First, sympathy to all those who have lost someone due to covid. My MIL died of it last May.
I do not understand this disease.
My Dad got covid in Dec. He gave it to my stepmom. She has recovered ok, except covid destroyed her eyesight. My dad has been saying he has felt hungover ever since he got sick. He also has two cancers. Both parents got vaccinated 2.5 weeks ago.
He went for a what was supposed to be a few days of testing at the hospital, yesterday. He has tested positive for Covid. So my sister had to bring him back home, because they would only let him stay in the covid ward and not run the other tests he was there for.
How can he still be positive for covid when he had it in Dec and was vaccinated for it two weeks ago?
In addition, he has just a few months to live, as apparently the cancer has spread to his bones. Mom told my sister this yesterday. But I can’t go there now (on the opposite coast), because he, my mom, and my sister are now all in quarantine. My sister thought she would be safe, as she was also vaccinated four days ago, and my parents already had covid and were vaccinated. She is stuck at my parents’ house for at least a week I guess. She is supposed to move in a week’s time.
Sorry you are going through all of this. Your dad could still be testing positive on a PCR test, given a December infection. The docs should be able to figure this out. Have them do an antigen test instead.
We were unsure of heading south on our camping trip due to travel worries. We compared numbers via zip codes and realized where we were going was currently safer than home and we knew as far as “we” were concerned, we planned to stay safe (away from others, masked when near others, never indoors or around others to eat, shop, etc). It worked well with jumping from relatives houses, so only needing bathroom stops - and at the campground, the bathroom is pretty open to air circulation (we knew this from past experience). Therefore, we went.
Turns out it was the right call. Before we left our (older aged) hay supplier had it. While he got over it, he said he knew several who didn’t. H works remotely and in our absence Covid has gone through more in and around our zip code including people he’s doing work for - possibly due to our local township meeting where “one person was coughing a lot.” (Why the H did they even go there??? Ah yes, it’s all “overblown…”)
I’ve also seen prayer requests from church for families who have lost members - and school has sent out a couple of emails for families who have lost loved ones (no losses directly from those currently in school - just relatives). There have been several cases within all of the schools in our district. I get an email about each - though they never say who they are. Both our church and school have been meeting in person. We’ve never gone (since Covid began), nor does H go to township meetings in person anymore.
Nonetheless, I’m glad to have missed a bit of the tidal wave. We won’t be home yet for at least a week. I’m not in any hurry, but that’s when our farm sitter is heading out so someone needs to take care of our place. We plan to stay quite sheltered until the bulk of the tidal wave has passed. Then I’m hoping vaccines will be around.
Yep they can test positive for a long time after the infection. My father had covid in the spring and tested positive the day before Christmas. He was not reinfected, the dormant virus just showed up in his test.
All PCR tests look for a fragment of the virus (different PCR tests look for different fragment). Positivity only means that particular fragment the test looks for is present, but the test doesn’t show whether the virus is dead or alive.
I was also told that tests may remain positive for “awhile” after having had the virus. My concern is whether it might prevent flying internationally, or visiting Alaska, Hawaii, etc. The 14 day quarantine supposedly is long enough so that you are not infectious to others, BUT, If local airlines start to require a negative test in the future, that might be a problem for those who have had Covid in the past.
Would papers showing an older positive result, and vaccination suffice?
First time posting on this thread. My Dad (84), his wife (74), my two step-sisters (in their 40s) and my step brother-in-law (50s) are all fighting COVID.
One of my step-sisters lives with and is the part time caretaker of my Dad (who has moderately advanced Alzheimer’s) and step-mom (who has Parkinson’s). She’s also a teacher at a small, religious school where I’m sure precautions were modest.
She came down with COVID symptoms about 13 days ago. By Friday last week everyone but my BIL was sick. He and my other step-sister live in a different house, but they visit frequently. (I know, I know. . . ) Yesterday, after being the last man standing for a week, my BIL got symptoms too.
My step-sis who was first to get sick hit the 10-day wall a couple days ago and developed breathing issues. She went to doc and has COVID pneumonia, but did not meet criteria for admission. My other step-sister is suffering greatly – lot of digestive issues, achy, fever, and as of today (again, around day 10) she’s developed breathing problems too. She has underlying health issue so it’s particularly worrisome.
My step-Mom has been miserable (headaches, achy, digestive issues) but seems stable – she’ll hit day 10 this weekend. COVID also seems to be exacerbating her Parkinson’s pain.
My Dad has been unwell (mainly tired) but seems to be managing okay so far – fewer symptoms than the others, amazingly, and his O2 levels have stayed fine. But he’s quite confused (and at times angry) b/c he doesn’t understand the chaos and why he doesn’t feel well.
They are checking everyone’s O2 levels frequently. But it’s the sick taking care of the sick at this point now that my BIL is down for the count.
The rest of us in the family are spread out across the country. We’ve been getting groceries and meals delivered. Their church has sent food too.
@kjofkw my daughter is going to Hawaii in March. Evidently you need a negative test within I think 72 hours of flying. But evidently if you had Covid within 3 months you can use that as proof.
I don’t think this is always true. The catholic schools in my city have been having in person classes all year and there have been no reported outbreaks or closing. Take precautions and have spread out in classrooms, in the lunch room, and cut down on changing classrooms for art and music.
When a nun tells you to stay 6’ away from another kid, and to wash your hands, and to wear a mask, you do it.
The school my kids went to has been there since the 1930s, so the classrooms do have big windows that open in most of the building. Some is a remodel of the convent so more modern ventilation but smaller windows. The classrooms are HUGE because they used to have 50-60 students in one class. Now they have 25 so each classroom has a lot of area to spread out. I’m assuming they removed all the extra stuff like reading corners and art centers. I’m sure they aren’t sharing supplies like crayons and markers this year.
My sister teaches in a public school and they had to remove all cloth furniture and stuffed animals. There is no sharing of supplies or books or food. Even with those precautions, they were only open 8 days in October and then had to close again. They reopened in Jan and things are going well.
The Catholic HS near me is even doing saliva testing of the entire community every week. These places charge big bucks and they want to keep their customers happy.
If the heating system in the schools with the nuns is anything like NYC apartments you might well have the windows open just because it’s too hot! I had mine open most of the winter.