5 ms·

To be clear, the order of events was such that I did not have loss of smell/taste at the time of the rapid tests. There was no indication at that time of anythi

by nilkn 6y ago

To be clear, the order of events was such that I did not have loss of smell/taste at the time of the rapid tests. There was no indication at that time of anything that wasn't completely consistent with and expected from a cold, and I even encountered resistance when I tried to get tested prior to the tell-tale loss-of-smell symptom appearing (hence the rapid tests only at that point). I had a mildly uncomfortable phone call with an urgent care center where they discouraged me from pursuing testing because they didn't think I had enough symptoms. I knew exactly from whom I had contracted whatever illness I had, and that person had also tested negative for COVID (upon further questioning, their test had also been a rapid one, and they too had not been informed of its unreliability for any negative determination).

bigiain 6y ago
> There was no indication at that time of anything that wasn't completely consistent with and expected from a cold Unfortunately, I think these days symptoms of "just a cold" are enough reason to self isolate for long enough to reliably get through the Covid incubation period - which locally (Sydney .au) has been reported to occasionally be as long as 10 days or more.
- nilkn 6y ago
  I agree with you, and that's largely why I wanted to share my story -- to illustrate that even without any tell-tale symptoms and multiple negative test results, you can easily still have COVID.
  - Osmium 6y ago
    Thanks for sharing your story, it's useful to hear anecdotes. I also want to emphasize I was making a general comment and not intending a personal criticism. The points raised by bigiain and mxcrossb are well-made, "cold-like" symptoms are COVID symptoms, the loss of taste and smell only occurs in some cases. CDC has a full list of coronavirus symptoms[1]. I fear that many are flying, socializing etc. when they are actually symptomatic (e.g. headache, sore throat) because they consider these minor symptoms, or perhaps they can just "hope for the best", but the severity of the symptom doesn't change whether or not someone is symptomatic. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/s...
- mxcrossb 6y ago
  The USA currently has nine million active cases. I actually think at this point if you have cold symptoms it may be more likely you have covid than a common cold. (Though maybe someone has data in cold cases to clarify the cross over point)
  - timr 6y ago
    > The USA currently has nine million active cases. I actually think at this point if you have cold symptoms it may be more likely you have covid than a common cold. Your intuition is wildly off-base here. Nearly all of us catch at least one cold a year, mostly during the winter months. There are, quite literally, hundreds of millions of colds a year. There's also ~half a dozen viruses in circulation at any given time that cause cold-like symptoms, vs. one for SARS-CoV2.
    - vkou 6y ago
      How many colds are you expected to catch on a year where the country is under lockdown, and many people are staying at home, or wearing masks? There aren't great stats for the common cold, but the flu seems to be affecting only a quarter of the people hit by it in a usual year.
    - ryandrake 6y ago
      I catch colds roughly 7-8 times per year. It sometimes feels like I have cold symptoms more days than I don’t. I currently have cold symptoms. If I had to isolate every day I had a cough, sore throat, congestion, or sneezing, I’d be under house arrest most of the year. I think it’s vitally important that we have accurate COVID tests that can definitively distinguish a case of the cold from a case of COVID.
      - admax88q 6y ago
        At the end of the day everything is a judgement call. In this case I believe you're an outlier, guidelines are usually structured for the general case. Should you specifically treat every cold like it could be COVID? Maybe not, but should somebody else who gets sick only 1-3 times a year treat every cold like it could be COVID? That seems a lot more reasonable. Not to mention it is wise and courteous to stay home and avoid exposing yourself to lots of people when you are sick regardless of if its COVID or not.

by nilkn 6y ago

bigiain 6y ago

> There was no indication at that time of anything that wasn't completely consistent with and expected from a cold Unfortunately, I think these days symptoms of "just a cold" are enough reason to self isolate for long enough to reliably get through the Covid incubation period - which locally (Sydney .au) has been reported to occasionally be as long as 10 days or more.

nilkn 6y ago
I agree with you, and that's largely why I wanted to share my story -- to illustrate that even without any tell-tale symptoms and multiple negative test results, you can easily still have COVID.
- Osmium 6y ago
  Thanks for sharing your story, it's useful to hear anecdotes. I also want to emphasize I was making a general comment and not intending a personal criticism. The points raised by bigiain and mxcrossb are well-made, "cold-like" symptoms are COVID symptoms, the loss of taste and smell only occurs in some cases. CDC has a full list of coronavirus symptoms[1]. I fear that many are flying, socializing etc. when they are actually symptomatic (e.g. headache, sore throat) because they consider these minor symptoms, or perhaps they can just "hope for the best", but the severity of the symptom doesn't change whether or not someone is symptomatic. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/s...
mxcrossb 6y ago
The USA currently has nine million active cases. I actually think at this point if you have cold symptoms it may be more likely you have covid than a common cold. (Though maybe someone has data in cold cases to clarify the cross over point)
- timr 6y ago
  > The USA currently has nine million active cases. I actually think at this point if you have cold symptoms it may be more likely you have covid than a common cold. Your intuition is wildly off-base here. Nearly all of us catch at least one cold a year, mostly during the winter months. There are, quite literally, hundreds of millions of colds a year. There's also ~half a dozen viruses in circulation at any given time that cause cold-like symptoms, vs. one for SARS-CoV2.
  - vkou 6y ago
    How many colds are you expected to catch on a year where the country is under lockdown, and many people are staying at home, or wearing masks? There aren't great stats for the common cold, but the flu seems to be affecting only a quarter of the people hit by it in a usual year.
  - ryandrake 6y ago
    I catch colds roughly 7-8 times per year. It sometimes feels like I have cold symptoms more days than I don’t. I currently have cold symptoms. If I had to isolate every day I had a cough, sore throat, congestion, or sneezing, I’d be under house arrest most of the year. I think it’s vitally important that we have accurate COVID tests that can definitively distinguish a case of the cold from a case of COVID.
    - admax88q 6y ago
      At the end of the day everything is a judgement call. In this case I believe you're an outlier, guidelines are usually structured for the general case. Should you specifically treat every cold like it could be COVID? Maybe not, but should somebody else who gets sick only 1-3 times a year treat every cold like it could be COVID? That seems a lot more reasonable. Not to mention it is wise and courteous to stay home and avoid exposing yourself to lots of people when you are sick regardless of if its COVID or not.