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> Does the existence of this protein explain asymptomatic infections? I wonder what percentage of the population have it. Our [unvaccinated] 8 year-old had Cov

> Does the existence of this protein explain asymptomatic infections? I wonder what percentage of the population have it. Our [unvaccinated] 8 year-old had Covid last Spring and his symptoms lasted exactly one entire morning. PCR swab tests were done in school on day 1, on day 2 I got a frantic phone call from his school at 7am saying "keep him home, he has Covid!". We would not otherwise have known, since he had precisely a bit of a headache. No cough, no fever. He took a paracetamol and sat in front of the TV. By the afternoon the headache was gone. He tested PCR positive again on day 6, so got to enjoy the full 10 days' mandatory isolation, thanks to the rules in place here at that time. The interesting question is: what percentage of young and/or healthy people actually had a severe case of Covid? We know an awful lot of people who've had mild-to-insignificant cases...

incangold 4y ago
From the point of view of someone who is immunocompromised this seems like the bare minimum we can do as a society to protect the vulnerable. Something between “almost nothing” and “nobody leaving the house” would be nice. At the moment we’re at “almost nothing”.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  Isolating and denying effective schooling to every kid who comes down with a one-day mild illness for ten days does not seem like a risk-proportionate response to me.
  - aflag 4y ago
    Why not? I don't think skipping one week and a half of school when you're 8 will have any real effect in your life neither in the short or long term future. Meanwhile, if they get in contact with someone with some sort of immunodeficiency along the way it could cause irreparable damage.
    - callahad 4y ago
      > one week and a half of school when you're 8 I think you're vastly underestimating how often kids exhibit symptoms potentially consistent with Covid during a school year.
      - neoromantique 4y ago
        How often do they exhibit symptoms AND trigger a PCR test?
        callahad 4y ago
        Oh sure. I think we're interpreting the parent comments differently (i.e., I'm understanding sokoloff's and aflag's comments to be about more general precautionary isolation based on symptomatic illness, not necessarily PCR-confirmed infection like logifail's kid.)
        aflag 4y ago
        I was not really suggesting kids should be isolated whenever they have any sort of possible symptoms. But if you're diagnosed with some contagious illness, it's probably not a bad idea to try to curb the spread.
        logifail 4y ago
        > if you're diagnosed with some contagious illness, it's probably not a bad idea to try to curb the spread This was always true, and we never sent an obviously poorly child to daycare/preschool/school. I've lost count of the number of times I've picked up one of our kids from daycare/preschool/school before Covid after a phone call along the lines of "your child has spiked a fever/vomited/has had an accident and should probably see a doctor". Wasn't this typically based on common sense by the parties involved, though?
        aflag 4y ago
  - barbazoo 4y ago
    > Isolating and denying effective schooling to every kid who comes down with a one-day mild illness for ten days does not seem like a risk-proportionate response to me. Example had COVID, not a one-day mild illness so it might affect other children worse than the kid. I'd like to know what the negative effect of that really is, my gut feeling is that it's zero. People often make it sound like they end up insufficiently educated and socially isolated which is bs in my opinion.
    - sokoloff 4y ago
      > Example had COVID, not a one-day mild illness Unless we are doubting the description of the parent, example had mild illness (the patient's experience of ill health) for less than one day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34752442 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34752442
      - barbazoo 4y ago
        Tested positive for COVID
        sokoloff 4y ago
        I'm not sure what point you're making there. COVID is the disease. SARS-CoV2 is the pathogen. That patient's individual experience is their illness.
        barbazoo 4y ago
        I think it's clear to most what is meant by "tested positive for COVID"
  - Krssst 4y ago
    Allowing a single covid-positive kid go to school means contaminating a significant portion of the class's students and students' parents. Ten days out of school sounds fine. Long covid is a thing; being unlikely to die does not mean that illness is unlikely to be life-altering.
    - logifail 4y ago
      > Allowing a single covid-positive kid go to school means contaminating a significant portion of the class's students and students' parents To a first-order approximation based on data from my three kids and their classes/schools, pretty much all the children in all the kindergarten and school classes got Covid last year. All their teachers got it, too, including the vaccinated ones. Early last year I recall talking to my (then) 8 year-old about his best friend, who was stuck at home for a fortnight after testing positive Covid [this was before we'd all had it]: me: "How is he?" son: "What do you mean?" me: "Is he OK?" son: "Why wouldn't he be?" me: "Is he getting better?" son: "He's not poorly, he's just positive, Daddy!"
- 4RealFreedom 4y ago
  Being immunocompromised, what sort of measures do you take when leaving your home? Just curious about how that impacts lifestyle.
- gigibec 4y ago
  [dead]
- logifail 4y ago
  > Something between “almost nothing” and “nobody leaving the house” would be nice. Based on who tested postive (and indeed negative) when, it appears our 8 year-old gave it to my OH, but not to his 12 year-old brother (with whom he shares a bedroom). When my OH had it, she didn't give it to me, either, and I was testing very frequently back then due to work & travel requirements. There is a hypothesis that the risk of catching Covid from someone may be related to the relative blood types. Based on the veeery small sample size of our immediate family it's definitely not the case that Covid always spreads quickly round a family group, despite us not having changed anything about our family routine when somone in the house was positive. We didn't send anyone to a separate bedroom, no-one wore a mask at home, and we all sat at the meal table together just as normal. FWIW My 12 year-old and I had Covid approximately two months later, when he caught it in his school and brought it home.

incangold 4y ago

From the point of view of someone who is immunocompromised this seems like the bare minimum we can do as a society to protect the vulnerable. Something between “almost nothing” and “nobody leaving the house” would be nice. At the moment we’re at “almost nothing”.

sokoloff 4y ago
Isolating and denying effective schooling to every kid who comes down with a one-day mild illness for ten days does not seem like a risk-proportionate response to me.
- aflag 4y ago
  Why not? I don't think skipping one week and a half of school when you're 8 will have any real effect in your life neither in the short or long term future. Meanwhile, if they get in contact with someone with some sort of immunodeficiency along the way it could cause irreparable damage.
  - callahad 4y ago
    > one week and a half of school when you're 8 I think you're vastly underestimating how often kids exhibit symptoms potentially consistent with Covid during a school year.
    - neoromantique 4y ago
      How often do they exhibit symptoms AND trigger a PCR test?
      - callahad 4y ago
        Oh sure. I think we're interpreting the parent comments differently (i.e., I'm understanding sokoloff's and aflag's comments to be about more general precautionary isolation based on symptomatic illness, not necessarily PCR-confirmed infection like logifail's kid.)
        aflag 4y ago
        I was not really suggesting kids should be isolated whenever they have any sort of possible symptoms. But if you're diagnosed with some contagious illness, it's probably not a bad idea to try to curb the spread.
        logifail 4y ago
        > if you're diagnosed with some contagious illness, it's probably not a bad idea to try to curb the spread This was always true, and we never sent an obviously poorly child to daycare/preschool/school. I've lost count of the number of times I've picked up one of our kids from daycare/preschool/school before Covid after a phone call along the lines of "your child has spiked a fever/vomited/has had an accident and should probably see a doctor". Wasn't this typically based on common sense by the parties involved, though?
        aflag 4y ago
- barbazoo 4y ago
  > Isolating and denying effective schooling to every kid who comes down with a one-day mild illness for ten days does not seem like a risk-proportionate response to me. Example had COVID, not a one-day mild illness so it might affect other children worse than the kid. I'd like to know what the negative effect of that really is, my gut feeling is that it's zero. People often make it sound like they end up insufficiently educated and socially isolated which is bs in my opinion.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    > Example had COVID, not a one-day mild illness Unless we are doubting the description of the parent, example had mild illness (the patient's experience of ill health) for less than one day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34752442 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34752442
    - barbazoo 4y ago
      Tested positive for COVID
      - sokoloff 4y ago
        I'm not sure what point you're making there. COVID is the disease. SARS-CoV2 is the pathogen. That patient's individual experience is their illness.
        barbazoo 4y ago
        I think it's clear to most what is meant by "tested positive for COVID"
- Krssst 4y ago
  Allowing a single covid-positive kid go to school means contaminating a significant portion of the class's students and students' parents. Ten days out of school sounds fine. Long covid is a thing; being unlikely to die does not mean that illness is unlikely to be life-altering.
  - logifail 4y ago
    > Allowing a single covid-positive kid go to school means contaminating a significant portion of the class's students and students' parents To a first-order approximation based on data from my three kids and their classes/schools, pretty much all the children in all the kindergarten and school classes got Covid last year. All their teachers got it, too, including the vaccinated ones. Early last year I recall talking to my (then) 8 year-old about his best friend, who was stuck at home for a fortnight after testing positive Covid [this was before we'd all had it]: me: "How is he?" son: "What do you mean?" me: "Is he OK?" son: "Why wouldn't he be?" me: "Is he getting better?" son: "He's not poorly, he's just positive, Daddy!"
4RealFreedom 4y ago
Being immunocompromised, what sort of measures do you take when leaving your home? Just curious about how that impacts lifestyle.
gigibec 4y ago
[dead]
logifail 4y ago
> Something between “almost nothing” and “nobody leaving the house” would be nice. Based on who tested postive (and indeed negative) when, it appears our 8 year-old gave it to my OH, but not to his 12 year-old brother (with whom he shares a bedroom). When my OH had it, she didn't give it to me, either, and I was testing very frequently back then due to work & travel requirements. There is a hypothesis that the risk of catching Covid from someone may be related to the relative blood types. Based on the veeery small sample size of our immediate family it's definitely not the case that Covid always spreads quickly round a family group, despite us not having changed anything about our family routine when somone in the house was positive. We didn't send anyone to a separate bedroom, no-one wore a mask at home, and we all sat at the meal table together just as normal. FWIW My 12 year-old and I had Covid approximately two months later, when he caught it in his school and brought it home.