Hope this may calm some fears

Those who know better than us have said that the known cases, whether tested or just going by a description of trhe symptoms, is only the tip of the iceberg and many times that number have had a milder dose and are recovering. When you remember that the advice is to stay at home, rest, and take paracetamol and only get medical help if you have having difficulty breathing, or already have damaged lungs or immune system, then you realise that this is mostly an illness that we can treat ourselves - but to be aware of what A FEW people will get more seriously.

Think of the lottery, or a raffle - you might buy a ticket in the hope of getting lucky, but you wouldn't put in an offer to buy a million pound mansion because you had that ticket.

Thank you for this, Vampirequeen. It is good to know what the symptoms are like and I had read that they come and go quickly which seems to be what you are describing. I had also heard that they can vary in individuals. Loss of the senses of taste and smell for example.
Hopefully, self isolation will keep us from getting it and it is helpful to put the focus on the recovery for a bit.

According to an ENT specialist on the TV last night the earliest symptom in the young is loss of sense of smell and taste. He said if people self isolated on that basis and didn't wait for the cough it would help prevent the spread. I wonder if older people don't notice that so much or it doesn' happen?

Glad to hear that your are getting better. Its so true, most people will have the mild form. Most elderly, people will recover without the need for hospital treatment. The problem is that no one knows how they are their loved ones will be affected. We are fairly sure that a GC had it weeks ago. All the typical symptoms, even ended up at the hospital on the advice of 111. However until testing is widely available it's impossible to be sure. Hope you continue with a speedy recovery.

Thank you for the reassurance VampireQueen we do know that unfortunately it can be much worse, but it's good to hear positive stories. Hopefully if we get it it will be relatively mild.

This country is a disgrace with the lack of testing. We had more time than most European countries to get the tests up and running. The NHS staff are not even being tested, let alone the general public. No one knows how many people are actually infected because of the lack of tests, and therefore no one knows who is immune and who isn’t. As for saying most people have a mild illness, of course it’s irrelevant if you are the one who ends up seriously ill or dead!

Yes. You can’t say you have had it unless you were properly tested. Also people with it confirmed have said that they were mildly ill and recovered, often twice and then it hit them seriously hard. So you need to beware. Also isn’t quarantine 14 days if others ill in same household.

Lots of people are claiming to have had it

We'll never know for sure unless they tested positive

My sister in law has just died of it. We didn't know her well. Much older than us.

She'd had a knee operation and caught it whilst in hospital. They assume. Can't be totally sure

But I do think we need to be careful with proclamations that we've had it

My sister is telling everyone she's had it so she's fine

I doubt very much that she has

Oh dear
I know several people who are sure they have had it. Dangerous to make such an assumption without a test. It might promote complacency so I refuse to entertain it. Wait until an antibody test is done would be my advice. Assume you are still at risk until then.

Thank you for your reassuring message VampireQueen

It was kind of you to try to allay some fears as the tv news bulletins inevitably concentrate on the more severe cases as well as the deaths, so it’s good to be reminded that the majority of people will only experience mild symptoms and will recover.

I know you said neither of you were tested but from your symptoms it sounds likely.

I hope your recovery continues.

Thank you for going to the bother of posting when you must be under par.

Thanks Vampirequeen - every reassurance is welcome!!

Thank you vq

However, do still carry on being extra careful just in case it was not COVID19 and was another virus.

The two people I do know of who have had this virus caught it in hospital when they were in for other reasons.

I'm sorry to hear about your sister in law, Oopsminty, even if you were not close it must still be a shock.

Sorry to hear about your SIL, Oopsminty, and thank you for letting us know about your experience, vampirequeen.

I agree that a lot more testing would be really useful, but I'm not sure how the lockdown would work if it became more widely available.

How would we know who had had it, and who was simply breaking the lockdown conditions? There would almost certainly be those who fancied going out and would pretend to have 'passed' the immunity test. Realistically, lockdown would still have to apply to everyone, which would probably cause resentment amongst people who knew they were immune, but were still unable to go to work, or to visit others.

Much as I can understand people wanting to know whether or not they had had it, in many ways, holding back any sort of home testing would seem a better option than having a situation where some were expected to observe the lockdown conditions but not others.