Latest Covid variant

[Pamplemousse]

Well, eventually it had to happen... I got Covid. Tested positive today. I'm left wondering if my trip to London on Monday was where I got it.

However, the symptoms I have fit in with what I have read elsewhere about the latest variant - the worst of it is mercifully brief. It started to develop on Wednesday (I think), had a cough that kept me awake on Wednesday night and got pretty bad at work on Thursday. When I got home Thursday night I was running a mild temperature (37.5C) too, but the cough was beginning to subside and I slept quite well. Today, I bought some tests when I went into town but was able to walk about and do shopping okay.

When I got home, I did a test and the 'T' line came up almost straight away!

However... I don't actually feel too bad? I'm taking it easy at home, plenty to drink and paracetamol for the temperature. The cough is now well on the way to going.

Fingers crossed this is as far as it goes.

[Lencoboy]

Well, eventually it had to happen... I got Covid. Tested positive today. I'm left wondering if my trip to London on Monday was where I got it.

However, the symptoms I have fit in with what I have read elsewhere about the latest variant - the worst of it is mercifully brief. It started to develop on Wednesday (I think), had a cough that kept me awake on Wednesday night and got pretty bad at work on Thursday. When I got home Thursday night I was running a mild temperature (37.5C) too, but the cough was beginning to subside and I slept quite well. Today, I bought some tests when I went into town but was able to walk about and do shopping okay.

When I got home, I did a test and the 'T' line came up almost straight away!

However... I don't actually feel too bad? I'm taking it easy at home, plenty to drink and paracetamol for the temperature. The cough is now well on the way to going.

Fingers crossed this is as far as it goes.

Wishing you a speedy recovery PM, in spite of you not experiencing anything mega major up until now.

Your incubation period of about 2 days still sounds about right, and is typical of pretty much all Omicrons.

For better or worse, the media have generally up until now kept this latest Covid subvariant BA.2.86 fairly low-key, which obviously implies that it's not really worth losing sleep over as yet, and from what I've read so far most 'experts' seem to believe that it's no more harmful than existting/previous variants and that it's unlikely to cause the same calamity and chaos of earlier variants, especially Original, Alpha and Delta, plus the BBC, Sky News, etc are hardly making a song and dancing over it thus far, which would most certainly had been the case 2-3 years ago, and possibly still even last year (2022).

[WiredIncorrectly]

I've seen news outbreaks a few times about COVID since the "pandemic" and it doesn't seem to be as wide spread as it was.

I have 2 friends that tested positive in the last 3 weeks. I think you'll be good PM, just rest up and relax

[Lencoboy]

I've seen news outbreaks a few times about COVID since the "pandemic" and it doesn't seem to be as wide spread as it was.

I have 2 friends that tested positive in the last 3 weeks. I think you'll be good PM, just rest up and relax

I presume they're OK by now though. This time round there there hasn't as yet been any news of people dropping like flies unlike with earlier Covids in 2020-21, so the need for the return of extensive restrictions like back then now seems increasingly remote (touch wood).

In fact, it seems that the current BA.2.86 (so far) is probably even less problematic than Swine Flu back in 2009 given its far lesser media attention up until now, but still in the meantime, only time will tell.

[Lencoboy]

How are you Pamplemousse?

Unfortunately there's now an outbreak in my mom's care home (including my mom infected herself) as all the residents were tested prior to the latest round of jabs that they have started doling out in care homes as from today, but the residents of said home will now obviously have to wait until they've fully recovered from their current Covid infections.

Although the general consensus so far seems to be that current Covid (BA.2.86) is very unlikely to wreak the same calamity on us that earlier Covids did back in 2020-21 and that there's currently no proposals to reinstate any restrictions so far, I can't help ruminating on the fact that when the pandemic first kicked off in early 2020 the powers that be (both in this country and most others around the globe) were caught napping and initially seemed to play down the threat of the virus, but as we all know by the last week of March 2020 we were in national lockdown, which still would have been unthinkable 2 months earlier and now can't help wondering if recent history is about to repeat itself once again and if the authorities may have been caught off guard also once again?

Me and my dad have both done LF tests today and we're both negative ATM and I still plan to attend my day centre as per usual tomorrow, plus I rang the manager there at lunchtime today and she doesn't currently seem overly concerned about this latest Covid episode, unlike 2-3 years ago and even during early 2022 the staff at my day centre were extremely fastidious about all things Covid and strictly adhering to the guidelines.

I know I'm probably being a bit paranoid but does anyone else on here think that any of the Covid restrictions of 2020-early 2022 should be brought back again, or are they now pretty much unwarranted? Concerning both the health implications of the virus itself and all the disruption any new restrictions will inevitably cause.

Having said that, apart from the mention of the start of the latest round of jabs in England today, there's no signs of any extensive wall-to-wall coverage (so far) on the BBC and Sky News channels of this latest Covid scare, unlike in 2020 and much of 2021.

[Pamplemousse]

Well, I'm still testing positive but in myself, it's like it never happened - no cough, no temperature, no headache and was never short of breath; in other words, I feel fine. The URTI I had that took my sense of smell away in April was much more unpleasant!

However, there's been a few cases where I've been working because people have been returning to work once they feel okay to do so (which I think the law says you can), but oblivious to the fact they're still contagious.

As for any restrictions now or in the future - I very much doubt it unless some super-mutation arrives that has a massive reproduction rate and kills 50% of the infected.

I'm not a scientist or epidemiologist, but I think it's (mostly) behind us.

[Catkins]

Glad you're feeling OK PM.

Lenco don't worry, I don't think they will back any restrictions. It's just going to be treated like any other virus now.

[Lencoboy]

Glad you're feeling OK PM.

Lenco don't worry, I don't think they will back any restrictions. It's just going to be treated like any other virus now.

You're probably right Catkins. It's probably likely that this current strain won't amount to too much compared to previous ones, plus the fact that the current round of jabs started to be doled out from yesterday (Monday 11th Sept), and they will inevitably find more infections from now on due to advance testing that needs to be done ahead of the jabs in care homes and the like, but if said jabs still hadn't yet started these latest Covid cases would probably had barely even figured in the media.

Although they're saying it's still early days as yet (though I don't personally think that over 4 or so weeks is that early now), BA.2.86 still isn't designated a 'variant of concern' (VOC), and up until now there still hasn't yet been any BA.2.86-specific deaths officially confirmed, plus only a handful of BA.2.86-specific hospitalisations recorded so far.

PM, it's nice to know that despite you still testing positive, it's so far amounted to very little for you. I was still testing positive myself for over a week after my first positive LFT with the original BA.2 back in February 2022 and basically turned out to be much ado about nothing in the end as it felt like nothing more than a normal cold for me.

Most other people I know at present (plus my dad) now seem to believe that there's no real point in bringing back the restrictions like we had in 2020-21, especially as a; we now have vaccines for Covid which we didn't have until the end of 2020-start of 2021 and b; it's now all about learning to live with Covid, just like we've learned to live with basically a gazillion other everyday 'threats' and 'hazards'. In fact, probably most of us are now once again statistically far more likely to get killed in car crashes than die of Covid, which most people don't normally give as much as a second thought to.

[Lencoboy]

Well all the staff at my day centre today (including the manager) appear to be totally unfazed by BA.2.86 and said to me 'it's basically just like normal flu now', plus they said they can't bring back any Covid-related restrictions anymore.

Not that I'm personally gagging for them to be brought back; in fact, I don't think I could stomach the thought of going through all those seemingly relentless rigmaroles of 2020 and 2021 where we were constantly walking on eggshells all over again (unless absolutely essential, of course).

My dad had a phone call from my mom's care home earlier today, and the staff member making the call reassured my dad that my mom appears to be showing no signs of anything significantly untoward or out of the ordinary so far, which is of course a great relief.

[fishman65]

I was visiting my Dad in hospital yesterday when the doctor said they had covid on the ward. With Dad being 94 in 6 days, its worrying.