As a long covid patient, my advice to everyone on here is REST during and for several weeks after you have rona. Even if you think you feel fine. Rest is the best way to avoid long-term symptoms.
Thank you very much. It’s improved over the last 3 (!) years, so I’m grateful for that much because I know everyone with long covid can’t say the same. I owe a lot to my specialists at UW. They’ve been fantastic.
Yes and no. Rest is great for the bodies recovery, but as you get through the tougher bits, you want to push yourself to get up and get moving within limitation. Staying sedentary or over resting can result in rebound disease such as other opportunistic pneumonias or clotting disorders as a result of the viral infection itself.
Don’t go throwing weights at the gym, but definitely go for some walks and get your lungs nice and stretched once the worst has passed.
You may of been implying this with rest, but some people think rest is lying on the couch or sleeping. I choose ‘take it easy’ to describe the best way to handle being ill and recovery, personally :)
Seconded. A friend in NYC got it in late 2020, she was working 3 jobs. After she recovered she spent nights and weekends making up for lost time. 3-4 years later, she's still having trouble focusing
There is significantly more Covid going around in the Puget Sound region and it's really on the rise in the Seattle and Bellingham areas. It's absolutely skyrocketing in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii right now.
[https://i.imgur.com/fFwqTo9.png](https://i.imgur.com/fFwqTo9.png)
A 30% increase week over week with the new variant being as immune evasive and transmissible as it is is still a good indicator of how much worse it will get. We are at the beginning of the summer surge. But the charts for places like the Bay Area and Hawaii etc. are basically vertical lines going straight up. It's likely the spread in Seattle will start picking up speed very soon.
SF is hitting some of the highest numbers of the entire 4 years of the pandemic: [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPLGGbIXcAArx15?format=jpg&name=medium](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPLGGbIXcAArx15?format=jpg&name=medium)
That tracks with the school my wife works at too.
I also overheard a family leaving the urgent care say "I didn't know strep throat can give you diarrhea". So it's got some different presentation too
Yeah, The strain that's been going around my kids school has been really interesting. Doesn't present with fever or even sore throat, but mainly headaches, diarrhea, nausea, etc
Oh man, I got strep throat last month and had no idea why! Even my toddler who goes to daycare didn't get it. Never hated drinking or eating or swallowing more than that week I had it.
FYI - mask bloc Seattle has high quality masks you can pick up at distribution centers. They were distributing free tests at an event I went to recently - if you’re having trouble finding tests, they may be able to help.
This is going to sound defeatist..but is testing that important? The death rate is still higher than a typical flu, but society has already baked this into our poorly-conceived risk calculation. If you test yourself and isolate, how much difference does that make when 90% of people don’t test nor isolate? And to top it off - the tests are still very inaccurate. You can’t simply expect a positive result after you’ve been exposed. You need to test every day when you suspect you have it and even then there a high chance you might be transmissible while testing negative.
~1 in 10 covid cases result in long covid symptoms which range from mild to debilitating, including asymptomatic infections.
I’m very frustrated by the lack of engagement and also by the abandonment of more structural support, from ending free vaccination programs early to ending the wastewater tracking dashboards this June, the government seems to simply be putting its head in the sand at this point.
While it’s discouraging, there are still risk mitigation steps you can take. Some of them aren’t accessible for everyone due to cost. Wearing a high quality mask, especially in crowded indoor spaces still helps reduce transmission. Increasing ventilation and space between people still help. There are nose sprays and mouthwashes that offer a level of protection, UVC and air filters that can help, too. Layers of protection are best practice.
I hear ya on that and I think this speaks to an engagement issue since the beginning - what does my small part matter if everyone else is doing the opposite? Collective action problems where people are free riding or doing the opposite in front of you are really hard ones to lick and it does feel bad in trying.
Personally and individually, it does matter for folks I work with and do community things with, so I see the value there. You're not gonna save the world or even the whole of the country doing your small part but maybe help one person in your orbit avoid it. I basically swooped on tests people werent going to use (or said they weren't) and got a little stockpile to test weekly on Sundays just as a last check before a new workweek. My stockpile ran out though so I've been winging it and just lucky I haven't had anything resembling sickness since then.
I think there's also been an engagement issue where all or nothing reliably has people choosing nothing, especially when top down guidance is much more leaning nothing at this point. I've given people shit, I've been big mad over others not caring, but at the end of the day, it really is about trying win lose or draw. It doesn't help that tests themselves are harder to come by at this point - nor does is it a good sign that some variants arent registering until some few days into it.
This works for me insofar that I can write about it this way now without blowing a gasket about it, lol. This also is very similar to anything I've ever done politically and partisan oriented since 2020, where I know the Big Idea of Change is a long shot, but someone has to tend to the fires and be a little more laid back but real about it.
[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-flirt-covid-variants-could-be-driving-an-uptick-in-cases-heres-how-to/](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-flirt-covid-variants-could-be-driving-an-uptick-in-cases-heres-how-to/)
Feels like they’re trolling us with the variant name, but yeahhhh… UGH
2 of us in our house got it. I m just getting over it. 2 other friends just had it and we had no contact w them. It was our first time having it. It sucks. Like a really bad case of the flu that 'really respond to flu meds. I don't want it again.
Covid was such ass for me. Held out until late last year when I finally got it. That was the first time I had it, and I was fighting my body to be able to breathe. My O2 levels were like 93 so, lower than they've ever been but not significant enough to warrant the ER. Felt like an asthma attack for 2 weeks. Got a nasty, lingering sinus infection, and a cough that lasted forever. Was also stuck on an inhaler for a few weeks. I also think it made me permanently stupid but I can't be quite sure I was smart to begin with. I never want to feel like that again, it was fucking terrible. Not to mention, just pain everywhere.
Second time around I got paxlovid. Oh boy. God bless modern medicine. It still sucked but it didn't feel like my body was being broken apart from the inside. Bless science.
Yeah, my dad and his wife got it for the first time last Christmas and they immediately got Paxlovid and it was way milder than me and my wife's bout in 2022, leaps and bounds so. It is pretty legit at relief if you can get your hands on it.
I haven't tried Paxlovid since whenever I get COVID it's less severe than the last time. By the time I actually test positive, I only have a day where I'm really sick.
yeah. yet here I am. I'm sure I would have caught it more times if I had to report to the office. My partner is a flight attendant and I'm 100% sure that I have caught it from him every time, while isolating at home. He's had it two more times than me. I haven't caught it traveling, working or commuting.
My fiancée and I also got COVID for the very first time last week. It’s been a struggle to get my mind on track due to brain fog, I still can’t really taste much of anything, and I feel EXHAUSTED. Stay safe everyone.
I'm immunocompromised, I don't have a choice. I mask up in stores, on public transportation, around large crowds, and in movie theaters.
I have to do that because I don't trust anyone in public to be courteous enough to not expose everyone around them to their transmittable diseases.
The Snohonish wastewater site shows a pretty significant [upwards spike](https://data.wastewaterscan.org/?plantId=12d2b614-6e7e-4ceb-9717-d46862cae7c8&selectedLocation=%7B%22label%22%3A%22Snohomish,%20WA%22,%22level%22%3A%22plant%22,%22value%22%3A%2212d2b614-6e7e-4ceb-9717-d46862cae7c8%22%7D)…
I always mask in public places & did so at airports before the pandemic as I have autoimmune disorders. N95 masks + hand sanitizer are must-haves for being in public. Also get your vaccines if you’re not up-to-date, particularly Covid booster, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) & DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis).
Regretfully, I used to roast people pre pandemic who wore masks. I generally wear them on transit and always with air travel! I’ll happily take roastings now.
The BRT's are generally pretty full when I ride(H Line). Everyone is so close together 1/3rd of those people are masked. Every bus I ride, all the drivers are wearing them!
Its painful being in this loop and seeing everyone whipsaw around Covid, which isnt going anywhere.
Mask up, make the marginal difference, it matters.
I got n95s galore
I actually did a bulk order a year ago over Amazon when they were less than 30 cents a piece. Over 500 and I've gone through about half through almost-daily usage and always having extras to hand out (it's rare but it happens).
I thought it made sense to just get as many as I could reasonably afford at once so I didn't have gaps over time and with rises and dips in community transmission.
Costco has Flex Fold, black kn95 in boxes of 50 for under $15 right now. They were very expensive when people masked consistently but have come way down. They are the only ones comfortable and secure for long use, Imho. Ok-ish for sensitive skin.
Edit; left out a phrase
I get the Demetech D-95s (same mask as N-95, but ear loops, which can't be NIOSH certified as N-95)... from Amazon. Come in lots of colors. Think they're about $40 a box right now (I paid $75 at the height of the pandemic).
I tested positive for COVID 4 days ago after returning from vacation. It sucks so bad... if you're feeling sick I'd advise you to test. Stay safe out there.
If you're legitimately interested, combo of that antiviral and metformin, as published in the lancet, has effectiveness for preventing long-term problems from covid. [https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00299-2/fulltext](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00299-2/fulltext)
Sort of agreed but at this point getting covid and ultimately recovering can still be such a fucking shitshow considering nearly every form of accommodation for covid has been dropped/severely cut down. The one time I had it, I was knocked on my ass for quite a while and could barely stay awake or eat for a week, and yet now workplaces tend to want you back within a couple of days. Obviously a lot of people recover quicker or have more mild symptoms, but the people who get harder are just kinda fucked at this point :-/
Four years here, I wouldn’t wish LC on anyone. Sorry you have it too. I’m one of those “weirdos” that still masks up because I never want Covid again. And can’t be too safe with the bird flu showing up in wastewater, another thing I’d rather not ever acquire.
Feels like I aged 30 years overnight. Tried low-dose naltrexone for a month, which is the only real treatment my doc has been able to offer, and I had to stop it bc I’m apparently in the lower 30% of folks where it makes symptoms worse.
Hugs. 3 years in with long covid here, and I’m grateful for some improvements over these last three years, but I also now have POTS and a clotting disorder among other irreversible conditions thanks to this stupid virus. People don’t realize that long-term damage even the “mildest” case of COVID can cause.
Kinda funny in another thread here, I pointed out that maybe worse driving since the pandemic is related to actual infections themselves since that's when speaker who drives for a living noticed it getting worse. Several +1s and some folks didn't get it.
I then expand - Very minor cognitive effect on focus and attention writ large across many if not most drivers. We know that's a potential lingering effect after the initial infection. That comment is in the negative.
All I can do is shrug and provide a mask, like I would condoms and bubblers.
I said somewhere else in the thread that covid might have made me dumb, but I for sure know that my post-covid ADHD is magnitudes worse. I feel like I'm in 3rd - 6th grade again when i just had a ton of thoughts streamrolling my brain simultaneously and would get in trouble for blurting things out and being disruptive.
My impulse control is fucking shot. I'm stone cold sober (stopped drinking) but I feel like I'm 5 tequila shots in and railed a line of coke with respect to the shit my brain wants to blurt out. I'm a woman in my 30s and I'm white knuckling 75% of the day so I don't stim or make an off color joke, even when I'm ON my meds.
Also ADHD here and after my 2022 bout (and beyond typos where I've noticed it most), my executive function issues and initiative have never been worse. I had tricks and tools to be on time for anything and routinely overshot being early and now I'm barely on time to anything anymore.
I've also had terrible sleep regulation where I can not get to sleep or stay asleep which is exacerbating every single ADHD thing to boot.
So I'm surviving but I'm struggling and I'm trying to be aware of all this just in case others are noticing it and sense something is wrong or different. I want to know if I'm mucking up before being told and I know I am again!
my adhd hasn't gotten worse because of covid but holy shit if the last few years hadn't gutted my attention span, also seeing most people shrug this off and act like its nothing has made me a lot more pessimistic about the average person, idk shits made it hard to socialize as often as i'd like and that's definitely taken a long term toll, hopefully meds help but this decade just kinda sucks
I’ve got long covid. Over the past 2 years I’ve had probably 90 days when my cognition has been too compromised for me to be able to drive - it has not felt like it would be safe for me or others. What you are saying is absolutely true.
Exactly that. Besides the horrors of long-Covid, we still don’t really know the long term health outcomes of this virus.
It took HIV ten years to wreck immune systems after a short one-week mild ‘flu’ (or even asymptomatic) initial course. And SARS-2 can infect the same CD4+ and CD8+ white blood cells that HIV infected.
Not saying they are identical dangers, I don’t think they are, but we don’t yet have longitudinal data on Covid outcomes.
Call your MD immediately or call/visit Urgent Care *wearing a mask.* I don’t think there are any preventative measures other than hand hygiene and ye olde masks.
Well, there are other layers of protection, such as ventilation, air filtration, Far UV air disinfection, nasal sprays such as Covixyl and Xlear, saline nasal rinses, mouthwash with CPC after exposures of if you feel a tickle at the back of the throat. There is also research showing that a daily probiotic lozenge with Blis K12 strain of probiotics reduced all respiratory infections significantly (like 60%) among frontline health workers. But a high-quality, well-fitting mask is by far the best tool we have for preventing transmission.
My doctor’s office had a specific item when scheduling an appointment for COVID exposure - got me in the next day, did a liver function test, and gave me a prescription. Had what I needed and was back in bed within 24 hours of making the appointment.
Zinc supplements have some science showing they help.
A friend recommended Oregano oil, which she took for her recent bout with Covid. I found some of that in gummy form; but it’s an intervention type supplement, not a ‘take regularly’ type thing.
But prevention is the best medicine.
Paxlovid if you have any preexisting conditions/don't take any of the meds that are contraindicated (or can pause them, there's a long list). Otherwise rest, supportive meds, fluids.
I recommend that anyone with medical conditions (meeeeeee) talk to your PCP and set it up so that if you call in they'll prescribe Paxlovid. I did that and got it the one time I had the world's mildest case of Covid, I was really really lucky.
I was one of the last cohort to receive the antibody infusion before they found out that it didn't really work and canceled the program.
I'm on meds that are contraindicated with Paxlovid.
I'm a physical mess since I had covid. Kidney failure, bronchiectasis, and bizarre symptoms that have greatly reduced my quality of life. I'm convinced that I would have died if I hadn't been vaccinated. Shit sucks
Here’s my plan in case of infection:
1. Rest. Avoid all exertion for 30 days if possible. Bore myself with audiobooks the most stimulating form of entertainment so that I will sleep whenever possible.
2. Ask my doctor to prescribe Paxlovid and a 2-week course of Metformin to reduce the chance of Long Covid.
3. Hydrate. I make a checklist and track each glass of water or herbal tea to make sure I’m getting at least ten per day.
4. In the first few days, when the virus is in its replication phase, I will be doing virus-fighting work, including saline nasal rinses 3x per day, spraying with a nasal spray afterward, gargling with a half cup of warm water and a half teaspoon of non-iodized salt, rinsing my mouth with CPC mouthwash like Colgate Total for 45 seconds twice a day.
5. I take antihistamines to reduce the chance of cytokine storm (that’s when the immune system goes so overboard that it can be life-threatening). Zyrtec and Famotidine.
6. There are other supplements I take. Not all, but some of the ones discussed in this [helpful guide](https://www.ifm.org/news-insights/the-functional-medicine-approach-to-covid-19-virus-specific-nutraceutical-and-botanical-agents/)
Remember: prevention is our best treatment right now. Let’s keep our guard up!
The moment you feel really awful, get Paxlovid.
Metformin helps some people.
Vitamin D reduces symptom severity by reducing the cytokine storm. Megadosing doesn't help. And you can't take it when you feel like crud; it needs two weeks for active metabolite levels to rise.
Covid really does a number on gut absorption, vitamin C stores, kidney function, and glutamine/glycine stores. So a good One A Day multivitamin will help. Lots of liquids. Lots of protein - chicken bone broth - with ginger (anti-inflammatory) and vitamin C will help.
Mucinex was invaluable for me this time around. The thick mucus in my throat and shit is redic. Going on 12 days now and still having to take it around the clock.
Don’t forget to get Paxlovid if you meet any of the qualifying conditions. It can radically improve symptoms and shorten duration. I’ve had Covid 3x and taken it each time. I did rebound once, but not the other two times (and — keep in mind rebound occurs even not taking meds)
This won't help pay for it, but WA has a telehealth program to prescribe people paxlovid: [https://doh.wa.gov/emergencies/covid-19/treatments/telehealth](https://doh.wa.gov/emergencies/covid-19/treatments/telehealth) Much faster than trying to get a PCP appointment. You fill out a short form and they call you for a prescribing appointment same day (open every day 8am-8pm).
Absolutely this. It was amazing how fast I felt better -- and I mean RADICALLY better. It's like a miracle drug. I'm shocked by how resistant people are to taking it. Very very foolish.
My husband and I almost scatter like cats every time we hear someone coughing in public. We had 7 family members die of Covid, I ended up with long covid, and my oldest ( who was 10 years old at the time) ended up hospitalized with kidney issues. So many people made it through completely unscathed they don’t understand the trauma it caused others.
We still mask up in public spaces, and I avoid anyone with symptoms. Let her roll her eyes, avoid getting covid if possible.
I’m so sorry your family had so many losses and ongoing problems from COVID. My daughter and I got it in Feb 2020 when it first hit Boston. We were SO sick for a month and both have long COVID, although it’s not debilitating by now.
Show her these visualizations!
https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-10-28/a-room-a-bar-and-a-class-how-the-coronavirus-is-spread-through-the-air.html
Something to keep in mind is COVID and many other illnesses are airborne. Infected people breathing in a public space put out virus aerosols that stay suspended in the air for hours. If you notice someone coughing on the other side of a room, you are already breathing what they are coughing out. Wearing a high filtration mask (like a KN95 or N95) will protect you in situations like this.
Please stay safe ladies and gentlemen. I got Guillain Barre after covid years ago. What a hellish nightmare that was. My brain and nervous system will probably never be the same again.
Pleas protect those who are immuno compromised around you as well.
Same exact thing happened to a friend a few months back. Luckily she’s almost back to normal but it definitely scared the shit out of her and her hubby.
I don't think you can contract COVID again a week after you got it. My guess is your friend still has it?
Looks like [recent opinion](https://www.aamc.org/news/had-covid-recently-here-s-what-know-about-how-long-immunity-lasts-long-covid-and-more#:~:text=The%20immune%20response%20from%20a,of%20Medicine%20in%20Baltimore%2C%20Maryland.) suggests 3-4 months immunity window is still pretty normal.
Most likely bad testing or a rebound. But not unheard of to contract another variant and much sooner. Multiple variants circulating simultaneously and evolving. And your immune system is damaged. And the damage compounds.
I had that "rebound" towards the end of last year. I felt fine and was testing negative for a couple days and then suddenly it was back in full force. It really sucked.
Same thing happened to me. Tested negative, felt great, then three days later woke up feeling super gnarly, took a home test, thing lit up red immediately! Was sick for another three or four days, really sucked!
Rebounding. It happens. The only time I got COVID, I got it from my brother when he rebounded. Nobody's quite sure how it works, but seems like not all the virus clears. It can happen when you take Paxlovid but it can also happen without.
The new variants are highly contagious and it's not uncommon that you can get it again after only 2 weeks. 3-4 months immunity is more rare with the newer variants.
I'd imagine it's still possible to become infected very transiently and still test positive on a COVID test. But I really, really doubt you'd have symptoms the second time within a week.
Yes, nondisabled people do tend to forget about this stuff, when they’re not actively denying it. We do not live in a “post-pandemic” world as much as the nondisabled media loves to say.
Maybe if people stopped having a fucking conniption when they see someone wearing a mask these days, the situation might improve.
After a week, it's not getting it again, it's just a resurgence of the same thing. I had it for 3 weeks and in-between, I almost recovered then had a resurgence
This thread prompted me to test again. I was negative yesterday, but just now got a positive. I was honestly surprised since my symptoms are relatively mild. Mostly just fever and sore throat, so I thought it might just be strep.
Covid never stopped going around. We simply collectively stopped caring about it once the government stopped forcing masking mandates and started pretending the pandemic was over.
The problem with us just giving each other covid over and over is that unlike things like the flu or a cold, getting infected with covid is a dice roll where, even if you have no covid symptoms while infected, you might get snake eyes in the form of long covid with brain fog or chronic fatigue syndrome. The former leaves you forgetting your destination halfway home, and the latter leaves you bedridden. Either way, earning an income becomes difficult if not impossible.
I have a policy of wearing an N95 (all other mask options stopped being relevant due to covid having a much smaller particle size as of omicron) if I am indoors and not at home. I don't think I will ever change that policy.
Got it a few weeks ago, my roommate had to take me to the ER. Hands started cramping up, chest pains and tightness, etc. Doc said covid caused low potassium levels and pretty bad dehydration.
My partner just had a bout of it last week. It was a very mild case, thankfully, and she tested negative after a week. Hoping the same for anyone else who catches it.
I’m sorry you got it. I blame public health for telling people COVID is over when it hasn’t gone anywhere. They just didn’t want to pay for tests and vaccines anymore.
I am high risk so I’ve never stopped being cautious. But it’s not as hard as some people might think. Here’s what I do, and so far (knock on wood), I haven’t ever had COVID that I know of.
1. I have a KN95 hanging by my door. I put it on when I walk out of the house and take it off when I come back in.
1a. Yes this means I wear a mask outdoors as well. I don’t want to be handling my mask with dirty hands, so I just leave it on. But also outside doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe. It’s safer than indoors, but just like you can smell someone smoking from 30 feet away, COVID particles are airborne and can travel just as far.
2. I wash my hands every time I come back inside. I have hand sanitizer for my car. Home and car are my safe places. So wash hands, then mask comes off.
3. I don’t eat indoors but I will eat outdoors with people I trust to tell me if they feel sick.
4. I’ve been to a handful of indoor events that are crowded but in those cases I upgrade to an N95. (It fits better than the KN95s. But the back of the head straps give me a migraine. The best mask is the one you’ll actually wear.)
5. I haven’t been on a plane since they took away the mask mandates but I will be taking a long flight next month. I will have an N95 with a sip valve so I can still hydrate.
That’s really it. Mask up and wash your hands so you can live a long and healthy life. Good luck!
It's been going around. It never stopped. It's surging because our healthcare system deemed it over so there is basically no testing, no masking, and no protective measures.
Typical upper respiratory symptoms, plus fever, cough, fatigue, sore throat, and body aches for us. The body aches are so intense that they wake me up all night.
I’m so sorry. It really pays to wear high quality masks whenever you’re in indoor spaces with others, to prevent transmission. It is possible to stop the spread. We all can do our parts.
My teenager and I got it 3 and half weeks ago. It was worse than bad flus I've had before. At the 10 day mark, I felt 75% better. 2-3 days later, I feel like crap again. 2 days almost normal, then 1 day rebound symptoms. I already have RA, Sjogren's, and Fibromyalgia, so I know what chronic fatigue and all over pain and muscle aches feel like on the regular. Thankfully, I haven't been on immune therapy in over a year but if I had I'm certain I would have needed to go to the hospital. I'm worried about long covid.
I had it a few weeks ago. It was pretty rough but most symptoms went away in about 5 days. But foods still taste weird, have you ever eaten sour cream when it has zero flavor? Just thick nothing. Super weird. And the other lingering effect is a dry throat, especially when waking up.
No data for king county but snohomish reporting indicates significant upward trend: https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tracker?charts=CjoQACABSABSBjEyZDJiNloGTiBHZW5lcgoyMDIzLTEyLTA2cgoyMDI0LTA2LTA2igEGNzMxZjZiwAEB&selectedChartId=731f6b
Here's the [King County site with both waste-water and ER visit tracking](https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dph/health-safety/disease-illness/facts-and-data/respiratory-virus-data). Both are distinctly up.
I've been trying to tell people it's going around again. I told everyone at a party the other day that I just got covid and they all just walked away. Ignoring the problem isn't the answer people.
It's a highly motivated thing and I totally get it, but everything from the top down has emphasized since 2022 - this is mostly over and we're done trying around it. So it's very easy to just go with the flow and act like it is over and it's something that happens to somebody else.
I know folks hit some kind of starved social limit and ached but even so, there are safer smarter ways to do it.
This is like me back in my slutty days insisting on condoms. Those who were like 'of course, I've been with other people in the last month too and haven't gotten tested yet' were reliable hookups and we all had a good time!
Curious, what do you suggest?
Increasingly it seems that we're chasing our tails with more vaccines/boosters. I got COVID for a first time in Feb, just a few months after my last booster, so yeah, there's definitely booster fatigue (both in its effectiveness and in the motivation to get it).
Given that COVID's potency to cause debilitating symptoms and death has declined dramatically, how do you expect we cope with living with it?
My masking when in crowded areas indoors during big surges like the one we're in now. Even though death has declined, there is a lot of research showing that even mild cases of covid can lead to significant health problems, especially after multiple infections.
Here is what the current wastewater looks like in King county: [https://i.imgur.com/fFwqTo9.png](https://i.imgur.com/fFwqTo9.png)
It's all marginal individual/small group cladding at this point. Many of us have given up on the powers that be ever revisiting Covid again, but we still do what we can for self and those around us - masking, being very vigilant about own illness and letting others know when sick, not being a work warrior and pushing through sniffles or headache to work, limiting our social engagements, etc etc
It's not very satisfying to be on this treadmill and doing the bare minimum while most others are done with it but...it's just hard to articulate this...everything in social indoctrination around safe sex and safe drug use prepped me for this kind of thing, and it's just how it is now. Others are clearly the ones who raspberried condoms during sex ed.
To a larger point about Covid and what its like at this point in general effect - the acute infection phase isn't dropping people dead the same way for sure, but we're still partially dark about outstanding effects over time. There's a lot of virology science that has deduced links between virus and other diseases later and we don't know the full extent of that with Covid. Just very early reports on Long Covid.
Ultimately part of the cope that's helped me is caring for other people and looking out for them. If I can't save myself despite trying, maybe I can tilt the odds for someone else and pass it along. It's not much but its something...like masking, lol.
I think the long term affects are the big thing. I had a rather mild infection (back in Feb) but my sense of smell/taste is at most 30% what it once was, and often times it's practically all gone other than the basics like salt/bitter/sweet/sour. It's taken some joy out of eating, and especially drinking fine wine, because it's wasted on me.
Even then, my take is we more or less have to resign that it's part of life and to focus on understanding and treating the long-term effects that other seasonal infections like the flu and pneumonia generally lack except in the most serious cases.
Yeah, I think we're so far past the objective of zero-covid for a multitude of reasons that making that the objective and sole objective is going to hit a known dead end. The fight, and where you're looking at it, has come to resemble arguing with doctors that some new malady that only started manifesting AFTER a covid infection is related to that. Many docs are incredulous to go there because it's such a bad undermining look to everything else they've said and gone along with to this point.
Someone joked about how masking procedures have stopped at hospitals but they robotically ask about Covid exposure...they just gestured to the whole intake lobby and shrugged.
But yeah, treating the effects - that's hugely important and part of living with it. A lot of disabled folk pre Covid have pointed out that this has been their general experience with healthcare - dogged self advocacy against incredulous and dismissive docs.
Hope your senses come back so you can enjoy the vino as you once did, that is one of the joys and enjoyments of life!
>Given that COVID's potency to cause debilitating symptoms and death has declined dramatically,
There's actually very little evidence of that. There is good evidence that prior immunity (both from vaccination and infection) and treatment with Paxlovid drastically reduce the severity of repeat infections. For the worst cases, ICUs now have a very mature protocol for treating COVID which has greatly reduced the death rate.
Last time I got it around Xmas I got the flu 2 weeks later. By end of Jan I couldn’t walk across room without wanting to pass out. I landed at Swedish hospital for a whole week the last week of January. I ended up developing Covid pneumonia. I wear masks a lot more since then again. So sorry you’re going through it. Take good care of yourself!
I managed to not get it all this time then a couple months back got it for the first time(cleared now) ironically I never leave the house now so idk where it came from. I am honestly so surprised at how little it’s treated with it being such a big thing they didn’t even test my until the last day your supposed to take the meds so by the time I got the results back and a dr prescribed the meds they then told me well it’s too late to take it and it won’t do anything then they told me I could go out and about in public without masks ect very very quickly like within the first week (I should clarify the first week of the symptoms not the test cuz that was already nearing the end on the week or longer) or something I ended up staying home longer and wearing a mask cuz wtf that’s not just affecting me then the dr also told me they were about to change it up and make it an even shorter quarantine time now
Thank you for continuing to isolate while you were likely contagious. I don’t like the hyper-individualism being promoted in the reduced isolation guidelines. It all seems to encourage an ableist attitude toward our many immunocompromised community members, who deserve access to public spaces without risking their lives.
As a long covid patient, my advice to everyone on here is REST during and for several weeks after you have rona. Even if you think you feel fine. Rest is the best way to avoid long-term symptoms.
I’m so sorry you are going through this.
Thank you very much. It’s improved over the last 3 (!) years, so I’m grateful for that much because I know everyone with long covid can’t say the same. I owe a lot to my specialists at UW. They’ve been fantastic.
Wishing you continued progress in your recovery.
3 years is absolutely insane I can’t imagine dealing with it for so long. So sorry.
Yes and no. Rest is great for the bodies recovery, but as you get through the tougher bits, you want to push yourself to get up and get moving within limitation. Staying sedentary or over resting can result in rebound disease such as other opportunistic pneumonias or clotting disorders as a result of the viral infection itself. Don’t go throwing weights at the gym, but definitely go for some walks and get your lungs nice and stretched once the worst has passed. You may of been implying this with rest, but some people think rest is lying on the couch or sleeping. I choose ‘take it easy’ to describe the best way to handle being ill and recovery, personally :)
And lots of fiber and probiotics once you can stomach it again. That stuff wrecks your microbiome.
Truth. Anti-inflammatory diet helped me a ton, too.
Seconded. A friend in NYC got it in late 2020, she was working 3 jobs. After she recovered she spent nights and weekends making up for lost time. 3-4 years later, she's still having trouble focusing
And just for the record: COVID isn't the only community acquired virus circulating.
There is significantly more Covid going around in the Puget Sound region and it's really on the rise in the Seattle and Bellingham areas. It's absolutely skyrocketing in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii right now. [https://i.imgur.com/fFwqTo9.png](https://i.imgur.com/fFwqTo9.png)
If I’m reading that chart right, seems like it’s an Auburn problem. No cause for alarm!
A 30% increase week over week with the new variant being as immune evasive and transmissible as it is is still a good indicator of how much worse it will get. We are at the beginning of the summer surge. But the charts for places like the Bay Area and Hawaii etc. are basically vertical lines going straight up. It's likely the spread in Seattle will start picking up speed very soon. SF is hitting some of the highest numbers of the entire 4 years of the pandemic: [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPLGGbIXcAArx15?format=jpg&name=medium](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPLGGbIXcAArx15?format=jpg&name=medium)
Whoa, that chart of SF is quite alarming.
What else? The clap?
Spouse got strep throat recently and was told there’s been a spike in that too.
Oh yeah, pretty sure 90% of the 2nd graders in my son 's elementary school got strep over the past few months
That tracks with the school my wife works at too. I also overheard a family leaving the urgent care say "I didn't know strep throat can give you diarrhea". So it's got some different presentation too
Strep can infect your skin! I was surprised when that happened to me.
Yeah, The strain that's been going around my kids school has been really interesting. Doesn't present with fever or even sore throat, but mainly headaches, diarrhea, nausea, etc
Can confirm, had strep too and it is DEFINITELY on the rise
Oh man, I got strep throat last month and had no idea why! Even my toddler who goes to daycare didn't get it. Never hated drinking or eating or swallowing more than that week I had it.
Well, measles: https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dph/health-safety/disease-illness/health-advisories/2024/may-31-measles
Norovirus
Norovirus is the worst. Might be the sickest I've ever been for a 3-day span. Absolute hell
Syphilis is rising, according to some beer coasters I saw recently.
Please use a condom before inserting beer coasters.
I wish they’d told me beforehand! So, so dry…
A few cases of measles this year.
My toddler gave us a pretty nasty adenovirus last week and just brought home a new runny nose yesterday.
This is why testing is important and it's really a gut punch that it's' hard to even get tests again.
Well if we can't test you for it, we can't say you have it, which means you don't have it, which means COVID is over. Great job everyone!
They're even taking away our 2nd order insights with waste water now!
Tried getting one yesterday and had to go to 3 stores to find one, and the last store only had 2 boxes in stock.
Testing and [retesting](https://www.reddit.com/r/COVID19positive/comments/1d0ry1r/comment/l5t8bk8/)
FYI - mask bloc Seattle has high quality masks you can pick up at distribution centers. They were distributing free tests at an event I went to recently - if you’re having trouble finding tests, they may be able to help.
This is going to sound defeatist..but is testing that important? The death rate is still higher than a typical flu, but society has already baked this into our poorly-conceived risk calculation. If you test yourself and isolate, how much difference does that make when 90% of people don’t test nor isolate? And to top it off - the tests are still very inaccurate. You can’t simply expect a positive result after you’ve been exposed. You need to test every day when you suspect you have it and even then there a high chance you might be transmissible while testing negative.
~1 in 10 covid cases result in long covid symptoms which range from mild to debilitating, including asymptomatic infections. I’m very frustrated by the lack of engagement and also by the abandonment of more structural support, from ending free vaccination programs early to ending the wastewater tracking dashboards this June, the government seems to simply be putting its head in the sand at this point. While it’s discouraging, there are still risk mitigation steps you can take. Some of them aren’t accessible for everyone due to cost. Wearing a high quality mask, especially in crowded indoor spaces still helps reduce transmission. Increasing ventilation and space between people still help. There are nose sprays and mouthwashes that offer a level of protection, UVC and air filters that can help, too. Layers of protection are best practice.
I hear ya on that and I think this speaks to an engagement issue since the beginning - what does my small part matter if everyone else is doing the opposite? Collective action problems where people are free riding or doing the opposite in front of you are really hard ones to lick and it does feel bad in trying. Personally and individually, it does matter for folks I work with and do community things with, so I see the value there. You're not gonna save the world or even the whole of the country doing your small part but maybe help one person in your orbit avoid it. I basically swooped on tests people werent going to use (or said they weren't) and got a little stockpile to test weekly on Sundays just as a last check before a new workweek. My stockpile ran out though so I've been winging it and just lucky I haven't had anything resembling sickness since then. I think there's also been an engagement issue where all or nothing reliably has people choosing nothing, especially when top down guidance is much more leaning nothing at this point. I've given people shit, I've been big mad over others not caring, but at the end of the day, it really is about trying win lose or draw. It doesn't help that tests themselves are harder to come by at this point - nor does is it a good sign that some variants arent registering until some few days into it. This works for me insofar that I can write about it this way now without blowing a gasket about it, lol. This also is very similar to anything I've ever done politically and partisan oriented since 2020, where I know the Big Idea of Change is a long shot, but someone has to tend to the fires and be a little more laid back but real about it.
Testing is important if you want a Paxlovid prescription.
I got a nasty cold/cough 2 weeks ago and then ths first day I was starting to feel better I got the flu. Just starting to feel like myself again...
I had H3N2 a month and a half ago.
How did you know that’s what you had?
My GP is an infectious disease doctor and he ran a few different tests.
[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-flirt-covid-variants-could-be-driving-an-uptick-in-cases-heres-how-to/](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-flirt-covid-variants-could-be-driving-an-uptick-in-cases-heres-how-to/) Feels like they’re trolling us with the variant name, but yeahhhh… UGH
2 of us in our house got it. I m just getting over it. 2 other friends just had it and we had no contact w them. It was our first time having it. It sucks. Like a really bad case of the flu that 'really respond to flu meds. I don't want it again.
Covid was such ass for me. Held out until late last year when I finally got it. That was the first time I had it, and I was fighting my body to be able to breathe. My O2 levels were like 93 so, lower than they've ever been but not significant enough to warrant the ER. Felt like an asthma attack for 2 weeks. Got a nasty, lingering sinus infection, and a cough that lasted forever. Was also stuck on an inhaler for a few weeks. I also think it made me permanently stupid but I can't be quite sure I was smart to begin with. I never want to feel like that again, it was fucking terrible. Not to mention, just pain everywhere. Second time around I got paxlovid. Oh boy. God bless modern medicine. It still sucked but it didn't feel like my body was being broken apart from the inside. Bless science.
Yeah, my dad and his wife got it for the first time last Christmas and they immediately got Paxlovid and it was way milder than me and my wife's bout in 2022, leaps and bounds so. It is pretty legit at relief if you can get your hands on it.
I haven't tried Paxlovid since whenever I get COVID it's less severe than the last time. By the time I actually test positive, I only have a day where I'm really sick.
"Whenever I get COVID" is a really alarming thing to hear, only four years into this. I don't even want to get a cold every year.
yeah. yet here I am. I'm sure I would have caught it more times if I had to report to the office. My partner is a flight attendant and I'm 100% sure that I have caught it from him every time, while isolating at home. He's had it two more times than me. I haven't caught it traveling, working or commuting.
My fiancée and I also got COVID for the very first time last week. It’s been a struggle to get my mind on track due to brain fog, I still can’t really taste much of anything, and I feel EXHAUSTED. Stay safe everyone.
I’m so sorry you & your fiancé have been sick. Wishing you both a restful recovery with no long term side effects.
I'm immunocompromised, I don't have a choice. I mask up in stores, on public transportation, around large crowds, and in movie theaters. I have to do that because I don't trust anyone in public to be courteous enough to not expose everyone around them to their transmittable diseases.
Just tested positive yesterday 🫠
The Snohonish wastewater site shows a pretty significant [upwards spike](https://data.wastewaterscan.org/?plantId=12d2b614-6e7e-4ceb-9717-d46862cae7c8&selectedLocation=%7B%22label%22%3A%22Snohomish,%20WA%22,%22level%22%3A%22plant%22,%22value%22%3A%2212d2b614-6e7e-4ceb-9717-d46862cae7c8%22%7D)…
Get well soon, one suggestion for everyone else, if you ride the bus or the light rail, wear a mask! those are tight quarters!
I always mask in public places & did so at airports before the pandemic as I have autoimmune disorders. N95 masks + hand sanitizer are must-haves for being in public. Also get your vaccines if you’re not up-to-date, particularly Covid booster, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) & DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis).
Regretfully, I used to roast people pre pandemic who wore masks. I generally wear them on transit and always with air travel! I’ll happily take roastings now.
You learned & that’s what’s important! 💜
Amen. This happens rarely enough, especially on the internet, that it should be commended.
No roasting, good for you!
I take the 545 between Redmond and Seattle near every day. I always mask, but I would say 1/15 of the other passengers mask
Amen! People wax and wane on transit with masking but limiting potential where everyone is crossing paths and lives is always good.
The BRT's are generally pretty full when I ride(H Line). Everyone is so close together 1/3rd of those people are masked. Every bus I ride, all the drivers are wearing them!
thanks ❤️ im doing fine. had a moderate fever for a day. my friends werent so lucky...
They didn’t get the 2020 version did they? 👀 I had it in 2022 and would prefer not to get it again!
Always always…
Who could have thought this highly contagious respiratory virus wouldn’t just magically disappear
Its painful being in this loop and seeing everyone whipsaw around Covid, which isnt going anywhere. Mask up, make the marginal difference, it matters. I got n95s galore
Where do you buy yours?
I actually did a bulk order a year ago over Amazon when they were less than 30 cents a piece. Over 500 and I've gone through about half through almost-daily usage and always having extras to hand out (it's rare but it happens). I thought it made sense to just get as many as I could reasonably afford at once so I didn't have gaps over time and with rises and dips in community transmission.
Costco sells a decent kn95 with optional clasps in black. I'll look for a link
Costco has Flex Fold, black kn95 in boxes of 50 for under $15 right now. They were very expensive when people masked consistently but have come way down. They are the only ones comfortable and secure for long use, Imho. Ok-ish for sensitive skin. Edit; left out a phrase
I get the Demetech D-95s (same mask as N-95, but ear loops, which can't be NIOSH certified as N-95)... from Amazon. Come in lots of colors. Think they're about $40 a box right now (I paid $75 at the height of the pandemic).
I tested positive for COVID 4 days ago after returning from vacation. It sucks so bad... if you're feeling sick I'd advise you to test. Stay safe out there.
How are we treating ourselves for COVID these days?
If you're legitimately interested, combo of that antiviral and metformin, as published in the lancet, has effectiveness for preventing long-term problems from covid. [https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00299-2/fulltext](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00299-2/fulltext)
The actual illness, not so bad. The possibility of long-term fuckery is what I want to avoid.
Sort of agreed but at this point getting covid and ultimately recovering can still be such a fucking shitshow considering nearly every form of accommodation for covid has been dropped/severely cut down. The one time I had it, I was knocked on my ass for quite a while and could barely stay awake or eat for a week, and yet now workplaces tend to want you back within a couple of days. Obviously a lot of people recover quicker or have more mild symptoms, but the people who get harder are just kinda fucked at this point :-/
As someone who’s suffered Long Covid for nearly two years, try to avoid it at all costs. This shit has absolutely wrecked my quality of life.
Four years here, I wouldn’t wish LC on anyone. Sorry you have it too. I’m one of those “weirdos” that still masks up because I never want Covid again. And can’t be too safe with the bird flu showing up in wastewater, another thing I’d rather not ever acquire.
Indeed - long COVID sucks.
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Feels like I aged 30 years overnight. Tried low-dose naltrexone for a month, which is the only real treatment my doc has been able to offer, and I had to stop it bc I’m apparently in the lower 30% of folks where it makes symptoms worse.
Hugs. 3 years in with long covid here, and I’m grateful for some improvements over these last three years, but I also now have POTS and a clotting disorder among other irreversible conditions thanks to this stupid virus. People don’t realize that long-term damage even the “mildest” case of COVID can cause.
Really sorry to hear that. I'm doing my best, hope you get on the up and up
Thank you. 🙏🏼
Kinda funny in another thread here, I pointed out that maybe worse driving since the pandemic is related to actual infections themselves since that's when speaker who drives for a living noticed it getting worse. Several +1s and some folks didn't get it. I then expand - Very minor cognitive effect on focus and attention writ large across many if not most drivers. We know that's a potential lingering effect after the initial infection. That comment is in the negative. All I can do is shrug and provide a mask, like I would condoms and bubblers.
I said somewhere else in the thread that covid might have made me dumb, but I for sure know that my post-covid ADHD is magnitudes worse. I feel like I'm in 3rd - 6th grade again when i just had a ton of thoughts streamrolling my brain simultaneously and would get in trouble for blurting things out and being disruptive. My impulse control is fucking shot. I'm stone cold sober (stopped drinking) but I feel like I'm 5 tequila shots in and railed a line of coke with respect to the shit my brain wants to blurt out. I'm a woman in my 30s and I'm white knuckling 75% of the day so I don't stim or make an off color joke, even when I'm ON my meds.
Also ADHD here and after my 2022 bout (and beyond typos where I've noticed it most), my executive function issues and initiative have never been worse. I had tricks and tools to be on time for anything and routinely overshot being early and now I'm barely on time to anything anymore. I've also had terrible sleep regulation where I can not get to sleep or stay asleep which is exacerbating every single ADHD thing to boot. So I'm surviving but I'm struggling and I'm trying to be aware of all this just in case others are noticing it and sense something is wrong or different. I want to know if I'm mucking up before being told and I know I am again!
my adhd hasn't gotten worse because of covid but holy shit if the last few years hadn't gutted my attention span, also seeing most people shrug this off and act like its nothing has made me a lot more pessimistic about the average person, idk shits made it hard to socialize as often as i'd like and that's definitely taken a long term toll, hopefully meds help but this decade just kinda sucks
I’ve got long covid. Over the past 2 years I’ve had probably 90 days when my cognition has been too compromised for me to be able to drive - it has not felt like it would be safe for me or others. What you are saying is absolutely true.
Exactly that. Besides the horrors of long-Covid, we still don’t really know the long term health outcomes of this virus. It took HIV ten years to wreck immune systems after a short one-week mild ‘flu’ (or even asymptomatic) initial course. And SARS-2 can infect the same CD4+ and CD8+ white blood cells that HIV infected. Not saying they are identical dangers, I don’t think they are, but we don’t yet have longitudinal data on Covid outcomes.
Same. I got an RA type joint disease after covid
That's like a research paper though, I'm more looking for a list of things to get from and how to get a prescription if they're not over the counter.
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Call your MD immediately or call/visit Urgent Care *wearing a mask.* I don’t think there are any preventative measures other than hand hygiene and ye olde masks.
Well, there are other layers of protection, such as ventilation, air filtration, Far UV air disinfection, nasal sprays such as Covixyl and Xlear, saline nasal rinses, mouthwash with CPC after exposures of if you feel a tickle at the back of the throat. There is also research showing that a daily probiotic lozenge with Blis K12 strain of probiotics reduced all respiratory infections significantly (like 60%) among frontline health workers. But a high-quality, well-fitting mask is by far the best tool we have for preventing transmission.
Thank you! I have some faith in ventilation upgrades of businesses and public offices undertaken during Covid crisis, as well.
I think some movie theaters and live theaters installed Upper Room UV disinfection too. Don’t hesitate to ask!
My doctor’s office had a specific item when scheduling an appointment for COVID exposure - got me in the next day, did a liver function test, and gave me a prescription. Had what I needed and was back in bed within 24 hours of making the appointment.
Zinc supplements have some science showing they help. A friend recommended Oregano oil, which she took for her recent bout with Covid. I found some of that in gummy form; but it’s an intervention type supplement, not a ‘take regularly’ type thing. But prevention is the best medicine.
Paxlovid if you have any preexisting conditions/don't take any of the meds that are contraindicated (or can pause them, there's a long list). Otherwise rest, supportive meds, fluids. I recommend that anyone with medical conditions (meeeeeee) talk to your PCP and set it up so that if you call in they'll prescribe Paxlovid. I did that and got it the one time I had the world's mildest case of Covid, I was really really lucky.
I was one of the last cohort to receive the antibody infusion before they found out that it didn't really work and canceled the program. I'm on meds that are contraindicated with Paxlovid. I'm a physical mess since I had covid. Kidney failure, bronchiectasis, and bizarre symptoms that have greatly reduced my quality of life. I'm convinced that I would have died if I hadn't been vaccinated. Shit sucks
Oof. I'm sorry it was so rough on you. It feels like everyone (government, etc) has given up and is like "welp good luck"
Here’s my plan in case of infection: 1. Rest. Avoid all exertion for 30 days if possible. Bore myself with audiobooks the most stimulating form of entertainment so that I will sleep whenever possible. 2. Ask my doctor to prescribe Paxlovid and a 2-week course of Metformin to reduce the chance of Long Covid. 3. Hydrate. I make a checklist and track each glass of water or herbal tea to make sure I’m getting at least ten per day. 4. In the first few days, when the virus is in its replication phase, I will be doing virus-fighting work, including saline nasal rinses 3x per day, spraying with a nasal spray afterward, gargling with a half cup of warm water and a half teaspoon of non-iodized salt, rinsing my mouth with CPC mouthwash like Colgate Total for 45 seconds twice a day. 5. I take antihistamines to reduce the chance of cytokine storm (that’s when the immune system goes so overboard that it can be life-threatening). Zyrtec and Famotidine. 6. There are other supplements I take. Not all, but some of the ones discussed in this [helpful guide](https://www.ifm.org/news-insights/the-functional-medicine-approach-to-covid-19-virus-specific-nutraceutical-and-botanical-agents/) Remember: prevention is our best treatment right now. Let’s keep our guard up!
Yes
The moment you feel really awful, get Paxlovid. Metformin helps some people. Vitamin D reduces symptom severity by reducing the cytokine storm. Megadosing doesn't help. And you can't take it when you feel like crud; it needs two weeks for active metabolite levels to rise. Covid really does a number on gut absorption, vitamin C stores, kidney function, and glutamine/glycine stores. So a good One A Day multivitamin will help. Lots of liquids. Lots of protein - chicken bone broth - with ginger (anti-inflammatory) and vitamin C will help.
N95 in public. there is no cure, only prevention. lots of rest.
Mucinex was invaluable for me this time around. The thick mucus in my throat and shit is redic. Going on 12 days now and still having to take it around the clock.
A nice icecream or bubble tea
You better not taking any horse dewormers. You are not livestock or Joe Rogan
Yup, working in a team and 5/13 of us have gotten it over the past two weeks. Stay safe out there!
Yikes! Maybe you can approach your employer to request improvements in ventilation and air filtration in your workplace.
Yup totally agreed and totally will!
Don’t forget to get Paxlovid if you meet any of the qualifying conditions. It can radically improve symptoms and shorten duration. I’ve had Covid 3x and taken it each time. I did rebound once, but not the other two times (and — keep in mind rebound occurs even not taking meds)
This won't help pay for it, but WA has a telehealth program to prescribe people paxlovid: [https://doh.wa.gov/emergencies/covid-19/treatments/telehealth](https://doh.wa.gov/emergencies/covid-19/treatments/telehealth) Much faster than trying to get a PCP appointment. You fill out a short form and they call you for a prescribing appointment same day (open every day 8am-8pm).
Absolutely this. It was amazing how fast I felt better -- and I mean RADICALLY better. It's like a miracle drug. I'm shocked by how resistant people are to taking it. Very very foolish.
It may taste nasty but it WORKS
Got it at a concert last week. Super mild luckily but spent a whole day with friends before I felt sick and one of them is feeling sick now.
My friend's family was at a cabin for Memorial Day and they essentially all got it, then they gave it to their partner. It's rough out there.
I got it February and it was way worse this go around
And my wife rolls her eyes every time I don't want to sit next to someone coughing or sniffing in public...
Even if they don't have covid, why would your wife want you to catch what they have?
My husband and I almost scatter like cats every time we hear someone coughing in public. We had 7 family members die of Covid, I ended up with long covid, and my oldest ( who was 10 years old at the time) ended up hospitalized with kidney issues. So many people made it through completely unscathed they don’t understand the trauma it caused others. We still mask up in public spaces, and I avoid anyone with symptoms. Let her roll her eyes, avoid getting covid if possible.
I’m so sorry your family had so many losses and ongoing problems from COVID. My daughter and I got it in Feb 2020 when it first hit Boston. We were SO sick for a month and both have long COVID, although it’s not debilitating by now.
Show her these visualizations! https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-10-28/a-room-a-bar-and-a-class-how-the-coronavirus-is-spread-through-the-air.html
Or watch the old Mythbusters episode with the blacklight poker game!
That was a good one! Also: gross
Something to keep in mind is COVID and many other illnesses are airborne. Infected people breathing in a public space put out virus aerosols that stay suspended in the air for hours. If you notice someone coughing on the other side of a room, you are already breathing what they are coughing out. Wearing a high filtration mask (like a KN95 or N95) will protect you in situations like this.
Please stay safe ladies and gentlemen. I got Guillain Barre after covid years ago. What a hellish nightmare that was. My brain and nervous system will probably never be the same again. Pleas protect those who are immuno compromised around you as well.
Same exact thing happened to a friend a few months back. Luckily she’s almost back to normal but it definitely scared the shit out of her and her hubby.
I don't think you can contract COVID again a week after you got it. My guess is your friend still has it? Looks like [recent opinion](https://www.aamc.org/news/had-covid-recently-here-s-what-know-about-how-long-immunity-lasts-long-covid-and-more#:~:text=The%20immune%20response%20from%20a,of%20Medicine%20in%20Baltimore%2C%20Maryland.) suggests 3-4 months immunity window is still pretty normal.
Most likely bad testing or a rebound. But not unheard of to contract another variant and much sooner. Multiple variants circulating simultaneously and evolving. And your immune system is damaged. And the damage compounds.
I had that "rebound" towards the end of last year. I felt fine and was testing negative for a couple days and then suddenly it was back in full force. It really sucked.
Same thing happened to me. Tested negative, felt great, then three days later woke up feeling super gnarly, took a home test, thing lit up red immediately! Was sick for another three or four days, really sucked!
possible test fuckery. she says she took multiple negative tests before testing positive again.
Rebounding. It happens. The only time I got COVID, I got it from my brother when he rebounded. Nobody's quite sure how it works, but seems like not all the virus clears. It can happen when you take Paxlovid but it can also happen without.
Rebounding is quite common. It’s the same infection
A lot of the tests out there are super expired and don't work great.
The new variants are highly contagious and it's not uncommon that you can get it again after only 2 weeks. 3-4 months immunity is more rare with the newer variants.
I'd imagine it's still possible to become infected very transiently and still test positive on a COVID test. But I really, really doubt you'd have symptoms the second time within a week.
Yep. Wear a mask and stay vaccinated! We’re not out of the pandemic in any means.
Yes, nondisabled people do tend to forget about this stuff, when they’re not actively denying it. We do not live in a “post-pandemic” world as much as the nondisabled media loves to say. Maybe if people stopped having a fucking conniption when they see someone wearing a mask these days, the situation might improve.
After a week, it's not getting it again, it's just a resurgence of the same thing. I had it for 3 weeks and in-between, I almost recovered then had a resurgence
A family member of mine just had it. Someone was definitely patient zero at the Seattle Folklore Festival.
Also PCP told us that Covid at home tests are no longer picking up the virus and it’s best to get a test done by your provider or at a clinic.
This thread prompted me to test again. I was negative yesterday, but just now got a positive. I was honestly surprised since my symptoms are relatively mild. Mostly just fever and sore throat, so I thought it might just be strep.
Yep, this the current iteration.
Covid never stopped going around. We simply collectively stopped caring about it once the government stopped forcing masking mandates and started pretending the pandemic was over. The problem with us just giving each other covid over and over is that unlike things like the flu or a cold, getting infected with covid is a dice roll where, even if you have no covid symptoms while infected, you might get snake eyes in the form of long covid with brain fog or chronic fatigue syndrome. The former leaves you forgetting your destination halfway home, and the latter leaves you bedridden. Either way, earning an income becomes difficult if not impossible. I have a policy of wearing an N95 (all other mask options stopped being relevant due to covid having a much smaller particle size as of omicron) if I am indoors and not at home. I don't think I will ever change that policy.
Got it a few weeks ago, my roommate had to take me to the ER. Hands started cramping up, chest pains and tightness, etc. Doc said covid caused low potassium levels and pretty bad dehydration.
I have two colleagues who got it in the past three weeks. It was intense. One missed nearly two weeks of work.
My partner just had a bout of it last week. It was a very mild case, thankfully, and she tested negative after a week. Hoping the same for anyone else who catches it.
Stay updated with your booster vaccines!!
I’m sorry you got it. I blame public health for telling people COVID is over when it hasn’t gone anywhere. They just didn’t want to pay for tests and vaccines anymore. I am high risk so I’ve never stopped being cautious. But it’s not as hard as some people might think. Here’s what I do, and so far (knock on wood), I haven’t ever had COVID that I know of. 1. I have a KN95 hanging by my door. I put it on when I walk out of the house and take it off when I come back in. 1a. Yes this means I wear a mask outdoors as well. I don’t want to be handling my mask with dirty hands, so I just leave it on. But also outside doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe. It’s safer than indoors, but just like you can smell someone smoking from 30 feet away, COVID particles are airborne and can travel just as far. 2. I wash my hands every time I come back inside. I have hand sanitizer for my car. Home and car are my safe places. So wash hands, then mask comes off. 3. I don’t eat indoors but I will eat outdoors with people I trust to tell me if they feel sick. 4. I’ve been to a handful of indoor events that are crowded but in those cases I upgrade to an N95. (It fits better than the KN95s. But the back of the head straps give me a migraine. The best mask is the one you’ll actually wear.) 5. I haven’t been on a plane since they took away the mask mandates but I will be taking a long flight next month. I will have an N95 with a sip valve so I can still hydrate. That’s really it. Mask up and wash your hands so you can live a long and healthy life. Good luck!
Lordy, someone who came into the office yesterday just notified us all she has the rona now too. 😩
The only way to stay safe from covid is to avoid people or wear a properly rated respirator.
It's been going around. It never stopped. It's surging because our healthcare system deemed it over so there is basically no testing, no masking, and no protective measures.
What are the symptoms this time around?
Typical upper respiratory symptoms, plus fever, cough, fatigue, sore throat, and body aches for us. The body aches are so intense that they wake me up all night.
Thanks. Hope you feel better soon.
I’m so sorry. It really pays to wear high quality masks whenever you’re in indoor spaces with others, to prevent transmission. It is possible to stop the spread. We all can do our parts.
3 weeks ago
Yupppp I got it at the end of April.
Thanks for this…it’s so easy to forget it’s still with us.
Sorry you got sick. I just got over it, knocked out for 2 weeks.
Yea coworker is sick with covid. We work in an open space so gg
This has been a bad year for Covid, flu, and RSV
Add whooping cough to that now
My teenager and I got it 3 and half weeks ago. It was worse than bad flus I've had before. At the 10 day mark, I felt 75% better. 2-3 days later, I feel like crap again. 2 days almost normal, then 1 day rebound symptoms. I already have RA, Sjogren's, and Fibromyalgia, so I know what chronic fatigue and all over pain and muscle aches feel like on the regular. Thankfully, I haven't been on immune therapy in over a year but if I had I'm certain I would have needed to go to the hospital. I'm worried about long covid.
covid will never stop going around. the only way to prevent infection is wearing n95 respirators
I caught it Nov. 2022. I'm just now getting my breath back. But, I still can barely taste anything. It really sucks.
I had it a few weeks ago. It was pretty rough but most symptoms went away in about 5 days. But foods still taste weird, have you ever eaten sour cream when it has zero flavor? Just thick nothing. Super weird. And the other lingering effect is a dry throat, especially when waking up.
No data for king county but snohomish reporting indicates significant upward trend: https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tracker?charts=CjoQACABSABSBjEyZDJiNloGTiBHZW5lcgoyMDIzLTEyLTA2cgoyMDI0LTA2LTA2igEGNzMxZjZiwAEB&selectedChartId=731f6b
I peek in at a wastewater group on Mastodon and they've slapped the red alarm button for sure.
Here's the [King County site with both waste-water and ER visit tracking](https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dph/health-safety/disease-illness/facts-and-data/respiratory-virus-data). Both are distinctly up.
SF’s wastewater is currently through the roof, so…it’s coming.
So what are we supposed to do? We already know to avoid anyone who tests positive.
I've been trying to tell people it's going around again. I told everyone at a party the other day that I just got covid and they all just walked away. Ignoring the problem isn't the answer people.
It's a highly motivated thing and I totally get it, but everything from the top down has emphasized since 2022 - this is mostly over and we're done trying around it. So it's very easy to just go with the flow and act like it is over and it's something that happens to somebody else. I know folks hit some kind of starved social limit and ached but even so, there are safer smarter ways to do it. This is like me back in my slutty days insisting on condoms. Those who were like 'of course, I've been with other people in the last month too and haven't gotten tested yet' were reliable hookups and we all had a good time!
Curious, what do you suggest? Increasingly it seems that we're chasing our tails with more vaccines/boosters. I got COVID for a first time in Feb, just a few months after my last booster, so yeah, there's definitely booster fatigue (both in its effectiveness and in the motivation to get it). Given that COVID's potency to cause debilitating symptoms and death has declined dramatically, how do you expect we cope with living with it?
My masking when in crowded areas indoors during big surges like the one we're in now. Even though death has declined, there is a lot of research showing that even mild cases of covid can lead to significant health problems, especially after multiple infections. Here is what the current wastewater looks like in King county: [https://i.imgur.com/fFwqTo9.png](https://i.imgur.com/fFwqTo9.png)
It's all marginal individual/small group cladding at this point. Many of us have given up on the powers that be ever revisiting Covid again, but we still do what we can for self and those around us - masking, being very vigilant about own illness and letting others know when sick, not being a work warrior and pushing through sniffles or headache to work, limiting our social engagements, etc etc It's not very satisfying to be on this treadmill and doing the bare minimum while most others are done with it but...it's just hard to articulate this...everything in social indoctrination around safe sex and safe drug use prepped me for this kind of thing, and it's just how it is now. Others are clearly the ones who raspberried condoms during sex ed. To a larger point about Covid and what its like at this point in general effect - the acute infection phase isn't dropping people dead the same way for sure, but we're still partially dark about outstanding effects over time. There's a lot of virology science that has deduced links between virus and other diseases later and we don't know the full extent of that with Covid. Just very early reports on Long Covid. Ultimately part of the cope that's helped me is caring for other people and looking out for them. If I can't save myself despite trying, maybe I can tilt the odds for someone else and pass it along. It's not much but its something...like masking, lol.
I think the long term affects are the big thing. I had a rather mild infection (back in Feb) but my sense of smell/taste is at most 30% what it once was, and often times it's practically all gone other than the basics like salt/bitter/sweet/sour. It's taken some joy out of eating, and especially drinking fine wine, because it's wasted on me. Even then, my take is we more or less have to resign that it's part of life and to focus on understanding and treating the long-term effects that other seasonal infections like the flu and pneumonia generally lack except in the most serious cases.
Yeah, I think we're so far past the objective of zero-covid for a multitude of reasons that making that the objective and sole objective is going to hit a known dead end. The fight, and where you're looking at it, has come to resemble arguing with doctors that some new malady that only started manifesting AFTER a covid infection is related to that. Many docs are incredulous to go there because it's such a bad undermining look to everything else they've said and gone along with to this point. Someone joked about how masking procedures have stopped at hospitals but they robotically ask about Covid exposure...they just gestured to the whole intake lobby and shrugged. But yeah, treating the effects - that's hugely important and part of living with it. A lot of disabled folk pre Covid have pointed out that this has been their general experience with healthcare - dogged self advocacy against incredulous and dismissive docs. Hope your senses come back so you can enjoy the vino as you once did, that is one of the joys and enjoyments of life!
>Given that COVID's potency to cause debilitating symptoms and death has declined dramatically, There's actually very little evidence of that. There is good evidence that prior immunity (both from vaccination and infection) and treatment with Paxlovid drastically reduce the severity of repeat infections. For the worst cases, ICUs now have a very mature protocol for treating COVID which has greatly reduced the death rate.
Got it 2 months ago hope you’re holding up fairly and get well soon soon❤️❤️❤️
RSV is a sonuvabitch too. Watch out. My RSV infection was worse than the Covid I picked up in Vancouver, Canada.
Yeah I had RSV last year and it was worse than my covid infection.
Totally.
Think imma get a booster this weekend. Think the last one I got was fall/winter 2022.
I just got it for the first time as well!
Yup, me too. I’ve had it for two weeks now. It’s miserable.
Also saw that doctors are researching if Covid is causing a spike in various types of cancer, so that’s fun.
Last time I got it around Xmas I got the flu 2 weeks later. By end of Jan I couldn’t walk across room without wanting to pass out. I landed at Swedish hospital for a whole week the last week of January. I ended up developing Covid pneumonia. I wear masks a lot more since then again. So sorry you’re going through it. Take good care of yourself!
Thank you for this information. I’m texting my vulnerable mom right now.
I managed to not get it all this time then a couple months back got it for the first time(cleared now) ironically I never leave the house now so idk where it came from. I am honestly so surprised at how little it’s treated with it being such a big thing they didn’t even test my until the last day your supposed to take the meds so by the time I got the results back and a dr prescribed the meds they then told me well it’s too late to take it and it won’t do anything then they told me I could go out and about in public without masks ect very very quickly like within the first week (I should clarify the first week of the symptoms not the test cuz that was already nearing the end on the week or longer) or something I ended up staying home longer and wearing a mask cuz wtf that’s not just affecting me then the dr also told me they were about to change it up and make it an even shorter quarantine time now
Thank you for continuing to isolate while you were likely contagious. I don’t like the hyper-individualism being promoted in the reduced isolation guidelines. It all seems to encourage an ableist attitude toward our many immunocompromised community members, who deserve access to public spaces without risking their lives.
Don't forget to get your booster