Because some people I might expose my germs to may not get so lucky with their reactions to covid
I test any time a sore throat or cough is involved. If I infect my staff, it means I have to do the work of four people regardless of how I’m feeling.
I mostly test before meeting with people who care, not so much based on symptoms. Why yes, i do have a stack of tests in my home.
The one time i had covid, i did test, and i told my doctor. We discussed treatment options, and i ended up going on metformin, which was found to reduce the risk of long covid in a large study. I also avoided other people until i tested negative again.
I suppose i could tell, though, because i was much sicker from covid than I’ve ever been from a cold.
At the time, i had a lot of tests that were going to expire soon, so i tested nearly every day, which was kinda interesting. And what i found was that my viral load was modest when i first got sick, and increased, peaking on the day the CDC guidelines said, “okay to go out”. That is, my fever had broken and i was clearly on the mend.
I think those guidelines are appropriate for flu. But they are really bad for covid. If you don’t want to test, stay home (or at least wear a good mask when you are out) for a few days after your fever breaks.
The tests in my closet now test for flu, too. I have some that also test for RSV, but they don’t expire for a while, so I’m keeping them for next year.
I was much less sick with Covid that I typically am with colds. There variance is huge. A lot of people experience the same thing as me. It felt very different in a way that’s difficult to articulate.
That’s pretty much how I feel about it too. IF the symptoms fit the constellation that characterize the current strains, then yeah, I’ll probably test.
The tests are too expensive and too inaccurate otherwise to warrant testing unless there’s a good chance someone in the family’s actually got it.
It’s gone from a real threat, to something that scares the anxious in my opinion. It’s gone to the point where the flu is a greater threat to the vast majority of people, so I treat it with about the same level of concern.
I just got over Covid after attending a conference in San Francisco. I returned home on the Friday night, started feeling crappy Monday night, tested positive on Tuesday morning on an old expired test. Testing over the next week showed two more positive tests (on a new batch) to confirm, followed up a negative test as my symptoms waned.
We were masking in the house and my wife slept in the spare bedroom. Despite us sharing a bed at the conference and the 3 nights following, she managed to avoid catching it.
I have no idea why our tests cost so much. I have bought most of mine from Germany, and I’ve paid about a euro each. (Plus shipping. Once i was visiting Denmark, and got free shipping to a friend who lived there, and carried them home in my suitcase. But usually I’ve had to pay shipping fees.)
It is, at least for me. I’ve had Covid at least once (pretty sure it was my second round, but the first was in late March 2020 when tests were very hard to obtain, so I cannot say for certain about that one. I can about the case I had in August 2022, since by then home tests were easily obtainable).
I never get colds because I’m always masked outside the house.
Dialysis days, I’m very cautious what I touch at the clinic and no close people. The tech has to get close. But they wear masks. And do the squirt on the hands everytime they enter the cubicle.
Don’t tell anyone but we bring tiny spray bottles of lysol. If Ivy gets concerned, she sprays. We are awful. But I can not afford a flu or a cold. Covid scares the holy crap outta me. I have a supply of tests. They are kinda dated. I’ll use them if I thought I needed to..of course I’d be at the doctors office probably as quick as possible.
This new pukey virus is running thru the schools since Thanksgiving. I would not survive 3 days of vomiting. We are hand sanitizing the kids and keeping surfaces clean at the house. I wish they’d come up with a med for that, sooner rather than later.
I haven’t tested for about 5 years when the UK stopped making tests compulsorary for several things (and they were free).
In my opinion there is little difference in severity between covid and the flu. Both usually vary in severity from that of a heavy cold to something that makes it difficult to function normally for a few days but can be killers, especially for the vulnerable. I would isolate in exactly the same way whether I had the flu or covid, I don’t know whether flu tests exist but they are not easily available fr me if they do. If I think I have a cold I will minimise my contact with others, sanitise my hands regularly, stay away from the vulnerable etc, if I think I have the flu or covid (which has only happened once since Covid came out) I self isolate.
I bought mine from a German supplier for about €1.5 a piece, plus shipping. But they are available in the US, too, they just cost more. Here’s a random US source:
I usually test if I have plans with people who might worry about it or if the symptoms feel different from my normal cold pattern. It keeps the conversation simple. When someone asks, I just say yes I checked or no it was a regular cold for me. People mostly want reassurance, not a full medical story.
Thanks surprise surprise Americans have to pay more than 10 times as much for something health related.
I’m actually in the UK but given how I would act with any of a bad cold, flu and Covid are very similar I don’t think it is worth taking a test.
Then if you are interested, i recommend
as a good place to purchase covid tests, at least if you want to purchase in bulk.
I would never presume I could tell, because people talk about how the different strands effect them differently. I’d test the same either way.
That said I haven’t had a cold (or similar) in a couple years, so I can’t say how much I would test. The last respiratory infection I had was in fact COVID a couple years ago. I had temporarily moved into an apartment at the time while waiting for my house to be fixed up.