Omicron anecdata?

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, cintinative said:

This is my nephew who lives in another state. I think that they are going to try Urgent Care if he is not feeling better today.

I've had good results with Doc on demand or other online doctor calling places. Because they can't do a swab they are quicker to prescribe anabiotic's just in case.

Edited January 15, 2022 by ktgrok

[Spryte]

I know we have covered this, but it’s slipped my mind.

I think I’m seeing that most people start to have symptoms 2-3 days after exposure. But how long from exposure till a RAT is positive, in general? PCR?

According to friends with Covid in family, Kaiser says don’t even waste a RAT until Day 5 of symptoms.

Waiting till Day 5 seems like we’d miss the almost entire infectious period!

Edited January 15, 2022 by Spryte

[mommyoffive]

10 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

We're in CA now and have been for a while. Life has been a bit much, though. I'll update everyone when the dust has settled, I think. Sorry to be so opaque. 

Glad you checked in.   I was missing you on here.  Enjoy the warm weather.  

[mommyoffive]

4 hours ago, Tenaj said:

Lol!  That's great.  We have eight people living at our address so half of us can test once with this "awesome" new program.  

I am hearing you loud and clear with a family of 7 over here!

[mommyoffive]

I thought things were going to get better after this surge?

 

Expect more worrisome variants after omicron, scientists say (msn.com)

[busymama7]

18 minutes ago, Spryte said:

I know we have covered this, but it’s slipped my mind.

I think I’m seeing that most people start to have symptoms 2-3 days after exposure. But how long from exposure till a RAT is positive, in general? PCR?

According to friends with Covid in family, Kaiser says don’t even waste an RAT until Day 5 of symptoms.

Waiting till Day 5 seems like we’d miss the almost entire infectious period!

My daughter tested positive on the second day.  Wasn't really sick yet (she did feel worse later) but had started with a stuffy nose the day before.  We tested with the one precious at home test I was hoarding due to a very close contact.  The anecdotes I'm seeing are that they aren't showing up positive for a few to several days. 

[Catwoman]

10 hours ago, KSera said:

I'm glad for doctors not just prescribing antibiotics without indication, but it does seem they should have done a swab with a throat like that. I don't want them to miss strep, either.

Glad you made it. Hope everything is okay.

I have to disagree with you on this. I’m not saying that doctors should be prescribing antibiotics over and over again to the same patient in a short period of time, but in most cases, people aren’t rushing to the doctor over every little thing, and in these weird Covid times, it seems both risky and ridiculous to not prescribe an antibiotic to a patient who thinks they have strep.

If the patient is right there in the office, obviously the doctor can swab for it, but many of us are exclusively using telemedicine right now because we don’t want to risk going into a doctor’s office and bringing Covid home to our families. And sometimes we need an antibiotic. And if every now and then, it turns out that we didn’t need that antibiotic, it’s not going to do us any harm to have taken it. But it sure could do us a lot of harm to not have gotten an antibiotic when one was really needed — and quickly  — like with strep.

And don’t even get me started on doctors who won’t prescribe antibiotics for patients who think they might have Lyme disease without a positive Lyme test. Because you don’t get a positive test until long after the time when the antibiotics would help the most and work the best.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Catwoman
Because it posted as one huge paragraph!

[Spryte]

13 minutes ago, busymama7 said:

My daughter tested positive on the second day.  Wasn't really sick yet (she did feel worse later) but had started with a stuffy nose the day before.  We tested with the one precious at home test I was hoarding due to a very close contact.  The anecdotes I'm seeing are that they aren't showing up positive for a few to several days. 

Thank you. So that was the second day of (mild) symptoms? Do you have a guess as to when she was exposed? How many days it took to turn positive?
 

I am just really disappointed about the effectiveness of RATs. 
 

My kid is on Day 3 of symptoms, tested negative on Day 1, trying to figure out when to test again. There are no PCR test appointments that I can find! I looked through next Saturday, and then just gave up.

(I also can’t identify any chance he’s had if exposure, so finding it unlikely that he’s positive. But sore throat, runny nose, achiness, and three days hovering 100 - 101 temp — we should probably test.)

[mlktwins]

3 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Thank you. So that was the second day of (mild) symptoms? Do you have a guess as to when she was exposed? How many days it took to turn positive?
 

I am just really disappointed about the effectiveness of RATs. 
 

My kid is on Day 3 of symptoms, tested negative on Day 1, trying to figure out when to test again. There are no PCR test appointments that I can find! I looked through next Saturday, and then just gave up.

(I also can’t identify any chance he’s had if exposure, so finding it unlikely that he’s positive. But sore throat, runny nose, achiness, and three days hovering 100 - 101 temp — we should probably test.)

I would also do a flu test.

[busymama7]

10 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Thank you. So that was the second day of (mild) symptoms? Do you have a guess as to when she was exposed? How many days it took to turn positive?
 

I am just really disappointed about the effectiveness of RATs. 
 

My kid is on Day 3 of symptoms, tested negative on Day 1, trying to figure out when to test again. There are no PCR test appointments that I can find! I looked through next Saturday, and then just gave up.

(I also can’t identify any chance he’s had if exposure, so finding it unlikely that he’s positive. But sore throat, runny nose, achiness, and three days hovering 100 - 101 temp — we should probably test.)

So the cousin who ended up positive left 2 days before my daughter started with symptoms.  It's more complicated then that though because others ended up positive as well so we aren't actually sure when anyone was exposed or who got it from who.  

[ktgrok]

19 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Thank you. So that was the second day of (mild) symptoms? Do you have a guess as to when she was exposed? How many days it took to turn positive?
 

I am just really disappointed about the effectiveness of RATs. 
 

My kid is on Day 3 of symptoms, tested negative on Day 1, trying to figure out when to test again. There are no PCR test appointments that I can find! I looked through next Saturday, and then just gave up.

(I also can’t identify any chance he’s had if exposure, so finding it unlikely that he’s positive. But sore throat, runny nose, achiness, and three days hovering 100 - 101 temp — we should probably test.)

I mean he had exposure to someone who is sick with something. Whether that was a cold or flu or Covid obviously he had some kind of exposure somehow. 

[Spryte]

15 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

I mean he had exposure to someone who is sick with something. Whether that was a cold or flu or Covid obviously he had some kind of exposure somehow. 

Yes, he must have!

DD and I have both had some really minor symptoms in the last two weeks. So it probably came from us.

Other than curbside pick ups (only DH and I go), I can’t think of any exposure any of us have had since before New Year’s! 

[Bootsie]

5 hours ago, Tenaj said:

Lol!  That's great.  We have eight people living at our address so half of us can test once with this "awesome" new program.  

There has to be a more efficient way of doing this!  It will be interesting to see what happens with the website once it opens.  I am wondering how long it will really take for people to get their hands on these tests and use them. 

[KSera]

53 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

And if every now and then, it turns out that we didn’t need that antibiotic, it’s not going to do us any harm to have taken it. 

I don’t want to derail the thread on this, but my reason for disagreement is because this isn’t always true. I spent half a year of my life deathly ill because of an antibiotic induced illness that required long term and increasingly powerful treatments to finally beat. And these antibiotic resistant diseases have become increasingly common precisely due to the over prescribing of antibiotics. I also have had a family member have an allergic reaction to antibiotics requiring emergency treatment. So, yes, I’m all for antibiotics when they are needed and am grateful we have them, but they are not always benign. 

[KSera]

11 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Yes, he must have!

DD and I have both had some really minor symptoms in the last two weeks. So it probably came from us.

Other than curbside pick ups (only DH and I go), I can’t think of any exposure any of us have had since before New Year’s! 

Have you seen your mom at all, or not since before New Years?

[Ali in OR]

Oregon will no longer do contact tracing within classrooms since everyone is masked. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I do have to note that I have not yet seen anything that would suggest one student got it from another within my class. I know who is out with Covid (from the contact tracing they have been doing), and I've never had another kid sitting nearby in the same class subsequently get sick. It seems like transmission is happening somewhere else. They will still contact trace who the sick student possibly exposed at lunch time when masks are off.

We also now have a Covid dashboard by school for our entire district. Out of a school population of maybe 1200-1300 students and staff, we had 24 cases this week and 49 since Jan 3.

[Ali in OR]

Re: antibiotics for a sore throat without a culture, I think it depends on that person's strep history. My brother is very susceptible to strep and seemed to get it every year before his tonsillectomy as a middle-aged adult. My dad is a doctor and would prescribe him antibiotics over the phone when my brother just knew he had it again (no culture). I've never had strep in my life. Even the one time I could see the white stuff in my throat it wasn't strep. If really bad sore throat is a common Omicron symptom, that would certainly be the most likely cause for me, not strep. I wouldn't prescribe me antibiotics without a culture.

[prairiewindmomma]

6 minutes ago, Ali in OR said:

Oregon will no longer do contact tracing within classrooms since everyone is masked. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I do have to note that I have not yet seen anything that would suggest one student got it from another within my class. I know who is out with Covid (from the contact tracing they have been doing), and I've never had another kid sitting nearby in the same class subsequently get sick. It seems like transmission is happening somewhere else. They will still contact trace who the sick student possibly exposed at lunch time when masks are off.

We also now have a Covid dashboard by school for our entire district. Out of a school population of maybe 1200-1300 students and staff, we had 24 cases this week and 49 since Jan 3.

Our district has seen in-school spread. DD had several kids go down in one of her classes from a single student in a shared classroom table situation. People in N95s are faring better in the classroom than those in cloth masks. 
 

 

[Spryte]

37 minutes ago, KSera said:

Have you seen your mom at all, or not since before New Years?

No, not since mid-December. We have really stayed home. We saw some family outside and masked before Christmas, but not since. Only curbside pick ups since then, a few grocery deliveries. We are so isolated, I can’t figure this out. 

Whatever DD and I had was very mild, DS has the worst of it. Maybe a run of the mill cold? From the groceries? (We don’t do anything to groceries, just put them away.) 

I’m baffled. And feel a little silly using another RAT or trying to find a PCR appointment!

 

ETA: whatever DS has is very mild, too. But a little bit worse than whatever we had.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Spryte

[Harriet Vane]

32 minutes ago, KSera said:

I don’t want to derail the thread on this, but my reason for disagreement is because this isn’t always true. I spent half a year of my life deathly ill because of an antibiotic induced illness that required long term and increasingly powerful treatments to finally beat. And these antibiotic resistant diseases have become increasingly common precisely due to the over prescribing of antibiotics. I also have had a family member have an allergic reaction to antibiotics requiring emergency treatment. So, yes, I’m all for antibiotics when they are needed and am grateful we have them, but they are not always benign. 

YES. Thank you for saying it. I've had two massive systemic responses to antibiotics. One took roughly a year to fix--in that year I had to take multiple rounds of a different antibiotic and I had to be on a super-strict diet all in order to kill the original problem caused by the original antibiotic.

And then the next massive one--with a different superbug--nearly killed me. I was in the ICU. I had severe sepsis. I had to take meds for many months post-hospitalization to kill that superbug, and I needed literal years of PT to heal. I live with permanent effects from that infection as well.

Antibiotics are not benign.

[Not_a_Number]

11 hours ago, lewelma said:

I've been wondering where you have been. Hope all is OK.

Thanks! 

Well, we're all alive and healthy 😉. OK is maybe a bit strong. 

I've missed hanging out on here. Hoping to come back to the forum soon, after things settle down a bit. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

10 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

YES. Thank you for saying it. I've had two massive systemic responses to antibiotics. One took roughly a year to fix--in that year I had to take multiple rounds of a different antibiotic and I had to be on a super-strict diet all in order to kill the original problem caused by the original antibiotic.

And then the next massive one--with a different superbug--nearly killed me. I was in the ICU. I had severe sepsis. I had to take meds for many months post-hospitalization to kill that superbug, and I needed literal years of PT to heal. I live with permanent effects from that infection as well.

Antibiotics are not benign.

Not to mention that antibiotics do  nothing for viruses. . They only work for bacterial infections.  This is why a doctor should evaluate - hopefully in this case with a swab for strep or at least looking down the throat. 

[KSera]

11 minutes ago, Spryte said:

No, not since mid-December. We have really stayed home. We saw some family outside and masked before Christmas, but not since. Only curbside pick ups since then, a few grocery deliveries. We are so isolated, I can’t figure this out. 

Whatever DD and I had was very mild, DS has the worst of it. Maybe a run of the mill cold? From the groceries? (We don’t do anything to groceries, just put them away.) 

I’m baffled. And feel a little silly using another RAT or trying to find a PCR appointment!

 

ETA: whatever DS has is very mild, too. But a little bit worse than whatever we had.

You’re the second one on the forum with this kind of history. It’s a bit freaky! I think I’m back to grocery wiping. 

[Spryte]

7 minutes ago, KSera said:

You’re the second one on the forum with this kind of history. It’s a bit freaky! I think I’m back to grocery wiping. 

It’s pretty disconcerting. 

I’m wracking my brain for exposure potential, and the only other thing I can come up with is outside in the (large) yard. We mask if anyone comes in our yard, but otherwise if we were shoveling snow or something—no masks—even if neighbors were in their own yards (again, big yards! Outside. Lots of distance. It doesn’t compute.) DD and I had our mild illnesses right after the snow days, though. So maybe we picked something up (not necessarily Covid.

I hate the thought of wiping down groceries. Ugh.

[Acadie]

1 hour ago, Spryte said:

Thank you. So that was the second day of (mild) symptoms? Do you have a guess as to when she was exposed? How many days it took to turn positive?
 

I am just really disappointed about the effectiveness of RATs. 
 

My kid is on Day 3 of symptoms, tested negative on Day 1, trying to figure out when to test again. There are no PCR test appointments that I can find! I looked through next Saturday, and then just gave up.

(I also can’t identify any chance he’s had if exposure, so finding it unlikely that he’s positive. But sore throat, runny nose, achiness, and three days hovering 100 - 101 temp — we should probably test.)

My apologies if we've communicated about this before--I don't have the bandwidth to keep up with threads and things outside my IRL people right now.

Did you do a saliva + nasal swab? A South African study of nearly 400 people found that adding the saliva swab made the correlation between PCR and rapid test results near 100%. 

Dd15 tested faint positive by saliva + nasal swab at home with a Binax rapid test on day 2 of mild symptoms. 

Day 1--mild sore throat, Binax saliva + nasal swab negative

Day 2--sore throat, headache, Binax saliva + nasal swab faint positive

Day 6--symptoms resolving, Binax nasal swab dark positive

I firmly believe that adding the saliva swab increases the accuracy of rapid home tests DURING THE INFECTIOUS period nearly to the accuracy of a PCR test, except for the first day or two when even a rapid saliva + nasal might not show positive. This is why repeat testing dramatically increases the accuracy of rapid tests, and why manufacturers like Binax sell tests in a 2-pack.

ETA: With Omicron, saliva will often show positive before nasal swab. Not the case with Delta. Also I don't know exactly when dd was exposed but have heard of lots of people developing symptoms 2 days after exposure to Omicron. Symptoms can appear much earlier than with Delta. Doesn't mean every Omicron case shows up that early, though. 

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Acadie

[Spryte]

3 minutes ago, Acadie said:

My apologies if we've communicated about this before--I don't have the bandwidth to keep up with threads and things outside my IRL people right now.

Did you do a saliva + nasal swab? A South African study of nearly 400 people found that adding the saliva swab made the correlation between PCR and rapid test results near 100%. 

Dd15 tested faint positive by saliva + nasal swab at home with a Binax rapid test on day 2 of mild symptoms. 

Day 1--mild sore throat, Binax saliva + nasal swab negative

Day 2--sore throat, headache, Binax saliva + nasal swab faint positive

Day 6--symptoms resolving, Binax nasal swab dark positive

I firmly believe that adding the saliva swab increases the accuracy of rapid home tests DURING THE INFECTIOUS period nearly to the accuracy of a PCR test, except for the first day or two when even a rapid saliva + nasal might not show positive. This is why repeat testing dramatically increases the accuracy of rapid tests, and why manufacturers like Binax sell tests in a 2-pack.

ETA: With Omicron, saliva will often show positive before nasal swab. Not the case with Delta. Also I don't know exactly when dd was exposed but have heard of lots of people developing symptoms 2 days after exposure to Omicron. Symptoms can appear much earlier than with Delta. Doesn't mean every Omicron case shows up that early, though. 

 

I swabbed his tonsils, then did the nostrils (on Day 1). 
 

How did you do your saliva swab? I wasn’t really sure how/where to swab. Oops!

I will retest him today.

[Acadie]

2 minutes ago, Spryte said:

I swabbed his tonsils, then did the nostrils (on Day 1). 
 

How did you do your saliva swab? I wasn’t really sure how/where to swab. Oops!

I will retest him today.

I swabbed dd15s tonsils, but since then have seen info that saliva is enough. So now my thought is just swab the back 1/3 of the inner cheeks, dipping down by the back molars on both sides.

Omicron seems to progress from the throat to the nose, so the nose tests positive later than saliva. 

[KSera]

18 minutes ago, Spryte said:

I’m wracking my brain for exposure potential, and the only other thing I can come up with is outside in the (large) yard. We mask if anyone comes in our yard, but otherwise if we were shoveling snow or something—no masks—even if neighbors were in their own yards (again, big yards! Outside. Lots of distance. It doesn’t compute.) DD and I had our mild illnesses right after the snow days, though. So maybe we picked something up (not necessarily Covid.

I hate the thought of wiping down groceries. Ugh.

Yeah, we wouldn't mask outside in our own yard alone either, and it's hard to imagine there could be any risk in that. This would really be an unheard of level of contagiousness if it could be caught through the open air at that long a distance. Fomite seems more likely than that to me. Or whoever was loading the groceries into the car?

[Spryte]

14 minutes ago, KSera said:

Yeah, we wouldn't mask outside in our own yard alone either, and it's hard to imagine there could be any risk in that. This would really be an unheard of level of contagiousness if it could be caught through the open air at that long a distance. Fomite seems more likely than that to me. Or whoever was loading the groceries into the car?

We did have one curbside pick up where the guy had his mask under his nose while loading into the back. We rolled the windows down to air out as we drove away, but that is the one potential exposure I can imagine.

[lewelma]

16 minutes ago, KSera said:

Yeah, we wouldn't mask outside in our own yard alone either, and it's hard to imagine there could be any risk in that. This would really be an unheard of level of contagiousness if it could be caught through the open air at that long a distance. Fomite seems more likely than that to me. Or whoever was loading the groceries into the car?

NZ August delta outbreak was caused by a 10 second exposure of a person walking in a public walkway near the outdoor exercise area of the quarantine facility that was separated by a 9 foot solid fence. 

[Laura Corin]

3 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I thought things were going to get better after this surge?

 

Expect more worrisome variants after omicron, scientists say (msn.com)

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a reason why further variants would necessarily be milder

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/01/covid-19-variants-omicron-may-not-evolve-less-danger-time-nervtag-uk

[mommyoffive]

US coronavirus: As Omicron sweeps the country, New York state offers a glimmer of hope (msn.com)

[UnionJack]

Our family of six plus a good (adult) friend who was visiting and staying with us had it right after Christmas (none of us is covid-vaxxed).  We all had (various) minor symptoms for about half a day.  My husband had a sore throat one afternoon that was gone by then next morning... DS15 was sore.  Our friend had some chills and aches for part of a day.  Younger three boys just had a fever that broke with Advil and didn't come back).  I had a fever for about three hours--I think maybe I had it the worst of our group of seven!  DH & I needed to cough (like a clear the throat sort of cough) a couple times a day for 10ish days.  It was incredibly mild.  My in-laws (vaxxed and boosted) got it about a week after we had it... My MIL was pretty sick for 3-4 days and my FIL had it similar to DH (sore throat that went away quickly; nothing else).  We know some people who have died, sadly, but for our family of six + friend it was easier than the cold I had a month prior.  We tested positive spread across six days so it did feel like it carried on for a while.

[mommyoffive]

Health insurance will cover home COVID-19 tests, starting Saturday (wisn.com)

 

The CDC officially updated its mask guidance. Here's what kinds are now recommended (wisn.com)

[mommyoffive]

Australia has decided to 'let Covid rip.' Is that a good idea? (msn.com)

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

DD9 tested positive tonight. Runny/stuffy nose, fatigue, headache.  She’s fully vaccinated and had Covid in November 2020.

[plaidpants]

Nieces and sister have apparently tested positive. They are doing okay though.

I wonder if they brought it with them or if they got it while here-- either at the airport or while they were out-and-about.

[Spryte]

Odd anecdata:

I checked back on our calendar, and calculated how long before my mother tested positive. It raised my eyebrows. It’s possible she had two illnesses, I suppose, though she does not think so.

Jan 3: runny nose, sore throat

Jan 4: coughing, vomited once

She seemed to continue about the same after that, though the cough worsened.

All RATs were negative until a routine test turned positive on Jan 13. They test all residents on Mondays and Thursdays, so she was having regular testing.

She is in quarantine now, and says the cough she has now is the same one she’s had since the 4th.

[TravelingChris]

On 1/15/2022 at 10:31 AM, Catwoman said:

I have to disagree with you on this. I’m not saying that doctors should be prescribing antibiotics over and over again to the same patient in a short period of time, but in most cases, people aren’t rushing to the doctor over every little thing, and in these weird Covid times, it seems both risky and ridiculous to not prescribe an antibiotic to a patient who thinks they have strep.

If the patient is right there in the office, obviously the doctor can swab for it, but many of us are exclusively using telemedicine right now because we don’t want to risk going into a doctor’s office and bringing Covid home to our families. And sometimes we need an antibiotic. And if every now and then, it turns out that we didn’t need that antibiotic, it’s not going to do us any harm to have taken it. But it sure could do us a lot of harm to not have gotten an antibiotic when one was really needed — and quickly  — like with strep.

And don’t even get me started on doctors who won’t prescribe antibiotics for patients who think they might have Lyme disease without a positive Lyme test. Because you don’t get a positive test until long after the time when the antibiotics would help the most and work the best.

I have been prescribed antibiotics without going in before.  But I never, ever get sick without it turning into a bacterial infection- mainly because of one of my autoimmune disease- Sjogren's- which makes my mucus super thick and very hard to cough out- plus all my immune-suppressing medications.  I am the person who does need antibiotics to keep it from getting even worse and getting hospitalized.

[TravelingChris]

On 1/15/2022 at 11:32 AM, KSera said:

I don’t want to derail the thread on this, but my reason for disagreement is because this isn’t always true. I spent half a year of my life deathly ill because of an antibiotic induced illness that required long term and increasingly powerful treatments to finally beat. And these antibiotic resistant diseases have become increasingly common precisely due to the over prescribing of antibiotics. I also have had a family member have an allergic reaction to antibiotics requiring emergency treatment. So, yes, I’m all for antibiotics when they are needed and am grateful we have them, but they are not always benign. 

Actually,  the antibiotic resistance is mostly because of the way overuse of antibiotics in animals for non disease related reasons.

[mommyoffive]

COVID-19 patients show more signs of brain damage than people with Alzheimer's disease (msn.com)

[TravelingChris]

On 1/15/2022 at 5:13 PM, mommyoffive said:

Health insurance will cover home COVID-19 tests, starting Saturday (wisn.com)

 

 (wisn.com)

Not for Tricare or Medicare.  

[TravelingChris]

7 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Australia has decided to 'let Covid rip.' Is that a good idea? (msn.com)

They should definitely not lock down again.  Useless.

[KSera]

16 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

Actually,  the antibiotic resistance is mostly because of the way overuse of antibiotics in animals for non disease related reasons.

For some diseases. In people, C Diff is one of the most prevalent and difficult to treat due to increasing antibiotic resistance and that has been due to overuse of antibiotics in people. Overuse of antibiotics the main cause of C.diff epidemic

[popmom]

A third adult child has brought COVID into my house. I’m going to have amazing Omicron immunity. lol Dd24 came home for the weekend and started feeling sick that night. First home test was negative. That was on day 3 of symptoms. Day 4 (this morning) she tested positive. It’s interesting that she and her identical twin have/had the exact same symptoms—more like flu with fever over 100.

The rest of us had significantly different symptoms—none of us experienced it the same. 

[Idalou]

18 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

Not for Tricare or Medicare.  

But for low income on Medicaid, and kids in CHIP, but no home tests for elderly who can not afford Medicare Advantage. Brilliant!

[Laura Corin]

On 1/14/2022 at 2:56 PM, Laura Corin said:

Two members of staff at Mum's care home have tested positive.  The home is waiting for Public Health to come and test the residents (I suspect that this is done centrally to make sure that unscrupulous home owners don't fake negative results) and decide whether to close the doors.  I'm going to see Mum tonight - I'm vaxxed and boostered and will be well-masked - in case I can't see her for a while.  She's vaccinated and boostered (Pfizer throughout) but, given that she's 97, it's hard to know what kind of immune response she has had to the vaccination. 

The staff are not brilliant at staying masked all the time around the residents.  It's a small home with just 22 staff including cook and cleaners, so she's likely to have had contact with those members of staff.

The two members of staff are doing well - they barely have symptoms. No other staff or residents have tested positive.  The home is still open.

[mommyoffive]

A strange new symptom of the omicron variant has emerged: Night sweats (nj.com)

[KSera]

52 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

A strange new symptom of the omicron variant has emerged: Night sweats (nj.com)

I recall that being a common symptom at the beginning of the pandemic. Which actually makes some sense, given that omicron is descended from earlier strains, not from Delta.

[HSmomof2]

Our whole family is vaxed and boosted. Dd got an email from her college that she had a close contact exposure on 1/5. She also works at a grocery store, but in the back, so not a lot of customer exposure. She has not been ill at all. Friday evening, I got suddenly very achy and very tired. (I have fibromyalgia, so wasn’t overly concerned). Slept 10 hours, woke up even more tired than Friday. Also had headache, some congestion, and slight sore throat and cough. No fever. Rested/slept most of Saturday. Sunday, same symptoms, was able to get a PCR test for both flu and Covid. Both negative. Dh began feeling ill (tired, achy, sore throat) yesterday, too. Today, I feel a little better, but still more tired than usual. Dh is feeling fine today. Both dc are fine. I’m not sure if I believe the negative test or not?? There are no home tests available here at all, but have some coming from Walmart that won’t arrive until Friday which will probably be too late to accurately test again. 
 

ETA:we’re in an area with high transmission….14- day cases of 1,770/100,000.

Edited January 18, 2022 by HSmomof2