# How Long Did you Hold out against Covid? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [July 23, 2022, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418 "2022-07-23T09:58:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/181 "2023-01-16T14:37:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I still don’t have it (knock on wood), but I’m wondering, what is the current procedure/protocol if you do come up positive? And you’ve had all vaccines and boosters? In my case the procedures were the same as if I’d come in with a backache. I didn’t make it to the doc’s within the Paxlovid window, so I called them and asked what to do next. They were unconcerned and treated it like any other complaint. No special waiting area, just come in, sit down with everyone else, and wait until called. I wore a mask (required) and the PA had one (as usual). I listed my complaints, got some prescription cough medicine and a steroid shot. They never even tested me, just took my word I was positive. Left with some instructions regarding vitamins and rest – and that was it. Covid seems to be a non-issue with them now. I’m fully vaxxed with every booster I’m aware of. I have no idea how much it helped with recovery or preventing a worse experience. I got sick Dec 30th, tested positive on New Year’s day, finally got out of bed on Jan 6th and went to the doc. Tested negative yesterday (day 17, I guess). Still sick, coughing, headaches, and too tired to do much except move from bed to couch and back again. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but this is NOT a bad cold. It’s much worse and more debilitating. I’m afraid to even imagine how horrible it was with the earlier strains and pre-vax. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/182 "2023-01-16T14:54:29Z")
What a bummer. I hope you feel better soon. 🙁 ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/183 "2023-01-17T01:15:06Z")
It finally got me. I‘ll be in quarantine for at least the rest of the week. I have the usual URI symptoms of stuffy nose, sore throat, and a dry cough. I do have the less typical symptom of vertigo (also mild in severity) but no loss of smell. I’d say it’s somewhere around the 25th percentile compared to other URIs I’ve had. It’s noticeable but not all that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/184 "2023-01-20T09:00:39Z")
The fiancée has had it for the last few days. She had it with me the first time back in December 2021. She did not get it when I had my second bout last August. So far it’s my turn to miss it. I have tested a few times and I feel no symptoms. Are place isn’t big enough to isolate from each other so I haven’t even tried. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/185 "2023-01-21T00:03:00Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but this is NOT a bad cold. It’s much worse and more debilitating. I’m afraid to even imagine how horrible it was with the earlier strains and pre-vax. So true! Well, no direct experience of having it pre-vaccination, luckily… For me, it did wind up being kind of like a bad cold. Some things were worse (loss of smell / taste, headache, fever)… but the coughing was no worse, it didn’t linger any longer than a cold, and the related chest tightness requiring steroids was no worse either. And as I told the PA when I was first diagnosed, I’m tired all the time anyway, so how could I tell? I wouldn’t have even known I had a fever if I hadn’t thought to take my temperature - I did not feel remotely feverish/ To be fair, a cold in general hits me harder than the average person. and several other symptoms are ones I deal with 24/7/365. My husband did feel worse - though not much - than with a regular cold. His coughing was worse than mine - to the point where I made him call the doctor back to get something for it, as he was keeping ME up at night! It lingered a bit longer than a “regular” cold, also. But in both our cases, we got antivirals on board within 24 hours of the diagnosis, within 72 hours of symptoms, and I got monoclonal antibodies. I suspect that “like a bad cold” would NOT have been a good description otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2023, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/186 "2023-01-21T14:01:13Z")
Thank you! Finally getting back to normal, on day 23 (since symptoms). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/187 "2023-01-21T14:54:04Z")
Oh dear, that was a long haul. Hope you continue to improve. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/188 "2023-01-23T22:58:55Z")
How long? Until yesterday (Sunday) morning, when I woke up with a cold and rapid-tested positive. Spent hours on the phone with hospital operators and family medicine residents – the first of whom couldn’t bring me up in the medical records system – and eventually got anti-viral meds (paxlovid) called in and picked up thanks to my daughter. Got very sick for an hour or two in the middle of the night, but am now back to normal cold symptoms. My wife had had a “cold” since Friday, when she tested negative; retest yesterday morning was – also a first for her – positive. She also was given paxlovid. We might have caught it at my retirement luncheon this past Tuesday, but I don’t believe in jumping to conclusions about such things. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/189 "2023-01-24T00:04:08Z")
My illness ended up lasting around 5 days. As far as I can tell I have no lingering effects. If I didn’t know otherwise, I would have classified it as a mild cold. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/190 "2023-01-28T12:01:26Z")
I’m finally over it, I think. If my math is right it took 30 days exactly. The final 2 weeks were an unheard of (for me) level of tiredness and malaise. I could get and up move around, but even the slightest effort put me back on the couch for an hour to recover. I’ve never had anything like this before. My wife says it had a very noticeable effect on my mood. I’m normally upbeat and positive but I was morose and unhappy at a level that mimicked real depression. My journal reflects this too, as my entries have never been this dark. Thank Og this thing is over. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/191 "2023-01-28T13:00:42Z")
At this point I think it’s safe to say despite sleeping in the same bed as the infected I dodged it this time. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/192 "2023-01-28T13:49:44Z")
I held out until about 3 weeks ago, got infected in Taipei. Now pretty much recovered except for some lingering cough, I might see a pulmonary specialist to see if I lost some lung capacity. ---
**Author:** ![MeepersC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meepersc/32/12088_2.png) [@MeepersC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeepersC)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2023, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/193 "2023-01-29T13:16:30Z")
This right here. I tested positive on 12/17 and began Pavloxid within 4 hours of testing positive. The symptoms lasted just a few days - in fact, I was feeling so much better I was bored to tears by Day 4 of quarantine. However, the extreme fatigue lasted a full month. I was coming home from work, and falling asleep between 7 and 7:30 p.m., and waking up at 5 a.m. still exhausted. On weekends, I was sleeping 8 to 9 hours, and then taking a 2 to 3 hour afternoon nap. Last week was the first week I felt fully human and was back on my usual sleep schedule. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/194 "2023-02-02T14:37:47Z")
My experience was almost exactly the same as yours, except for the Paxlovid rebound on Day 6 after the initial infection cleared up. It took nearly a month before I felt like myself again, and the smallest effort (like spending 10 minutes trying to scrub the stovetop) required a nap afterward. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/195 "2023-02-02T22:09:36Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > At this point I think it’s safe to say despite sleeping in the same bed as the infected I dodged it this time. Basically since the minute I wrote this I’ve been sick. But apparently it’s not Covid. I’ve taken a ton of tests and went to the doctor who did more. It’s not RSV or flu either. I guess it’s just a bad cold that was only coincidentally close to when my fiancée had Covid. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/196 "2023-02-02T22:20:09Z")
The last time I had sickness of any kind was January 2020 when I had a bad case of the flu. Since then, nothing – not even a sniffle. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/197 "2023-02-03T03:56:08Z")
Covid free since 1955. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/198 "2023-02-03T22:30:02Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > The last time I had sickness of any kind was January 2020 when I had a bad case of the flu. Since then, nothing – not even a sniffle. I’ve just passed the 4th anniversary of my last illness of any kind. A lot of people claim that they’re not getting sick due to continuing to mask, but I rarely do anymore and certainly didn’t the entire year before Covid. However, [I’ve always](https://twitter.com/theevilwriter/status/1207786412314988544?t=HdTdbX-RlENwEeTU4Xe-yw&s=19) been leary of being around people who are coughing, even before science’s apparently recent discovery that respiratory germs are airborne… ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/199 "2023-02-14T23:45:29Z")
Until Thursday of last week, dammit ---
**Author:** ![survinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@survinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/survinga)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418/200 "2023-02-18T12:34:57Z")
Caught Omicron variant back in August of 2022. Was mildly sick with aches & low-grade fever for 4 days. Day Five, I woke up and felt fine. Covid went through my entire family last August. My wife was sick for about a month, as she has Asthma, and Covid aggravated it. Her acute phase was about 4-5 days, similar to me. But she had lingering breathing issues for a month, and had to be careful and use her inhaler alot, and not overdo anything, as she would get tired easily. After a month, she was fine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-you-hold-out-against-covid/968418.md?page=11)