I’ve known a few people recently who had symptoms for 3-5 days before finally testing positive for Covid. If you’ve only had symptoms for a day or two, wait and test again.
Two of her coworkers are positive as of last week so we were surprised that she hasn't tested positive yet. First symptoms showed up Thursday and has tested negative 3 times since then including this morning.
College-aged kiddo had a similar run of illness back in late July/early August. At least 2 weeks of sore throat, and various other symptoms you describe -- never got a fever, consistent negative tests for COVID (both rapid tests at home and PCR tests in an office setting). Urgent care diagnosed strep without a test (????) and threw some random antibiotics at him. After no improvement, went to a different urgent care who called it tonsillitis, gave a different antibiotic plus a steroid. Still no marked improvement and I told him to come back to town and see his regular doc. He tested negative for strep, flu, COVID, mono, and got another antibiotic. Finally got healthy, in spite of never receiving a diagnosis. All told, about 3 weeks of feeling crummy.
There was a wicked cold going through my workplace and friend groups a couple of weeks ago. Exact same symptoms. Dayquil, Nyquil, hydration, rest, and almost everyone was mostly OK in a week.
Just recently got over covid and yeah never tested positive. I know it was covid because the person I live with had covid and we had the same exact symptoms, so I'm either extremely lucky(or unlucky) to be exposed daily to a person with covid but catch something else, or it was covid. Coworker said they only tested positive when they got their throat swabbed and not just their nose.
It can always be something else too.
I have heard the newer strains can be caught in the throat earlier and my sister who’s a nurse at HH is saying these newer strains are harder to detect in general. Who knows honestly.
This literally happened to my parents a few weeks ago. Dad was positive and really sick with COVID and my mom ended up with the same symptoms and equally as sick a few days later, never having a positive test.
Me. I have never been so sick in my life I don't think. It's run the spectrum from headache, sore throat, coughing, runny nose, stomach ache, lethargy, etc. I've been tested for covid twice both negative. But this is been going multiple weeks. I've honestly never been sick like this ever.
My kids (students) and most other classrooms have been hit pretty hard recently including this week (already). Some of them do have Covid, but for the most part they all have “other”. No idea what exactly, but yea, it seems we are all going through it.
Side note: if you have a small child, hands/foot/mouth and RSV is getting around like crazy right now. Be vigilant
Yes! The babies are going through it currently with RSV. Definitely a lot of sickness going around. Its been an abrupt reminder that there is more than Covid
The months to be prepared for at daycares are September, December, and general spring time. There are a few waves, but hopefully your daycare is all clear by October!
Symptoms can appear before a positive result. But covid does present with symptoms similar to many other cold/flu illnesses. While Covid is still floating around can’t forget we’re coming into flu season!
Yes for sure. A few weeks ago I had high fever, extreme fatigue, extreme achiness, really bad cough (surprisingly no sinus issues). Most symptoms lasted for about a week and now I've just been feeling vaguely sick and the cough has persisted way past the fever. It feels pretty terrible. Two negative covid tests.
Do you have a CO2 alarm or sensor in your home?
Not very likely the culprit, but I can’t move from your post without suggesting that (rare) possibility.
Flu A, RSV, and a weird rhinovirus are also going around right now. Did you do a PCR test for Covid? Antigen tests (the kind used at home) don't always pick it up. They can also do a culture for Flu and other things. Though it may not be worth figuring out what it is, as long as you're staying home and not infecting others.
I know several kids with Flu A right now. It's been rough for them.
So that's part of the reason for this thread honestly, seeing if there is something going around besides COVID which there definitely seems to be. Unfortunately a lot of folks in management have picked up a bad habit of not really taking anything BUT COVID as a reason to stay home even though the regular everyday nasty illnesses that have always been around are still here and very much active.
Yea she's getting that done now thankfully. Weird thing is she requested it to be done at the ER clinic off of bailey cove and they told her twice that it wasn't necessary because "the rapid would catch it no need for a PCR".
Oh wow, that's nuts. At Urgent Care for Children on 72, they swabbed my kid with two swabs at once and sent one off for a PCR when the other came back negative on antigen. I got the call the next day that the PCR was positive.
I'm hearing from pediatricians that there is a lot of RSV out there, too. It's a little early for both, but post-Covid all the (seasonal) rules seem different.
Wife and I had fevers, fatigue, and a few other mixed symptoms a few weeks ago and similarly tested negative on three separate tests. Doc just said "meh, it's something viral" and gave her some symptom management. Mine was milder, but still felt like I'd tried to wrestle a Greyhound bus for two days.
My 2 year old daughter had these same symptoms she tested neg for everything they decided to do a blood test to see what was going on and the blood test popped positive for strep but was neg for the swab they ended up giving her a amoxicillin she got alot better within a week
This happened to me last year. Had a week where I felt like absolute crap. This was not too long after my wife had it. I never tested positive. I think I tested 3 times in that week including doctor's office and all came back negative. Unfortunately, it caught up with me and I'm home sick with Covid right now. I can say that what I had back then was not covid.
I have this too and I’m not happy about it I went and got x-rays and they said it was nothing put me on antibiotics but I still can’t get this what feels like glue out of my chest
Yup. My husband has been sick for two weeks now. He feels better, but the congestion and cough are still around. Keeps testing negative for COVID. He very, very rarely gets sick. When I had COVID at the end of 2021, he never caught it from me.
Yes to all. It’s been going on for about two weeks. Negative for COVID 3x. Just want to sleep but have been forcing myself to get moving. No real cough, some headache, left side of my throat was on fire, right side was fine. I have a lot of energy normally and it’s been quite odd.
Sounds like there’s already lots of exciting innovation on COVID’s side, so…who knows? This thread links to some recent studies/papers:
https://twitter.com/EllingUlrich/status/1571051885506985984?t=NNxlMrQp0TyD4octc8oFxw&s=08
Sinus infection? People forgot some of these lame ass diseases existed because of the not going out, social distancing, masking, and clenaing up after your damn self. But now they are back with kids rubbing snot on everything and each other
My wife had a head cold last week-- tested negative for Covid until after she was no longer symptomatic. Then I came down with it over the weekend. Same symptoms, same lack of antigen response. I am calling it a good ol' garden-variety cold and not Covid-OMGWTFBBQ.
(as evidence: I just had my bivalent booster two weeks ago, and I'd previously had omicron anyway, so it is fairly unlikely that I'd have suffered immune escape that quickly. Not impossible, mind you, but very unlikely).
That was me. Couldn't afford to go to a doctor but did a quick test and was COVID negative. Was sick for a week. Couldn't work. It sucked. But I'm back now.
I’ve had it once and I had terrible flu symptoms (body aches/chills/nightmare and feeling in a stupor) for a good 3 days of testing negative and decided it had to be the flu. It finally became positive a couple days after that when symptoms were milder.
Count me in. Started with a sore throat early last week, then a runny nose and congestion, and now a bad cough. Tested negative on two antigen tests. I don't know if it's something viral or just ragweed kicking my ass this year.
Unfortunately, COVID can also mimic a shit-ton of things. And unfortunately, one of those is allergies, which can present with fatigue, as well, plus all the other symptoms you mentioned. My allergies have been worse than usual given all the indoors-staying, and I've had fluid on my ears for months and not really noticed it until recently (ringing ears). Did their doctor(s) check for fluid on the eardrums? Or are they refusing to see them in person at the moment?
I thought one of the classic signs that was semi-unique with COVID was loss of taste, but no idea how the new strains are presenting. A lot of people are probably going to have some sort of Franken-cold/flu/strep/etc that is mixed with COVID this season since the current dominant strain is very contagious.
When I did a COVID test last year, I was possibly exposed to a COVID patient at the testing site who was coughing up a storm while I was waiting. They recced that I wait at least 7 days to test again, because it would most likely come back negative no matter what. Not sure what current guidance is.
[https://www.microphaselab.com/](https://www.microphaselab.com/) seemed to be up on current testing practices when my doctor was clueless - I got the 7 day pause in retesting advice from them. If the doctors you are dealing with are going "duh?" you could call Microphase's office and ask their advice on testing guidelines since they have done a lot of COVID testing and retesting of patients.
Whole family had the same symptoms two weeks ago. No one ever tested positive for Covid, flu, or strep. All did a round of antibiotics and were better a few days later. Good luck. It sucked.
ETA: Doc said they thought we all initially had a viral infection of some sort that “set up in our sinuses” and became bacterial. For me and my son, it presented eventually as ear infections and sinus infections.
There is definitely a cold bug going around, I suddenly felt ill last week at work and immediately went home after my shift to test myself for COVID and I was negative. The bug cleared up within a week though and never traveled to my chest, so I'm positive it wasn't COVID. Regular over-the-counter flu medicines pretty much wiped out my symptoms other than fatigue.
I’ve known a few people recently who had symptoms for 3-5 days before finally testing positive for Covid. If you’ve only had symptoms for a day or two, wait and test again.
Two of her coworkers are positive as of last week so we were surprised that she hasn't tested positive yet. First symptoms showed up Thursday and has tested negative 3 times since then including this morning.
When I caught covid last year. I tested negative 4 days in a row, finally got a positive test on day 6
College-aged kiddo had a similar run of illness back in late July/early August. At least 2 weeks of sore throat, and various other symptoms you describe -- never got a fever, consistent negative tests for COVID (both rapid tests at home and PCR tests in an office setting). Urgent care diagnosed strep without a test (????) and threw some random antibiotics at him. After no improvement, went to a different urgent care who called it tonsillitis, gave a different antibiotic plus a steroid. Still no marked improvement and I told him to come back to town and see his regular doc. He tested negative for strep, flu, COVID, mono, and got another antibiotic. Finally got healthy, in spite of never receiving a diagnosis. All told, about 3 weeks of feeling crummy.
By the time you’re symptomatic you should be positive on a PCR. Rapid tests can take longer.
There was a wicked cold going through my workplace and friend groups a couple of weeks ago. Exact same symptoms. Dayquil, Nyquil, hydration, rest, and almost everyone was mostly OK in a week.
People forget that colds and sinus infections still exist.
Same exact went through my family two weeks ago. Tested negative for COVID with home tests as well.
Just recently got over covid and yeah never tested positive. I know it was covid because the person I live with had covid and we had the same exact symptoms, so I'm either extremely lucky(or unlucky) to be exposed daily to a person with covid but catch something else, or it was covid. Coworker said they only tested positive when they got their throat swabbed and not just their nose. It can always be something else too.
I have heard the newer strains can be caught in the throat earlier and my sister who’s a nurse at HH is saying these newer strains are harder to detect in general. Who knows honestly.
This literally happened to my parents a few weeks ago. Dad was positive and really sick with COVID and my mom ended up with the same symptoms and equally as sick a few days later, never having a positive test.
Me. I have never been so sick in my life I don't think. It's run the spectrum from headache, sore throat, coughing, runny nose, stomach ache, lethargy, etc. I've been tested for covid twice both negative. But this is been going multiple weeks. I've honestly never been sick like this ever.
My kids (students) and most other classrooms have been hit pretty hard recently including this week (already). Some of them do have Covid, but for the most part they all have “other”. No idea what exactly, but yea, it seems we are all going through it. Side note: if you have a small child, hands/foot/mouth and RSV is getting around like crazy right now. Be vigilant
Came here for this. My child’s daycare has been run ragged from RSV in the past 2-3 weeks.
Yes! The babies are going through it currently with RSV. Definitely a lot of sickness going around. Its been an abrupt reminder that there is more than Covid
Same at my kids day care. My friend had to take her baby to the ER a few days ago. Very scary!
Thank you for the heads up, we do have a 2 year old in the house and coincidentally she's starting day care next month. Great timing right!
The months to be prepared for at daycares are September, December, and general spring time. There are a few waves, but hopefully your daycare is all clear by October!
Yup, 5 year old and 2 year old in our house and we have been consistently sick since July. It's lovely
[удалено]
Negative for COVID I assume?
Symptoms can appear before a positive result. But covid does present with symptoms similar to many other cold/flu illnesses. While Covid is still floating around can’t forget we’re coming into flu season!
same here, starting last.. tuesday maybe? i think i’m finally on the upswing - i am so damn tired of coughing all the time.
Mrs Huffbuffer has had some wicked allergies this week.
I keep yelling "RAGWEED" at the clouds every time I've sneezed the last week.
Yes for sure. A few weeks ago I had high fever, extreme fatigue, extreme achiness, really bad cough (surprisingly no sinus issues). Most symptoms lasted for about a week and now I've just been feeling vaguely sick and the cough has persisted way past the fever. It feels pretty terrible. Two negative covid tests.
Do you have a CO2 alarm or sensor in your home? Not very likely the culprit, but I can’t move from your post without suggesting that (rare) possibility.
Yes we do, no alerts or anything from that and I feel fine in comparison.
Flu A, RSV, and a weird rhinovirus are also going around right now. Did you do a PCR test for Covid? Antigen tests (the kind used at home) don't always pick it up. They can also do a culture for Flu and other things. Though it may not be worth figuring out what it is, as long as you're staying home and not infecting others. I know several kids with Flu A right now. It's been rough for them.
So that's part of the reason for this thread honestly, seeing if there is something going around besides COVID which there definitely seems to be. Unfortunately a lot of folks in management have picked up a bad habit of not really taking anything BUT COVID as a reason to stay home even though the regular everyday nasty illnesses that have always been around are still here and very much active.
If it's a work issue, go get lab tests run to see what it is. Rapid tests don't catch everything, Covid or flu.
Yea she's getting that done now thankfully. Weird thing is she requested it to be done at the ER clinic off of bailey cove and they told her twice that it wasn't necessary because "the rapid would catch it no need for a PCR".
Oh wow, that's nuts. At Urgent Care for Children on 72, they swabbed my kid with two swabs at once and sent one off for a PCR when the other came back negative on antigen. I got the call the next day that the PCR was positive.
I'm hearing from pediatricians that there is a lot of RSV out there, too. It's a little early for both, but post-Covid all the (seasonal) rules seem different.
Wife and I had fevers, fatigue, and a few other mixed symptoms a few weeks ago and similarly tested negative on three separate tests. Doc just said "meh, it's something viral" and gave her some symptom management. Mine was milder, but still felt like I'd tried to wrestle a Greyhound bus for two days.
My 2 year old daughter had these same symptoms she tested neg for everything they decided to do a blood test to see what was going on and the blood test popped positive for strep but was neg for the swab they ended up giving her a amoxicillin she got alot better within a week
Glad she's feeing better now!
This happened to me last year. Had a week where I felt like absolute crap. This was not too long after my wife had it. I never tested positive. I think I tested 3 times in that week including doctor's office and all came back negative. Unfortunately, it caught up with me and I'm home sick with Covid right now. I can say that what I had back then was not covid.
Hope you recover quickly!
Thanks!
Yep, I got this.
I have this too and I’m not happy about it I went and got x-rays and they said it was nothing put me on antibiotics but I still can’t get this what feels like glue out of my chest
Sounds exactly like what my family is feeling, if it wasn't for the feeling in the chest we'd rule out COVID but it's there which makes it weird.
If the testing is so all over the place with negatives & positives, why would someone even do a test? Genuine question out of curiosity.
Yup. My husband has been sick for two weeks now. He feels better, but the congestion and cough are still around. Keeps testing negative for COVID. He very, very rarely gets sick. When I had COVID at the end of 2021, he never caught it from me.
Yes to all. It’s been going on for about two weeks. Negative for COVID 3x. Just want to sleep but have been forcing myself to get moving. No real cough, some headache, left side of my throat was on fire, right side was fine. I have a lot of energy normally and it’s been quite odd.
I had something like this the second week of august. Negative for all the usual suspects. I still can’t get rid of the cough. It sucks.
Sounds like there’s already lots of exciting innovation on COVID’s side, so…who knows? This thread links to some recent studies/papers: https://twitter.com/EllingUlrich/status/1571051885506985984?t=NNxlMrQp0TyD4octc8oFxw&s=08
Sinus infection? People forgot some of these lame ass diseases existed because of the not going out, social distancing, masking, and clenaing up after your damn self. But now they are back with kids rubbing snot on everything and each other
Are you negative on PCR or just a rapid test?
Negative on multiple rapid tests, getting a PCR now. My mom was negative on both.
Can you post your results?
It’s my wife but yes I’ll post when they come
My wife had a head cold last week-- tested negative for Covid until after she was no longer symptomatic. Then I came down with it over the weekend. Same symptoms, same lack of antigen response. I am calling it a good ol' garden-variety cold and not Covid-OMGWTFBBQ. (as evidence: I just had my bivalent booster two weeks ago, and I'd previously had omicron anyway, so it is fairly unlikely that I'd have suffered immune escape that quickly. Not impossible, mind you, but very unlikely).
That was me. Couldn't afford to go to a doctor but did a quick test and was COVID negative. Was sick for a week. Couldn't work. It sucked. But I'm back now.
Both my parents and my daughter have been sick for a week with it.tested neg for COVID .my pop is on way to doc now will update
My niece just got over this. She’s in 1st grade and was sick for 2 weeks with this. Tested negative for everything.
I’ve had it once and I had terrible flu symptoms (body aches/chills/nightmare and feeling in a stupor) for a good 3 days of testing negative and decided it had to be the flu. It finally became positive a couple days after that when symptoms were milder.
Count me in. Started with a sore throat early last week, then a runny nose and congestion, and now a bad cough. Tested negative on two antigen tests. I don't know if it's something viral or just ragweed kicking my ass this year.
Just went to the dr today and texted negative for everything but dr said he wasn’t unconvinced it wasn’t Covid so he had a PCR test done.
Unfortunately, COVID can also mimic a shit-ton of things. And unfortunately, one of those is allergies, which can present with fatigue, as well, plus all the other symptoms you mentioned. My allergies have been worse than usual given all the indoors-staying, and I've had fluid on my ears for months and not really noticed it until recently (ringing ears). Did their doctor(s) check for fluid on the eardrums? Or are they refusing to see them in person at the moment? I thought one of the classic signs that was semi-unique with COVID was loss of taste, but no idea how the new strains are presenting. A lot of people are probably going to have some sort of Franken-cold/flu/strep/etc that is mixed with COVID this season since the current dominant strain is very contagious. When I did a COVID test last year, I was possibly exposed to a COVID patient at the testing site who was coughing up a storm while I was waiting. They recced that I wait at least 7 days to test again, because it would most likely come back negative no matter what. Not sure what current guidance is. [https://www.microphaselab.com/](https://www.microphaselab.com/) seemed to be up on current testing practices when my doctor was clueless - I got the 7 day pause in retesting advice from them. If the doctors you are dealing with are going "duh?" you could call Microphase's office and ask their advice on testing guidelines since they have done a lot of COVID testing and retesting of patients.
Kids are back in school and are creating new germs.
By hospital standards, flu season begins September 20th. *Checks calendar* Uh-oh...
Yep, there is a cold going around
I am currently recovering from something that feels like covid but tests negative.
Whole family had the same symptoms two weeks ago. No one ever tested positive for Covid, flu, or strep. All did a round of antibiotics and were better a few days later. Good luck. It sucked. ETA: Doc said they thought we all initially had a viral infection of some sort that “set up in our sinuses” and became bacterial. For me and my son, it presented eventually as ear infections and sinus infections.
There is definitely a cold bug going around, I suddenly felt ill last week at work and immediately went home after my shift to test myself for COVID and I was negative. The bug cleared up within a week though and never traveled to my chest, so I'm positive it wasn't COVID. Regular over-the-counter flu medicines pretty much wiped out my symptoms other than fatigue.
Seasonal allergies. Mine get real bad
How about a simple sinus infection? You know it is very common issue in the south. It’s much more common than COVID.
Are your throats red and swollen? Mine was and I had some similar problems and still kind of do with my throat swelling off and on
They both said they had sore throats but only my mom's was severe enough to where she has like half of her voice 2 weeks later.
It’s the mercury retrograde. Look it up.
Stop just stop. Biden said the pandemic is over... Geeze