have symptoms, whether they test positive or not.  Whether you should go to work/be out and about if you have symptoms but don’t test positive.  The guilt if you do miss work. Inconsistent government guidelines about whether you *should* stay home when you might be contagious and the ripple effect this can cause in workplaces.  The complications of having kids and how much that can impact time needed to deal with Covid (or other illnesses.) People’s varied ability to isolate if they do test positive (eg. a family of four living in a two bedroom apartment.  Or someone who has younger kids with Covid that can’t simply disappear into a basement bedroom for 10 days like our teenaged son did which all but guarantees that the parents will get Covid too.)  Without being a conspiracy theorist, seeing stories of youngish people I know who are dying or having serious health issues – heart attacks, a woman who was only a few years older than me in my hometown having a stroke.  Covid-related or just bad luck?

I’m also reading a lot about the possible long-term effects of Covid, the rise of new variants, and the increasing risks with each reinfection.

Which is all a long way to say “What a hell of a time to be alive!”