[fatneck]

My bro had it a couple of weeks ago - not confirmed but sounded like it.

Our CEO and his wife tested positive last week - they're now fully fine and expect to both be back in work this week.

Anyone else?

[andy popp]

Not personally, but I know quite a few people who have, across Europe and North America. I know a smaller number who have lost family members (largely, but not exclusively, elderly or very elderly relatives)

As a journal editor I've had two authors approach me for extensions to deadlines for submitting revisions because they've had it.

[danm]

Possibly. Had a fever and self isolated for a week just as lockdown was announced. Most of Chamonix got it, off Fatboy probably, the hound. Know several friends in healthcare who tested positive or isolated due to symptoms. Lack of testing means it's hard to know really?

[Oldmanmatt]

My sister went down with most of the symptoms and given that she’s diabetic (type 2) and has a heart condition (something to do with Rheumatic fever as a kid), we feared the worst.
It was about ten days after our last family dinner with my parents which was just before this all got real. She works at the Royal Devon and Exeter and has been working from home since the symptoms began. Her consultant assumes she had it and I believe several in her department who have been allowed back, were tested positive.

The same week that she became ill , Polly and I developed chronic headaches that just wouldn’t go, along with malaise and disturbed sleep, but no fever or cough; that persisted for over a week. However, since, I’ve been wheezy at the slightest hint of exercise and had several bouts of a tickly cough and general lack of energy.
But, hey, paranoia rules these days.

I suppose, I almost wish I have had it.

My Sis has two teenagers and a husband, no symptoms per se, but headaches and mild colds and “feeling off”. Sis was proper poorly, bed ridden etc. We were cacking it.
No other family members have shown any symptoms and we were all together at that meal, plus we’re huggers and cheek kissers.

[cheque]

My sister had it, wasn’t tested but had all the symptoms and was ill for weeks. She said she felt like there was sand in her lungs and it got worse again after she first started getting better. Her three kids had no symptoms, her husband had mild symptoms that only started about a week and a half after hers did.

Having had a pneumothorax and associated complications  a couple of years ago (I had supplemental oxygen for two weeks but wasn’t on an actual ventilator) I was worried I was more at risk than most but nothing I’ve read suggests that’s the case thankfully.

[rich d]

Probably - obviously not been tested for it. Daughter cam down with dry cough and temperature and head ache, recovered then 7 days later I got the same, neither of us had any energy for a few days are were totally drained. It was markedly different to the coughs I've had over the last 30 odd years of my life since having asthma and just stayed in my throat which was very sore - with no phlegm at all. The wife then got it to a lesser extent 2 days after me, sore throat, headache and dry cough. Eldest daughter never showed any symptoms, then a family of friends had exactly the same too. Pretty flu like in it's symptoms - obviously we self isolated once youngest got the symptoms until we were clear, so have effectively been in lock down for a week longer than the rest of the population. If there's an anti bodies test as is looking like there may be from Abbot with a high reliability rate - that'd be useful to be able to get back to life. Suspect it'll never be available to most people and we will never know who has or hasn't had it. Other friends had similar symptoms in late Jan in the UK -although again if this is corona I don't suppose we will ever know.
 

[lagerstarfish]

Wife's uncle had it. Tested in hospital. Confirmed CV 19
Sent home in an ambulance.
Back to hospital in an ambulance when he got pneumonia.
Underlying health problems.
Recovering okay now.

[butterworthtom]

I haven't had it personally, but I am currently living in the middle east. The university I am working and living at has been very thorough in terms of testing people, contact tracing, quarantine.
The remarkable thing is, out of the 14 people that have been tested positive, about 10 of them have been asymptomatic.

[galpinos]

Wife* and I both tested negative after eldest daughter had symptoms. Eldest daughter tested on Saturday but 5 days after symptoms due to issues in getting a test for a child.

In one of my wife's hospitals (tertiary cancer centre), they have tested all in patients and all staff (who were in that day, my wife wasn't). There were 10% in patients and 9% in staff who were asymptomatic but tested positive.

*Doctor so testing required for us all.

[tomtom]

Those are scary totals

[Nigel]

There were 10% in patients and 9% in staff who were asymptomatic but tested positive.

This is shocking, and highlights why correct health worker PPE and procedures is so important for controlling transmission.

[galpinos]

Those are scary totals

They are, but probably higher than that found in the general population.

That particular hospital has done a really good job of dealing with infection, dedicated in/out doors, "one way" flow through the hospital, taped spacing shown on the floors of all corridors, defined wards with transition rooms in which to get PPE on/off. They are desperately trying to stay as Covid free as possible in order to start offering more of the treatments/surgery they used to offer.

The other hospital is a general hospital and that is a different kettle of fish......

[tomtom]

My parents need regular eye injections (AMD) and This has continued - with one way systems and distancing.

Still Nick - the data that on one day 10% of visitors and staff all were asymptomatic and positive (if I understand right) is - wow!

[Fultonius]

My parents need regular eye injections (AMD) and This has continued - with one way systems and distancing.

Still Nick - the data that on one day 10% of visitors and staff all were asymptomatic and positive (if I understand right) is - wow!

Is that accounting for false positives? Or was it false negatives for the test, and false positives for the antibody test that were the issue?

[Oldmanmatt]

This is good news, surely?

If I understand the post correctly, approximately 1:10 people have the virus (within the setting context) but are asymptomatic?
(You didn’t say what the total, symptomatic and asymptomatic numbers were).

I don’t see a huge argument that a tertiary cancer clinic, should be significantly different in infection incidence than the general population? Unless there is a Covid ward within the same building and communication of people and services between the two (ventilation, cleaning staff etc).

[galpinos]

This is good news, surely?

If I understand the post correctly, approximately 1:10 people have the virus (within the setting context) but are asymptomatic?
(You didn’t say what the total, symptomatic and asymptomatic numbers were).

I don’t see a huge argument that a tertiary cancer clinic, should be significantly different in infection incidence than the general population? Unless there is a Covid ward within the same building and communication of people and services between the two (ventilation, cleaning staff etc).

To be clearer, symptomatic patients had already been tested, symptomatic staff were off work so the 9/10% positives were all asymptomatic at the time of the test.

The setting is a tertiary cancer hospital, i.e. it has in patients. They have a Covid positive ward but this testing has shown that there are staff and patients on the non Covid wards that are Covid positive, so will be shedding virus to currently Covid negative patients.

[galpinos]

Is that accounting for false positives? Or was it false negatives for the test, and false positives for the antibody test that were the issue?

Testing for the virus is prone to false negatives according to my wife, so despite her testing negative it doesn’t give her confidence that she hasn’t got it. Also, do to testing being introduced so late, she doesn’t know if she has already had it. She is on the clinical trial for an antibody test though.

[Nigel]

This is good news, surely?

It doesn't sound like good news. Galpinos has covered the details of that particular setting, which probably carries over to other hospitals i.e. most are split into Covid / non-Covid areas. Procedures and protection levels will often differ in each - less stringent on non-Covid. If asymptomatic Covid patients / staff are on a non-Covid ward, there is arguably an increased risk of transmission. And the same will apply for settings such as care homes, which are reported to be issuing guidance that PPE is not required unless someone is symptomatic.

[abarro81]

I think OMM's point is that if 10% of people walking around at one moment were asymptomatic and infected, then it's likely that a huge swathe of the population has already been infected. Clearly this relies on

I don’t see a huge argument that a tertiary cancer clinic, should be significantly different in infection incidence than the general population?

being true. I have no informed view on whether it is or not.

[Nigel]

Fair point well raised. Think we were zoomed in to different levels. If that assumption is true then on a macro level yes it may well be good news. On the micro level of that particular ward (and extrapolating to all other similar non-Covid wards) it still seems an unwelcome finding.

[Oldmanmatt]

I think OMM's point is that if 10% of people walking around at one moment were asymptomatic and infected, then it's likely that a huge swathe of the population has already been infected. Clearly this relies on

I don’t see a huge argument that a tertiary cancer clinic, should be significantly different in infection incidence than the general population?

being true. I have no informed view on whether it is or not.

Careful mate.


If we start agreeing too often, it really might be an omen of the end times...

[lemony]

I had it about 6 weeks back - I posted a thread on the other side about it if you're interested.

Interestingly, even though I had the mildest of mild symptoms it's had a significant medium term effect. My lung capacity has noticeably reduced and under heavy exertion I'm having fairly nasty exercise induced asthma symptoms including coughing up big lumps of creamy yellow, fibrous goo for 48 hours after a reasonably intense run. My girlfriend still has less than 50% of her sense of smell back and her sense of taste is seriously reduced.

It's a bit weird to be pondering whether a mild cough might have (mild) consequences we live with for the long term to be honest.

[SA Chris]

Did you exercise induced asthma before? A mate has it, it's like running with a dog.

[Stu Littlefair]

I've not had it yet, but hearing similar things from friends who have. One family member had very mild symptoms initially but is still finding it hard to get up the stairs 3 weeks later. Another was ill and weak for a few weeks, but after a week of feeling better had a huge blood pressure spike, collapsed and went into hospital. Ok now thank god.

Grim.

[lemony]

I had it about 6 weeks back - I posted a thread on the other side about it if you're interested.

Though what you actually wrote on UKC is: "My girlfriend and I are untested but pretty confident that we have CV"

A quick parse of this thread shows only one actual confirmed case of COVID19

Well yes, but that person was my girlfriend and we were both symptomatic... we’ve now both been involved in the antibody testing trial. We had it.

[Fultonius]

I *may* have had it. One of the guys at work wasn't allowed on a flight to the US, neither were his family, due to high temps and corona symptoms. Not tested.

I decided quite early on, before lock-down or company policy said so, to work from home. Then went back in to have a catch up with said guy before he went back to the US... He was coughing that day, and I jokingly said to him "hope that's not bloody C-19".

The only three other guys in the office that day all ended up with similar symptoms. Ranging from light (me, tickly cough that last 10 days, 2 days of slight feverishness, few days feeling better, went for a run, felt terrible one night but better next day). Also not tested.

[tomtom]

Thing is Habrich - the only way to be tested up until last week was of you were ill enough to be in hospital with it!!

[lemony]

Both tested and confirmed. I can probably ask the doctor’s for written confirmation if you need that?

[lemony]

Did you exercise induced asthma before? A mate has it, it's like running with a dog.

Always suspected I had it very mildly. Unusually prone to wheezing after exercise, particularly in the cold. Nothing like this though, if I tick over a particular intensity level I go straight from breathing fine to pedigree pug. Can keep going but bloody unpleasant.

[teestub]

Both tested and confirmed. I can probably ask the doctor’s for written confirmation if you need that?

Habrich is still sore that Trudeau stopped him getting on his sport proj. 😂

[nik at work]

By similar logic, the test is complete shit so there is no shortage of people with Covid who have tested negative. So an online discussion about people who have tested positive seems kind of pointless...

....as are most things ultimately no doubt. As you say, whatever 😁

[steveri]

Nasty flu bug/cough for 2-3 weeks (I've had the flu vaccine this year) not so much the fever. Dunno, most of us don't. In the absence of accurate testing, we've only got anecdote.

[James Malloch]

I’ve got a test today after being asked to take one to feed into the Covid Symptom Tracker App. I reported some (very minor) symptoms After a long run of reporting “I feel physically fine” and was invited to take a test by email.

It sounds like they have an agreement with the Department of Health to allow 10k non-key-workers to get tested each day to try (provided there is availability) and support their research. Gone for something very last minute (an hours notice) to try and not take the test from those on the front line but my testing station had loads of availability when I booked just now.

I doubt that I’ve got it but I’ll let you know in 48 hours - given some of the stats TT (I think) gave about 10% of people having it whilst being asymptomatic you never know.

[seankenny]

I wasn't sure whether to post this, but here goes...

I'm pretty sure I got coronavirus back in March, partly because a friend of mine returned to Germany and tested positive, but mainly because I had a really bad illness which matched most of the symptoms, and I live in west London which had the highest number of confirmed cases in the UK at the start of the pandemic (according to the Guardian). Actually Lesh my partner got it first, she is asthmatic and was within half an hour of the paramedics arriving when she was advised to take some steroids. Those did the trick and she stayed home and thankfully soon recovered.

I was much sicker, had about two weeks laid out flat, a very bad cough and sometimes struggling to breathe. The next two weeks I was just exhausted, after about a month I tried to go out for a small run and my lungs were on fire. They've been getting gradually better and I'm nearly back to normal now. I worked in international development for some years so I'm used to getting all sorts of weird viruses, including a mystery illness in rural Afghanistan where I had to go to hospital and lost a stone in a week, but this was way, way worse.

Anyhow at some point about ten or twelve days ago - I've kind of lost track of time - Lesh told me her dad and step-mum both had covid. Dad drove a London bus and I'm certain that's how he got it. I saw him the Tuesday before last, dropped some food off at their house, kept at a distance, and he was about as unwell as I'd been. Then we couldn't talk to Ranjith on the phone because he was coughing too much.

The ambulance came for him on Thursday morning and he was put in a covid-19 ward, on oxygen but doing okay and on a regular ward. Friday night he deteriorated some more and on Saturday morning he was put in the ICU, on oxygen but not a ventilator. We knew it was serious but were still very hopeful. No underlying health problems, in fact in pretty good nick for a 64-year-old. We were optimistic.

Ranjith had some kind of "cardiac event" on Saturday night and on Sunday morning the doctors called us. He was gravely ill, they said, and deteriorating. An organ - they didn't know which one - was failing and his body was flooding with toxins, but still, people did survive from this point. They put a phone in protective plastic, suited up and let us FaceTime with Dad. Dad was unconscious but perhaps he could hear us, wherever he was. I can't tell you how long we cried, we implored him to come home, to come back to us, we love you and we miss you and we need you with us.

That evening we spoke with a doctor uncle who reassured us that there was still a chance. People came back from that place. We were calm and resigned to living out the days ahead in fragile hope when the final call came from the hospital telling us of his passing. At midnight we were allowed to don protective gear and to see him, laid at peace in the hospital bed, surrounded by inert machines, his beautiful face already growing cold. I couldn't even kiss him, my lips hidden behind a mask and visor.

In case it is not obvious, hidden behind that stodgy description of "father in law", I loved Ranjith like the dad I'd never had, and he loved me like a son. He was an exceptionally kind and loving man, funny, direct, still with so much life to live. We are broken by his passing. We cannot even be with our family and have a hug. Tomorrow is his funeral. I don't know how this happened.

[tomtom]

I'm so sorry Sean. Thank you for posting - its a really touching post that must have been super hard to write.. my thoughts are with you all.

[petejh]

Sorry Sean. That’s an incredibly moving post. You’ve done him proud by giving a sense of the man.

[webbo]

So sorry for you Sean. I can’t think of anything to put in to words to ease your pain.

[SA Chris]

Devastating post Sean, strength to you and your family. Puts a perspective on all this..

[seankenny]

Just to say thanks for everyone's kind words. It means a lot. This time last week I was trying to work out the best weights and reps combination to cure my elbow tendonitis. This week I'm trying to make it through an hour or a morning without breaking down.

Lesh wants as many people to know about the sacrifice her dad made - if you're on twitter then please do like or retweet her post:

https://twitter.com/LeshieLoves/status/1257462323347886080

[andy popp]

Sean, I am so very sorry. Thank you for taking the time and the strength to write such a heartfelt and moving post.

[Duma]

Gutted for you Sean, and everyone who's lost a loved one to this

[Oldmanmatt]

Well, Mrs OMM has been dutifully using the app for several weeks.
The family as a whole have had odd symptoms, headaches, transient coughs (mornings and evenings), bouts of vertigo, sore throats  and (two of us, Mrs OMM and 2 of 4) the occasional mild fever.
At 13:30 today, she had a text summoning her for a test at 14:30.
They used the word please, in the text, but it read like a summons and though she’s been filling out daily for the whole tribe, she was instructed not to bring anyone else, given a code to show the testing station.
This was not requested in anyway and though she reported 2 of 4’s fever yesterday, she had already reported no symptoms this morning, for the tribe as a whole.
 

So, off she went. 2-5 days for results apparently.

[Falling Down]

So sorry for your and Lesh's loss Sean.  Thankyou for putting this into words.  I will be able to see you soon I hope.

[fatneck]

Thanks for posting that Sean.

After posting the thread, I worried that the title was a little flippant - I guess that's partly the scouse in me and partly a personal detachment from the reality of the whole situation which your post has firmly brought home to me. So apologies if it was and thank you again for posting in the midst of what must be a nightmare time for you and the family.

Wishing you and your family all the best mate and I hope the funeral went as well as could be expected...

[seankenny]

After posting the thread, I worried that the title was a little flippant - I guess that's partly the scouse in me and partly a personal detachment from the reality of the whole situation which your post has firmly brought home to me. So apologies if it was and thank you again for posting in the midst of what must be a nightmare time for you and the family.

Wishing you and your family all the best mate and I hope the funeral went as well as could be expected...

I really appreciate the thought and I'm absolutely not offended!

It's very nice to read all the kind words above, all that stuff in the post was very hard to live through but surprisingly easy to write, it was my warm-up before writing my speech for the funeral and it really helped.

The funeral itself was both awful and actually quite amazing. There were nine of us allowed to be physically present, but segregated by household and all wearing masks and gloves. At the funeral place we had a zoom call which had over 50 attendees and allowed the Buddhist monks to give their sermon. There is really no messing from them: "Ranjith got sick and died, it's very sad, but it's going to happen to all of us, and that's that." We did some speeches there and set out on a funeral cortege behind the hearse.

First call was dad's bus garage. Around a hundred of his colleagues lined the road, crying and slowly clapping. One guy with tears streaming down his face came up to the car and gave us some flowers through the open window, saying "this is for my brother". Others just looked on somberly at the coffin as it passed, with real fear in their eyes. We drove down his road, where dozens of neighbours came out to pay their last respects. Finally to a crematorium in north London, where we saw Dad off to the sounds of Ravi Shankar and 'Here Comes the Sun'.

Fuck me it was all pretty searing stuff but very cathartic and incredible to see how many people came out to pay their respects. Anyhow, things got even more mental after that.

Lesh was so upset and angry about what has happened to bus drivers in London (30 dead so far) that she tweeted about it. This got picked up quite widely and by last Friday we were talking to the Sunday Times chief foreign correspondent Christina Lamb about Dad. She was super-sympathetic and wrote not only a piece that appeared on p9 of the paper (hopefully being seen by cabinet ministers, who knows), but also a heartfelt extra piece on her facebook page.

https://twitter.com/christinalamb/status/1259425952498626560

Radio 5 Live picked up the story and Lesh did a live interview with Stephen Nolan:

https://twitter.com/bbc5live/status/1259856826461564929

She then got a request for an interview from the BBC's science correspondent David Shukman. Ranjith's picture and a clip of her interview were used on the BBC 6 o'clock news:

https://twitter.com/davidshukmanbbc/status/1259889192814948361

Aside from the obvious issue of inadequate PPE for bus drivers, which is clearly still going to be an issue in this new phase, we'd really like to see the widows and families of bus drivers who die from covid included in the government's compensation scheme, which currently only covers NHS workers. We have been in touch with our MP and Dad's MP (they are neighbouring consitituencies) who are both very supportive. Last night Dad's PM asked Rishi Sunak whether bus drivers could be included in the scheme, and his team are looking into it:

https://twitter.com/jamesmurray_ldn/status/1260267914415964161

Dad's union have a petition going on this, if you want to sign and support, I would be very grateful (but totally understand if you don't want to).

https://unitetheunion.org/campaigns/please-sign-and-share-extend-the-bereaved-family-payment-to-uk-bus-workers-now/

Anyhow after all that, we are both bloody knackered.

[fatneck]

I bet mate!

Sounds both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Great to see the horrid situation garnering positive coverage and hopefully this will lead to positive outcomes!

In fact I think I heard the piece on R4 news!

Take care mate

[Falling Down]

The news piece was repeated on Outside Source later in the evening.

[Fultonius]

The other day, after driving to site, spending the day there and coming home, I had some slightly aggravated/burning toes.

The next day they were quite red and sore. The lass has had a big toe issue, and I assumed the same (some kind of fungal thing - lovely!). Put on some cream, didn't think much of it.

Then, today, chatting to my mum, somehow "Corona Toe" came up. I hadn't heard of this, but apparently it's potentially quite a prevalent side effect:
 
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/coronavirus-symptoms-loss-smell-taste-delirium-covid-toe-syndrome-a9520051.html

[Fultonius]

Not me (presently)!

Got the results back, negative (tbh, as expected). Had I known the antibody test was available I should probably have gone for that. Will probably apply next week.

Going to get registered at the doctor (moved house and never got round to moving doctor...) and see about what's giving me the head fog. Could just be a mild other cold triggering some latent issues, or just plain old depression!