Can we talk again about “mild symptoms” and what that means?

[Ginevra]

Let me start by clarifying: I am not a wishful-thinker hoping I have already had COVID-19 so I can go on with my life. I am taking a LOT of precautions, enough that I routinely get eyerolls and accusations of being paranoid. I completely plan to keep my precautions in place for the foreseeable future, no matter what the government restricts or doesn’t restrict. 

Having said that, I had a mild/moderate dry cough that lasted around ten days. No other symptom that could indicate illness. I have in no way felt sick; no fever, no lethargy, no body aches. I did have a headache for several days, but that didn’t really correlate with the cough and I think was stress-induced. 

I have chalked this cough up to allergies. But I am now not coughing at all. However, we are also getting rain by the bucket-load, and that usually tamps down pollen reactions for at least a few days. 

All that to ask: would “mild symptoms” be this - a mild cough, nothing more? It seems very improbable to me at my age. It seems probable to me that, if I contracted CV-19, I would most likely be sick enough to know it at least. Also, presumably other family members isolated with me might show symptoms by now. 

Does the evidence suggest there are any 49 year olds walking around with CV19 manifested as nothing but a cough? 

[Kassia]

I don't know, but I've been having the same thoughts.  If you have mild symptoms, how would you know if you've contracted the virus?  

I'm never sick, but have had mild symptoms of *something* on and off in the past few weeks and I often wonder, "do I have it?"  

My guess is that if you have a mild case, it would present in all kinds of ways and there'd be no way to know for sure without checking for antibodies later.

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Kassia

[Jean in Newcastle]

I think that it is so hard to say.  I have been on the fence over whether I had it (and really, who knows?) but I will say that even at a mild level where I didn't have to seek any medical assistance, I had tightness of my chest and raw airways.  I had a cough but since whatever I had didn't seem to move down into my lower chest (where it sounds like symptoms tend to be worse), my cough was of the "light unproductive" kind.   Editing to say that the reason why I think that I might have had it is because I've never had another cold of any kind where I had the same kind of rawness - it was different than strep, laryngitis, asthma . . .

Edited April 13, 2020 by Jean in Newcastle

[kiwik]

I think you have to have at least some fever.  Mild symptoms would be all the symptoms but not at a go to bed and feel like death for 2 weeks level.  When I flatted I often got mild symptoms and didn't realise they were illness until my flatmates got it.  I might have had a slight headache, sore back and felt tired.  They would have a blinding headache, ache all over, have a fever and be as week as a kitten.

Edited April 13, 2020 by kiwik

[TracyP]

I heard a woman in CA talking about her experience with covid19. She and 5 of her friends tested positive. They all had fevers and body aches. She has underlying health conditions and was the only one to develop shortness of breath. She never needed hospitalization. Her friends were over it between 2-5 days. It took her 11 days to recover.

[kiwik]

4 minutes ago, TracyP said:

I heard a woman in CA talking about her experience with covid19. She and 5 of her friends tested positive. They all had fevers and body aches. She has underlying health conditions and was the only one to develop shortness of breath. She never needed hospitalization. Her friends were over it between 2-5 days. It took her 11 days to recover.

I think shortness of breath only occurs in the more acute cases.  And of them only the most extreme need intensive care.

[Pen]

Median age of asymptomatic carriers was 31, so presumably a 50 yo could have cough only.  I don’t think you can be sure that you did or did not have it. 

 

COVID-19: What proportion are asymptomatic? - CEBM

8 days ago · median age of asymptomatic carriers was 31 years and 1/3rd were students, aged <20 years. WHO Q&A: Similarities and differences – COVID-19 ...

 

[freesia]

I am in the same situation as you—practically the same age and I had the same symptoms, but also a slightly tight chest—no fever.  I also thought allergies but also am not coughing anymore. I’m planning on having an antibody rest when I can. However, no one in my family, including my 80 year old mother,  had the same symptoms except my ds, who eventually was tested and tested negative.  However, there are false negatives.... I just don’t know. 

[Farrar]

I don't know, but I'm also deeply confused. I mean, a huge number of people never get symptoms at all. But sometimes they talk about "mild" cases as being worse than when you're really put down with the flu. I've had two friends I've talked to have it. One had a highish fever for THREE SOLID WEEKS and had trouble moving and doing stuff much. The other had two waves and a lot of curse words for how cruddy she felt. And those are "mild" cases. So I guess nothing all the way through fever of 103, hacking, and can barely get up the will to make it to the bathroom? Seems like a big range.

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

Paula Pant, a blogger I really like, got hit with a moderate case of CV. She blogged about it and it was a good read.  I’m pretty sure we had it already and were less sick than she was, but there was no way to confirm at the time.  Paula, however, was a confirmed positive.

https://affordanything.com/i-tested-positive-for-coronavirus/
 

In our case the little boys were sick for about a week, mildly, like a bad cold.  One of the older kids also and affected for a few days.  I had a more severe fatigue/chills/diarrhea/dry cough/scratchy throat/heavy chest thing going on. Paula, on the other hand, pretty much got hit with a mac truck as the link explains.

Thanks for sharing that! Wow, what a truly awful experience she recounts! Her posts really resonate with me because I have done everything almost exactly the same way she did, only on an earlier time-table, and I returned from Europe so perhaps had more reason for caution. But I did feel my friends were surely thinking I was the most ridiculous human, begging off book club and bunco in the unlikely-yet-still-possible event I brought COVID-19 home from France. That was before things were closing in my state and a lot of people here were still not too concerned about it.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Farrar said:

I don't know, but I'm also deeply confused. I mean, a huge number of people never get symptoms at all. But sometimes they talk about "mild" cases as being worse than when you're really put down with the flu. I've had two friends I've talked to have it. One had a highish fever for THREE SOLID WEEKS and had trouble moving and doing stuff much. The other had two waves and a lot of curse words for how cruddy she felt. And those are "mild" cases. So I guess nothing all the way through fever of 103, hacking, and can barely get up the will to make it to the bathroom? Seems like a big range.

Indeed. My dd’s good friend, who works at a store that is still open, got sick a couple weeks ago. Sick, sick, sick as can be. She was able to do a telemed call, but did not “qualify” for testing. The telemed person said she probably had the flu. However, she continued to have a fever and severe, extreme weakness for close to two weeks. It seems almost certain to me she had C-19. I wonder sometimes how many more cases there are like that. 

[Kassia]

7 minutes ago, Quill said:

Indeed. My dd’s good friend, who works at a store that is still open, got sick a couple weeks ago. Sick, sick, sick as can be. She was able to do a telemed call, but did not “qualify” for testing. The telemed person said she probably had the flu. However, she continued to have a fever and severe, extreme weakness for close to two weeks. It seems almost certain to me she had C-19. I wonder sometimes how many more cases there are like that. 

 

This happened with my son, too.  Fever and extreme weakness for two weeks.  He couldn't even walk a few steps outside his apartment to throw out his trash.  He had a telemed appt., but they wouldn't test him.  He has asthma and lives alone three hours away (and doesn't drive - he's on the spectrum).  We were so worried about him!  I suspect he had it.  

[Farrar]

And statistically, a large number of the people who have "a thing" don't have "the thing." I mean, we know this from the testing rates. Even if a large portion of the tests aren't catching it (which we know is an issue) we know that a good number of people are turning up with the flu.

But then the flip side is that neither of my friends is a confirmed case. Both were exposed to a confirmed case and developed it classically just after. Sigh.

[Ausmumof3]

I think the only way to know would be testing unfortunately 

[SKL]

I think I saw an article where Rand Paul said he didn't have any symptoms.  He is 57.

[Corraleno]

The continued refusal to test people, even those who have all the symptoms, boggles my mind given how quickly this can turn very very serious. There's a blogger/youtuber I follow whose FIL just died — at home, all alone — after EMTs said he probably had the flu and he should just take tylenol, drink fluids, get plenty of rest, etc. Perfectly healthy 60 yr old man, fit, active, working, no underlying conditions. Had every symptom, including shortness of breath, and there was no test, just a guess that it was "probably flu." Infuriating.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I think that I might have had body aches and fatigue but it's hard to tell when your chronic condition is characterized by body aches and fatigue.  I just know that I have less body aches and fatigue than I did when I had the chest tightness and raw airways.  I never did have a fever.  But I also take some meds that might mask a fever in some cases (not always).  But for comparison, I often do not know that I have the flu until the whole family gets it and I feel so much better once it's done. 

[Laurie]

2 hours ago, Quill said:

 

 . Also, presumably other family members isolated with me might show symptoms by now. 

 

Not necessarily.   

Here's another example:

George Stephanopoulos has been taking care of his wife.   He says he's been feeling fine and expected to test negative, but his test was positive.   

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/george-stephanopoulos-reveals-covid-19-diagnosis-weeks-wife-70115080

 

 

[Momto6inIN]

I have no idea if what we had/have is covid or flu or some other random virus. But here's our rundown of symptoms:

DD had a cough that lasted 3 weeks and no other symptoms. Then D'S got a high fever (103+) for a couple days along with cough and sore throat. Then me and the baby had a mild fever and cough and sore throat. I also had very very very bad body aches to the point I cried when I had to lay the baby down in her crib and thought I was going to drop her - but it only lasted for one day. D'S and I both had some "rice crispy" noises in our chest when we deeply exhaled, but that was never serious and soon went away. Now the other 3 kids have varying degrees of cough and sore throat but no fever. DH has a bad sore throat and cough and low grade fever.

DH being sick is what has me most concerned that it might really, in fact, not just in my imagination, be covid. I can count on one hand the number of times that man has been sick in 23 years of marriage and he hates taking medication of any kind. This weekend he asked me what he should take for his throat and congestion  😞

[Lucy the Valiant]

Young college-age friend had a confirmed positive, and she lost her sense of smell & taste, had a feeling "like a cold" for 2 days, and then was fine. Re-tested (she lives with highly medically fragile people) and was cleared to return to work, not contagious. They were very concerned about other (fragile) family members getting it, and took a lot of precautions, but their dr said that when families are careful, the in-house infection rate was only 15% or so (though I'm not sure how he could know that?).     $.02 / adjusted for inflation

[lmrich]

I heard on tv today that the term mild means not requiring hospitalization or medical intervention. 

Last time I had the flu it did not feel mild - struggled walking from one room to the next. Not my idea of mild. 

[TravelingChris]

2 hours ago, kiwik said:

I think you have to have at least some fever.  Mild symptoms would be all the symptoms but not at a go to bed and feel like death for 2 weeks level.  When I flatted I often got mild symptoms and didn't realise they were illness until my flatmates got it.  I might have had a slight headache, sore back and felt tired.  They would have a blinding headache, ache all over, have a fever and be as week as a kitten.

No you don't have to have fever.  Approximately 18% of positives don't, even ones that are in ICU and very sick.  I don't get fevers. for example - not with pneumonias, not with sinusitis, not with bronchitis either.  I just don't- probably at least partially due to the steroids I am on.

[Farrar]

I feel like the symptoms + loss of smell is tantamount to a confirmed case. What else could it be?

Cough and fever and shortness of breath could be or not. Who knows.

[vonfirmath]

6 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I think the only way to know would be testing unfortunately 

 

And not just testing once -- multiple times. There's a reason you have to test negative TWICE to be considered recovered. (And even with that some have turned up positive later!)

 

[mathnerd]

There are a lot of asymptotic carriers and you could be one of them - a Very, very mild case. I read somewhere that Chinese researchers think that symptoms could be severe or not based on how much viral payload got into your system and that might be why some people have it worse than others. It could be that you were exposed to a very tiny dosage of the virus. Unfortunately, no one has any answers to this at the moment. I am waiting for a good antibody test to come out to check if I had it because I am sure my family got infected before tests were available in my state.

[mathnerd]

1 hour ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

 

I don't suppose you have a link fro that do you?  Because of our specific situation, I'd like to learn more about the theory that the infective dose impacts disease severity, and it's been hard to find a lot of information.

It was an article a while ago related to the whistleblower doctor in wuhan who himself died later. I will post it here later if I find that link again.

this article also talks about it:

For transient interactions that violate the rule of maintaining six feet between you and others, such as paying a cashier at the grocery store, keep them brief — aim for “within six feet, only six seconds.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opinion/coronavirus-viral-dose.html

 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, mathnerd said:

It was an article a while ago related to the whistleblower doctor in wuhan who himself died later. I will post it here later if I find that link again.

this article also talks about it:

For transient interactions that violate the rule of maintaining six feet between you and others, such as paying a cashier at the grocery store, keep them brief — aim for “within six feet, only six seconds.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opinion/coronavirus-viral-dose.html

 

That’s interesting, because that is something I have been doing that I don’t notice other customers doing. When I’m at checkout, I stand a few feet to the right of the payment unit, close to the end of the bagging area. That way I am only close to the cashier for a very short bit. 

[Pawz4me]

Personally, I'd never assume I'd had it unless I'd received a positive test or someone I'd had very close, extended contact with tested positive and then I got sick. When I look at my state's numbers and compare the confirmed positive cases with the number of tests that have been done, only 7.6 percent of tests have been positives. Now obviously that's simplistic math. I don't know if confirmed positives are being tested multiple times in order to get the two-negatives-in-a-row to be declared recovered. I don't know how much contact traciing (if any) is being done and how many people who have zero symptoms are being tested just because they've had close contact with a positive. I don't know how many of the tests are false negatives. But even allowing for a big impact from all of the above, it still seems to me that there must be a large number of sick people testing negative who almost certainly have something else.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Pawz4me

[Joker]

7 hours ago, kand said:

It seems super suspicious, but I've also seen doctors say that loss of smell can happen with a variety of illnesses that affect the sinuses.

Yes, I permanently lost mine the one and only time I had the flu. My ENT told me it happens way more often than people realize with colds and flu.

[Familia]

As PP have said, lots of confusion in our minds that we hear nothing between asymptomtic and mild case; mild case being 'feel like haven been run over by truck'.   That is just so unbelievable to me.  Granted, I imagine that could be one of the novel things about this virus.  I admit ignorance on immunology.

Also, a young adult friend in China was told by a Dr there, "YA's are getting this, and it is leaving scar tissue for life."  Do mild cases leave scar tissue for life?  Aren't we close to having enough cases here in US for data like this to be known/projected/shared, here from US info?  I just keep feeling like we are not being told something.  Maybe I am not reading the correct sites, but everything is like our discussions, i.e., anecdotal, or coming out of China.   I think the fact that we are having to ask ourselves, "What is a mild case like?" still, is a ridiculous failing on the part of ... 'authorities'.  I.am.just.so.confused.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Familia

[vonfirmath]

33 minutes ago, Familia said:

As PP have said, lots of confusion in our minds that we hear nothing between asymptomtic and mild case; mild case being 'feel like haven been run over by truck'.   That is just so unbelievable to me.  Granted, I imagine that could be one of the novel things about this virus.  I admit ignorance on immunology.

Also, a young adult friend in China was told by a Dr there, "YA's are getting this, and it is leaving scar tissue for life."  Do mild cases leave scar tissue for life?  Aren't we close to having enough cases here in US for data like this to be known/projected/shared, here from US info?  I just keep feeling like we are not being told something.  Maybe I am not reading the correct sites, but everything is like our discussions, i.e., anecdotal, or coming out of China.   I think the fact that we are having to ask ourselves, "What is a mild case like?" still, is a ridiculous failing on the part of ... 'authorities'.  I.am.just.so.confused.

 

No we can't know in the US if the weaknesses they are seeing are likely to be long term or not.

And I wouldn't call it a failing. It's the nature of a novel virus.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/more-bad-news-on-the-long-term-effects-of-the-coronavirus.html

[Kanin]

The range of symptoms is what really freaks me out about this virus. It's also probably a top reason why some people aren't taking it seriously. If we all knew that everyone who gets it is really, really sick for three weeks, or if everyone who gets it ends up in the hospital, we'd surely social distance more stringently. The great range of symptoms is disconcerting, to say the least. 

[Paige]

4 minutes ago, Mainer said:

The range of symptoms is what really freaks me out about this virus. It's also probably a top reason why some people aren't taking it seriously. If we all knew that everyone who gets it is really, really sick for three weeks, or if everyone who gets it ends up in the hospital, we'd surely social distance more stringently. The great range of symptoms is disconcerting, to say the least. 

I agree. I think also the fact that it is respiratory causes some to be complacent. We've all had some kind of respiratory illness and recovered and we are accustomed to hospitals being able to help you if it gets bad. I think if we had the same CFR but the symptoms in severe cases were like Ebola nobody would leave the house unless they had to. 

[TravelingChris]

16 minutes ago, Mainer said:

The range of symptoms is what really freaks me out about this virus. It's also probably a top reason why some people aren't taking it seriously. If we all knew that everyone who gets it is really, really sick for three weeks, or if everyone who gets it ends up in the hospital, we'd surely social distance more stringently. The great range of symptoms is disconcerting, to say the least. 

And not only that-  we have some asymptomatic or presymptomatic people who are super spreaders and no one can tell that until after they have infected 50 or 100 or more.  I have watched many of the long WH briefings and some of the NY and OH briefings and I can't remember which place I saw this or whether it was an interview with an immunologist but the fact that stuck with me is that without mitigation, the normal spread is 5 (which is a lot, lot higher than flu).  With mitigation it is something like 1.7 or so and that is still higher than the flu (probably the flu is so low because there is wide vaccination and also wide immunity).

[SKL]

12 hours ago, Farrar said:

I feel like the symptoms + loss of smell is tantamount to a confirmed case. What else could it be?

Cough and fever and shortness of breath could be or not. Who knows.

I always lose my sense of smell and taste when I have a cold.

The high % of negative tests in areas where only symptomatic people are tested tells me that symptoms + loss of smell is less than likely to be COVID19, unless you live in a place with a significant outbreak.

[Jean in Newcastle]

10 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

Personally, I'd never assume I'd had it unless I'd received a positive test 

In my state even now you can only get tested if you have a fever above a certain threshold, are over 65,  are hospitalized or have known contact with someone who had a positive test. My RN husband thinks that I had it but I didn’t meet the criteria for testing. Do I tell people I had it?  Nope. I had “something “. (I like how someone called it Schrodinger’s virus).  But whether I had it or something else,  I was home and masked with a respirator around others.   Now I have applied to participate in a government antibody study but don’t know if that will go anywhere or not. (Joining a limited study in a country with millions of people has its own set of odds). 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Jean in Newcastle
typo

[Farrar]

4 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

Personally, I'd never assume I'd had it unless I'd received a positive test or someone I'd had very close, extended contact with tested positive and then I got sick. When I look at my state's numbers and compare the confirmed positive cases with the number of tests that have been done, only 7.6 percent of tests have been positives. Now obviously that's simplistic math. I don't know if confirmed positives are being tested multiple times in order to get the two-negatives-in-a-row to be declared recovered. I don't know how much contact traciing (if any) is being done and how many people who have zero symptoms are being tested just because they've had close contact with a positive. I don't know how many of the tests are false negatives. But even allowing for a big impact from all of the above, it still seems to me that there must be a large number of sick people testing negative who almost certainly have something else.

In one case I know of, the CV test was negative but the doctor also tested for a dozen other things with tests that are more reliable. Like flu a, b, even malaria because my friend was in a malaria area. They were exposed... doc said, almost definitely CV even with the negative test.

Now, I know a lot of spoke who think they had it in like December... and that’s nonsense - it’s nigh on impossible based on the genetic testing and everything else. So there’s a range in terms of the people who say they had it without a confirmation.

[Roadrunner]

I have been fighting a bronchitis for a month now. I feel some mild sickness in my sinuses (so mild it’s not worth mentioning) but I am coughing on and off hard enough that my lungs hurt and I have shortness of breath. I though I had it beat about a week ago, but it’s back. I have no fever, no chills. I feel fairly strong and full of life. I don’t think it’s Covid. Given my health issues, i am pretty sure i would be dead if it was Covid. I think it’s some other respiratory virus that has developed into a full fledged bronchitis (I have always had week lunges), but if a test for antibodies is ever available, I wouldn’t mind taking one.

[ktgrok]

19 hours ago, Farrar said:

I feel like the symptoms + loss of smell is tantamount to a confirmed case. What else could it be?

Cough and fever and shortness of breath could be or not. Who knows.

 I lose my sense of smell and taste with sinus infections. As in, I threw away a whole tub of vapor rub thinking it has "gone bad" because I couldn't smell it at all. bought a new one, still couldn't smell it. Realized it was me, not the vapor rub, lol. 

[Mary in VA]

I'm pretty sure I had it in mid-March. My 25yo daughter and her boyfriend were here for a funeral for 4 days. The Sunday dd left she felt poorly and was sick the following week with flu like symptoms, fever, fatigue. I got what I thought were allergy symptoms on Monday, by Tuesday night I had an elevated temp, 100.2, but not technically a fever. I felt VERY fatigued. DD, who is in the army, went to the hospital triage tent on Thursday and they wouldn't test her. They told her to go home, she was COVID free. By the weekend we were both feeling better. I noticed my sense of smell was totally GONE. Not just lessened like I have had with colds before, but nonexistent. Next Monday, a week after dd and I got sick, dd's  boyfriend is feeling sick with a 100 degree temp. He goes to the triage tent and they test him, probably because he is a nurse. He only had mild symptoms for 2 days. He tested positive. Both my doc and my dd's doc think we had COVID. My sense of smell is SLOWLY coming back after three weeks. My dd and I both want to get the antibody test when it is available.

[kbutton]

I think this was an especially unlucky year to have a respiratory virus of any kind that has sketchy false negative reports much less a pandemic one. Before COVID was on the scene, it was already a year with weird flu (people getting one strain, then another, or people having both simultaneously), lots of pneumonia, etc. That just makes it so much harder to know for sure what's going on. 

I am pretty sure I had at least two mild colds this winter, which is unusual for me. One of my kids did as well. We almost never get anything at all or maybe get just one cold. 

[kokotg]

I read that half of the people who tested positive on the Diamond Princess were asymptomatic, and presumably that was an older population. It's really interesting because everyone got tested on that ship whether they were symptomatic or not....even in places like South Korea where they're testing very widely it's my understanding that a fever is generally what triggers testing. And the 50% asymptomatic figure fits in with what we're seeing from Iceland, which, last I checked, is testing the biggest percentage of its population. So I think that our perception of a mild case in the US, where tests are very difficult to come by for most people, is probably off and there are a lot more people out there having truly mild symptoms and not just "I felt like I was dying but I didn't have to go the hospital" symptoms. Anecdotal evidence from celebrities and politicians and athletes who can get tested easily seems to support this. 

We all passed around a mystery virus that manifested as the worst, hardest to shake dry cough I've ever had in my life starting in early March (and STILL dragging on, though much better now). My husband and I both ran a low fever for maybe 2-3 nights but my kids didn't even though they had the same terrible cough. Assorted other mild symptoms varied by person--some people had sore throats, some digestive stuff, my husband had a really bad headache that kept him in bed all of one day. I tried to pass it off as allergies for awhile, but Zyrtec didn't touch it, I don't usually get allergies in spring (I'm a ragweed person), and I had no congestion even though that's always my number one allergy symptom. Who knows? I hope I find out someday! 

[elegantlion]

I've had something for the last 18 days, finally feeling semi-normal today. My boyfriend thinks he may have had a super mild case - severe exhaustion for two days. I've had shortness of breath (already an issue for me because I'm immune suppressed already), super fatigued, low-grade fever, everything got worse at night. I was not tested as they are limiting those here. I had the flu last year and this was very different and worse as it has lingered for so long. Was it Covid? I have no clue. I've been staying with my boyfriend as I didn't want to expose my son and my mother just in case. 

[Acadie]

24 hours ago I'd have said I knew only one positive case, my cousin's hubby in AZ. Now I know 3 presumptive positives with mild/moderate symptoms, w/no chance of testing until their turn comes up for antibody testing. What I can do is describe why 3 family members (two in my household, one many states away) are on lists for antibody testing and what I've heard from two doctors about symptoms in mild/moderate cases.

Dh and my mom (who is 82 and lives in MA) have both had a respiratory bug for 3 weeks, with sore throat, hoarseness, headache, dry cough that became a little productive after a couple weeks, varying degrees of exhaustion and loss of appetite, very mild fever, and a feeling of pressure or a fur ball stuck in their chests. Fur ball sounds like a silly description, but when I told dh that's how my mom's doctor described it, he said, yeah, that. He has asthma and is using his inhalers, but says this is different than anything he's felt before.

My mom's doctor in MA said they're seeing patients with mild/moderate cases resolve most symptoms in 3-4 weeks, with fatigue persisting in weeks 4-6. For my mom, who already has health issues, the doctor said fatigue and malaise could last 8 weeks.

Dd17 has no respiratory symptoms, but a purplish/red rash on her toes. Just the top of her toes, and it didn't respond to a week of athlete's foot cream. Pediatrician said they're seeing some unusual presentations with COVID-19. One patient with no symptoms except for loss of smell/taste tested positive, and they're seeing more skin rashes in positive patients. My mom's doctor also raised the possibility that my 87 year-old dad could be an asymptomatic carrier, since my mom is housebound. 

This is just the weirdest virus. I think the advice to assume that we or anyone else could have it and spread it makes sense. We've been conscientious about social distancing, and before yesterday I was thinking we were protecting ourselves from others with the virus. Now I'm thinking we've been protecting other people from our germs.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Acadie

[vonfirmath]

20 minutes ago, Acadie said:

 

This is just the weirdest virus. I think the advice to assume that we or anyone else could have it and spread it makes sense. We've been conscientious about social distancing, and before yesterday I was thinking we were protecting ourselves from others with the virus. Now I'm wondering if we're protecting other people from our germs!

 

We've always been protecting other people from our germs.

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

 

We've always been protecting other people from our germs.

Yes, I agree; that is the theory I have seen promoted by many medical professionals. “My mask protects you, your mask protects me.” 

[ktgrok]

It seems that CT scans, if other tests are not available, are pretty reliable, even iwth mild or no symptoms. 

[Acadie]

I thought this thread was asking what mild symptoms might look like, and thought my post could contribute to that discussion.

Mask use goes both ways for sure. 

[Annie G]

I’m not sure what to think.  Our state has done 60k tests and has about 15k positives.  I know there are false negatives but are there that many or are people ‘with symptoms’ really sick with other things?

Oldest grand was SICK For 8 days- high fever, zero energy, no appetite, etc.  The doc did flu test and strep test and both were negative.  Dd asked if it could be covid but they said no. But what was it? She’s 12, so pretty good at reporting how she feels.

Nephew in NYC had what his doc called a mild case and he was in bed for a week, feeling awful. He was tested right away. 
 

Sure wish we knew how many cases really exist. As it is, there’s too much missing data for me to really know what to think. 

[Jyhwkmama]

Our nation desperately needs widespread testing--both the antigen testing (have it now) and antibody testing (already had it).