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Poll: Have You Caught Covid?

39 points by erehweb 4y ago

CHRIS_LUCAS 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
aurizon 4y ago
Yes, 83 years old. Had Pfizer and 3 boosters, Mid February it came with mild onset = gone in 3-4 days. Antigen profile showed I had had it Then I got an omicron booster about 10 weeks later - nothing since, but I mask in crowds.
t-3 4y ago
Unvaccinated, never had any symptoms (actually, haven't been sick at all since covid, really strange), was working in public with lots of contact for the entire period before the vaccines were released. I never got tested for antibodies.
- theandrewbailey 4y ago
  Mostly the same for me (without lots of public contact).
- timeon 4y ago
  Similar for me (except I had vaccines for covid and flu). Even have been in prolonged contact (in one household) with people that had covid. I used to be sick with flu almost every year before (but I did not had vaccine against flu before).
anarchogeek 4y ago
There are people who've only caught covid once? Everybody I know's had it multiple times.
- thinkmcfly 4y ago
  Zero times here (: I make all of my own meals and always wear a mask out. I interact with old people so there's no room for me to act like a child about health anymore. I can't really fault the people who are vaxxed and choose not to mask up anymore. So many people are refusing vaccinations that we will never see the end of this disease.
  - idlewords 4y ago
    Plenty of people who got the covid were taking similar precautions. It's pretty infectious!
    - thinkmcfly 4y ago
      I would 100% have caught it at least once if I was doing service work. I'm lucky to never have to be in proximity of others for work
    - TylerE 4y ago
      Not in my case. Been using the best masks I can get my hands on (KN95 from late summer 2020, switching to N95 last spring when those started to become available. Surgical and cloth masks have basically been cosplay since at least delta.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
  - conductr 4y ago
    I find people taking this strategy interesting, especially as we approach the 3 year mark. Do you plan on doing this forever? Is there something you expect to change that would lower your/the risk thus allowing you to live a more normal social life? ("Normal" for lack of better word) For context, I've been back in the office for more than a year at this point (haven't worn a mask in a year either). I'm pretty sure people come to work sick like they always did and don't even get a covid test most of the time any more. It feels kind of like flu/colds were prior to Covid; where it's an honor rule with no benefit of being honest and staying home when sick. I'm pretty indifferent towards people still taking the extra measures (your choice) but it does seem like an inconvenience with no end in sight (IMO). Edit: They added more context to their comment after mine. "Zero times here (: I make all of my own meals and always wear a mask out." is all there was previously. I can't comment so maybe I got flagged. No ill intention, you do you and I'm sure you have reasons that are none of my business but we're here to talk. I'm mostly just curious because I see this a lot online and it seems like there's a whole class of people that intend to just be hermits forever now (my assumption) and it intrigues me on why you'd just give in to it like that; unless you already had hermit tendencies or some increased risk factors.
diob 4y ago
I vaccinated and got boosted once. Been in giant festivals, meetups etc. Still haven't caught it. I can't tell if my luck just hasn't run out, or if I had an asymptomatic case. Lot's of friends who hadn't had it yet have gotten it recently, so I am very confused.
valbaca 4y ago
no. vaxed with all boosters, work from home, don't go out much, regular testing and all negative and no symptoms. When I did go out, I'd mask and distance. Now, easing up on that but still avoiding crowded areas and places. I have asthma so I've been as reasonably cautious as possible.
SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
Not that I'm aware of for neither my wife nor I. I've been working from home and I always mask up when I leave the house, my wife worked in the patient facing part of the medical field (including long duration close contact with paatients), but she always masked up and neither of us have had symptoms matching COVID. Outside of the usual allergies I've been remarkably healthy.
farnsworth 4y ago
Never, as far as I know. All the vaccines and lots of masking, even still. But I can only attribute it to luck, since I've traveled quite a bit and even had some known exposures at different times, like at the gym. But I also work mainly remote and avoided public areas almost entirely, pre-vaccine and during the peaks of some waves. I worked out in a mask for months- awful.
Dig1t 4y ago
Vaccinated, no booster, caught it and gave it to my friends who were vaccinated + boosted. All 4 of us were sick for a week and a half and tested positive.
haunter 4y ago
I don’t know. I got Pfizer four times but never been tested. But I also haven’t been sick.
MollyRealized 4y ago
I have, to my knowledge, never had it. Nor has anyone in my family. I reached out to the team studying superdodgers [1], but never heard back. It'd be useful if getting the kind of blood test that tells you if you EVER had COVID19 was not pay-out-of-pocket. Fully vaccinated. If I had to self-rate my own mask habits, I'd give myself a B-. [1] - https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/09/07/1121599445/so-you-havent-caught-covid-yet-does-that-mean-youre-a-superdodger https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/09/07/1121599...
Baeocystin 4y ago
Is there any way to tell, after having had a vaccination? I got unusually sick in February of 2020; felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Went to the hospital, and there were so many people there with the same symptoms we were a line past the ER and down the hallway. No one was thinking covid at the time. I remember the nurse checking me in asking if I'd had the flu shot (I had), then shrugging and guessing it must not be that effective that year. Was sent home after receiving fluids. That being said, I never lost my sense of smell, nor did I have the brain fog, covid toes, any of the other supposed tells. Did take a solid month to feel fully human again in terms of energy levels, though. Haven't been sick since, that I am aware of.
- adamesque 4y ago
  I'm vaccinated and boosted (but never got the Omicron booster this fall). On day 6 of my first COVID-positive infection and while I never lost my sense of smell, I had a super high fever (104ºF-ish) and awful headache for 2-3 days, and have been having intermittent brain fog and fatigue and a cough since then but feel 65%-95% recovered at any given moment. I also just finished my round of Paxlovid, which feels like it may have reduced my recovery time slightly, at the cost of an _awful_ constant metallic taste in my mouth and mild but increasing gastrointestinal upset.
- devilbunny 4y ago
  You can have your antibodies tested. If you had the vaccine, you will only have spike antibodies. If you had the disease, you will have other ones as well.
  - Baeocystin 4y ago
    Good to know, thank you. Is this something a lab like Quest would offer, or do you have to ask your GP about it?
    - devilbunny 4y ago
      Quest does offer it, don't know if you'll need a doctor's order or not because that's not an issue for me - I can order it myself or have my wife (also a physician) order it. You want a nucleocapsid antibody test to find out if you've had the disease - the spike antibody test will tell you whether or not your vaccine "took".
pugio 4y ago
My family and I have been supremely careful Mar 2020. I read a lot of the research and preprints and am concerned about long term system impacts of repeat infections. Despite huge numbers of precautions, we all finally caught it about ten days ago. Still positive, still coughing, still tired. We can lower risk, but it seems that no level of caution is truly enough, given that others don't care. I'm really not sure what to do – we don't want to keep getting it, but we really want some sense of social life back. My wife and I keep wondering / looking if there's anywhere in the world where people by and large take this infection seriously. I suspect it will come down to small communities, rather than states or countries.
- koolba 4y ago
  > I'm really not sure what to do – we don't want to keep getting it, but we really want some sense of social life back. Why bother doing anything different? Are you at specific risk or is this just general fear of some catastrophic outcome? Were you equally fearful of the common flu prior to covid? > My wife and I keep wondering / looking if there's anywhere in the world where people by and large take this infection seriously. Considering the overwhelming evidence that it's not statistically an issue for the vast majority of otherwise healthy people, and even more so if you factor in vaccination, what does it mean to "take this infection seriously"? Do you expect the world to wear N95 masks 24/7 and stop hugging each other just to assuage your personal fears?
  - whimsicalism 4y ago
    Early in the pandemic, covid was much worse than the common flu.
    - pessimizer 4y ago
      For the old. For the not-old, it was a lot like the common flu, and for the very young, it was much milder. For nursing home residents (the old who are pretty bad off) it was like a coin-flip death sentence.
      - 4y ago
Someone1234 4y ago
Have school-aged children, so have had COVID. It was, however, after my third vaccine dose (two + first booster). So symptoms were less bad than flu, but slightly worse than the common cold. I know people who haven't had it, but they also don't have children.
- duderific 4y ago
  Got it through my preschool-aged daughter around last Christmas (2021), shortly after first booster. Everybody else in my family got it and tested positive (wife, son, daughter, parents in law) but strangely I never tested positive. I have to assume I had it though, since I had the exact same symptoms as my wife at the exact same time.
chrysoprace 4y ago
We were really lucky in Australia, and didn't have a widespread outbreak (beyond Melbourne and Sydney) until after vaccines arrived. I've had three vaccine doses (need to sort out this year's booster) but never caught COVID (I'm also meticulously careful with mask-wearing and hand washing).
glial 4y ago
We were SUPER careful until recently. Then we sent our kids back to school in September w/ no masks, and caught it within a month. We got the newest boosters two weeks before testing positive. Le sigh.
- chrisjc 4y ago
  Pretty much the same story for our family. Covid wasn't really any worse than the flu for us, but the following week or two after getting Covid we got hit with something way worse. Unsure if it was just Covid in a lingering state, or whether our daughter brought home something new from school. Whatever it was kicked our butts. We're all still in a hazy state ever since. Having trouble waking in the mornings, thinking straight, sometimes even forgetting where we are. I guess this is what they're calling "long covid"?
erichmond 4y ago
We caught it for the first time a week ago (my entire family). Theoretically I was patient zero, but the preceding week I had only left the house once, which was go to to a doctor appointment where I wore a n95 mask (and the rest of the office was masked as well.) Very frustrating.
stillbourne 4y ago
I think I got it early to mid February 2020 when testing wasn't widely available. There wasn't a lot of news about COVID at the time and I caught something that wasn't the flu (tested negative) and hit me like a ton of bricks. I was having a hard time breathing, even when taking Mucinex. It wasn't bad enough to go to the hospital so I stuck it out at home. I managed the other symptoms well with Tylenol and Advil. I'm personally convinced that I caught it way earlier than most but its purely anecdotal.
buzer 4y ago
Back in mid March 2020 I flew back from USA to Finland and had symptoms starting next day, but the official policy was only to test those with severe symptoms so I never got confirmation.
goldforever 4y ago
birdman3131 4y ago
Had it before vaccines were widely available. Currently have both doses but no boosters. (Not opposed but after the exhaustion from the first 2 I am only willing to take it on a friday afternoon and never remember.) Symptoms were mostly mild. Fever, crazy exhaustion and a cough for a few weeks. My dad who caught it at the same time died from it. Was never able to work from home and people unmasked as soon as they could here in Arkansas.
_8j50 4y ago
I selected the last option but you don't have one for me: never had symptoms and never got tested. Got vaccinated though.
k__ 4y ago
A month ago, I got the same symptoms I got after getting vaxed (I got AstraZeneca, Biontech, and Moderna) just a bit more intense. Only took like 4 days and it was gone. Did some tests but never got a positive result.
Jevon23 4y ago
No vax. No masking. No precautions. Never caught it, never had any symptoms.
acheron 4y ago
Not that I know of, nor did anyone in my family. Got the original vaccine when it came out, and then a booster in early Jan (so the original booster, not the bivalent one). I stopped with the masks altogether back in the spring (with the exception of the dr's office), and was only nominally doing it before that. I had mild cold symptoms once that I thought could be omicron, but the home test came back negative. Kids have been sick occasionally but negative for them any time we tested too.
ianai 4y ago
I got it in June this year for the first time. (It must have been when I was at work as this was a period where I did little other than wake up and go to work.) I'm still masking and even wearing gloves and otherwise taking any/all precautions to not get it again. The anti-vax around me seem to have all gotten it multiple times. (They would likely report they never had it despite whether or not they owned up to it at the time they were sick.)
zcmack 4y ago
there is no poll option for "caught it and died" :\
- timbit42 4y ago
  Too controversial. People who had COVID but died in a car accident might choose that option.
throwaway2214 4y ago
wow this poll shows how many standard deviations the hackernews audience is away from the norm
_dain_ 4y ago
unvaxed, unmasked, untested, uninfected, unbothered
pessimizer 4y ago
Yes. Double-vaxxed, no booster. Got omicron when everyone was getting omicron. Had an awful day when I thought I might be dying, and was too weak to keep my head raised. Went in for urgent care the next day although the extreme weakness seemed to be clearing out, they test everyone for covid; had covid. Didn't feel anything like a cold or flu symptom (not a cough or a sneeze) until the next day, which ended up maxing out at the level of a mild cold. It seems like I was completely laid out by the immune reaction to the virus, not the actual virus, which was a pussycat after the over-attention from my internal defense force. Still assuming that was what "viral fatigue" feels like, and what (non-malingering) chronic fatigue sufferers live with every day. Also suspect that the next step after the feeling of fatigue I had would have been the covid-related organ failure that everyone used to talk about, i.e. the "cytokine storm."
MauroIksem 4y ago
I still haven't caught. Vaxed 4 times, traveled internationally over the Pacific twice since the pandemic started first time during delta wave and second time more recently and have traveled domestically 3 times.
jonhankok 4y ago
5) No symptoms, never tested.
jabsters 4y ago
I had symptoms of "long COVID" weeks after testing negative. My coughing fits were fixed when my RMT re-adjusted my ribs. My "heavy fatigue after one activity" was fixed with acupuncture. Take it with a grain of salt, but there are options out there.
linker3000 4y ago
Yes, while in hospital in Jan 2021. I was in hospital for non-Covid reasons, in an 'airy' open ward with only 6 spaced-out beds, but the usual plethora of hospital staff coming and going. The patients were tested for Covid frequently and one day [Edit: By this time I had been in hospital for about 2 months, one of those in ICU - long story!] the Ward Manager let me know I had tested positive and I was wheeled off to a 'red' ward. I was sent home after 2 weeks, but came back in a week later with a mild chest infection, so I had another 2 week stay for oxygen, observation and antibiotics. My sense of taste was out of whack for about 6 months afterwards and many of the foods I enjoyed beforehand tasted 'rank'. I lived on mostly acidic things such as fruit, beetroot, prawn cocktails, tomatoes (OK, they are a fruit too); I couldn't stand any form of meat, bread, rice or plain pasta.
Jaepa 4y ago
I believe I'm the missing binary state. I've tested positive (antigen) but I don't think I've had it.
mrguyorama 4y ago
I got vaccinated and boosted once, and basically stopped being safe after that, because there was no longer a necessity to for my specific situation. I closely interacted with people I found out were covid positive for about an hour at a time and never got infected, even testing negative on a PCR. My girlfriend and I sat next to a family member for a family wedding rehearsal, and she caught it from him. I took her to the hospital for what we thought was strep (because that family member did not tell anyone they had covid until after the wedding because they took the conservative opinion that it wasn't an issue). After we found out it was covid I scheduled a PCR.
awslattery 4y ago
Was in Japan in late 2019 for a tourist trip with my wife -- I think that's as close to pushing our luck as we managed with COVID. Managed to avoid it for years -- locking down initially, then slowly expanding our social bubble of trusted friends (not family). N95s when picking up to-go food from our favorite restaurants once they started reopening, while going to OB/GYN appointments, etc. WFH was something I was already accustomed to, and working on the peripherals of public health government contracts, working on projects directly related to COVID surveillance and vaccination was quite humbling. After hosting a vaccination pod in our living room in March 2021 (a pharmacist friend had J&J doses that were to be tossed by end-of-day -- and had multiple epipens on standby), and our social bubble also getting vaccinated, we collectively started to relax. After the Pfizer booster that fall, we at least felt better prepared should we get infected. After a pregnancy of multiple OB/GYN visits, an emergency C-section, and a few business and leisure trips with airfare, we managed to remain unaffected as far as we could tell. Then, after a short outing to a local bottle shop with some friends last week, we felt cold-like symptoms. After a few more days of worsening symptoms, and a couple at-home tests, there was the undeniable positive line for my wife and I. I had the brain fog and cough, she had complete loss of olfactory senses. A week and change later, we're still waiting for that negative test to mark the end of our precautions. All symptoms but a few after effects are gone, and thankfully others in our group managed to avoid it, or were asymptomatic. COVID is far from over, far from gone. Much of society has deemed it endemic or irrelevant, and so for the masses, that'll be how it is until the next spooky variant, or similar virus exploits the lack of holistic societal changes that could still be employed. I, for one, would have liked social distancing, masking when ill, innovative and sustainable packaging for to-go food from local establishments, and investments in public health infrastructure to remain.
devilbunny 4y ago
Am a doctor. Had a known-positive patient that I interacted with for maybe five minutes while wearing an N95. Developed symptoms five days later. I got it after three total doses of vaccine. Worse than a cold, not as bad as flu, but zero exercise tolerance for a while. Went back to work on day 6 after symptoms appeared (had not had fevers for 5 days, so was limited by how I felt rather than CDC recommendations).
mattlondon 4y ago
Caught it from our young kids (2.5 and 0.5 years old - they are not great at social distance nor hand washing and happily cough and sneeze in your face). They were totally fine yet testing positive for days (we only found out they had it after my wife tested positive) and I was negative everyday for about a week. Just as I was starting to feel invincible, I got the faintest possible line on a lateral flow test. All I had was a very minor sore throat for an afternoon - I would never had tested that on its own, but apparently it was COVID! (Tested positive for about 5 or 6 days after). I suspect a lot of people saying they never got it probably have got it but never realised. Nice thing now is I don't worry about it. 4 jabs now I think, plus natural immunity from infection. The main thing though was the kids were 100% unimpacted by it all so there feels like there is nothing much to worry about. We regularly get way way way worse infections from nursery - COVID was literally nothing compared to some of the stuff we've had from nursery that has totally floored us for days and weeks!
Cheyana 4y ago
Felt lousy last year, trouble breathing, went to hospital and got in via their special "If You Think You Have Covid" entrance... They checked me out and were sure I had it because everyone "coming in here has it". Brought me up to the Covid ward, my own room... Next morning test came back negative. Just a respiratory infection. They sent me home. Other than that, I haven't really been sick in the last two years, despite working two jobs, exposed to multiple people that had it. Seems strange but oh well.
csharpminor 4y ago
Had it, felt completely exhausted for 3+ weeks. Standing for more than a few minutes was hard. Recovery was very gradual. Afterwards I developed a strong abnormal heart rhythm (PVCs). I had had these previously, but the ones post-COVID were really intense. They were on and off for a few weeks accompanied by acute fatigue. If you're an athlete / active person pay attention to your heart after infection. I gradually ramped back up to high intensity activities.
ahartmetz 4y ago
Got it in summer 2022. The worst things were rapidly changing fever (temperature between 37° and 40°C) for two days and loss of smell for a couple of weeks when I felt otherwise healthy again. No fatigue or memory trouble worse or longer than a medium cold AFAICT, luckier than some people I know. Three shots of Moderna at the time, recently got a Pfizer omicron booster. The latter won't help for long, but I'll meet vulnerable older family members over the holidays, so...
terran57 4y ago
We live in NYC. Beginning of 2020, my partner and I entertained a friend who flew in from France. Shortly afterwards, we both got sick with what was the most persistent "flu" that we ever had (lasting 3 weeks or so). No tests available, so no confirmation if it was Covid.
ManuelHeL 4y ago
Two times positive. The first time was very painful
impostergc 4y ago
Never had a positive test. Feels extremely silly to be concerned about this disease two+ years in.
StanislavPetrov 4y ago
I got one dose of the J&J back in 2020 and to my knowledge never had Covid (never had symptoms, never been tested). Never wore a mask, regularly hang out in packed bars, and spent a week sitting next to my cousin who had Covid while on vacation. Just lucky? Some sort of natural immunity? Or an asymptomatic case? Hard to say.
jimnotgym 4y ago
I got it first in May 20. I got over it in about 6 weeks and started getting my life together, and then my health plummeted. I was exhausted all of the time, I started getting palpitations, developed sleep apnoea and more. I caught it again in December 21 post vaccine and it was much more mild. I'm starting to get things back together now It killed a healthy colleague of mine in Feb 20... Edit: my wife was a 10k runner, and it has destroyed her running ability. She still can only run about a mile. She is getting heart rhythm issues to...bit worse than the flu I would say
scruple 4y ago
I had it. It was nasty. Fatigue, mental fog, and phantomsia (cigarette smoke in my case, lucky me...) persisted for months after. I also had abnormal heart rhythms and an increased frequency of ocular migraines (1-2 per year is "normal" for me, I had 4 in the 2 months immediately after getting over COVID and have had 2 since). Going into it, I was in extremely good physical condition. Coming out of it, it took me about 4 months of training to get back to baseline. I'm only now (~10 months later) back to where I was, in terms of my aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, speed, endurance, etc. FWIW, my strength didn't take much of a hit.
tamaharbor 4y ago
I am unvaccinated and rarely wear a mask. I believe I caught the original strain very early on and had a fever for about four hours and loss of taste for about two weeks. There were no covid tests at that time. More recently I probably got what was the Omicron strain (conformed by a positive test) and was sick with cold-like symptoms for a week or so. Neither was any BFD.
acjacobson 4y ago
I've had it twice. I was double-vaccinated when I caught it the first time, and then later boosted and caught it a second time. Both times sucked and I was useless for about 15 days. The second time was worse.
antisthenes 4y ago
I haven't had COVID or any other respiratory disease since early January 2020 (when COVID did not have any cases in my state).
tptacek 4y ago
Never. Haven't been especially careful since at least Delta. Got vaccinated and went back to normal (I'll cheerfully mask when asked, but never otherwise).
bradlys 4y ago
Yep. Avoided it for a while. Managed to go to week long dance camps and never get it. Then I spent a few days in NYC and got it in July of 2022. Convinced I got it from the subway or something of the sort. It’s possible I got it elsewhere of course. It was quite ironic. Then went on a 3 month trip across Europe meeting hundreds of people and spending lots of time dancing with them. No masks or anything either. Didn’t get Covid then either. Subways in nyc, man.
gabrielsroka 4y ago
Poll results https://gabrielsroka.github.io/hnpoll.html?id=33779559 https://gabrielsroka.github.io/hnpoll.html?id=33779559
mikewarot 4y ago
I had a mild infection right at the start, and developed Long Covid as a result in April 2020. I feel like my life has been shortened by at least a decade, maybe 2. I find it incredibly hard to focus on any task, and haven't really be able to do anything productive since. It's only the grace of being barely within retirement that has saved me and my family from going homeless, so far. If I can just make it to partial social security, at the end of 2025, we'll be ok.
Markoff 4y ago
3 times October 2021 - Delta - 2 weeks of fewer without break, loss of apetite, first few days fatigue I could hardly move around apartment, though only relatively mild coughing, 3 weeks without smell. wife caught it from me just days later, she was quite the opposite, almost no symptoms besides pretty horrible cough for more than a month, we have both extremely healthy BMI, no chronic issues ~June 2022 and September 2022 - Omicron - <12-16 hours of fatigue, headache and mild fewer, next day already fine I am fully unvaccinated and I'm grateful to my own immune system and mother nature for opportunity it provides for us to feel safe, if you take care of your body.
archagon 4y ago
No Covid, even with some pretty intensive traveling over the past year. My rule is to always wear a well-fitted N95 mask indoors, and to not take it off even for an instant. (Exceptions made when hanging out with friends I'm fairly sure aren't sick.) The main downside is having to always eat outdoors when going out, but it's rarely an issue in CA.
incomingpain 4y ago
Pretty sure I had it once. Was too sick to leave house to get tested. better to stay home. Flipside, I'm also dealing with daycare syndrome. It absolutely exists, seems to be related to if the daycare does a poor job at cleaning everyday.
loeg 4y ago
Never as far as I know. Vaccinated, not especially cautious, not masking.

39 points by erehweb 4y ago

CHRIS_LUCAS 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

aurizon 4y ago

Yes, 83 years old. Had Pfizer and 3 boosters, Mid February it came with mild onset = gone in 3-4 days. Antigen profile showed I had had it Then I got an omicron booster about 10 weeks later - nothing since, but I mask in crowds.

t-3 4y ago

Unvaccinated, never had any symptoms (actually, haven't been sick at all since covid, really strange), was working in public with lots of contact for the entire period before the vaccines were released. I never got tested for antibodies.

theandrewbailey 4y ago
Mostly the same for me (without lots of public contact).
timeon 4y ago
Similar for me (except I had vaccines for covid and flu). Even have been in prolonged contact (in one household) with people that had covid. I used to be sick with flu almost every year before (but I did not had vaccine against flu before).

anarchogeek 4y ago

There are people who've only caught covid once? Everybody I know's had it multiple times.

thinkmcfly 4y ago
Zero times here (: I make all of my own meals and always wear a mask out. I interact with old people so there's no room for me to act like a child about health anymore. I can't really fault the people who are vaxxed and choose not to mask up anymore. So many people are refusing vaccinations that we will never see the end of this disease.
- idlewords 4y ago
  Plenty of people who got the covid were taking similar precautions. It's pretty infectious!
  - thinkmcfly 4y ago
    I would 100% have caught it at least once if I was doing service work. I'm lucky to never have to be in proximity of others for work
  - TylerE 4y ago
    Not in my case. Been using the best masks I can get my hands on (KN95 from late summer 2020, switching to N95 last spring when those started to become available. Surgical and cloth masks have basically been cosplay since at least delta.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- conductr 4y ago
  I find people taking this strategy interesting, especially as we approach the 3 year mark. Do you plan on doing this forever? Is there something you expect to change that would lower your/the risk thus allowing you to live a more normal social life? ("Normal" for lack of better word) For context, I've been back in the office for more than a year at this point (haven't worn a mask in a year either). I'm pretty sure people come to work sick like they always did and don't even get a covid test most of the time any more. It feels kind of like flu/colds were prior to Covid; where it's an honor rule with no benefit of being honest and staying home when sick. I'm pretty indifferent towards people still taking the extra measures (your choice) but it does seem like an inconvenience with no end in sight (IMO). Edit: They added more context to their comment after mine. "Zero times here (: I make all of my own meals and always wear a mask out." is all there was previously. I can't comment so maybe I got flagged. No ill intention, you do you and I'm sure you have reasons that are none of my business but we're here to talk. I'm mostly just curious because I see this a lot online and it seems like there's a whole class of people that intend to just be hermits forever now (my assumption) and it intrigues me on why you'd just give in to it like that; unless you already had hermit tendencies or some increased risk factors.

diob 4y ago

I vaccinated and got boosted once. Been in giant festivals, meetups etc. Still haven't caught it. I can't tell if my luck just hasn't run out, or if I had an asymptomatic case. Lot's of friends who hadn't had it yet have gotten it recently, so I am very confused.

valbaca 4y ago

no. vaxed with all boosters, work from home, don't go out much, regular testing and all negative and no symptoms. When I did go out, I'd mask and distance. Now, easing up on that but still avoiding crowded areas and places. I have asthma so I've been as reasonably cautious as possible.

SketchySeaBeast 4y ago

Not that I'm aware of for neither my wife nor I. I've been working from home and I always mask up when I leave the house, my wife worked in the patient facing part of the medical field (including long duration close contact with paatients), but she always masked up and neither of us have had symptoms matching COVID. Outside of the usual allergies I've been remarkably healthy.

farnsworth 4y ago

Never, as far as I know. All the vaccines and lots of masking, even still. But I can only attribute it to luck, since I've traveled quite a bit and even had some known exposures at different times, like at the gym. But I also work mainly remote and avoided public areas almost entirely, pre-vaccine and during the peaks of some waves. I worked out in a mask for months- awful.

Dig1t 4y ago

Vaccinated, no booster, caught it and gave it to my friends who were vaccinated + boosted. All 4 of us were sick for a week and a half and tested positive.

haunter 4y ago

I don’t know. I got Pfizer four times but never been tested. But I also haven’t been sick.

MollyRealized 4y ago

I have, to my knowledge, never had it. Nor has anyone in my family. I reached out to the team studying superdodgers [1], but never heard back. It'd be useful if getting the kind of blood test that tells you if you EVER had COVID19 was not pay-out-of-pocket. Fully vaccinated. If I had to self-rate my own mask habits, I'd give myself a B-. [1] - https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/09/07/1121599445/so-you-havent-caught-covid-yet-does-that-mean-youre-a-superdodger https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/09/07/1121599...

Baeocystin 4y ago

Is there any way to tell, after having had a vaccination? I got unusually sick in February of 2020; felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Went to the hospital, and there were so many people there with the same symptoms we were a line past the ER and down the hallway. No one was thinking covid at the time. I remember the nurse checking me in asking if I'd had the flu shot (I had), then shrugging and guessing it must not be that effective that year. Was sent home after receiving fluids. That being said, I never lost my sense of smell, nor did I have the brain fog, covid toes, any of the other supposed tells. Did take a solid month to feel fully human again in terms of energy levels, though. Haven't been sick since, that I am aware of.

adamesque 4y ago
I'm vaccinated and boosted (but never got the Omicron booster this fall). On day 6 of my first COVID-positive infection and while I never lost my sense of smell, I had a super high fever (104ºF-ish) and awful headache for 2-3 days, and have been having intermittent brain fog and fatigue and a cough since then but feel 65%-95% recovered at any given moment. I also just finished my round of Paxlovid, which feels like it may have reduced my recovery time slightly, at the cost of an _awful_ constant metallic taste in my mouth and mild but increasing gastrointestinal upset.
devilbunny 4y ago
You can have your antibodies tested. If you had the vaccine, you will only have spike antibodies. If you had the disease, you will have other ones as well.
- Baeocystin 4y ago
  Good to know, thank you. Is this something a lab like Quest would offer, or do you have to ask your GP about it?
  - devilbunny 4y ago
    Quest does offer it, don't know if you'll need a doctor's order or not because that's not an issue for me - I can order it myself or have my wife (also a physician) order it. You want a nucleocapsid antibody test to find out if you've had the disease - the spike antibody test will tell you whether or not your vaccine "took".

pugio 4y ago

My family and I have been supremely careful Mar 2020. I read a lot of the research and preprints and am concerned about long term system impacts of repeat infections. Despite huge numbers of precautions, we all finally caught it about ten days ago. Still positive, still coughing, still tired. We can lower risk, but it seems that no level of caution is truly enough, given that others don't care. I'm really not sure what to do – we don't want to keep getting it, but we really want some sense of social life back. My wife and I keep wondering / looking if there's anywhere in the world where people by and large take this infection seriously. I suspect it will come down to small communities, rather than states or countries.

koolba 4y ago
> I'm really not sure what to do – we don't want to keep getting it, but we really want some sense of social life back. Why bother doing anything different? Are you at specific risk or is this just general fear of some catastrophic outcome? Were you equally fearful of the common flu prior to covid? > My wife and I keep wondering / looking if there's anywhere in the world where people by and large take this infection seriously. Considering the overwhelming evidence that it's not statistically an issue for the vast majority of otherwise healthy people, and even more so if you factor in vaccination, what does it mean to "take this infection seriously"? Do you expect the world to wear N95 masks 24/7 and stop hugging each other just to assuage your personal fears?
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  Early in the pandemic, covid was much worse than the common flu.
  - pessimizer 4y ago
    For the old. For the not-old, it was a lot like the common flu, and for the very young, it was much milder. For nursing home residents (the old who are pretty bad off) it was like a coin-flip death sentence.
    - 4y ago

Someone1234 4y ago

Have school-aged children, so have had COVID. It was, however, after my third vaccine dose (two + first booster). So symptoms were less bad than flu, but slightly worse than the common cold. I know people who haven't had it, but they also don't have children.

duderific 4y ago
Got it through my preschool-aged daughter around last Christmas (2021), shortly after first booster. Everybody else in my family got it and tested positive (wife, son, daughter, parents in law) but strangely I never tested positive. I have to assume I had it though, since I had the exact same symptoms as my wife at the exact same time.

chrysoprace 4y ago

We were really lucky in Australia, and didn't have a widespread outbreak (beyond Melbourne and Sydney) until after vaccines arrived. I've had three vaccine doses (need to sort out this year's booster) but never caught COVID (I'm also meticulously careful with mask-wearing and hand washing).

glial 4y ago

We were SUPER careful until recently. Then we sent our kids back to school in September w/ no masks, and caught it within a month. We got the newest boosters two weeks before testing positive. Le sigh.

chrisjc 4y ago
Pretty much the same story for our family. Covid wasn't really any worse than the flu for us, but the following week or two after getting Covid we got hit with something way worse. Unsure if it was just Covid in a lingering state, or whether our daughter brought home something new from school. Whatever it was kicked our butts. We're all still in a hazy state ever since. Having trouble waking in the mornings, thinking straight, sometimes even forgetting where we are. I guess this is what they're calling "long covid"?

erichmond 4y ago

We caught it for the first time a week ago (my entire family). Theoretically I was patient zero, but the preceding week I had only left the house once, which was go to to a doctor appointment where I wore a n95 mask (and the rest of the office was masked as well.) Very frustrating.

stillbourne 4y ago

I think I got it early to mid February 2020 when testing wasn't widely available. There wasn't a lot of news about COVID at the time and I caught something that wasn't the flu (tested negative) and hit me like a ton of bricks. I was having a hard time breathing, even when taking Mucinex. It wasn't bad enough to go to the hospital so I stuck it out at home. I managed the other symptoms well with Tylenol and Advil. I'm personally convinced that I caught it way earlier than most but its purely anecdotal.

buzer 4y ago

Back in mid March 2020 I flew back from USA to Finland and had symptoms starting next day, but the official policy was only to test those with severe symptoms so I never got confirmation.

goldforever 4y ago

birdman3131 4y ago

Had it before vaccines were widely available. Currently have both doses but no boosters. (Not opposed but after the exhaustion from the first 2 I am only willing to take it on a friday afternoon and never remember.) Symptoms were mostly mild. Fever, crazy exhaustion and a cough for a few weeks. My dad who caught it at the same time died from it. Was never able to work from home and people unmasked as soon as they could here in Arkansas.

_8j50 4y ago

I selected the last option but you don't have one for me: never had symptoms and never got tested. Got vaccinated though.

k__ 4y ago

A month ago, I got the same symptoms I got after getting vaxed (I got AstraZeneca, Biontech, and Moderna) just a bit more intense. Only took like 4 days and it was gone. Did some tests but never got a positive result.

Jevon23 4y ago

No vax. No masking. No precautions. Never caught it, never had any symptoms.

acheron 4y ago

Not that I know of, nor did anyone in my family. Got the original vaccine when it came out, and then a booster in early Jan (so the original booster, not the bivalent one). I stopped with the masks altogether back in the spring (with the exception of the dr's office), and was only nominally doing it before that. I had mild cold symptoms once that I thought could be omicron, but the home test came back negative. Kids have been sick occasionally but negative for them any time we tested too.

ianai 4y ago

I got it in June this year for the first time. (It must have been when I was at work as this was a period where I did little other than wake up and go to work.) I'm still masking and even wearing gloves and otherwise taking any/all precautions to not get it again. The anti-vax around me seem to have all gotten it multiple times. (They would likely report they never had it despite whether or not they owned up to it at the time they were sick.)

zcmack 4y ago

there is no poll option for "caught it and died" :\

timbit42 4y ago
Too controversial. People who had COVID but died in a car accident might choose that option.

throwaway2214 4y ago

wow this poll shows how many standard deviations the hackernews audience is away from the norm

_dain_ 4y ago

unvaxed, unmasked, untested, uninfected, unbothered

pessimizer 4y ago

Yes. Double-vaxxed, no booster. Got omicron when everyone was getting omicron. Had an awful day when I thought I might be dying, and was too weak to keep my head raised. Went in for urgent care the next day although the extreme weakness seemed to be clearing out, they test everyone for covid; had covid. Didn't feel anything like a cold or flu symptom (not a cough or a sneeze) until the next day, which ended up maxing out at the level of a mild cold. It seems like I was completely laid out by the immune reaction to the virus, not the actual virus, which was a pussycat after the over-attention from my internal defense force. Still assuming that was what "viral fatigue" feels like, and what (non-malingering) chronic fatigue sufferers live with every day. Also suspect that the next step after the feeling of fatigue I had would have been the covid-related organ failure that everyone used to talk about, i.e. the "cytokine storm."

MauroIksem 4y ago

I still haven't caught. Vaxed 4 times, traveled internationally over the Pacific twice since the pandemic started first time during delta wave and second time more recently and have traveled domestically 3 times.

jonhankok 4y ago

5) No symptoms, never tested.

jabsters 4y ago

I had symptoms of "long COVID" weeks after testing negative. My coughing fits were fixed when my RMT re-adjusted my ribs. My "heavy fatigue after one activity" was fixed with acupuncture. Take it with a grain of salt, but there are options out there.

linker3000 4y ago

Yes, while in hospital in Jan 2021. I was in hospital for non-Covid reasons, in an 'airy' open ward with only 6 spaced-out beds, but the usual plethora of hospital staff coming and going. The patients were tested for Covid frequently and one day [Edit: By this time I had been in hospital for about 2 months, one of those in ICU - long story!] the Ward Manager let me know I had tested positive and I was wheeled off to a 'red' ward. I was sent home after 2 weeks, but came back in a week later with a mild chest infection, so I had another 2 week stay for oxygen, observation and antibiotics. My sense of taste was out of whack for about 6 months afterwards and many of the foods I enjoyed beforehand tasted 'rank'. I lived on mostly acidic things such as fruit, beetroot, prawn cocktails, tomatoes (OK, they are a fruit too); I couldn't stand any form of meat, bread, rice or plain pasta.

Jaepa 4y ago

I believe I'm the missing binary state. I've tested positive (antigen) but I don't think I've had it.

mrguyorama 4y ago

I got vaccinated and boosted once, and basically stopped being safe after that, because there was no longer a necessity to for my specific situation. I closely interacted with people I found out were covid positive for about an hour at a time and never got infected, even testing negative on a PCR. My girlfriend and I sat next to a family member for a family wedding rehearsal, and she caught it from him. I took her to the hospital for what we thought was strep (because that family member did not tell anyone they had covid until after the wedding because they took the conservative opinion that it wasn't an issue). After we found out it was covid I scheduled a PCR.

awslattery 4y ago

Was in Japan in late 2019 for a tourist trip with my wife -- I think that's as close to pushing our luck as we managed with COVID. Managed to avoid it for years -- locking down initially, then slowly expanding our social bubble of trusted friends (not family). N95s when picking up to-go food from our favorite restaurants once they started reopening, while going to OB/GYN appointments, etc. WFH was something I was already accustomed to, and working on the peripherals of public health government contracts, working on projects directly related to COVID surveillance and vaccination was quite humbling. After hosting a vaccination pod in our living room in March 2021 (a pharmacist friend had J&J doses that were to be tossed by end-of-day -- and had multiple epipens on standby), and our social bubble also getting vaccinated, we collectively started to relax. After the Pfizer booster that fall, we at least felt better prepared should we get infected. After a pregnancy of multiple OB/GYN visits, an emergency C-section, and a few business and leisure trips with airfare, we managed to remain unaffected as far as we could tell. Then, after a short outing to a local bottle shop with some friends last week, we felt cold-like symptoms. After a few more days of worsening symptoms, and a couple at-home tests, there was the undeniable positive line for my wife and I. I had the brain fog and cough, she had complete loss of olfactory senses. A week and change later, we're still waiting for that negative test to mark the end of our precautions. All symptoms but a few after effects are gone, and thankfully others in our group managed to avoid it, or were asymptomatic. COVID is far from over, far from gone. Much of society has deemed it endemic or irrelevant, and so for the masses, that'll be how it is until the next spooky variant, or similar virus exploits the lack of holistic societal changes that could still be employed. I, for one, would have liked social distancing, masking when ill, innovative and sustainable packaging for to-go food from local establishments, and investments in public health infrastructure to remain.

devilbunny 4y ago

Am a doctor. Had a known-positive patient that I interacted with for maybe five minutes while wearing an N95. Developed symptoms five days later. I got it after three total doses of vaccine. Worse than a cold, not as bad as flu, but zero exercise tolerance for a while. Went back to work on day 6 after symptoms appeared (had not had fevers for 5 days, so was limited by how I felt rather than CDC recommendations).

mattlondon 4y ago

Caught it from our young kids (2.5 and 0.5 years old - they are not great at social distance nor hand washing and happily cough and sneeze in your face). They were totally fine yet testing positive for days (we only found out they had it after my wife tested positive) and I was negative everyday for about a week. Just as I was starting to feel invincible, I got the faintest possible line on a lateral flow test. All I had was a very minor sore throat for an afternoon - I would never had tested that on its own, but apparently it was COVID! (Tested positive for about 5 or 6 days after). I suspect a lot of people saying they never got it probably have got it but never realised. Nice thing now is I don't worry about it. 4 jabs now I think, plus natural immunity from infection. The main thing though was the kids were 100% unimpacted by it all so there feels like there is nothing much to worry about. We regularly get way way way worse infections from nursery - COVID was literally nothing compared to some of the stuff we've had from nursery that has totally floored us for days and weeks!

Cheyana 4y ago

Felt lousy last year, trouble breathing, went to hospital and got in via their special "If You Think You Have Covid" entrance... They checked me out and were sure I had it because everyone "coming in here has it". Brought me up to the Covid ward, my own room... Next morning test came back negative. Just a respiratory infection. They sent me home. Other than that, I haven't really been sick in the last two years, despite working two jobs, exposed to multiple people that had it. Seems strange but oh well.

csharpminor 4y ago

Had it, felt completely exhausted for 3+ weeks. Standing for more than a few minutes was hard. Recovery was very gradual. Afterwards I developed a strong abnormal heart rhythm (PVCs). I had had these previously, but the ones post-COVID were really intense. They were on and off for a few weeks accompanied by acute fatigue. If you're an athlete / active person pay attention to your heart after infection. I gradually ramped back up to high intensity activities.

ahartmetz 4y ago

Got it in summer 2022. The worst things were rapidly changing fever (temperature between 37° and 40°C) for two days and loss of smell for a couple of weeks when I felt otherwise healthy again. No fatigue or memory trouble worse or longer than a medium cold AFAICT, luckier than some people I know. Three shots of Moderna at the time, recently got a Pfizer omicron booster. The latter won't help for long, but I'll meet vulnerable older family members over the holidays, so...

terran57 4y ago

We live in NYC. Beginning of 2020, my partner and I entertained a friend who flew in from France. Shortly afterwards, we both got sick with what was the most persistent "flu" that we ever had (lasting 3 weeks or so). No tests available, so no confirmation if it was Covid.

ManuelHeL 4y ago

Two times positive. The first time was very painful

impostergc 4y ago

Never had a positive test. Feels extremely silly to be concerned about this disease two+ years in.

StanislavPetrov 4y ago

I got one dose of the J&J back in 2020 and to my knowledge never had Covid (never had symptoms, never been tested). Never wore a mask, regularly hang out in packed bars, and spent a week sitting next to my cousin who had Covid while on vacation. Just lucky? Some sort of natural immunity? Or an asymptomatic case? Hard to say.

jimnotgym 4y ago

I got it first in May 20. I got over it in about 6 weeks and started getting my life together, and then my health plummeted. I was exhausted all of the time, I started getting palpitations, developed sleep apnoea and more. I caught it again in December 21 post vaccine and it was much more mild. I'm starting to get things back together now It killed a healthy colleague of mine in Feb 20... Edit: my wife was a 10k runner, and it has destroyed her running ability. She still can only run about a mile. She is getting heart rhythm issues to...bit worse than the flu I would say

scruple 4y ago

I had it. It was nasty. Fatigue, mental fog, and phantomsia (cigarette smoke in my case, lucky me...) persisted for months after. I also had abnormal heart rhythms and an increased frequency of ocular migraines (1-2 per year is "normal" for me, I had 4 in the 2 months immediately after getting over COVID and have had 2 since). Going into it, I was in extremely good physical condition. Coming out of it, it took me about 4 months of training to get back to baseline. I'm only now (~10 months later) back to where I was, in terms of my aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, speed, endurance, etc. FWIW, my strength didn't take much of a hit.

tamaharbor 4y ago

I am unvaccinated and rarely wear a mask. I believe I caught the original strain very early on and had a fever for about four hours and loss of taste for about two weeks. There were no covid tests at that time. More recently I probably got what was the Omicron strain (conformed by a positive test) and was sick with cold-like symptoms for a week or so. Neither was any BFD.

acjacobson 4y ago

I've had it twice. I was double-vaccinated when I caught it the first time, and then later boosted and caught it a second time. Both times sucked and I was useless for about 15 days. The second time was worse.

antisthenes 4y ago

I haven't had COVID or any other respiratory disease since early January 2020 (when COVID did not have any cases in my state).

tptacek 4y ago

Never. Haven't been especially careful since at least Delta. Got vaccinated and went back to normal (I'll cheerfully mask when asked, but never otherwise).

bradlys 4y ago

Yep. Avoided it for a while. Managed to go to week long dance camps and never get it. Then I spent a few days in NYC and got it in July of 2022. Convinced I got it from the subway or something of the sort. It’s possible I got it elsewhere of course. It was quite ironic. Then went on a 3 month trip across Europe meeting hundreds of people and spending lots of time dancing with them. No masks or anything either. Didn’t get Covid then either. Subways in nyc, man.

gabrielsroka 4y ago

Poll results https://gabrielsroka.github.io/hnpoll.html?id=33779559 https://gabrielsroka.github.io/hnpoll.html?id=33779559

mikewarot 4y ago

I had a mild infection right at the start, and developed Long Covid as a result in April 2020. I feel like my life has been shortened by at least a decade, maybe 2. I find it incredibly hard to focus on any task, and haven't really be able to do anything productive since. It's only the grace of being barely within retirement that has saved me and my family from going homeless, so far. If I can just make it to partial social security, at the end of 2025, we'll be ok.

Markoff 4y ago

3 times October 2021 - Delta - 2 weeks of fewer without break, loss of apetite, first few days fatigue I could hardly move around apartment, though only relatively mild coughing, 3 weeks without smell. wife caught it from me just days later, she was quite the opposite, almost no symptoms besides pretty horrible cough for more than a month, we have both extremely healthy BMI, no chronic issues ~June 2022 and September 2022 - Omicron - <12-16 hours of fatigue, headache and mild fewer, next day already fine I am fully unvaccinated and I'm grateful to my own immune system and mother nature for opportunity it provides for us to feel safe, if you take care of your body.

archagon 4y ago

No Covid, even with some pretty intensive traveling over the past year. My rule is to always wear a well-fitted N95 mask indoors, and to not take it off even for an instant. (Exceptions made when hanging out with friends I'm fairly sure aren't sick.) The main downside is having to always eat outdoors when going out, but it's rarely an issue in CA.

incomingpain 4y ago

Pretty sure I had it once. Was too sick to leave house to get tested. better to stay home. Flipside, I'm also dealing with daycare syndrome. It absolutely exists, seems to be related to if the daycare does a poor job at cleaning everyday.

loeg 4y ago

Never as far as I know. Vaccinated, not especially cautious, not masking.