I had Covid in January (omicron probably B.1). It was a typical case for someone who was vaccinated and boosted: sore throat, headache and bodyache for a few days, and fatigue for a week or two after.
Last week (Monday night), I noticed my throat getting sore, and the sore throat kept me up most of the night. The next day, the sore throat got better, but I had headache and bodyache. I figured it was probably covid as it had presented the same way it had in January, and I know that it is common for people who had the original Omicron to get reinfected with the B.5 subvariant. So I took a self-test. Negative.
The next day I had the same symptoms, so I tested again. Still negative. And the same thing on Thursday. Negative again. Friday I still wasn’t feeling well, and since it is super easy these days to get a PCR test at a pharmacy, I figured why not. That was negative too.
That was 5 days ago. My bodyaches are gone, but I still have waves of extreme fatigue every few hours and an occasional minor headache. It’s a real up and down. Nothing really debilitating, but enough that I am working at home (as I need to nap every few hours).
I accept that I tested negative four consecutive days, and therefore I must not have Covid. But damn, the symptoms are exactly identical to what I had in January!
What is the chance that I got four false negative tests? I know the self-tests are not very accurate, but the PCR test as well?
I guess it doesn’t matter much, but if I am going to have to suffer through covid-like symptoms for a couple of weeks, I would prefer to get the ‘credit’ for actually having covid. At least then I might be immune to Omicron for a while…
I had three negative home tests while symptomatic, skipped day four, tested positive day five. I can sympathize.
I’m on day 2 of not feeling well right now, and day 2 of negative home tests. Haven’t had covid at all yet but damn I finally have plans for a few days in a row and they might be canceled… I don’t want to give anyone covid!
I had five staying in our household. Three of us tested positive for COVID with RATs. Of the other two, one was a four year old and it was difficult getting a good test, the other was an adult and although she felt sick she continually tested negative from both RAT and PCR tests. We think she probably had the flu that was going around at the time.
3 of the 4 of us have definitely had COVID.
I tested positive (via PCR) on the Tuesday - 2 hours after a negative home test. When I got the positive PCR results on Wednesday, I retested at home and that was positive.
My husband did a test on Tuesday (I think) and it weirdly lit up the "positive’ line, faintly, but it immediately faded, well within the 10 minutes. Another test on Wednesday was negative, as was one Thursday after he did his PCR test (which came back positive).
In both cases, we were DEFINITELY symptomatic while testing negative on home tests.
No clue how many home tests our son took; his PCR test came back on the Friday.
Hubby and I are both testing negative now with home tests - over a week after our initial PCR tests, and after a course of antivirals.
Housemate…is weird. She’s been having symptoms that sure seem like COVID, but persists in testing negative, including on 2 PCR tests. She’d been hoping it was “just” really bad allergies. I still think she had it - but I’m not sure if there’s any way to tell for sure; would a blood test catch it as opposed to catching “you’ve been vaccinated”?
She was slightly less exposed than our son was, but even HE had relatively little direct exposure. I think we all ate dinner together on the Sunday (before I developed symptoms) but other than that: she lives in the basement, we live on the second floor, and we were rarely on the same floor (ground floor) at the same time; always masked (after Sunday). We likely crossed paths more with our son since his room is next to ours, but spent very little time within 10 feet of him. I guess this variant is just extra super-duper contagious. Sigh.