Hey I'm curious, if you don't mind sharing, how do you think you got it? Throughout this whole pandemic, I'm still kind of amazed how people are getting it
I've avoided infection, but some friends of mine didn't, a couple who got infected by an acquaintance who "forgot" to tell people he was infected.
They then went on to unwittingly spread the infection at a small gathering of friends, even though their rapid tests were negative. A subsequent rapid test showed negative for one, positive for the other. PCR tests nailed it down, and they went through the whole contact tracing malarkey to get everyone tested.
It may be as simple as someone not taking it completely seriously, or someone 100% unwittingly becoming a carrier, even with negative tests.
Had avoided Covid all 2020, but in February I needed to go to hospital for unrelated reasons -- needed urgent treatment, otherwise potentially life-threatening, had to stay several days. Had three negative Covid tests during the stay, but the fourth came back positive, just a day before my discharge. So I'm pretty sure I caught it inside the hospital. :(
My dad stayed isolated throughout 2020. He had the AZ vaccine in January. About 10 days later a blood clot to the brain caused a seizure and he went into hospital. He was tested when he went in and was not infected, he was kept fairly isolated in hospital for a couple of weeks, obviously no visitors.
We had a late night call saying he was unlikely to last the night, so we were allowed in to see him.
The next morning we were waiting for the phone call. And we had one. From Test and Fucking Trace, who wanted to speak to him. They were insistent he wasn't in hospital so we hung up on them with a rather non-polite scream.
His swab (which was from before we saw him) came back and he was positive, so we had to isolate. He did last the night, and then was moved to a covid ward.
So he clearly caught it in hospital on a non-covid ward. While I was holding his hand a nurse came along to give him an injection. She had a mask on, over her mouth - not her nose. Clearly lots of unconcious people who had frequent negative tests and weren't moving around a ward aren't going to be spreading covid, the only close contacts were the medical staff.
As it happens he lasted another 3 weeks before he came home for palative care. The vaccine presumably helped with fighting covid, but the damage caused by the siezures meant he couldn't even swallow.
He died 29 days after the positive test, so didn't go on the T+28 day stats.
My wife and I think we got it from movers in NYC. We had become too comfortable around others and overly confident that we wouldn’t get it. I was diagnosed two weeks before my vaccine appointment, it was so frustrating to fail so close to the finish line!
It's even worse than that, my dad got it in an indoor space (office) while both he and the carrier were wearing masks. Then I got it from him in the house, even though I avoided him and kept my distance.
He wouldn't wear a mask in the house (because "I'm fine") and kept coughing up the place, though.
- Friend 1: had son in school, son's classmate's father got it and by the time they knew, the kids had met. This was during a wave and contacts weren't tested, only symptomatic people.
- Friend 2: stupid, stupid colleague came to work to pick up laptop when she got quarantined.
Almost certainly[1], my grandad caught it in hospital, then infected most of the rest of the family (6/7 people) when he was discharged.
He was admitted with suspected sepsis, and tested negative on admission. He had a new cough when he was discharged, but we didn't think much of it as he had COPD so periods of coughing weren't unusual. A few days later, he was readmitted with a recurrence of his original symptoms, but this time his admission test was positive. Six of the other family members tested positive the next day, and developed symptoms over the following days.
[1] The only other person in the house who hadn't been isolating subsequently tested negative. Everyone else had been nowhere but home for at least the proceeding two weeks, so the chance of another vector seems remote.
My wife got it either at the grocery store or Home Depot early in. She’s a nurse and worked with covid patients but hadn’t been to work for over two weeks. Those were the only places we had gone otherwise. I got it from her a few days after she showed symptoms.
I caught it in September when numbers here in the UK were quite low.
I'm not sure how I caught it. I had left my car into the garage a few days before I showed symptoms and had to get an Uber home, then back to the garage to pick it up, so my strongest suspicion is one of the Uber drivers or previous passengers had it or potentially a mechanic had it and it remained in the car.
The strangest thing is my girlfriend and I had spent the day before I showed symptoms together and she slept over that night but she didn't seem to catch it off me. She even had an antibody test about a month after which was negative suggesting she hadn't already had asymptomatic Covid.
I think it is possible to be exposed to the virus and never need to build antibodies. Innate immune response, if robust, can fight off (or block) infection quickly enough that the adaptive immune response, never kicks in. Adaptive response takes time, and antibodies don't show up until a few days in, IIRC .
For those fortunate to be able to work from home during this pandemic, as I'll guess most on HN can & do, I'm very curious how they're getting it assuming they:
a) Just go to the store and back wearing a mask while indoors
b) Spend most of their leisure time outdoors - because what else can you do?
I haven't been holed up this whole time. I'm outside multiple times every day (dog walks, kids playground etc.) and I don't know anyone who works in a factory, meat processing plant, hospital etc. hence my curiosity how people think they're getting it.
stavros|4 years ago
KozmoNau7|4 years ago
They then went on to unwittingly spread the infection at a small gathering of friends, even though their rapid tests were negative. A subsequent rapid test showed negative for one, positive for the other. PCR tests nailed it down, and they went through the whole contact tracing malarkey to get everyone tested.
It may be as simple as someone not taking it completely seriously, or someone 100% unwittingly becoming a carrier, even with negative tests.
photon-torpedo|4 years ago
iso1210|4 years ago
We had a late night call saying he was unlikely to last the night, so we were allowed in to see him.
The next morning we were waiting for the phone call. And we had one. From Test and Fucking Trace, who wanted to speak to him. They were insistent he wasn't in hospital so we hung up on them with a rather non-polite scream.
His swab (which was from before we saw him) came back and he was positive, so we had to isolate. He did last the night, and then was moved to a covid ward.
So he clearly caught it in hospital on a non-covid ward. While I was holding his hand a nurse came along to give him an injection. She had a mask on, over her mouth - not her nose. Clearly lots of unconcious people who had frequent negative tests and weren't moving around a ward aren't going to be spreading covid, the only close contacts were the medical staff.
As it happens he lasted another 3 weeks before he came home for palative care. The vaccine presumably helped with fighting covid, but the damage caused by the siezures meant he couldn't even swallow.
He died 29 days after the positive test, so didn't go on the T+28 day stats.
Causality1|4 years ago
khazhoux|4 years ago
ping_pong|4 years ago
rayiner|4 years ago
arwhatever|4 years ago
Got it at Christmas from a gathering with only 3 other family members.
sickcodebruh|4 years ago
andrei_says_|4 years ago
Non-huge indoor spaces, absence of masks, breathing the same air for longer than 15-20 min all increase infection rates.
Not OP.
stavros|4 years ago
He wouldn't wear a mask in the house (because "I'm fine") and kept coughing up the place, though.
galoisgirl|4 years ago
- Me: no idea, we were careful :(
- Friend 1: had son in school, son's classmate's father got it and by the time they knew, the kids had met. This was during a wave and contacts weren't tested, only symptomatic people.
- Friend 2: stupid, stupid colleague came to work to pick up laptop when she got quarantined.
stordoff|4 years ago
He was admitted with suspected sepsis, and tested negative on admission. He had a new cough when he was discharged, but we didn't think much of it as he had COPD so periods of coughing weren't unusual. A few days later, he was readmitted with a recurrence of his original symptoms, but this time his admission test was positive. Six of the other family members tested positive the next day, and developed symptoms over the following days.
[1] The only other person in the house who hadn't been isolating subsequently tested negative. Everyone else had been nowhere but home for at least the proceeding two weeks, so the chance of another vector seems remote.
phyalow|4 years ago
kbutler|4 years ago
cbsmith|4 years ago
What was her name? ;-)
ardomation|4 years ago
IanPBann|4 years ago
I'm not sure how I caught it. I had left my car into the garage a few days before I showed symptoms and had to get an Uber home, then back to the garage to pick it up, so my strongest suspicion is one of the Uber drivers or previous passengers had it or potentially a mechanic had it and it remained in the car.
The strangest thing is my girlfriend and I had spent the day before I showed symptoms together and she slept over that night but she didn't seem to catch it off me. She even had an antibody test about a month after which was negative suggesting she hadn't already had asymptomatic Covid.
spfzero|4 years ago
colordrops|4 years ago
AuryGlenz|4 years ago
switch007|4 years ago
waterside81|4 years ago
a) Just go to the store and back wearing a mask while indoors b) Spend most of their leisure time outdoors - because what else can you do?
I haven't been holed up this whole time. I'm outside multiple times every day (dog walks, kids playground etc.) and I don't know anyone who works in a factory, meat processing plant, hospital etc. hence my curiosity how people think they're getting it.