I've been exposed to Covid.

[Grayfox54]

I had Christmas dinner with my oldest son, his room mates and a few of their friends. He called this morning to tell me that one young lady that was there has been admitted to the hospital with Covid. 

So far, other than a slight headache,  I feel fine. I've had all three vaccines. But I am concerned. 

I can't get a test until next Monday. All the sites are booked solid.  All the local drug stores are sold out of home tests. So I guess I'll just sit at home until I can find something out. 

Happy frakin' new year. 

[gregintenn]

If you’ve been vaccinated, why are you concerned?

[krunchnik]

I have been directly exposed to several family members that had tested positive-nothing to report here-

My Dad is 89 years old and was admitted to a Northern Michigan hospital with a severely low heart rate-they decided to install a pacemaker-before they did anything they tested for Covid-lo and behold he was positive-never knew he was even sick-Probably because he wasn't-

Doesn't pay to worry about things that could be-

[derf]

It’s easy to stop worrying about COVID, just turn the dang TV off. You can’t go 5 minutes without hearing all the facts about it whether they are true or not. Let me know if I can do anything for you. 

[No_0ne]

1 hour ago, krunchnik said:

Doesn't pay to worry about things that could be-

49 minutes ago, derf said:

It’s easy to stop worrying about COVID, just turn the dang TV off.

1 hour ago, gregintenn said:

If you’ve been vaccinated, why are you concerned?

All good points.  Covid is well on the way to being just another seasonal viral epidemic (and is perhaps already there), one we'll live with forever.  I suspect that eventually resistance to the vaccinations will fade, kids will get the shots as part of their routine childhood immunizations, and there will still be occasional periodical outbreaks like flu and other common viruses.  Like these other viral infections, some people will do poorly, primarily due to pre-existing health problems or age.  Statistically, as a vaccinated individual, you have only a small chance of hospitalization or severe complications even if you get Covid from your exposure, which is equally unlikely due to your vaccination status.  On another note, getting a test Monday shouldn't be a problem, as even in cases where exposure leads to infection it typically takes several days for the tests to be valid anyway.  Good luck, and follow the others' advice to not worry and don't obsess over this.

And for the record, I have received all three Moderna shots, and work in an environment where I'm likely routinely exposed to Covid, or at least individuals who have been exposed themselves ...

Edited December 29, 2021 by No_0ne

[felinesNfreedom]

If you don't feel sick why get tested? Unless work requires it due to exposure. My office was doing that at first but we stopped that many months ago. I think I had 4 test before we swapped to if you feel sick get tested method.

[peejman]

If you're sick, seek treatment sooner rather than later.  If you're not sick, don't stress about it. 

[Grayfox54]

2 hours ago, gregintenn said:

If you’ve been vaccinated, why are you concerned?

The vaccines aren't 100% effective. Especially against Omicron.  I don't think I'll get bad sick or require hospitalization. Its just annoying.

My real concern is that I might spread it to others.  Can't get tested until Monday, Probably won't know the results until next Wednesday. So I'm just gonna go into hiding for now.  I usually don't go much of anywhere anyway. But still, it pisses me off to be forced to have to stay home.  

Oh well, all I can really do is wait to see how it plays out. 

[gregintenn]

If you ain’t sick, you ain’t sick. Turn off the tv and get on with your life. If you get sick, seek medical treatment.

[jpx2rk]

Best wishes for nuttin to happen.  Hope you don't feel bad, get sick, etc.  You might want to reconsider getting tested, especially if you don't feel bad, etc., come next Monday.   Could be a waste of your time.  

[Grayfox54]

I'm hoping it is just a waste of my time. However, there have been reports of people having this #### and never showing any symptoms at all. But they can still spread it. I'm not going to take the chance that I may be one of those spreaders.  I want to get tested so that I know. Besides, its only been a few days since Christmas. I might still get sick. 

The young lady I was exposed to is in the hospital. I don't have any details as of yet, so I'm not risking it. 

[OLDNEWBIE]

At this point anyone who was aged or had underlying conditions should have got the shot and boosters. It's on them if they want to be extra cautious and properly wear an n95 mask or stay home. Not you, or Me!

I understand visiting a hospital, cancer patients  or nursing home taking precautions but otherwise live your life. Literally most people I know are. 

We are all exposed every day to someone who may have it unless you live alone in a cave. I work a part time gig alongside people that cough and sneeze every day who almost never get tested and mostly are unvaccinated.

Many have had Covid.

Without their more relaxed attitude about it I assure you the economy would have come to a screeching halt. 

NOW there is talk of mandatory vax and that will be interesting to see how it effects things.

I recently got over a cold or perhaps it was the big C ?? I've been sick a few times since this all started and once thought it was probably Covid. I believe I have natural immunity.

Not vaxxed yet, not worried. About getting or passing it. Vaxxed pass it too. What's the difference?

 

[gregintenn]

If the vaccine works, don’t worry. If it doesn’t, why the hell did you take it? How much faith do you have in our government is the final question. 

[MacGyver]

It's worth calling your local Publix pharmacy to see if they have tests in stock - most of them here in Nashville do. I expect Bartlett is similar.

For $20, it might give you some peace of mind if you're worried about it.

For what it's worth, the rapid tests are a good indicator of contagiousness with Omicron.  A PCR test (the one you're going to get on Monday) will pick up before you're contagious - and can also still indicate on a tail after you're contagious.  But, the rapid antigen test roughly lines up with the contagious period.

All that to say - if you were exposed on Christmas Day - you're now on Day 4 - which is right in the 3-5 day window of best testing.  It won't hurt to wait a day or so, either.

You're vaccinated and boosted - so you can have some peace of mind.  This omicron variant is quite contagious.  I know a bunch of folks right now who've been so careful for all this time and are testing positive now. For all of them, it's been quite mild.

Happy to chat if I can help.

 

 

[-boatman-]

As long as you feel ok I wouldn't worry about it. I had the vaccine and my wife caught it. She had not gotten the vaccine at the time. Sick at home for a week before going into the hospital for a week. I waited on her and slept in the same bed with her. Never caught it. I felt like if I did catch it from her it would be mild since I had the vaccine and the worst thing would be having to quarantine.

[Grayfox54]

UPDATE: the sick young lady was sent home today. They kept her overnight,  pumped her full of meds and gave her more to take home. She feels like crap, but  apparently isn't sick enough to take up valuable bed space. That's a good sign.  

BTW: she was vaccinated.  

 

[Snaveba]

Hope you are negative, or if positive it is mild. My wife manages the school office at a small Christian school. They have had their share of outbreaks so our chances of getting exposed are fairly high. We both have had our boosters. We both also had Covid in March of 2020 so fingers crossed we have “super immunity”

[Danger Rane]

I’m stuck at home with COVID as we speak. Myself and two coworkers all came down with it on Monday, presumably due to several recent exposures at work. There have been an uptick of cases that we’ve been transporting to the hospital, almost all vaccinated but elderly or with obvious comorbidities.

Of the three of us one is vaccinated and boostered, his only symptom is loss of taste and smell. His wife (also vaccinated and boosted) came down with it yesterday and she is not having as smooth a go as he is. I think she got the infusion therapy today.

Myself and the other guy are unvaccinated and having very mild symptoms. I honestly would have thought it a head cold if the other guys hadn’t got it too. So far OTC cold meds are keeping me normal but certainly going stir crazy.

CDC changed their quarantine from 10-5 days, so if I’m not feeling any worse by Saturday I get to go back to work.

The best thing ANY of us can do going forward is take some steps (big or small) to improve your personal health situation. Regardless of your age or situation, it’s not too late to make some tweaks in your day to day life that will literally pay dividends toward the quality of time you have left. A Doctor once told me (while encouraging me to loose weight) that once we reach 50, we have the body we deserve. From my observations I’d say he was spot on. The majority of medical patients that I personally interact with are 60 and over, and there is a HUGE spectrum of quality of life at that age. We will all pass on some day, there’s no cheating that, but we do have some say in the quality of the days leading up to that.

[hipower]

Videos of the lines at the testing sites are incredible! Fear seems to have returned.

That's all I have to say.

[RED333]

I have posted about this before. My family and myself had Covid last year the last two weeks of October. Me and my wife smoked the better part of our adult lives, both quit about 15 years ago. Neither one of us are in not even good shape my, wife has COPD. We survived. Don’t fear getting sick, fear only feeds the worry and the worry is stress that you cannot have. Live your life to the fullest, death comes fast enough, no need to get in a hurry. If you feel you need to take the shot by all means get the shot, if it’s time for your booster and you want a booster by means get the booster.

[OLDNEWBIE]

10 hours ago, Danger Rane said:

Doctor once told me (while encouraging me to loose weight) that once we reach 50, we have the body we deserve. From my observations I’d say he was spot on.

Ha,ha! I have the back, knees and joints I deserve at 58. Generally healthy but man I hurt in the morning. Getting fitter is one thing the so called experts won't discuss about Covid. They just push the Vaccines. I'm not against them but feel I don't need it. Funny thing....I was considering getting jabbed just before our leader's "losing his patience" speech. That just turned me off it. That and how so many vaxxed are spreading it now. So many contradictions. Like pushing it on kids. I'd have a lot more respect for them if they stop lying about natural immunity, kids, mask efficiency, over run hospitals, causes of death of so many folks being primarily covid when many of these people had other major health problems and so on.

I don't believe the Vaccine conspiracy people except for the money aspect being the driving force now. That and control over us.

Finally if overrun hospitals is the main reason to "flatten the curve" then you'd think after all this time most big City hospitals could have upped their capacity by now. 

 

 

[Erich]

Best of luck with your test result. While I agree the media / drug company driven fear around exposure is overdone, appreciate your concern around being an unwilling spreader and trying to ensure you aren't that guy.