It is thought that some people had a kind of defense against COVID-19 perhaps due to a (sufficiently recent?) exposure to legacy coronaviruses.
The science behind that supposition is not airtight, and there are also physiological differences among individuals that have an influence (e.g. number and position of ACE2 receptors in the respiratory tract). But there is no doubt that susceptibility to COVID (and other illnesses) varies widely.
I’m quite certain I haven’t had covid, yet. I have tested a lot, including getting an antibody test early to see if I’d had previous exposure. But I’m being less careful, so I expect I’ll get it in the not-too-distant future.
I have a lot of friends who haven’t caught it. Most of my friends did catch it, some as many as 3 times so far. But I have a lot of friends who have been significantly more cautious than average (a group that includes me) and there is a strong bias that the most cautious people have been the least likely to catch it.
I voted that I haven’t had it after I saw your statement that you meant “to the best of your knowledge”.
I have other conditions causing at least occasional fatigue, shortness of breath, and diarrhea. I also sometimes cough or sneeze, probably mostly due to dust, cat hair, and various other miscellaneous in the air, none of which is causing me enough problems to pin down the cause. So I certainly might have had a minimally symptomatic covid case and not realized it.
One night near the beginning of the USA pandemic, I woke up coughing and coughing; thought ‘oh shit this must be it’ – stopped coughing, went back to sleep, didn’t cough the next day, felt as close to fine as I was feeling at that time (which was pretty crappy for other reasons.) Might have breathed in some cat hair in the night, maybe. Once the at-home tests became available, if I felt particularly crappy with possible symptoms and was intending to go somewhere in the next couple of days, I took a test. They’ve all been negative.
I’ve probably been more careful than most people; and I’ve almost certainly had less potential exposure than most people.
I think this board may lean towards “more careful than most”; though I get the impression that our exposure to other people varies quite widely, and I’m probably close to the bottom end.
Do they? I haven’t heard anything in the news about asymptomatic spread since before the vaccine became available and assumed that the medical community no longer believes it really happens all that much.
My husband had an asymptomatic case before he was vaccinated. Or rather, he was exposed to the virus the same weekend he got vaccinated, either while being vaccinated or while giving blood. He only knows that because he was donating platelets every two weeks, and at the time the red cross was testing for antibodies. He was negative the day before he was vaccinated, and two weeks later he was positive for antibiotics both for the spike protein (expected, because that’s what the vaccine exposes you to) and also to the nucleocapsid protein, which you only get from exposure to whole virus. (Or the Chinese killed virus vaccine, which wasn’t available here.) At first we assumed it was a lab error, but those readings persisted until the red cross stopped testing.
I don’t know how common it was, but at the time, no one thought it was remarkable that he had an asymptomatic case.
(But he didn’t spread it. And recent studies suggest that most people develop symptoms before they shed substantial virus.)
Asymptomatic COVID spread is not particularly common, but asymptomatic COVID cases are. Same with influenza and other respiratory viruses.
I’m beginning to wonder if I have COVID. When I look up the symptoms of the latest variants they seem to be indistinguishable from other respiratory illnesses, which is a bit frustrating.
What gave me pause is that I can’t taste things very well. If it’s a strong flavor, I can get a hint of the flavor but for the most part food tastes very bland. I’ve never had that happen with a cold.
I have the headache from hell going on 36 hours. Nothing is touching it. Not Tylenol, Aleve, acetaminophen, cough syrup, or Sudafed (pseudoephedrine.)
I have a mild cough which is just making the headache worse. Ditto sneezing.
Could just be a sinus infection but for that taste thing.
Have you got a test kit? If so, I’d use it.
And I’d call your doctor. “Headache from hell” lasting 36 hours might be all sorts of things; but if you don’t ordinarily have such headaches, I’d strongly recommend finding out which of those sorts of things it is.
I have a headache, sore throat, mild cough, and fevery symptoms (i feel too hot or too cold), but I’m pretty sure it’s not covid. I caught it from my husband who has tested negative for covid a couple of times. My sense of smell is fine, though. So you might just have what i have, with more in your nose.
(For what it’s worth, I’ve twice lost my sense of smell to a cold before covid. Both times it returned.)
But i agree with @thorny_locust that if it’s really a headache from hell, lasting that long, you should contact your doctor.
I tested negative for COVID.
Keeping the winning streak alive.
I was able to sleep last night with only a few interruptions, so the headache seems to be slowly improving. I still feel like absolute crud. But it looks like it’s just the usual crud.
Good news! when you mentioned in the other thread having problems tasting I figured you were likely plague-infested. Yaay streak!
I have some friends with COVID right now and the general consensus is that the new variant going around right now won’t likely kill you, but it’s incredibly nasty to experience, and worse than other, milder variants. One of my friends has it for the third time and he says it’s the worst time.
I have another friend unfortunately who has had long COVID for about two years now. I’m not sure he will ever be the same again. He’s terrified of getting it again and won’t meet up at indoor restaurants any more. It’s annoying but I can’t really blame him. His whole life was upended by this disease.
Glad you’re OK @Spice_Weasel ! Regarding the new strain, I was at CVS a little while ago and an infomercial was playing. It said that COVID is far from over; it’s currently the # 3 cause of death, after heart disease and cancer.
I’m testing again tomorrow.
I have almost completely lost taste and smell and it’s freaking me out a bit.
Had a chocolate waffle this morning, tasted like cardboard.
Husband brought tacos for dinner, I tasted something spicy but in the absence of all other tastes it was kinda unpleasant.
Nothing like that has ever happened to me before, so I’m just gonna make sure it wasn’t a false negative. I’ve got people coming over Monday, assuming I’m well by then, which is questionable.
You’re wise to do so. My husband tested negative, and then a day later when he visited a nurse practitioner, he tested positive.
Yeah, I think I got a positive today. It’s ambiguous because it was very faint, but my husband looked at it too and told me I wasn’t just seeing things, so probably.
Guess I’m in a shrinking segment of the population - so far I haven’t had it.
A very faint line is as definite a positive as a line that looks like it was done with a purple Sharpie. When I’ve done home COVID tests, I shine my phone’s flashlight onto the test strip. If doing that, I still can’t make out a wisp of a line, then I consider that a negative test.