How infectious am I??

Volver. We are infectious for a couple of days before symptoms and also when we have symptoms. Being contageous does not stop once symptoms show. If I knew that I had covid I would not dream of leaving my home and going where there are other people are...

I was positive for 9 days and still was cautious after day 10. Yes it drove me mad but I never left my house. I’d hate to give it to anyone more vulnerable.

My 17 year old granddaughter, I meant to say.

I was more bored during those two days of heatwave than when I had Covid! No energy to do anything.
My 17 years old tested positive for covid about three weeks ago. She insisted on setting off for school, having done a test but had no time to wait for the results. When mum saw the two red lines she rang her, telling her to get off the bus! She stayed off school for two days, plus the weekend but went back on the fifth day. She told me it is not compulsory to stay home any more and nobody stays off unless they feel too ill. I was surprised.
Personally I think it is safe to go out in the fresh air provided you can guarantee you won’t be close to anyone at all. I could easily walk round the block here without meeting anyone, or if I did, I would cross over or step into the ( quiet) road.

I've a heavy cold, headache, no taste and muscle aches with mine at present, that's from last Tuesday. My friend had it last month and had to be hospitalised and put in anti viral drugs because she was so ill with it.
I thought it was still my hayfever playing up until I got a continuous cough and that's why I did the test. My sister had been with me 2 days prior and is still testing negative. My 5 days are up, I'm still testing positive so I shall be staying in until I get 2 negatives.
I've had 3 vaccines, still mask up in crowded places, wipe the trolleys, sanitise my hands and yet I still got it.
Everyone is different and everyone's symptoms can be different.

Theoddbird

Actually Volver you are more infectious once you start showing symptoms not before. I check things before I post....

Is that right now?

When Is the Coronavirus the Most Contagious?
Researchers estimate that people who get infected with the coronavirus can spread it to others 2 to 3 days before symptoms start and are most contagious 1 to 2 days before they feel sick.

It's possible that, because of its shorter incubation period, you may become contagious more quickly if you have the Omicron variant. But we need more research on this.

www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus-incubation-period#2-6

CleoPanda....very sensible post. Will anyone take notice of it though? I have my doubts ?

Actually Volver you are more infectious once you start showing symptoms not before. I check things before I post....

Mollygo

Just had a message from a colleague I gave a lift to last Wednesday that she has tested positive. I’m fine so far but we’re going away, so now what? Do I rush out masked and get a pack of tests or do I go away and hope?

I would have some tests to hand in case I felt unwell apart from that I would carry on with my plans

Some very naive and unresearched advice on here. Fortunately most seem sensible!
It’s true that some people are “lucky” enough to have mild symptoms. It’s also true that many people are quite ill, moderately ill, seriously ill and dangerously ill.
Unfortunately, nobody know how each infection and different strains will affect them, their loved ones and their wider contacts.
I have several family members involved in health care - doctors, nurses etc. they have all despaired at the huge numbers of people who have invented their own reality regarding Covid.
From vaccines don’t help with symptoms, vaccines contain tracking devices to you can do what you want, when you want and there will be no consequences for anyone!!
Most of these fantasists can’t explain where they got the fake info from or why they don’t believe the scientists or medical experts.
I agree that most of us would love to be back in the safer environment of pre-Covid but it’s still here, still infecting people and hospital admissions are still growing.
Choose your own path, but surely it’s wrong to try and influence people to take unnecessary risks.
My local hospital has no beds left on it’s Covid ward - the patients include some triple vaccinated people with underlying health issues, but the majority have had no vaccine or none since their very first.
This isn’t meant to be scaremongering but it’s the facts I know about here.

Just had a message from a colleague I gave a lift to last Wednesday that she has tested positive. I’m fine so far but we’re going away, so now what? Do I rush out masked and get a pack of tests or do I go away and hope?

My hubby who caught Covid for the first time at end of June stayed at home and isolated for 5 days.
He kept testing every few days after then and he was negative on Day 12 after testing positive
You can go out whenever but he chosr not to but after Day 5 if he went into any shops etc wore a mask

LovelyLady

No has one been in our home since the first outbreak. We take no chances.
Neither of us have had the virus.
We go out but test if we need to. For fresh air, that’s what windows are for. We’re fortunate and have a garden and use it. It’s been a very long couple of years being isolated but we’re not ill (thus far)
Just because we’re told we can go out, doesn’t mean we have to. This ‘go out’ guidance has been given by a government that’s lost its leader. Trust yourself.

I haven't had Covid either. I complied with lockdown restrictions to the letter, but apart from that, I've been out and occasionally had people in my house. I certainly haven't been living in fear and I can't say that my life has been restricted that much.

Nevertheless, I've worn decent FFP2 masks in enclosed spaces, conscientiously kept my distance in shops, etc and have tested whenever before people have been in my house and when I've been to anybody else. My vaccines are up-to-date, so I'm optimistic that I wouldn't be too badly affected, if I were to be infected.

I really don't understand this "fear" thing. The virus isn't some insidious monster which will creep under the door when you're asleep. It's airborne and the more people are infected in a local area and the closer and longer a person spends in others' company in an enclosed space, the higher the risk of being infected. It's a risk, so not inevitable and somebody who is more vulnerable is no more likely to be infected than anybody else, although the higher risk of serious illness might mean they want to be more careful. It really is as simple as that. A person could have an extremely high viral load, but go outside and stand in the middle of an empty field and wouldn't infect anybody.

I agree with volver. People aren't being irresponsible if they don't know they're infected. I have no idea how many people are asymptomatic. Going out for a walk, despite testing positive, is a very different situation from going into a crowded supermarket, unmasked, and not keeping one's distance from other shoppers.

I agree with volver that it’s so very wrong to describe the person who may or may not have given you covid as “irresponsible.” My DH and I babysat for our DD. She had an important appointment. The next morning I woke up feeling quite unwell and tested positive. It was that sudden and the same for DH 2 days later. Fortunately no one in my DDs house caught it. In no way we’re we irresponsible. Just trying to be supportive parents.

We both had Covid in April. Fortunately we had plenty of supplies so no need to even bother the neighbours with a shopping list. We did spend a great deal of time in the garden but didn't have the energy to go for a walk.

We had two of our grandchildren for a sleepover a couple of weeks ago, Saturday evening they felt fine but on Sunday the eldest didn’t feel well, her mother bought a test with her when she picked them up and it was a very definite positive. We isolated for a week but neither of us caught it. So luck or four vaccinations, who knows? I felt we shouldn’t be out and about and possibly infect a vulnerable person. Her brother also caught it a couple of days later. All ok now thankfully..

Coco, gosh, that was a posting coincidence!

FannyCornforth

Please stay in.
There are people who are extremely vulnerable who feel like they have to lock themselves up (for far longer than that) for fear of coming across infectious folk.

This is so, FannyCornforth. My partner and I almost never visit shops (thank heavens for online shopping). It is pertinent to consider that when one goes to a hospital, surgery, dentist, chemist they insist on visitors wearing masks and wear them themselves. They wouldn’t do that if the risk was negligible.

Naughtynanny there is such a thing as Long Covid too

No has one been in our home since the first outbreak. We take no chances.
Neither of us have had the virus.
We go out but test if we need to. For fresh air, that’s what windows are for. We’re fortunate and have a garden and use it. It’s been a very long couple of years being isolated but we’re not ill (thus far)
Just because we’re told we can go out, doesn’t mean we have to. This ‘go out’ guidance has been given by a government that’s lost its leader. Trust yourself.

I think it is fair to keep in mind that people, albeit far fewer than when infections were running wild, are still dying from Covid. Although vaccinated, it is not certain how much protection people with suppressed immunity gain from vaccinations. And now Monkey Pox is on the horizon…..

As far I am aware the incubation period for covid is 5 days...I'd put on my mask and go a walk if you feel up to it... Just avoid contact with others...My friends hubby just tested positive on Friday and has been told he can go into work on Monday....Hes a painter with local council...

Agree with you Volver. No one knows how badly people will be affected and to me it is simply good manners to avoid passing it on and to isolate whilst you have it. I got it on an island in the middle of nowhere and they wouldn’t let me fly home for at least 7 days and you had to get a certificate from the hospital to say you were negative. That was in April this year. It was awful but I really wouldn’t have wanted to give it to anyone else on the plane anyway. Some people die because of it and this is always on my mind. Imagine being responsible for passing it to them.

Naughtynanny writes: When will you stop stop stop living in fear of something that will only affect the very vulnerable? You have a bad cold.

I've just had Covid. I couldn't get out of bed for 2 days and I had a chest infection. No sneezing. Worst sore throat I've ever had. I ended up on the floor at one point and couldn't lift myself up. (Decided to just stay there for a while!) Normally I can do press ups and I'm reasonably fit.

87 year old dad has had one more booster than me and also had Covid. He had the sniffles.

When people say its just a bad cold they really don't know what they are talking about. Its insulting to try to minimise it that way.

I wouldn't be frightened of it again, and I agree that we have to live our lives, but berating people for worrying about a virus that makes you ill is not very nice, Naughtynanny. Have some common sense.

The evidence that vaccines are effective is at population level and in scientific testing. I agree that nobody knows if they would have been worse affected without a vaccine, but cumulative data suggests that people who have been vaccinated are generally not so badly affected.