New CV symptoms similar to bad cold - have we already had this virus in Jan and Feb?

[dorabella]

Reading about the latest reported symptoms of those testing positive - runny nose, anosmia, hot chest and back, sore eyes and cough - they look remarkably like the usual symptoms of a bad cold. If these are the experience of those with mild symptoms of CV I am now wondering how long this virus has actually been around in the UK and elsewhere?

A lot of people on this site and others that I have talked to - and I am including myself here - had one or two doses of mild and heavy cold back in January and February, and of course there was no guidance to get tested at that point. The second dose that I had in February left me with 2 weeks of runny nose, sneezing and a cough / constant throat clearing that lasted a month. I suppose it is to be expected that there will be similarities of symptoms in all of the current viruses - CV, cols and flu - since they all form part of a general coronavirus group, but it does beg the question - since there is as yet no mass testing of the population - how many of us have actually had it and not known it much earlier this year?

Anyone else had the same experience?

[flappergirl]

Yes sort of. Earlier in the year a lot of kids at the school I teach at were off with a cough and high temperature. I do also wonder if it’s been around longer than we think 🤔

[BlueIris]

I'm still a bit snuffly from a near-endless series of colds I had over winter that left me with no sense of smell, to the extent I managed to eat some food that was apparently very definitely off.

I can't help wondering.

[dorabella]

Yes curious isn't it? I work in offices on a big university campus in London, and the start of this whole thing coincided with the return of international students from all over - Europe and China - even before anyone took any notice of what was developing in China. Seems to be a similar case in a lot of cities hosting major universities - London, Birmingham, Glasgow even. Also coincided with the return of many UK citizens from winter holidays in Europe, from all over the UK.

I'm sure I'm not making observations that many others haven't already done, and it could be entirely coincidental that all of this was happening in the height of flu and cold season. But it does perhaps highlight a trail of the spread of this virus at a much earlier period. The later incidences of reported infection in this country from mid-February were probably the results of a slow incubation period before it started to spread.

[WiseMonkey]

Yes curious isn't it? I work in offices on a big university campus in London, and the start of this whole thing coincided with the return of international students from all over - Europe and China - even before anyone took any notice of what was developing in China. Seems to be a similar case in a lot of cities hosting major universities - London, Birmingham, Glasgow even. Also coincided with the return of many UK citizens from winter holidays in Europe, from all over the UK.

I'd say this is very probable, as I'm sure the CV would have been floating around in Wuhan towards the last months of 2019, before they realised what it was! We here in New Zealand have a large Chinese population who regularly fly back to visit their relatives there. The vast majority of cases here (NZ) are from those returning from overseas trips or close family members of these people. Once the first case of CV was detected, all those coming into the country had to go into self isolation with their family for 14 days.
I do wonder how many returned just having a mild case and before testing started.

Luckily, the school year resumed after a 6 week break (and being Summer early Feb), children returned relatively germ-free. Info was already circulating about the CV so the schools (and parents) were on high alert and monitoring their children's health. Any children with colds had to stay home. So far there are only 4 cases of non-travel associated CV, so it's just got into the community.

NZ is in lockdown starting tomorrow (Thurs) for 1 month, so only essential services will be available. There has been an influx of NZers returning home from overseas and they are all being quarantined, so hopefully we will have a slight chance of being ahead of this virus and can stem the flow.

[dorabella]

NZ is taking a very sensible approach. We should have done similar in the UK back in February and forcibly quarantined incoming air passengers or at least have stopped non-commercial flights - similarly with the Eurostar and ferry services from the continent. Incoming travellers were left to 'self-isolate' on their own recognisance which you can bet many of them ignored.

[WiseMonkey]

NZ is taking a very sensible approach. We should have done similar in the UK back in February and forcibly quarantined incoming air passengers or at least have stopped non-commercial flights - similarly with the Eurostar and ferry services from the continent. Incoming travellers were left to 'self-isolate' on their own recognisance which you can bet many of them ignored.

Luckily with the small population we have it's easier to keep tabs on people. Those coming back from overseas are in quarantine and police are checking up on others. It sounds like NZ is a police state but it's not like that usually, I'm glad they and the armed forces are out there. Unfortunately those Kiwi's who didn't get back into NZ by the lock down time will have to stay put where they are!

I saw a video of some young Brits still whooping it up on the city streets! I guess with Boris in charge saying contradictory things (his comment on herd immunity), people just start to ignore the seriousness of the problem (when lock down is called for) and do as they wish, the same things are happening in Australia. Over there each state is responsible for their own populace, so it's difficult to co-ordination a nationwide response.

Here's hoping we all come through this in a few months time.

[Panicattacka]

Luckily with the small population we have it's easier to keep tabs on people. Those coming back from overseas are in quarantine and police are checking up on others. It sounds like NZ is a police state but it's not like that usually, I'm glad they and the armed forces are out there. Unfortunately those Kiwi's who didn't get back into NZ by the lock down time will have to stay put where they are!

I saw a video of some young Brits still whooping it up on the city streets! I guess with Boris in charge saying contradictory things (his comment on herd immunity), people just start to ignore the seriousness of the problem (when lock down is called for) and do as they wish, the same things are happening in Australia. Over there each state is responsible for their own populace, so it's difficult to co-ordination a nationwide response.

Here's hoping we all come through this in a few months time.

NZ sounds like one of the best places to be right now. Can you confirm rumors that many CEOs/billionaire types flew to NZ in February just before Covid started ravaging western countries? I've heard stories like "Elon Musk has flown to his bunker in NZ" and "Jeff Bezos private jet was seen landing in NZ". Any truth to these rumors?

[WiseMonkey]

NZ sounds like one of the best places to be right now. Can you confirm rumors that many CEOs/billionaire types flew to NZ in February just before Covid started ravaging western countries? I've heard stories like "Elon Musk has flown to his bunker in NZ" and "Jeff Bezos private jet was seen landing in NZ". Any truth to these rumors?

Definitely fake news/rumours, they're not in NZ!

[WiredIncorrectly]

Yes. I've said in other posts but skim back through my post history back to mid January and I was putting posts up about a crazy flu we had that was unlike no other. My partner honestly couldn't breath. She walked to the top shop, which is spitting distance and when she got back she had to sit on the outside steps to get her breath. She was genuinely struggling. Went around my family and friends. My friend had 2 rounds of antibiotics and it didn't touch it.