4 ms·

A colleague and his wife became 'sicker than we've ever been' in late December, 2019, within a week of him transiting in the business lounge in Vancouver airpor

A colleague and his wife became 'sicker than we've ever been' in late December, 2019, within a week of him transiting in the business lounge in Vancouver airport, on his way to San Jose. He notes that a passenger flight from Wuhan landed in Vancouver at the same time and transit passengers from that flight enjoyed the same buffet. His wife was still suffering side effects months later. Their grade school aged son had a fever for a couple of days.

lamontcg 5y ago
"Sicker than you've ever been" isn't a medical diagnosis. I got absolutely royally fucked up by influenza and "sicker than I've ever been in my adult life" -- and I'm 49 -- but it was Jan 2019 not Dec 2019, so I'm pretty certain it wasn't COVID. Probably 5% of the population every winter gets "sicker than they've ever been in their adult life" with some horrible influenza/bronchitis/pneumonia. If everyone who got "sicker than they've ever been" in Dec 2019 were actually sick with COVID then January would have decimated long term care facilities around the United States. Instead you can't see any upward trend in excess mortality in Jan. If anything Jan and Feb were slightly low and the trend doesn't become apparent until late March.
- ocdtrekkie 5y ago
  So in my case, I was tested for influenza, got negative, and they told me it was a virus ...that they didn't know what it was. My guess is now they know what it was.
  - lamontcg 5y ago
    The false negative rate of the rapid influenza test is around 50%. It can tell you that you have influenza but it can't tell you that you don't have it. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/diagnosis/clinician_guidance_ridt.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/diagnosis/clinician_gu... There's also a lot of other cold and flu viruses other than influenza, and just a normal rhinhovirus cold virus can cause bronchitis or pneumonia.
    - ocdtrekkie 5y ago
      And the additional note would be that later, when I had extensive direct contact with someone COVID positive, I had minor symptoms lasting two or three days. Which at least somewhat suggests I had an immune response of someone who had it.
      - lamontcg 5y ago
        No it doesn't. Most COVID infections are mild. And someone who recovers from actual COVID should have had mucosal neutralizing antibodies in your upper respiratory tract and neutralizing antibodies in your blood, so you shouldn't have had any symptoms at all. If you had extensive direct contact with someone COVID positive and didn't take precautions then you just got kind of lucky. You weren't immune.
        ocdtrekkie 5y ago
        ...And a year into being told it wasn't possible I had it then, there's test results saying it was found that early in my state. Which is why talking in absolutes makes you sound less credible, not more.
        lamontcg 5y ago
        Those aren't your test results. That was someone else.
        simonh 5y ago
        They’ve found extremely low numbers of possible cases in your state. The numbers found are very close to the expected false positive rate. Meanwhile there was also an unusually bad flu going around at the same time affecting a high single digit percentage of the population. So ok it’s not impossible you caught COVID. There is a small but real chance, but it’s probably tens or even hundreds of thousands to one against.
  - garmaine 5y ago
    Worth noting that the influenza test is only for certain strains. You tested negative for specific strains, presumably with a rapid test that also has very high false negative rates.
cameronh90 5y ago
I got the sickest I have been in years in December 2019. I had a cough for about 6 months afterwards that was sufficiently bad that I had a chest x-ray to rule out lung cancer. My partner got sick shortly after I did with similar symptoms. I suspect it was the flu though. My desk neighbour at work was hospitalised for the flu (tested and confirmed) a week earlier. I had been vaccinated, but it's mayve the case I had a more mild case than he did thanks to the vaccination. That being said, my partner is a nurse and was the only person in her department not to get covid. WE did get tested for covid antibodies in late 2020 and didn't have any, but it's possible they had diminished by then if it really was covid. But the simplest explanation is still that it was just the flu.

lamontcg 5y ago

"Sicker than you've ever been" isn't a medical diagnosis. I got absolutely royally fucked up by influenza and "sicker than I've ever been in my adult life" -- and I'm 49 -- but it was Jan 2019 not Dec 2019, so I'm pretty certain it wasn't COVID. Probably 5% of the population every winter gets "sicker than they've ever been in their adult life" with some horrible influenza/bronchitis/pneumonia. If everyone who got "sicker than they've ever been" in Dec 2019 were actually sick with COVID then January would have decimated long term care facilities around the United States. Instead you can't see any upward trend in excess mortality in Jan. If anything Jan and Feb were slightly low and the trend doesn't become apparent until late March.

ocdtrekkie 5y ago
So in my case, I was tested for influenza, got negative, and they told me it was a virus ...that they didn't know what it was. My guess is now they know what it was.
- lamontcg 5y ago
  The false negative rate of the rapid influenza test is around 50%. It can tell you that you have influenza but it can't tell you that you don't have it. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/diagnosis/clinician_guidance_ridt.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/diagnosis/clinician_gu... There's also a lot of other cold and flu viruses other than influenza, and just a normal rhinhovirus cold virus can cause bronchitis or pneumonia.
  - ocdtrekkie 5y ago
    And the additional note would be that later, when I had extensive direct contact with someone COVID positive, I had minor symptoms lasting two or three days. Which at least somewhat suggests I had an immune response of someone who had it.
    - lamontcg 5y ago
      No it doesn't. Most COVID infections are mild. And someone who recovers from actual COVID should have had mucosal neutralizing antibodies in your upper respiratory tract and neutralizing antibodies in your blood, so you shouldn't have had any symptoms at all. If you had extensive direct contact with someone COVID positive and didn't take precautions then you just got kind of lucky. You weren't immune.
      - ocdtrekkie 5y ago
        ...And a year into being told it wasn't possible I had it then, there's test results saying it was found that early in my state. Which is why talking in absolutes makes you sound less credible, not more.
        lamontcg 5y ago
        Those aren't your test results. That was someone else.
        simonh 5y ago
        They’ve found extremely low numbers of possible cases in your state. The numbers found are very close to the expected false positive rate. Meanwhile there was also an unusually bad flu going around at the same time affecting a high single digit percentage of the population. So ok it’s not impossible you caught COVID. There is a small but real chance, but it’s probably tens or even hundreds of thousands to one against.
- garmaine 5y ago
  Worth noting that the influenza test is only for certain strains. You tested negative for specific strains, presumably with a rapid test that also has very high false negative rates.

cameronh90 5y ago

I got the sickest I have been in years in December 2019. I had a cough for about 6 months afterwards that was sufficiently bad that I had a chest x-ray to rule out lung cancer. My partner got sick shortly after I did with similar symptoms. I suspect it was the flu though. My desk neighbour at work was hospitalised for the flu (tested and confirmed) a week earlier. I had been vaccinated, but it's mayve the case I had a more mild case than he did thanks to the vaccination. That being said, my partner is a nurse and was the only person in her department not to get covid. WE did get tested for covid antibodies in late 2020 and didn't have any, but it's possible they had diminished by then if it really was covid. But the simplest explanation is still that it was just the flu.