Forum Topic

Do You Think You've Had Covid-19?

Do you suspect you may have had it, but never got tested so you're not sure? Did you have some mild symptoms but got over them quite quickly?  I'm asking because I think I might be in that situation. When I last attended hospital on Monday 8th June for my infusion I wore a mask, as did the driver of hospital transport plus all the nurses in the medical day unit, so I felt protected and safe.  My obs (temperature, blood pressure and oxygen level) are taken before the infusion, during it and afterwards, so all bases covered.On the Friday evening I developed a slight sore throat with a bit of a ticklish cough but nothing much to be bothered about.  On Saturday the sore throat got a lbit worse and by Sunday it was full on.  My temperature remained normal at all times but I did have the sniffles. By the following Tuesday the sore throat had eased and by Thursday it had completely gone, and so had the cough and sniffles.I wonder, did I have a very mild dose of the virus or was it just a cold?  What about you?When I have my next infusion in July I will ask if I can have the Covid-19 antibody test. Every 3 months I have a full range of blood tests anyway so an extra one shouldn't be a problem.  It would be interesting to find out.

Sue Hammond ● 2113d23 Comments

You're right.We just don't have a consolidated account. In terms of cases we can do Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 in the weekly report that comes out. That implies that from 17-24 June there were 331 positive cases of Covid in London (6,975 in England).Interestingly (this is where we need to be careful) Pillar 1 which is the figure newspapers use given you can track it to local authority level would say London had 176 cases last week when effectively it was double.  Then we've got the number that aren't actually tested.

Gabrielle O'Mahoney ● 2111d

Must admit I've not been following this very closely for the past few days but there seem to be various stats from different sources - NHS, care homes, ONS; test, trace & isolate plus general stats from sampling populations - each with different time lags and scope definitions but nothing to reconcile them? Or have I just lost track and everything's going swimmingly well?

Michael Ixer ● 2111d

I totally agree and it may scare people correctly or relax people potentially as well. The thing with test & trace is 25% aren't reached who test positive, 25% then don't give the details of who they are in contact with. Let alone then trying to ring the 'potentially infected individuals'. This is why all we can do is rely on the Zoe app / 111 numbers.  I agree I think pillar 2 information should be included or published by each area weekly.

Gabrielle O'Mahoney ● 2111d

I must admit I am finding it difficult to really understand where are with Covid. It’s obvious that the peak has passed and that there far fewer new cases being reported in London week on week. But I hear anecdotally that the test and trace system is nowhere near working properly so we’re not identifying those clusters that need urgent action. Are the new cases in the community, in hospitals or in care homes?  We do need to know this stuff!

Jonathan Callaway ● 2111d

Jonathan, one of the issues with the CV stats is the headline figure of the number of new cases. I would expect the number of cases to increase significantly if the number of tests has increased significantly but the bbc stats give cases per borough but dont appear to show the corresponding number of tests, the devil's in the detail :)

Adam Tripp ● 2111d

I will caveat my second paragraph again refers to PHE Pillar 1 cases - I am not remotely saying we are CoVid free

Gabrielle O'Mahoney ● 2111d

I have no idea how / why the council said that (or where from). Those stats are from PHE and are for Pillar 1 testing (so NHS /carer key workers).  We have no idea of knowing the numbers in circulation in the wider community (they don't publish Pillar 2 cases).Let's wait and see today's cases for Wandsworth. If 0 we will have had no cases since the 26th.  This is why its hard to just pick numbers.The only thing I can say is CoVid Zoe says that cases have dropped from 2,341 daily (20 June) to 1,796 (as of 25 June) in the UK. London, as of 25 June, they estimate is 10 per million.

Gabrielle O'Mahoney ● 2111d

I now read (in the Mail no less) that Wandsworth had two cases in the week 13-19 June and another 7 in the week 20-26 June.  Those stats came from Public Health England and like all their stats are “likely to be an underestimate”.  The 250% increase is greater than the % increase in Leicester and the 3rd highest in the country for that period. Not quite such good news as the council’s statement that there had been no new cases at all since June 10th!

Jonathan Callaway ● 2111d

I was sick for the whole month of January and couldn't get over the cough until the end of February.  We now know the virus was around at the end of last year.... have always wondered, but will never know

Bunny Payne ● 2111d

Council paper 20-201 contains a lot of information about the Covid outbreak, its effect locally and the council's response.  One very interesting statistic: no new cases have been recorded in the borough since June 10th.  A total of 1,003 have been recorded since the outbreak began, a figure agreed to be an underestimate given the lack of a testing and tracing regime until more recently.

Jonathan Callaway ● 2111d

Thanks Michael :-) Jean does seem better now so fingers crossed symptoms  don't reappear any time soon.He does need xrays/scans to know what damage has been done to his lungs but will wait until he goes back to France. We are still basically self isolating though and only go out if  really necessary.

Lucille Grant ● 2111d

Thanks Jane :-) We took the NHS swab test about 3 weeks ago while Jean still had all the symptoms recurring after a few days respite and tested negative. Apparently the test is only effective in diagnosis if taken within first days of symptoms though. The Guardian reported that there is no evidence that Vitamin D can help prevent Coronavirus but how they have  had time to evaluate it thoroughly I don't know. I take it for bone strength anyway.

Lucille Grant ● 2111d

Morning Jane. The link between D3 and its importance in supporting the immune system is nothing new.  I started my current treatment in 2012 and my consultant advised me back then to take a high dose D3 supplement because the infusions are with Tysabri which is an immunosuppressant drug.  Since Covid the research has intensified and looks at why some countries are being so badly affected."The researchers noted that patients from countries with high COVID-19 mortality rates, such as Italy, Spain and the UK, had lower levels of vitamin D compared to patients in countries that were not as severely affected."Here is the full article:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200507121353.htmIt does seem odd to me that Mediterranean countries like Spain and Italy that have a much sunnier climate than us, also have very high mortality rates.

Sue Hammond ● 2111d

To know whether you have definitely had the virus you could buy a reliable home test kit. The one from Antibody Solutions costs about £65 I think. They use the test kit made by Abbott. Of course if you are positive there is no guarantee that this will give you any immunity, but it might. If you're negative then of course this provides no protection going forward.Nick

Nicholas Evans ● 2111d

The Guardian and Mail seem to be in agreement on this one (🙂), although one can't help thinking that having good levels of vitamin D and being healthy has to be an advantage dealing with any disease? Glad the tests were negative, Lucille, and hope Jean is getting better? As the other Michael says, still so many unknowns ...https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/29/no-evidence-that-taking-vitamin-d-prevents-coronavirus-say-expertshttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8471181/Evidence-does-not-support-taking-vitamin-D-Covid-19-say-health-officials.html

Michael Ixer ● 2111d

That's good to hear, Lucille. I take it you both had the test recently because Jean had had Covid? Has he fully recovered now? We also take high dose vitamin D3. Would be amazing if that prevented one from getting Covid but I tend to think that it can't be that simple, Michael is right: there's so little known about it. Is there any research linking D3 with Covid?

Jane Carter ● 2112d

I take high dose Vitamin D3 too and  wonder if that prevented me from catching Covid from Jean. Both of us tested negative btw!

Lucille Grant ● 2112d

It's all false though. No-one knows if you can catch it again. No-one knows how a first infection will affect the second - partial immunity or antibody dependent enhancement (a scientific term for the 2nd infection being worse). No-one knows to what extent infection generates antibodies in the first place.For better information. Look to people who have had the PCR test and know when they actually WERE infected. They can tell you, "I survived", "I survived but have serious lung impairment". Even then, none of them know what other serious long term effects there may be. Then some are dead - they can't tell you anything but you can draw your own conclusion.So get those pubs and restaurants open Boris and lets get back on Ryanair to Spain. What's the worry, eh? Wetherspoons here I come.

Michael Winstanley ● 2112d

For me it would reassurance that my immune system is still strong enough to fight off an infection.  I have been taking high dose Vitamin D3 capsules for years so hopefully they have boosted my immunity.

Sue Hammond ● 2112d

I was trying to discuss this with my friend. I said it literally gives people peace of mind. She seemed to think it would make people more cautious if they know they'd had it.I on the other hand think quite a few people would go "oh I've had it - wasn't too bad so even if I get it again I'll be OK".Maybe it's a mixture of the two.

Gabrielle O'Mahoney ● 2112d

Biobank don't tell you the result. You just send a sample so they can do their surveys. It's entirely altruistic. So by checking the same group of people every month (20,000 I think), they can produce some useful statistics about spread and trends.Unless and until there is news that you can't catch it a 2nd time after a few months (still a scientific black hole), an antibody test has no value to an individual, except to satisfy curiosity.

Michael Winstanley ● 2112d

Although I did feel a bit ropey my symptoms weren't that bad, I didn't lose my sense of taste or smell either.  I am self-isolating anyway due to being in the shielded group. This is because my infusions are with an immunosuppressant drug, but I have to go to Kingston hospital every 4 weeks for the treatment.  I take my temp daily because of my compromised immune system and I'll also have a look at the programme you mention.Have you had the antibody test yet?

Sue Hammond ● 2113d

I've not had it as far as I aware. I record my status daily in the Covid Zoe program (I recommend others to do likewise) and I am an antibody test volunteer for Biobank - they don't tell me the results.Why did you not get a PCR test when you had these symptoms? Did you self isolate for 14 days?

Michael Winstanley ● 2113d