Hope this may calm some fears

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.

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.

Thanks Vampirequeen - every reassurance is welcome!!

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Dizzyblonde I did wonder!
Autocorrect can have a mind of its own, can’t it?

Most people admitted to the NHS with symptoms severe enough to warrant admission for "suspected Covid" have tested negative.

So people should not be declaring that they've had it!
MIGHT have had it, sure.
But there are lots of flus and other respiratory bugs going around. And if Doctors cant tell the difference until test results come back then individuals certainly cannot diagnose themselves.

Yes you need to follow isolation advice. For ANY cough/temp. Ad it MIGHT be Covid. But could easily ne something else.

And dont assume youre now immune either just because youve had A respiratory bug

Why are so many people keen to convince themselves that VQ and DH didn't have Covid-19?

Do you not want the reassurance that even for older people with underlying problems it can still be a relatively mild illness, disappointed that they are not both in hospital on ventilators fighting for their lives?

I agree we need to test more. But what worries me is if one has tested negative, another or more tests need to be done in case one eventually gets it. Seems better use of scarce resources to test those with symptoms or who have recovered. Except for NHS workers and such. (Dives for cover)

Isolation not Illinois, goodness only knows what my autocorrect was thinking.?

I do MawB, although obviously in Illinois at the moment. Hoping to get a test at some point then I can of more use with vulnerable relatives and friends.

Wishing you well Dizzyblonde, fingers crossed for your speedy recovery - am I right in thinking you work in the NHS?

I wasn't suggesting that anyone drop their guard. I was simply pointing out that there is another side to it. The media/gov need to keep us focussed on the deaths because it keeps us motivated to stick with lockdown. If they start to say that most people will be OK a lot of idiots will assume they're safe and won't give a damn about others. But some people, who would never dream of breaking lockdown, are very afraid and I hoped my story would help them. DH is on the danger list but his symptoms were mild.

That is very good news Vampirequeen but I am still not reassured I am afraid, as every case is different.
I have just heard from my Spanish friend that she has lost 3 of her relations to this terrible illness.
Others have said they had a relapse on day 8. The virus is already mutating.

OK I realise this is scare stuff but my DH has cancer, diabetes and is mid 70s so we are not taking any chances.
This is not to save ourselves, though that would be a bonus, but rather neither to be a burden on the NHS nor to die in one of those field hospitals popping up around the country without any farewells.

There are a lot of viruses doing the rounds at present, any one of them could be mistaken for THE virus.
I was talking to family on video yesterday and DS and one GD had the same symptoms, they have not left the house in two weeks so difficult to know where it came from.
Do not become blase just in case.

I’m glad it wasn’t too bad for you vq but actually it doesn’t help me at all. I understand all the statistics and probabilities and the possible range of severity. I just don’t want to get it all regardless of stories like yours. My behaviour is predicated upon the fact it could kill me and I don’t want to die yet.