Been ill, seems like common cold. Wife is pestering me to do a CoVid test. Why? I am at our second house. Just me. Symptoms are like any other cold. I am alone and will not be going out until three days after symptoms disappear. Kind of ticks me off as I really wanted to protest in Portland in my frog suit this weekend. Ah, well. But am I missing something? Is there any reason to test? It would also entail me going out in public to buy a test. Well guess I could order a test, but seems like waste of cash.
IMHO; I wouldn't bother. Chances are that you've already got it and have antibodies to fight it. Testing would only confirm that you have a variant or something close to it. If you got your annual flu shot, you should be covered. If you test positive what are you going to do with that information? COVID was dangerous because our immune system didn't recognize it, until it was too late. You can take an antiviral within 72 hours and that would sidestep the worst of it, If it doesn't interfere with anything else your currently taking.
I'm five days into this and it seems like the everyday common cold we all used to treat by taking Contac cold caps and going right out into public, contagious or not. Have not had one for years...figure I must be immune to most of them by now. And, yes, have had my flu & CoVid vax this season.
The reason to get tested, is to see if you need to take precautions to keep from spreading it to others. I'd say that's a use of the information claps for Team Wife
Yep, so, as I said, since I am under self quarantine I just wanted to see if there is any point in testing. Apparently, no. So, probably back to the lily pad (Portland protest) in two weeks!
The same could be said for anything, someone decides to "Typhoid Mary" around the general population. The question was, should he test for it, five days in? Then there's an infection window where the test is most accurate - meaning you can get a false positive or negative. This isn't a 'magic bullet', it's just a 90%-95% percent test accuracy. That accuracy is also skewed if those test packets wasn't handled properly, (ie. stored or transported in too hot of an environment). If parents kept their sick kids home from school or day-care, would we have this huge outbreak of measles????? We all know that kids get their snot on everything and don't wash their hands. I agree with you, that you shouldn't spread it around - but universal precautions will protect yourself and everyone around you.
Typhoid Mary story may not always be completely told, but it is a zinger The Tragedy Story of Mary Mallon, aka “Typhoid Mary” | Vintage News Daily Mary Mallon (1869-1938) and the history of typhoid fever - PMC
And, again, something a few have apparently missed, I am ALONE. No one closer than a half mile away. I do not even get mail. Feel much better today, so figure I will be through this by Wednesday -- give it ten days out from Wednesday and end isolation. Although I don't mind isolation at all...maybe make it a month
For what it's worth, the current CDC guidelines for preventing spread of a respiratory illness don't really depend anymore on finding out what respiratory illness it is. Just go back to normal activities once you have 24 hours of symptom improvement and no fever (and not because of a fever-reducing drug), but take extra precautions around other people for 5 days. Preventing Spread of Respiratory Viruses When You're Sick | Respiratory Illnesses | CDC That update to the guidelines looks like isn't a change since before this administration's revisioning of the CDC, for any who might wonder about that. About Preventing Spread of Respiratory Viruses When You’re Sick | Respiratory Illnesses | CDC [archive.org]
^That. If your treatment would be the same with or without a positive vid result - WHY DO THE BLEEPIN TEST? You're already staying away from people that should be sufficient Send her this: You're welcome. .
Our secretary came in sick, in the middle of COVID. Her story changed from, I picked this up a couple of days ago to I caught it the prior Wednesday; 10+ days ago. She was still hacking coughing and sneezing - management didn't tell her to go home, because they bought the week prior story. Brought down a box of mask and gloves for the other front office lady. Told 'Typhoid Mary' to stay away from my stuff and at least 10 feet from my cubical or I'm filing a HR form. She also refused to go down to employee health to get swabbed. Being the 'nice-guy' I am; Didn't get confirmed COVID until the facility rescinded the extra sick-time allotment, specifically for COVID. Management kept calling me, asking when I was going to return to work and accused me of 'milking it'. I just disconnected my phones; because they were well aware of the guidelines, since almost the entire department actually took every second of that extra allotment. Only myself and another guy was stupid enough, and dedicated enough to be honest about this. I retired with more than six months of sick time, still on the books - it was converted to service time credit. BTW: the reason that secretary came in sick - she burned through every second of her sick time and extended allotments; so she would've had to take time-off without pay. I asked the other secretary if she wanted me to 'scare up' a partial 'moon-suit', respiratory unit to make a point to management. She replied that she wasn't as bold as me.....
