I’m afraid I don’t follow. What does your mischaracterization of my level of “vigilance” have to do with the dangers of long covid?
Like your family, “my family mitigates the risks where we can and continue to live full uninterrupted lives.” I’d hardly call wearing a mask in indoor crowded spaces (many of which require masks) as hyper vigilant.
But again what does this have to do with the dangers of long covid?
Anecdotally, I do know several people with troublesome long Covid symptoms. Chronic fatigue. So, my probability estimate might be different from yours and both of us should probably be guided by bigger data sets rather than the anecdotal reporting. My guess is that there is substantial underreporting both of Covid (especially if the symptoms are mild – I read an estimate that only 1/8 of Covid cases are now reported) and long Covid, in that the symptoms may be observed and treated but not connected to Covid even if they are caused by or exacerbated by Covid.
Yesterday, we went to an outdoor wedding and indoor reception. Everyone was asked to provide proof of a) vaccination and at least one booster; and b) a photograph of an antigen test taken the day of the wedding. Very joyous event, but I sincerely hope not a spreader. I had misgivings about being inside.
My college reunion was last weekend. My friend/rooommate/teammate group and I decided to skip it as we had missed the every 5th year anniversary and I invited them to our house for a fall weekend when the landscape is beautiful (and with luck the renovation will be complete). But, friends of ShawD went and, despite the fact that most of the weekends event was outside, quite a few people came back with Covid.
In an individual case, some things may not really be known as to whether they are connected to a previous COVID-19 infection.
For example, in large VA data sets, new type 2 diabetes was found more often in those who had COVID-19 than those who did not. But if an individual who has had COVID-19 is found with new type 2 diabetes, how can one possibly know in that individual case if that was a “long COVID” result, or if it was just coincidental, since new type 2 diabetes does get found in people who have never had COVID-19?
@ucbalumnus, exactly. In aggregate, it seems clear that having Covid 19 is increasing the incidence of type 2 Diabetes. But it would be hard to report it in any individual case as caused by a person’s prior Covid infection (which may not have been reported in the first place).
What were the indoor events? If food and drink were involved, then masks were probably off, right? Or if an outdoor event, was there music that made people get closer to others to make themselves heard? Just wondering, as we are going to a family event this summer with both outdoor and indoor parts.
Food and drink definitely involved. We heard that the outdoor gatherings were packed with folks. Music and dancing in the evenings. And I’m guessing masks off for the outdoor get-togethers.
For the older classes, there was probably an indoor dinner one night. For the younger classes, most likely outdoors only.
I have walked by some of those events and people are really packed in, in the outside events.
my D just did a camp for underpreviledged kids that was finally back in person, though did not include the overnight aspect. (still held at ourdoor camp). Apparently they tested the kids, and quite a few of them tested positive , despite having no symptoms and could not participate.
I have a feeling that amoung the kids who are vaccined that most are asymptomatic, and unknowingly have it. The question Still remains is how contageous is someone that is not sneezing/coughing/etc and fully vaccined versus someone who is symptomatic and/or not vaccinated. Such a harder thing to know. In the UK they randomly test the population to see who has had covid every week, and the percentage is much higher then the cases suggested. The same is likely true here.
The BIG question is also how many that have had BA1 are not getting BA2. (vaccinated people). What if you got a booster in between?
A few comments on prior discussions….
I think there are a very large number of people who’ve had covid and aren’t showing up in any numbers, either because they never had any symptoms and didn’t know they were sick or because they tested positive only on a home test and therefore aren’t counted. Most of the people I know who’ve had covid fall into the latter category. This means, I think, that any studies on the percent of people who get long covid are way off because the denominator is much smaller than it really should be.
Second comment - I live in MA where we are in the CDC red zone for transmission. If you go out in public, you will find that very few people care anymore. I was at a conference last week with about 300 people held mostly in an enclosed ballroom. The crowd skews older and probably average age was in the 50’s. One day I counted and there were seven people wearing masks. Yesterday I went to the mall with my son to buy some clothes for his summer internship. The mall was packed and masks were rare. People, in general, have just decided to go back to normal.
Finally, I now know a lot of people who’ve had covid and not one person has been sick enough to miss a day of remote work or school. Two presenters at my conference were virtual because of being covid positive. Neither were sick. I realize some people get it worse, and there are posters here saying they had symptoms that were more extreme than “just a bad cold”, but my experience, and I assume the experience of many others is that it is like a bad cold which I think is what is contributing to the general behavior of the public.
Also lots of people attribute mild covid symptoms to other things-colds, allergies, etc, and don’t test
What “treatments” are still in use for those more at high risk? My 89 year old Mother had covid a few month ago and my sister got her the monoclonal antibody treatment. Is that still in use? I know about Praxlovid but have been reading some not so great stuff about it lately. Seems like some people get a “rebound infection” after taking it (test negative and then a week later get symptoms again and test positive). I read a case about two doctors who were still positive after 22 days.
I have a family member who is at risk of complications should they test positive and I just want to know what, if any, options we might want to consider.
Based on timing, I suspect my vaccinated D had BA1 and BA2. She was not boosted but not too much time had passed since vaccination. Mild symptoms with the second infection even milder than the first. But her symptoms were still worse than anyone else in our family.
My vaccinated H had Delta in late August/early September, and possibly BA1 in early December. No boosting either. Mild symptoms with the second infection being even milder than the first. Second infection was picked up as an incidental finding, but it may not have been incidental really. His heart rate increased and he felt tired and decided to make sure his heart was ok because his heart rate is normally low and he rarely gets tired. They did testing in the ER and he was positive. All other tests were normal and he was fine after that one afternoon. He was exposed to infected people after that and did not get it that we know of, but I’m waiting to see if he will get BA2.12.1 which has been dominant in our area.
This could have been my 17 y/o. It is allergy season here and she suffers from them. She takes OTC meds for them. Just over a week ago, she took some OTC meds and as usual, symptoms subsided. The next day, she took meds again but didn’t help. The next morning she said, “I think I’m getting a cold - my nose is stuffier this morning and the OTC meds didn’t help like they usually do.” I gave her a test - she was positive. Her only symptoms were the stuffy nose and early morning scratchy throat that would subside as day progressed (prob from sleeping with mouth open due to stuffy nose). She only had the stuffy nose for two days, no other symptoms at all. Had she not said anything to me, I probably would not have noticed nor would she have tested.
I imagine with prom, finals, etc., there are many high schoolers ignoring mild symptoms for fear of missing out on prom, finals, graduation, etc. Fortunately my D is not a senior, and only had three days of school last week so she did not miss much, other than review for her finals that start the end of this week. At least one of her friends and one of her classmates also tested positive last week. It will be interesting to see if her school is added this week to the state’s list of schools with an outbreak (the list has rapidly grown in the past couple of weeks). She has no idea besides her friend and her classmate if there were many others out last week but I suspect there are a lot of kids walking around with it right now, especially after the prom a week ago.
In order:
I thought I had full-on bronchitis (terrible wheezing and coughing) which led me to urgent care on Mother’s Day. I started Paxlovid the following day and I felt perfectly fine by the end of the week. For what it’s worth, I am almost 74 and generally in pretty good health–a bit overweight but no diabetes; live in Brooklyn, NYC without a car and pretty active–walk to the supermarket and go up and down steps at the subway.
Someone posted elsewhere that the same thing (rebound) happens with Covid–round one mild, then another episode taking patient to the hospital.
Warning…anecdote ahead 
DH, myself and DS and his SO went to Maui. Arrived on a Tuesday. Weds SO gets a text that her sister, with whom she spent the previous weekend, has tested positive for COVID. So on Thursday evening (about 4 days post exposure) the young’uns test…both negative.
DH and I wait until Saturday to test - and we are both negative. So…onward with the vacation.
DS and SO head home a week before us. They leave on a Weds. Both test before going into the office on Thursday. Both negative. SO wakes up on Saturday feeling miserable. And, in her words…the ‘test line turned dark black immediately’. (DS and SO had gone to separate places after their return, so not exposed to each other for those two days post return flight)
It’s now 9 days post SO’s positive test. DH, DS and I are still negative.
So, did SO get infected initially by her sister - before the vacation? Is she a very long incubator? Or, did she get infected on the flight home? We were pretty much in each others faces for the duration of our common time in Maui.
DH and myself have been consistently using the saNOtize/ENOVID nasal spray. DS used it morning and night (and continues to do so) SO was resistant. Was that the saving grace?
Then. DD and hubby attend a wedding a week ago. Yesterday they had the sniffles and runny noses. All around testing…both antigen and CUE. They are negative.
DH and I committed to a cruise in October. I mentioned the ENOVID to the couple we are traveling with. They said their concierge doc has prescribed them a compounded iodine nasal spray, which they will be using. They are going on a different cruise in the next week. Will be an interesting experiment.
YMMV
PS…DS is going to a bike race in Kansas at the end of the week. There will be MANY people involved. He says if he’s going to get it…it will be during that time. He will continue using nose spray. I shall post results when available…
All family members are vaxxed and once boosted.
I looked at some research about nose sprays and nasal rinsing and it was encouraging, and I have been doing nasal rinsing whenever I have been in a situation when I was concerned about exposure. I used it along with gargling and my homemade version of PPE both times my H had covid. He isolated at home but I was in close contact for hours before he tested positive both times and I did not get it. I did get Omicron from my D and my exposure was much briefer, just long enough for her to say I don’t feel well and for me to tell her where she could get a rapid test right away. But I think the immediate nasal rinsing and gargling may been helpful in keeping my case extremely mild and it did not spread to anyone else in my house, though I was careful to isolate immediately after that exposure and did not wait for symptoms.
I used a highly diluted iodine nasal rinse twice and I found it very irritating and hope I’m never in the position to feel the need to do it again. I was afraid to use Xclear because I saw a version that contained oregano oil and I am sensitive to oregano.
Is the saNotize/Enovid irritating at all?
Based on the timeline:
Possibilities:
Outdoor bicycle race, or an indoor (velodrome) track bicycle race?
I love examples like this! It’s like a true detective game. Usually symptoms of colds/flu are 3 days post exposure. Sick on Saturday? Back three days. That’s Wednesday, day of travel. I’d go with that.
ETA Iodine is very irritating. Even diluted I wouldn’t put in my nose, but that’s personal preference. I have the enovid