Catching Covid in a California

[soulstyledevon]

The plan is going to plan.
It’s ripping through school children, effectively giving them all a pre winter dose and immunisation.
7 week summer break, back to school, no bubbles, no entire year isolations required.
Herd immunity phase 1 complete…

 

[kave]

I think the government’s strategy now is to let the virus free to spread, thereby further building up immunity. If that is the strategy, it’s a big public health gamble, and I hope it pays off.

I’m not sure what the long term alternative might be.

I am sure that is the only way to go. Many countries have had a zero death from cv19 strategy, which seems impossible no matter if it is Norway, Australia or New Zeeleand. It seems impossible to get rid of no matter the other costs for a society. Most epedemiologists think we have to live with this as we live with influenza and the other coronviruses.

 

[s2bear]

Hope you all feel better soon @Amarillo

We had the ‘rona back in Feb (thanks removal men with no masks) and now have the ‘long covid’ which makes us feel more lethargic than I thought possible.

My Mother has dementure and caught COVID-19 in her carehome back in December. She had very mild symptoms and subsequently had both jabs. She went back into hospital just over a week ago - chest infection which turned into a few other nasty things. Then they moved her to a different ward as the large London hospital she is in, are converting her ward to a COVID-19 ward. Interesting, I thought.

She was tested on admission and every other day for COVID-19. 3rd test came back +ive so she has caught corona AGAIN, whilst in the hospital. She has not been moved back into the (now) COVID-19 ward so the hospital obviously think they’re really going to need that capacity. Both of my brothers visited my mother on the day she tested positive - they’ve tested negative and NHS 119 told them that they DON’T have to isolate but they must test themselves every day for the subsequent 10 days.

Called a campsite at the weekend to make a booking amendment for late July and they told me they had ‘loads’ of cancellations this weekend due to the fact that so many school children are having to isolate.

Wave III is definitely accelerating at a pretty fast pace and it looks like the plan is to let it do so. I can see millions of parents and others deleting the NHS COVID-19 app on their phones or turning off Bluetooth just so that they don’t get pinged / have to isolate and ruin their long awaited holidays. (Reasoning that they’ve had both jabs etc). The wildcard is the one that you have just been caught by - the school infection, which is a bit of a lottery and beyond our control.

I really hope you guys don’t feel too bad - on the upside you’ll be free before the school holidays start. Good luck!


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[Amarillo]

Hope you all feel better soon @Amarillo

We had the ‘rona back in Feb (thanks removal men with no masks) and now have the ‘long covid’ which makes us feel more lethargic than I thought possible.

My Mother has dementure and caught COVID-19 in her carehome back in December. She had very mild symptoms and subsequently had both jabs. She went back into hospital just over a week ago - chest infection which turned into a few other nasty things. Then they moved her to a different ward as the large London hospital she is in, are converting her ward to a COVID-19 ward. Interesting, I thought.

She was tested on admission and every other day for COVID-19. 3rd test came back +ive so she has caught corona AGAIN, whilst in the hospital. She has not been moved back into the (now) COVID-19 ward so the hospital obviously think they’re really going to need that capacity. Both of my brothers visited my mother on the day she tested positive - they’ve tested negative and NHS 119 told them that they DON’T have to isolate but they must test themselves every day for the subsequent 10 days.

Called a campsite at the weekend to make a booking amendment for late July and they told me they had ‘loads’ of cancellations this weekend due to the fact that so many school children are having to isolate.

Wave III is definitely accelerating at a pretty fast pace and it looks like the plan is to let it do so. I can see millions of parents and others deleting the NHS COVID-19 app on their phones or turning off Bluetooth just so that they don’t get pinged / have to isolate and ruin their long awaited holidays. (Reasoning that they’ve had both jabs etc). The wildcard is the one that you have just been caught by - the school infection, which is a bit of a lottery and beyond our control.

I really hope you guys don’t feel too bad - on the upside you’ll be free before the school holidays start. Good luck!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Everything about track and trace seems too sluggish.

We had notice on Sunday evening that Jack’s class was not to come to school on Monday.

On Monday evening Clare tested Jack with a lateral flow test as he “felt a little hot”. He was +ve.

It meant that we immediately contacted the two families we’d been in close contact with over the weekend. So while Jack passed the virus onto the rest of his family, there, we think, the chain of infections ended. All Jack’s close contacts isolated, or took great care, *before* getting the NHS instruction to isolate which did not get to them until 3 days later!

Jack tested positive by Lateral Flow on Monday evening, we had PCR tests Tuesday morning, and results very late (23:15) on Wednesday evening, track and trace sent out alerts on Thursday afternoon.

How many people could Clare, Ben and Jack have infected between Monday evening and their +ve PCR result late on Wednesday. Ben could have been at school all day Tuesday and Wednesday, plus art club?

And how many people could I have infected between Monday and my NHS ping on Thursday afternoon?

It’s all a bit late to fix now. 87% of adults vaccinated means the Government feel it’s fine to let the virus loose. And the 13% who aren’t (mostly young) can take their chances with long Covid.

 

[WelshGas]

Everything about track and trace seems too sluggish.

We had notice on Sunday evening that Jack’s class was not to come to school on Monday.

On Monday evening Clare tested Jack with a lateral flow test as he “felt a little hot”. He was +ve.

It meant that we immediately contacted the two families we’d been in close contact with over the weekend. So while Jack passed the virus onto the rest of his family, there, we think, the chain of infections ended. All Jack’s close contacts isolated, or took great care, *before* getting the NHS instruction to isolate which did not get to them until 3 days later!

Jack tested positive by Lateral Flow on Monday evening, we had PCR tests Tuesday morning, and results very late (23:15) on Wednesday evening, track and trace sent out alerts on Thursday afternoon.

How many people could Clare, Ben and Jack have infected between Monday evening and their +ve PCR result late on Wednesday. Ben could have been at school all day Tuesday and Wednesday, plus art club?

And how many people could I have infected between Monday and my NHS ping on Thursday afternoon?

It’s all a bit late to fix now. 87% of adults vaccinated means the Government feel it’s fine to let the virus loose. And the 13% who aren’t (mostly young) can take their chances with long Covid.

So you had a +tve PCR result Wednesday evening and Track & Trace sent out the alerts Thursday afternoon - within 18 hrs of you getting your +tve result. That seems fair to me.

Track & Trace only act on +tve PCR tests, so until they get that result they have no information.

Once you are a contact then you are supposed to Isolate for 10 days and get a PCR test if you have symptoms.

How did you "notice" your son was not to go to school on the Monday?

Once you had done the Lateral Flow Test then you were all potential contacts and should have been in isolation so you should not have had any contacts nor should your other son have been in school, because he was a contact.

As I said, until Track & Trace get a +tve PCR result they have no information to go on.

The fault lies with how you were informed about your son not going to school on the Monday.

 

[Amarillo]

How did you "notice" your son was not to go to school on the Monday?

Text message and email from school.

So you had a +tve PCR result Wednesday evening and Track & Trace sent out the alerts Thursday afternoon - within 18 hrs of you getting your +tve result. That seems fair to me.

+ve sample taken at midday Tuesday.
Contact from track and trace Thursday PM.

It is the length of time between the sample being taken and instruction for contacts to isolate which is alarming. Fortunately, we acted far sooner.

Once you had done the Lateral Flow Test then you were all potential contacts and should have been in isolation so you should not have had any contacts nor should your other son have been in school, because he was a contact.

Which is precisely how it was: once Jack had a +ve LFT we have not left our home other than to visit a drive through testing centre.

The fault lies with how you were informed about your son not going to school on the Monday.

I'm unsure how you come to that judgement. What should they be doing?

 

[Jonathan Duke]

There have been no Covid related deaths after two AZ jabs, according to Public Health England, and a 92% reduction in hospitalisations.

Hope you all make a speedy recovery Tom.

I’m quite interested in this statistic as my Dad is vulnerable at the moment yet he has had both AZ jabs at the start of the year whilst he was also receiving chemotherapy. He has now finished the chemo and feeling much better for it, I worry that with the virus now having been somewhat given a run to spread he will be more likely to catch it, I would take some comfort in this statistic. Must had a dig for more detail.

 

[WelshGas]

Text message and email from school.


+ve sample taken at midday Tuesday.
Contact from track and trace Thursday PM.

It is the length of time between the sample being taken and instruction for contacts to isolate which is alarming. Fortunately, we acted far sooner.


Which is precisely how it was: once Jack had a +ve LFT we have not left our home other than to visit a drive through testing centre.


I'm unsure how you come to that judgement. What should they be doing?

Track & Trace is only activated after they receive a +tve test, and their target is to get in contact within 24hrs, which they did.
The lab would not have received your test until sometime Tuesday evening. It depends how the tests are done, in batches or one by one.
Lastly, when was the school actually informed.

 

[dripster]

Take care, it's ripping through all the schools here, although fortunately with relatively little impact on people's health, although not great for their mental well-being.

 

[Amarillo]

Lastly, when was the school actually informed.

We sent a message to the school on Monday evening about Jack's +ve lateral flow and Ben's -ve lateral flow, and that we would be keeping both boys at home until and including 15 July, and we would all be having a PCR test on Tuesday. The school phoned us on Wednesday morning impatient to find out the result of Ben's PCR. But it wasn't until Wednesday night/Thursday morning that I was able to give them Ben's +ve PCR result. About an hour before the start of the school day the school sent a message to the parents of the ~90 children in Ben's year that they were to remain at home on Thursday. The deputy head phoned us on Thursday morning asking to speak with Ben about who he had been in contact with at school on Monday. Fortunately, he had not had contact outside of his class, other than his piano teacher, and from Friday two of the three classes were able to return to school.

Between us and the school, everything was in place for isolation before track and trace contacted anyone.

 

[WelshGas]

We sent a message to the school on Monday evening about Jack's +ve lateral flow and Ben's -ve lateral flow, and that we would be keeping both boys at home until and including 15 July, and we would all be having a PCR test on Tuesday. The school phoned us on Wednesday morning impatient to find out the result of Ben's PCR. But it wasn't until Wednesday night/Thursday morning that I was able to give them Ben's +ve PCR result. About an hour before the start of the school day the school sent a message to the parents of the ~90 children in Ben's year that they were to remain at home on Thursday. The deputy head phoned us on Thursday morning asking to speak with Ben about who he had been in contact with at school on Monday. Fortunately, he had not had contact outside of his class, other than his piano teacher, and from Friday two of the three classes were able to return to school.

Between us and the school, everything was in place for isolation before track and trace contacted anyone.

My point is, Track & Trace is not activated until they receive a +tve PCR result. So they wouldn't know who to contact until late Wednesday evening when they received the test results.
So they did their job as required.
The school has a different remit regarding the bubbles and once again they are dependent on a +tve PCR.
The only question you could really debate is if the youngest should have been allowed to go to school on the Monday as he was, in effect, part of the same bubble as your other son.
Everyone did their job to the best of their abilities and I hope you are all recovering well.

 

[Amarillo]

My point is, Track & Trace is not activated until they receive a +tve PCR result. So they wouldn't know who to contact until late Wednesday evening when they received the test results.
So they did their job as required.
The school has a different remit regarding the bubbles and once again they are dependent on a +tve PCR.
The only question you could really debate is if the youngest should have been allowed to go to school on the Monday as he was, in effect, part of the same bubble as your other son.
Everyone did their job to the best of their abilities and I hope you are all recovering well.

It was our youngest, Jack, who was at home last Monday. We arranged for our eldest to be taken to school by a friend in his year.

I agree with you. There is a good case for siblings to be required to isolate together. But as a close contact of a close contact there is no requirement.

Even if the track and trace people acted in a timely manner, I still think that 3 full days from sample taken to instruction for close contacts to remain at home is not very quick.

 

[WelshGas]

It was our youngest, Jack, who was at home last Monday. We arranged for our eldest to be taken to school by a friend in his year.

I agree with you. There is a good case for siblings to be required to isolate together. But as a close contact of a close contact there is no requirement.

Even if the track and trace people acted in a timely manner, I still think that 3 full days from sample taken to instruction for close contacts to remain at home is not very quick.

The infectious period is between 24 to 48 hrs pre symptoms.

 

[Tarquers]

It was our youngest, Jack, who was at home last Monday. We arranged for our eldest to be taken to school by a friend in his year.

I agree with you. There is a good case for siblings to be required to isolate together. But as a close contact of a close contact there is no requirement.

Even if the track and trace people acted in a timely manner, I still think that 3 full days from sample taken to instruction for close contacts to remain at home is not very quick.

One of the challenges seems to be the speed of the turnaround of test results. Lots of samples can take up to 48 hours or longer to get to the lab. My last three tests (Poland, UAE, Germany) were all back within 12 hours by testing operators that also own a laboratory. My only experience of U.K. testing was a missed flight as the results were not back within 72 hours. Guess picking your testing station, if the option exists, is a big factor.

 

[Amarillo]

The infectious period is between 24 to 48 hrs pre symptoms.

I didn’t know that.

I thought that it was 2/3 days incubation, 2+ days symptomatic (if symptomatic), 2+ days recovery, with the middle period most infectious. And Lateral flow tests won’t detect infection in the early incubation period.

 

[orbital]

My younger son almost certainly caught COVID-19 at school. On Sunday evening we had a message from school that two the three year 1 classes would be closed and not to bring him to school.

We managed to arrange for a friend to take our other son to school while I remained at home with Jack. By Monday afternoon Jack had become lethargic, and we gave him a lateral flow test. He showed +ve, the rest of us all showed -ve, and we all self isolated and booked PCR tests at the O2 on Tuesday.

The results arrived late on Wednesday evening: Clare, Ben and Jack all +ve, and I was -ve.

By sheer coincidence, we had the ONS survey visit us on Tuesday evening for our monthly COVID tests and Clare and I have the finger prick antibody blood test. Our results arrived this morning. All four of us +ve. That means that I caught COVID-19 sometime between the PCR test at the O2 and the ONS PCR test in the afternoon. Most likely in our California driving back from the test centre.

The boys have almost no symptoms. Clare and I are both double jabbed, some time ago, and we both have symptoms similar to the onset of a bad cold: headache, mild dry cough now a bit phlegmy, sweaty at times. We take it in turns to look after the boys in 2hr shifts while the other rests.

The only people I know who’ve had Covid have been vaccinated against it, which is a little bizarre to say the least! As it happens, I’ve not been vaccinated for environmental and animal welfare reasons. Luckily the latest research, published in the British Medical Journal, suggests that being vegan reduces the risk of catching Covid by 73 percent, which is on a par with vaccination. Covid seems to be a disease of those with poor health and the solutions are obvious but not popular!

 

[WelshGas]

The only people I know who’ve had Covid have been vaccinated against it, which is a little bizarre to say the least! As it happens, I’ve not been vaccinated for environmental and animal welfare reasons. Luckily the latest research, published in the British Medical Journal, suggests that being vegan reduces the risk of catching Covid by 73 percent, which is on a par with vaccination. Covid seems to be a disease of those with poor health and the solutions are obvious but not popular!

I wouldn’t depend on the questionable conclusions reached in that article, which is a purely observational paper.

expert reaction to study looking at plant-based, fish and other diets and COVID-19 severity | Science Media Centre

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

The only people I know who’ve had Covid have been vaccinated against it, which is a little bizarre to say the least! As it happens, I’ve not been vaccinated for environmental and animal welfare reasons. Luckily the latest research, published in the British Medical Journal, suggests that being vegan reduces the risk of catching Covid by 73 percent, which is on a par with vaccination. Covid seems to be a disease of those with poor health and the solutions are obvious but not popular!

Hi @orbital
Much of the population of India is vegetarian and they have suffered a massive Covid caseload. Just saying …..

 

[clarinetbcn]

Covid seems to be a disease of those with poor health and the solutions are obvious but not popular!

One of the friends I know who has had covid is 35 years old, a mountaineer, pediatrician and Iron Man athlete, and he was laid low for weeks. No, it is not a disease of people with poor health. This was before vaccines were available.

Olivia Guidry: Louisiana nurse who tweeted against vaccine dies of Covid-19

Olivia Guidry worked in the emergency room at Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center and had tweeted Covid vaccine isn't safe

meaww.com

 

[orbital]

Hi @orbital
Much of the population of India is vegetarian and they have suffered a massive Covid caseload. Just saying …..

Yes, but much of the population is also malnourished and another sizeable chunk is obese.

 

[orbital]

One of the friends I know who has had covid is 35 years old, a mountaineer, pediatrician and Iron Man athlete, and he was laid low for weeks. No, it is not a disease of people with poor health. This was before vaccines were available.

Olivia Guidry: Louisiana nurse who tweeted against vaccine dies of Covid-19

Olivia Guidry worked in the emergency room at Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center and had tweeted Covid vaccine isn't safe

meaww.com

There are always “exceptions that prove the rule”. As an example, my grandmother started smoking when she was 14 and continued until she was 96. It wasn‘t the smoking that killed her. Nor did the lard in her chip pan that was several decades old. I didn’t follow her lead and take up smoking though. The link between smoking and cancer is pretty clear cut.