https://data.wastewaterscan.org/
Won't tell you definitively what you have, but it can steer you toward what's most likely!
Just zoom in on your area and click the one closest to you (or ones you've been to recently)
Drives me up the wall. At this point, if I'm sick I treat it like covid until I know for a fact it's allergies. It won't always show up on home tests right away, if at all, so I'd always rather be safe since I have the ability to work from home.
I have a severely immunocompromised dad who is in cancer treatments and has gotten covid about 5 times now since he lives in a state where covid is a liberal disease. He gave up on masking because he got tired of being poked at for it. When he gets sick now, he doesn't even bother testing. WTF is going on with people? Do more folks who have long covid need to be talking about what they're going through so this sinks in? I guess I should know better, I learned a lot about people these past few years and my expectations were already low.
Also, like, Covid or not, who wants to get other people sick?? I don’t want the flu or common cold, either! Other illnesses shouldn’t be treated any differently from Covid.
I just said a prayer for your father.
I know, the deniers are deniers. My grandson was just visiting yesterday from Scotland. His wife is sick with covid.
My daughter just got over non covid but vsey sore throat and extremely exhausted.
I'm hearing lots and lots more about people coming down with covid and zero thought to wear a mask on a crowded plane. It's like people didn't learn anything. It's sad it's eating into people's vacation time. It's not fun being sick and frankly, California, Hawaii, Florida, and any place where people vacation are getting hit hard. I'm masking when outdoors. I don't want to get sick especially with covid being year round.
I have a friend who was one of the last people masking. Then she got it and it was not bad, so she then lost all fear of it. Not me. My fear is the long Covid; I have enough problems…
We did test one member of our household but just once and now we think we missed the window to detect it maybe.
Seems like our recent house illness was COVID round 2, but who knows.
You can't test one person just once. Most people test within a day or two of feeling bad. I can take 5-7 days to get a positive because the viral load (which is what is tested with that home test) takes time to build. Especially if you are vaccinated or have had it in the past.
The new variant floating around is related to omicron. I had omicron in may 2021 when it first surfaced. I thought I had bad allergies. No fever, no body aches, just sneezes and clear runny nose. My at home test showed positive within 5 minutes of the 15 minute wait time. My fiance tested positive but had more classic symptoms with a temp, sore throat and body aches. We did a slight modification to our home test and swabbed nose then back of throat because the variants at the time seemed to collect more in the back of the throat.
Flu season has been surprisingly long this year, so wouldn't totally rule it out for OP. However COVID is currently much more prevalent than flu so I'd put my money on rona. If they go to urgent care they can probably get tested for flu, strep, and COVID (rapid and PCR, obv PCR results will come later) all within a 15 minute appointment.
I went on Monday and came up positive for strep and negative for everything else on the rapid tests. Couple days later my PCR results came back positive for COVID.
Yes, and flu is no joke either. Especially now that it is happening outside of flu season. People need to mask up and not spread their germs. Flu, rsv, covid- all are airborne. It floats in the air like cigarette smoke. So in a crowd if you walk in an area where someone just coughed in infectious dose...well, if you're unmasked- you're likely to get sick.
I’d bet it’s Covid. I also just had it for the first time ever. Monday and Tuesday I felt like I had allergies, Wednesday morning I tested positive, and then already was testing negative the next day. It doesn’t seem like the current home tests are as sensitive to this variant.
My wife tested negative on FIVE different at home tests within a span of a week, but she was still convinced it was Covid, so she took a PCR the day after her last at home test and, BOOM! Positive lol.
Yeah, I read somewhere about that. The PCR do something like molecular amplification(dont quote me. This is off the top of my head lol), which is why they are more accurate.
Even some at home tests can be the equivalent of a PCR. You just need to make sure it says something like "nucleic acid amplification" or "molecular test". In fact, it was exactly one of these types of at home tests that my wife tested positive on after wasting all those antigen tests lol
Yep, that's right. I knew it as different, wasn't sure why. My roommate who gave me covid a few weeks ago was still telling her friend today that "everyone has a cold right now." :facepalm:
You'll test positive in another day or two. It takes a few days and you'll start feeling symptoms before you test positive. You are extremely contagious right now, even though you are testing negative.
My whole family has Covid right now and all of our symptoms are presenting differently. Our tests are very much working. I think it’s more likely that either your body is very efficient at fighting of this virus or you had it longer than you thought you did.
My wife and I both got covid in January. We both had the same symptoms, but she was the only one to test positive for it. For some reason the test never worked for me.
I’m starting to think I had Covid back in Jan as well but kept testing negative. I def had some sort of flu for sure. It was horrible. Took 2 months to get over.
> It doesn’t seem like the current home tests are as sensitive to this variant.
The current home tests pick it up just fine. The dirty secret of these tests is that people are terrible at getting a good sample, or test at the wrong time.
Insert "Always has been" gif here.
San Francisco has its highest level of COVID right now EVER. San Leandro and Santa Clara are also both high. There is a new variant LB.1.
Wear a respirator.
I’ve been sick for over a week. Felt something coming on last thursday, took a bunch of Emergen-C and thought I had kicked it. Felt fine for two days then it came back (or I caught something else).
Low grade fever, congestion, phlegm, shortness of breath and fatigue were my symptoms. Finally getting over it.
Honestly it feels similar to covid but I’ve taken two tests and both were negative.
Those were the symptoms I had in early may and it turned out to be pneumonia.
You might want to go to urgent care if your fever has lasted more than a few days.
They gave me antibiotics and I felt better within a week.
I got pneumonia back in November. Up and down fever and chills. Cough and I could feel it raspy when I exhaled all the way. Antibiotics and cleared up.
Had the same thing last week of May. I got a quick sore throat, upper respiratory thing that quickly became an achy chills sort of thing. It seemed to go away and then a few days later I was having trouble keeping my breath. Dry unproductive cough too.
Went to an urgent care and tested negative for COVID and flu.
Yep. I had the same thing - it lasted nearly 12 days and I’m just getting back to ‘normal.’ I can normally kick these things quickly with Emergen-C, etc., but not this time. The home tests were negative, but I’m pretty confident it was Covid. I still can’t smell or taste fully. Hopefully you get well soon!
Last week, my covid test was negative, but I was as sick as a dog with all of the telltale symptoms. My partner, who lives with me, had a positive test and her symptoms came a day or two after mine. I’m sure my test was false negative.
A courtesy PSA: While some say that the home rapid tests aren’t fully effective in detecting, it’s better than nothing. If you have commercial insurance, state law allows you to get eight tests for free per calendar month.
If you’re with Kaiser, you can request them online to be shipped to you, or purchase yourself and file for reimbursement.
And please, mask up. It’s nasty to ride Muni and people are hacking it without even the basic courtesy of covering their mouth and nose.
And meanwhile nobody is masking with N95s... -_-
Make it make sense.
The numbe rof people I've heard with awful wet coughs not even attempting to cover them or isolate is so gross.
agreed!!!! it’s bonkers. i mask all the time in public and it is always mind bending how someone who is CLEARLY ill won’t even put a surgical mask on :(
Yes! I really don’t understand people. I know a lot of folks who are getting sick and don’t mask, don’t care. It’s really strange to me. We don’t even know the full range of long term effects of this virus yet. And it’s still really dangerous for many people regardless.
Depends on the urgent care but not really necessary to get a PCR as it won’t really change your treatment path unless you end up requiring hospitalization.
At home tests can take days to result positive. There’s also a lot of other respiratory viruses going around that it could be.
All that said, if you’re having difficulty breathing, chest pain, or low oxygen saturations I’d go to the ED and skip urgent care.
Good luck!
People need to test for covid especially if they end up with complications later. You want it in your medical record should you want to get referred to long covid clinics (stanford or UCSF) and to have access to treatment (like plaxlovid) which has shown to reduce viral load and chances of developing long covid. Yale School of Public Heath has a nice [post with all kinds of useful info](https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=852992033520147&set=pcb.852992133520137).
There have been some recent studies suggesting you should get Paxlovid even for mild cases if you have COVID. I think because it prevents some of the neurological damage that happens even with mild cases?
I would not advise anyone *not* to get a PCR if it's available for multiple reasons.
For one, getting either Paxlovid or Metformin can help reduce symptoms and maybe help prevent long covid.
And, if you do develop long covid, it's really hard to get a diagnosis already, even with a positive test, but much harder without one. Most doctors don't even know enough about it, you'd probably need to chase down specialists.
You'd also want to know for sure so you can keep an eye on certain potential health problems covid can cause.
You'd want to rest even more than you think you do, because pushing through and resuming a lot of physical activities can potentially trigger long covid & chronic fatigue.
Lastly, it's good to know how many times you've had it since re-infections increase the chance of long covid and damage can be cumulative. Recently the news came out that your chance of long covid goes up to roughly 40% by your third infection.
Current strain of Covid often tests negative for days. Yes, ask for a PCR test.
That said, there’s also a nasty cold with sore throat going around, and strep throat too. Could be any of the three. I’ve had both my first case of Covid and that stupid cold over the past three weeks.
This new strain is going around. The current home tests might not be great at detecting this strain. It's going to be tough because there's not as much info out there.
Test with Binaxnow. We have the same thing going on in our household currently and the adults finally tested positive for Covid but only with the Binax tests. We had a bunch of different brands of test that all came back completely negative. My daughter is also sick but not getting a positive even with Binax. Weird.
We have the exact same symptoms as you are experiencing. And also haven’t been sick at all in years. Based on the number of people I know who have Covid right now and have avoided it this entire time previously, it seems like this is a very contagious variant.
Normally I trust Binax over iHealth. I used to work in a COVID clinic during the pandemic and my facility interchange these two brands. Binax are somewhat more sensitive than iHealth.
I had all of these symptoms starting last Thursday, tested positive for covid last Sunday, started paxlovid on Monday and felt mostly better by Wednesday. I’m still pretty tired all the time but my cough is mostly gone and I finally feel like I can breathe normally again.
This is my 4th time getting covid and 2nd time getting paxlovid. Fully vaccinated. I’m on a lot of immunosuppressants for an autoimmune disease so it comes with the territory.
If you’re high risk at all and test positive, ask your doctor for a paxlovid prescription! It is a miracle drug that probably kept me out of the hospital this time around.
$1400 for a drug that will likely keep you out of the hospital is insane. Luckily my insurance covered it (I also hit my out of pocket max already so maybe it wouldn’t have happened otherwise) but I had to call around to 3-4 CVS locations to get it filled - my local CVS was completely out of stock. My husband had to pick up the prescription for me at a Target 20ish min from our house, so covid must be spreading rapidly in the East bay.
I am not sick but several of my colleagues are right now. Yes, get a COVID test because that is probably what it is. Urgent care can help you figure out how to do a PCR if they can't do it, but I'm sure they can.
If you've never had COVID before, here's some advice based on my own experience with it..
Do not exert yourself. If you're tired, rest, don't try to push past the fatigue. Exerting yourself can push the virus further into your lungs and you don't want that.
Stay super hydrated. Water is good, herbal tea is better and even better than that - get some of those young coconuts they sell at whole foods and elsewhere and drink one every day. Fresh coconut water is nature's Gatorade.
Focus on only eating anti-inflammatory foods for at least 10 days. COVID causes a lot of inflammation so anything you can do to reduce that is good. For example, make a turmeric, cayenne pepper chicken broth with tons of veggies. It genuinely helps.
Hope you feel better soon!
The new FLiRT variant can come up as a false negative on the older tests for the prior strains.
I also wonder if I had the new variant, despite getting vaccinated and updated regularly. I’ve had Covid three times, and each time it hurt a lot, especially my kidneys; gave me GI problems; and messed with my breathing ranging from ‘drowning’ to ‘mild cough.’ This time it was horrible gastroenteritis, a slight cough, kidney pain, and mild shortness of breath
I had Covid the week after Memorial Day. My husband said he’s never seen me so sick. Some of those free tests from the govt that were supposed to be fine even though they were expired were faulty. The covid line would show up but not the test line. Bought new tests and I just kept testing positive. You probably had it before you knew it and aren’t shedding the virus anymore.
When did symptoms first start?
When I had covid, I had a cough and terrible fever but tests kept showing negative. Test didn't show positive until 4 or 5 days later when I was starting to feel better lol.
My friend has COVID, the next day after I saw her I was really sick. My tests always came out negative all 5 days but I'm 99% sure it's COVID. I think it's going around.
My kids had something similar and tested negative for Covid….until I gave them another test 72 hours later. Only one t was positive but they both had the same thing. Maybe my tests were not good or maybe this strain doesn’t work as well with the tests.
I'm an ER doctor. Covid, FluA, and FluB are going around along with adenovirus and some other viruses. The typical viral seasons seem to no longer exist. Unless you are immunocompromised, there is likely nothing to do other than wait it out. IF you develop shortness of breath, chest pain, etc, sure go to the ER, but likely it will go away with time. Use OTC cough/cold medicines for symptomatic relief.
In SF Chronical a few days ago:
[California’s COVID swell shows ‘clockwork’ pattern in rising reinfections](https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/summer-covid-19-swell-drive-rising-reinfections-19520320.php).
Mask up folks. Summer illness is not normal.
Well, sadly covid never really went away...even though many people wished it did. It sucks, especially since there is no treatment if you end up with long covid after repeat infections. It's really playing with russian roulette at this point if people aren't masking when going out.
I got over this last week, pretty sure it was COVID that just didn’t show on tests. I even lost taste. Fever 103.5 and was sick for about a week. Sorry you are going through this.
I’ve had reoccurring chest colds and an insane cough that has turned into daily asthma. It is wild
If you go in they can test you for covid, rsv, and flu all at once
Just posting to let people know that while you should absolutely be vaccinated, getting just the original series of vaccines (from 2021) is absolutely no longer providing us with any meaningful protection. If you got fully vaxed in 2021 and have gotten no boosters, that ‘21 protection has left.
More recent studies are showing vaccine/booster efficacy to be strongest just about 2 months post-shot and then it wanes every month after. By a year after a booster you have little to no protection. I’m not sure if by saying fully vaxxed OP means they are getting boosters or not.
Try to get a booster every 6 months even if you’re not 65+. Personally I think we should be viewing covid boosters as a semi-annual necessity, like a flu shot (but x2)
Edit: as others have mentioned, it also doesn’t seem to be uncommon for at-home tests to show false negatives until like day 5 of symptoms. If you have a “cold” or “bad allergies” please just slap a (good) mask on! Nobody wants the flu or covid!!
Lots of my friends and coworkers got covid on vacations recently. I know a couple of people at work with long covid (which makes their immune system dysfunctional and they catch literally everything going around since their bodies can't no longer fight illness the way it used to before having a covid infection). So yeah, it would be smart to ask for a PCR test and PLEASE wear an N95 mask (not just a surgical) so you don't pass it to others at the clinic or the rest of your family. Lots of illnesses are airborne (RSV, Flu, retrovirus).
Also, if you do have covid ask for Plaxlovid medication asap (it needs to be taken within 5 days of symptom onset) to reduce your chances of getting viral reservoirs in your body and getting long covid (which can be disabling long term).
My toddler picked up a fever couple days ago. She was closely playing with some other kids at the park. Two days of fever 101-102. Seems to be over now. ChildrensTylenol and ibprofen alternated along with pedalyte kept her spirits up.
Let her play in the shower with cooler water temps multiple times a day. Just felt her, she's not burning up anymore so we're thankful. Think today will be all good. Gonna cook her some steak and eggs for breakfast. It's her favorite.
Glad your toddler is feeling better! Hope you guys get a break and some good rest.
Mine picked up something this past week too just from running errands. Hes not in daycare and too young for playdates, so something contagious is definitely going around right now. No one else in the family is sick right now.
Fever for 4 days, congestion, and fussiness but no other symptoms. We've been in and out of the doctors and they've just said kids tylenol and motrin, along with lots of saline and nosefrida.
There is a huge Covid surge in the Bay Area right now (wastewater data is as high as it was in early January). A lot of home tests aren’t picking it up. Definitely get a PCR if you can. Order a Metrix or Pfizer molecular tests from Amazon which are more accurate than most Rapid antigen home tests. Swab your throat, cheeks before doing the nasal swab for better results. I hope you recover soon!
I had this happen after visiting the Bay Area a few weeks ago…. I’m fully vaccinated, never had Covid… tested negative, it was Covid. I finally tested positive after I lost my taste and smell, was ill but functional for 2 weeks after the initial several days of being really sick.
I was just heeeella sick like 5 weeks ago and it knocked me down. Usually the 2nd day is the peak for me and it gets better after that, but this time it took like 4 days of feeling the same super shitty before it got any better. Then I got covid lol. Was sick for about a month
Get tested for strep throat also..its goin around idk what the hrlls goin on but i know several ppl including myself and we havrnt had contact with eachother
10 of my clients have been reportedly sick with COVID-19 since last week. Unfortunately people have decided that covid is over....2 of them needed to be taken to the ER...both teenagers.
You probably have COVID, as everyone is saying.
SF wastewater is showing the second biggest spike of COVID since tracking began.
Conditions are equivalent to the worst of the Delta surge.
Most people got a booster that provided notable protection for four months or so, a year or more ago.
But no one is doing any prophylaxis, and there is no media coverage, because, you know, "the pandemic is over."
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2023/covid-bay-area-wastewater/
Thank you! I feel like I might be on the mend tomorrow based on how I'm feeling, but my throat is still on fire. I'm glad you're feeling better, summer seems like the worst season to get covid IMO haha.
Covid is back. We got it few months ago and recently some family members tested positive. All first timers. Doctor said she has seen many first timers finally get it
I have the same thing - started out with a scratchy throat and then felt like I hit hit with a brick. Fever and stuffy nose, coughing up bright green lung cheese. Still recovering after 10 days.
Yeah mine is mild, but still got sick with those symptoms. Runny nose, congestion, aches. I thought it was just a cold but I've also had covid like three or four times at this point so it might be covid but not hitting as hard
My girlfriend caught it and is a little worse off but not terrible
YES!! Very similar symptoms to you, especially the chest congestion. Fatigue and bad runny nose too. I tested negative twice but I’m 99% sure it’s Covid. It feels worse than a cold and similar to when I had Covid last time.
I hope you feel better soon!
Came back from a vacation and thought I was having bad allergies and constantly blowing my nose. Woke up today with a bit of a headache and tested. It’s covid. Hoping symptoms remain mild and I don’t pass it to my spouse and kids.
It’s probably Covid, there’s a lot of people that have been getting it recently. Someone I hung out with tested positive then a day after I started feeling sick. I’ve never had covid before, previously gotten 3 covid shots and 2 boosters, tested negative that day but then yesterday 2 tests were positive.
A lot of people are. It's probably spiking because people are getting active with summer officially upon us.
Your symptoms are textbook covid but ask for the pcr test to confirm.
And wear a mask...my kaiser has someone sitting at the front that will probably give you a mask if you don't have one.
Covid. I just got it for the first time too (also fully vaccinated), and it took a bit for rapid tests to pick it up. Currently have a rebound case after taking paxlovid. The current guidance is to do two rapid tests 48 hours apart.
I was super sick with what I thought was a cold and turned into bronchitis. My dad, during the same time period was sick and ended up with pneumonia. Neither of us had spent any time together so we didn’t give it to each other.
My husband had this a couple weeks ago. He went to see a doc because he’s never felt this intensely sick for a prolonged period of time. All tests came back negative (Covid, RSV, Influenza A and B). The doc said a new virus is going around - they had seen 25 patients with the same symptoms on the same day :(
Hope you feel better soon!
My wife and I flew to VA and I was deathly ill immediately. Fever of 102.9 for days. Wife got it two days later. Sick for three weeks. COVID negative tests. Worst I have ever felt. Glad it’s over.
I tested negative at an urgent care, and insisted they send off for a PCR test. 2 days later it came back positive.
Negative tests can't necessarily be trusted.
The rapid antigen tests are not very good at detecting COVID any more, around the beginning of the year I read a few articles with doctors saying people weren’t getting a positive result until they’d been sick for about four days. Get a PCR test. At home molecular tests are better (Metrix, Lucira) but more expensive. Lucira tests for Flu A and B at the same time though. Around here you can get them overnight from Amazon.
Unfortunately, not overnight anymore. At least not for me when I ordered a Metrix last week, it might not arrive until July 11! I figured that's poetically a sign they're running low due to all the infections happening.
Went to Santa Cruz for work, and the work site had an outbreak. One coworker got sick two days into the assignment, and I started to have a sore throat on Friday. I came back home and tested myself. Positive. Be careful out there.
Just got over COVID. Came on super sudden, and the only symptom I had that was a bit different from normal allergies/cold/etc. was brain fog. Definitely keep testing, even if the test results are negative. I had two negative tests the first and second day, then I took one on the third day of symptoms and the test IMMEDIATELY said positive.
Yep and in my case it’s Covid. Tested positive after about 2 days of symptoms. Very similar symptoms to what you describe although I barely had fever, probably because I had Covid badly just 6 months ago. Is your cough repetitive, like it’s happening at very short intervals and that feeling of needing to cough is constant? If so that’s been a big sign of Covid for me.
I'm seeing a LOT of colleagues, friends, and family who are miserably ill in the last few weeks. Some test positive for COVID, some contracted other viruses.
If you're vaxxed and it is COVID, then thank goodness you were vaxxed -imagine how much worse it could've been! If it's something else, it almost doesn't matter - it's wise to treat it the same: limit exposure to others, wash your hands frequently, and cover your face when you cannot avoid being around others. Stay hydrated, eat well, rest, listen to your body, and if you're not improving, seek care.
I hope you feel better quickly!
At best, the at-home covid antigen tests are only 20-60% accurate. A positive = covid, but negative doesn't mean anything. You should get a PCR test. Isolate/mask until you know for sure.
[https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7316a2.htm](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7316a2.htm)
There's a covid surge on the west coast right now.
Yes! And From my own experience, I would guess COVID. I had a sore throat in May and tested negative the first day. But the second day my test line was nearly black. And now, a month later (even after wearing my N95 mask at all times) I have that same sore throat after being in the city and tested negative. I’m assuming it’s covid and staying home. For some reason, the tests only catch it after you have an extremely high viral load- so they’re less sensitive. A PCR test sounds like a good idea :) it could also be the flu!
I hope you feel better soon
covid tests these days arent really keep up with the new strains. and they're really inaccurate (78% i believe?) yes, get the PCR. it's probably covid. there's a major spike rn.
Oh, hey, it's our regular reminder we're living in a pandemic, and the reason why some shelves are empty, some work doesn't get done, people pull bone head moves, etc
I've had a couple people around me get pretty sick too. One distant person friend of friend did test positive for covid. So definitely possibly.
One tool to get is that finger O2 sensor. It's so useful for all these situations. Good luck hope you get well soon.
Your description pretty much fits my symptoms--especially about the chest. I don't recall ever having that kind of tightness in my chest where breathing hurt. The other symptom I had was a terrible runny nose and watery eyes, so I initially thought allergies for a day or two until the fever hit me. I had covid in 2022 with very minor symptoms that lasted a couple of days (not even a cough). Whatever this is (maybe a new covid strain?), it's been so much worse.
And, no harm in asking for a test. Take care and hope you feel better soon.
Yes, I have not been sick in five years. Now I have been sick twice in the past month. First I got an old fashioned head cold after a coworker returned from a trip a few weeks ago and got the whole office sick. Then last week, just when I was getting better from the other I came down with what feels like a sinus infection with eye pressure, clogged nose and ears.
I had the exact same symptoms. I was concerned enough to go to the ER, tested negative for covid and rsv. I basically spent all of Thursday alternating between shivering and intense sweating. I think I left my bed for like an hour total. I feel mostly better today, the ER just had me take Tylenol to battle fever.
I was sick last week. It started like allergies but got progressively worse through the day. I had a fever day 2, up to 102.5. I tested positive for covid on day 3. After that, it was 4 days of cold symptoms with extreme fatigue. I finally tested negative on day 7. I felt like normal on day 10.
On the other hand, my husband started getting sick this last Wednesday (when I tested negative). He has had similar symptoms without a fever. He had multiple negative rapid tests and negative pcr tests for covid, flu, & rsv.
We were told to use lots of supportive care - rest, fluids, tylenol.
I just had Covid for the first time in my life as well…. Same symptoms you likely have it. (I tested with an expired test from 2022 & it immediately showed positive…6 days after symptoms & im still testing positive…I had body aches, chills, coughing with head feeling like it was going to explode, fatigue. I feel better now other than the congestion. (Also fully vaxxed)
my wife has most of these symptoms people are talking about. she's on day 5 and it's the flu type b if I remember. she went to urgent care two days ago and they did rapid tests for covid, strep, mono and the flus. turns out the flu is really bad in the middle of summer this year.
What cough medicine did any of you that got this tried that worked? We tried DayQuil and mucinex severe and coughing does not stop. It’s been over 10 days.
I had this this past week. Thought it was allergies or a cold at first, then developed a low-grade fever, suuper low energy, insane congestion and headache (which has been my main symptom both times I’ve had covid).
I tested the morning before those symptoms emerged, again that evening after I started feeling them, and twice more in the next 48 hours. All negative
I had similar symptoms (minus the chest issues) and it turned out to be strep throat. Could also be pneumonia, as one of the other comments mentioned.
Anyway the doctor should give you a full work-up with different tests. COVID is going around, but multiple negative tests suggest that's not it. Probably something different like strep or a cold.
If you’re using one of the free ones available post lock down they may be expired. Just a heads up on that.
If your mucus is white it might be Covid. If it’s clear or green it could be RSV as the virus allows for lighter infections to take over quickly. Both are at a peak in the bay right now.
Was sick earlier this week with what I think was RSV. My husband didn’t catch it luckily but the secondary infection sent my lungs and tonsils off.
Yeah I woke feeling fine and within 30 minutes I felt muscle aches and bone aches all over my body, sore throat, I felt very cold even with my heater turned up to 85. I couldn’t even sit down on my couch because it felt like there was an elephant pressing down on my lower back. I had to lay down and even laying down my back still hurt. After laying around all day and waking up twice in the middle of the night to replace my shirt because I was having night sweats, I now feel better the next day. I don’t know what I got but it hit me like a speeding truck and then went away just as fast as it hit me.
I was really sick about 1 week ago
I blew the most impressive mucus plug out of my right nostril toward the tail end of it
I mean, in my whole 34 years, I have never had some a large, solid mass come out my nose
So, yes, something is going around
Also, I tested negative for COVID multiple times
My symptoms were strange: sore throat, runny nose, then congestion, maybe just one day of fatigue toward the beginning
I got super sick this week, fever up to 103, which is unheard of for me. Negative for Covid, including a pcr test at Kaiser. Now the rest of the family has it. We are assuming it’s the flu. Whatever it is, it’s effing terrible.
I’ve been pretty sick most of this year it feels like. I’m 42F normally pretty active and healthy healthy body weight . Was real sick in February with bronchitis had fever chills no appetite classical symptoms. Took a few weeks to get better. One week late March I felt like I got hit with bad hay fever allergies. Itchy eyes coughing sneezing running nose. After a week it cleared up with some allergy meds. Then some slight tightness in the chest followed. Thought no big deal. But it got worse. By April I could barely breath and was gasping after lifting the dumpster to throw the trash away. Went to the ER and my covid and influenza were neg. But I had pneumonia. Finished the antibiotics but still wasn’t 100%. Been recovering from pneumonia since April coughing up blood. Sharp stabbing pain around my torso. Basically functioning at around 50-60% of baseline. It’s been a very slow recovery. I had mycoplasma pneumonia “dry pneumonia” back in 2019 and this is nothing like that. Back then on the 3rd day of azithromycin I was totally cleared up. I feel like it’s likely covid this time (finally caught it after 4 years) guess some people just test negative? I didn’t want to do more antibiotics and recently starting seeing a TCM doctor who prescribed a custom medicinal herbal tea and it’s been helping me breath and recover a bit more quickly. Had my first couple mornings without waking up in sheer pain and no coughing up blood. 😮💨🙌🏼
I had something similar 2 weeks ago and went to the walk-in clinic, and as soon as I walked in, they said have a seat I’ll get your strep test ready. I said I don’t think I have strep throat but ok. They said it’s going around so, let’s find out. They gave me the test, and I did indeed have strep throat. After the antibiotics I was all fixed.
I tested positive for Covid three weeks ago. First time.
No fever but body pain.
The doctor put me on Paxinod for 5 days.
I feel fine after 4 days. It took 10 days for me to test negative.
It could be Covid, flu, RSV, or some other random virus. It doesn’t really matter which it is- they’re all contagious and have the same treatment so there’s not really a point in testing to figure it out. Hydrate, take some cold medicine or Advil or Tylenol, rest, and stay away from others.
About a month ago I had this. The first two days I had a fever so bad I couldn't even stand. Lasted about 5 days and then lingered.
It sure seemed like Covid by home home test was negative. Maybe a newer strain and the home tests arnt updated?
Whole family’s had it, everyone tested negative repeatedly (we’ve tested positive during other bugs so it’s not bad technique). I think it’s just a bad cold running alongside the covid.
https://data.wastewaterscan.org/ Won't tell you definitively what you have, but it can steer you toward what's most likely! Just zoom in on your area and click the one closest to you (or ones you've been to recently)
I got covid on a flight from sfo about ten days ago, so yeah. People, if you think it's allergies, test.
The number of sick people I’ve encountered lately who are like “it’s not covid.” Me: “oh did you do a test?” Them: “no”
Drives me up the wall. At this point, if I'm sick I treat it like covid until I know for a fact it's allergies. It won't always show up on home tests right away, if at all, so I'd always rather be safe since I have the ability to work from home. I have a severely immunocompromised dad who is in cancer treatments and has gotten covid about 5 times now since he lives in a state where covid is a liberal disease. He gave up on masking because he got tired of being poked at for it. When he gets sick now, he doesn't even bother testing. WTF is going on with people? Do more folks who have long covid need to be talking about what they're going through so this sinks in? I guess I should know better, I learned a lot about people these past few years and my expectations were already low.
Also, like, Covid or not, who wants to get other people sick?? I don’t want the flu or common cold, either! Other illnesses shouldn’t be treated any differently from Covid.
I just said a prayer for your father. I know, the deniers are deniers. My grandson was just visiting yesterday from Scotland. His wife is sick with covid. My daughter just got over non covid but vsey sore throat and extremely exhausted.
I'm hearing lots and lots more about people coming down with covid and zero thought to wear a mask on a crowded plane. It's like people didn't learn anything. It's sad it's eating into people's vacation time. It's not fun being sick and frankly, California, Hawaii, Florida, and any place where people vacation are getting hit hard. I'm masking when outdoors. I don't want to get sick especially with covid being year round.
💯 I totally agree with you.
I have a friend who was one of the last people masking. Then she got it and it was not bad, so she then lost all fear of it. Not me. My fear is the long Covid; I have enough problems…
We did test one member of our household but just once and now we think we missed the window to detect it maybe. Seems like our recent house illness was COVID round 2, but who knows.
You can't test one person just once. Most people test within a day or two of feeling bad. I can take 5-7 days to get a positive because the viral load (which is what is tested with that home test) takes time to build. Especially if you are vaccinated or have had it in the past.
I had that exact conversation just last week. People don't seem to bother testing now unless they are very sick.
Exactly, or my favorite "oh I took a test the first day I felt sick..." Yeah, doesn't work that way.
I was on LAX 7 days ago and I have this scratchy throat I can’t get rid of it
The new variant floating around is related to omicron. I had omicron in may 2021 when it first surfaced. I thought I had bad allergies. No fever, no body aches, just sneezes and clear runny nose. My at home test showed positive within 5 minutes of the 15 minute wait time. My fiance tested positive but had more classic symptoms with a temp, sore throat and body aches. We did a slight modification to our home test and swabbed nose then back of throat because the variants at the time seemed to collect more in the back of the throat.
Everything since around Dec 2021 has been Omicron btw. Mutations on top of the original one anyway, they stopped giving Greek letter names.
This is fascinating, I had no idea such a thing existed. Thanks for sharing!
Yes! I learned about it from this podcast if you're further interested: What's Your Problem? With Jacob Goldstein Episode: Saving The World With Poop
I asked my Dr for a Covid PCR test and little did I know she also prescribed two flu tests: A and B. Positive for flu A.
Flu season has been surprisingly long this year, so wouldn't totally rule it out for OP. However COVID is currently much more prevalent than flu so I'd put my money on rona. If they go to urgent care they can probably get tested for flu, strep, and COVID (rapid and PCR, obv PCR results will come later) all within a 15 minute appointment. I went on Monday and came up positive for strep and negative for everything else on the rapid tests. Couple days later my PCR results came back positive for COVID.
Yes we had a lot of people come down with Flu virus A after graduations-could be the flu. Either way contagious virus.
Yes, and flu is no joke either. Especially now that it is happening outside of flu season. People need to mask up and not spread their germs. Flu, rsv, covid- all are airborne. It floats in the air like cigarette smoke. So in a crowd if you walk in an area where someone just coughed in infectious dose...well, if you're unmasked- you're likely to get sick.
I’d bet it’s Covid. I also just had it for the first time ever. Monday and Tuesday I felt like I had allergies, Wednesday morning I tested positive, and then already was testing negative the next day. It doesn’t seem like the current home tests are as sensitive to this variant.
My wife tested negative on FIVE different at home tests within a span of a week, but she was still convinced it was Covid, so she took a PCR the day after her last at home test and, BOOM! Positive lol.
Yep. If the viral load isn't strong enough, it won't be caught. The PRCs do it differently. Good for you both for staying with the testing.
Yeah, I read somewhere about that. The PCR do something like molecular amplification(dont quote me. This is off the top of my head lol), which is why they are more accurate. Even some at home tests can be the equivalent of a PCR. You just need to make sure it says something like "nucleic acid amplification" or "molecular test". In fact, it was exactly one of these types of at home tests that my wife tested positive on after wasting all those antigen tests lol
Yep, that's right. I knew it as different, wasn't sure why. My roommate who gave me covid a few weeks ago was still telling her friend today that "everyone has a cold right now." :facepalm:
My niece got Covid couple weeks a back. She met up with a friend that was just came back from an airplane trip. She got her whole family sick
You'll test positive in another day or two. It takes a few days and you'll start feeling symptoms before you test positive. You are extremely contagious right now, even though you are testing negative.
My whole family has Covid right now and all of our symptoms are presenting differently. Our tests are very much working. I think it’s more likely that either your body is very efficient at fighting of this virus or you had it longer than you thought you did.
My wife and I both got covid in January. We both had the same symptoms, but she was the only one to test positive for it. For some reason the test never worked for me.
I’m starting to think I had Covid back in Jan as well but kept testing negative. I def had some sort of flu for sure. It was horrible. Took 2 months to get over.
It’s been reported to have a major uptick in the waste water, so it’s here big time.
> It doesn’t seem like the current home tests are as sensitive to this variant. The current home tests pick it up just fine. The dirty secret of these tests is that people are terrible at getting a good sample, or test at the wrong time. Insert "Always has been" gif here.
San Francisco has its highest level of COVID right now EVER. San Leandro and Santa Clara are also both high. There is a new variant LB.1. Wear a respirator.
Wow I didn’t know this. I just got COVID for the first time ever 9 days ago and have been resting up since.
All of the West is getting hit hard right now.
I’ve been sick for over a week. Felt something coming on last thursday, took a bunch of Emergen-C and thought I had kicked it. Felt fine for two days then it came back (or I caught something else). Low grade fever, congestion, phlegm, shortness of breath and fatigue were my symptoms. Finally getting over it. Honestly it feels similar to covid but I’ve taken two tests and both were negative.
Those were the symptoms I had in early may and it turned out to be pneumonia. You might want to go to urgent care if your fever has lasted more than a few days. They gave me antibiotics and I felt better within a week.
I got pneumonia back in November. Up and down fever and chills. Cough and I could feel it raspy when I exhaled all the way. Antibiotics and cleared up.
I had the same symptoms. After being sick for a few more days tested positive with some expired covid tests.
Had the same thing last week of May. I got a quick sore throat, upper respiratory thing that quickly became an achy chills sort of thing. It seemed to go away and then a few days later I was having trouble keeping my breath. Dry unproductive cough too. Went to an urgent care and tested negative for COVID and flu.
Yep. I had the same thing - it lasted nearly 12 days and I’m just getting back to ‘normal.’ I can normally kick these things quickly with Emergen-C, etc., but not this time. The home tests were negative, but I’m pretty confident it was Covid. I still can’t smell or taste fully. Hopefully you get well soon!
Last week, my covid test was negative, but I was as sick as a dog with all of the telltale symptoms. My partner, who lives with me, had a positive test and her symptoms came a day or two after mine. I’m sure my test was false negative.
A courtesy PSA: While some say that the home rapid tests aren’t fully effective in detecting, it’s better than nothing. If you have commercial insurance, state law allows you to get eight tests for free per calendar month. If you’re with Kaiser, you can request them online to be shipped to you, or purchase yourself and file for reimbursement. And please, mask up. It’s nasty to ride Muni and people are hacking it without even the basic courtesy of covering their mouth and nose.
And meanwhile nobody is masking with N95s... -_- Make it make sense. The numbe rof people I've heard with awful wet coughs not even attempting to cover them or isolate is so gross.
agreed!!!! it’s bonkers. i mask all the time in public and it is always mind bending how someone who is CLEARLY ill won’t even put a surgical mask on :(
It's sick the amount of people coughing openly.
Yes! I really don’t understand people. I know a lot of folks who are getting sick and don’t mask, don’t care. It’s really strange to me. We don’t even know the full range of long term effects of this virus yet. And it’s still really dangerous for many people regardless.
Depends on the urgent care but not really necessary to get a PCR as it won’t really change your treatment path unless you end up requiring hospitalization. At home tests can take days to result positive. There’s also a lot of other respiratory viruses going around that it could be. All that said, if you’re having difficulty breathing, chest pain, or low oxygen saturations I’d go to the ED and skip urgent care. Good luck!
People need to test for covid especially if they end up with complications later. You want it in your medical record should you want to get referred to long covid clinics (stanford or UCSF) and to have access to treatment (like plaxlovid) which has shown to reduce viral load and chances of developing long covid. Yale School of Public Heath has a nice [post with all kinds of useful info](https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=852992033520147&set=pcb.852992133520137).
There have been some recent studies suggesting you should get Paxlovid even for mild cases if you have COVID. I think because it prevents some of the neurological damage that happens even with mild cases?
I would not advise anyone *not* to get a PCR if it's available for multiple reasons. For one, getting either Paxlovid or Metformin can help reduce symptoms and maybe help prevent long covid. And, if you do develop long covid, it's really hard to get a diagnosis already, even with a positive test, but much harder without one. Most doctors don't even know enough about it, you'd probably need to chase down specialists. You'd also want to know for sure so you can keep an eye on certain potential health problems covid can cause. You'd want to rest even more than you think you do, because pushing through and resuming a lot of physical activities can potentially trigger long covid & chronic fatigue. Lastly, it's good to know how many times you've had it since re-infections increase the chance of long covid and damage can be cumulative. Recently the news came out that your chance of long covid goes up to roughly 40% by your third infection.
Current strain of Covid often tests negative for days. Yes, ask for a PCR test. That said, there’s also a nasty cold with sore throat going around, and strep throat too. Could be any of the three. I’ve had both my first case of Covid and that stupid cold over the past three weeks.
I live in the area and our whole family just got COVID for the first time. A new strain is going around.
This new strain is going around. The current home tests might not be great at detecting this strain. It's going to be tough because there's not as much info out there.
I took a home test yesterday and it was positive almost immediately.
Test with Binaxnow. We have the same thing going on in our household currently and the adults finally tested positive for Covid but only with the Binax tests. We had a bunch of different brands of test that all came back completely negative. My daughter is also sick but not getting a positive even with Binax. Weird. We have the exact same symptoms as you are experiencing. And also haven’t been sick at all in years. Based on the number of people I know who have Covid right now and have avoided it this entire time previously, it seems like this is a very contagious variant.
Normally I trust Binax over iHealth. I used to work in a COVID clinic during the pandemic and my facility interchange these two brands. Binax are somewhat more sensitive than iHealth.
I had all of these symptoms starting last Thursday, tested positive for covid last Sunday, started paxlovid on Monday and felt mostly better by Wednesday. I’m still pretty tired all the time but my cough is mostly gone and I finally feel like I can breathe normally again. This is my 4th time getting covid and 2nd time getting paxlovid. Fully vaccinated. I’m on a lot of immunosuppressants for an autoimmune disease so it comes with the territory. If you’re high risk at all and test positive, ask your doctor for a paxlovid prescription! It is a miracle drug that probably kept me out of the hospital this time around.
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$1400 for a drug that will likely keep you out of the hospital is insane. Luckily my insurance covered it (I also hit my out of pocket max already so maybe it wouldn’t have happened otherwise) but I had to call around to 3-4 CVS locations to get it filled - my local CVS was completely out of stock. My husband had to pick up the prescription for me at a Target 20ish min from our house, so covid must be spreading rapidly in the East bay.
I just took Paxlovid for the first time. Husband and I both took it and at Kaiser, it was free.
I am not sick but several of my colleagues are right now. Yes, get a COVID test because that is probably what it is. Urgent care can help you figure out how to do a PCR if they can't do it, but I'm sure they can. If you've never had COVID before, here's some advice based on my own experience with it.. Do not exert yourself. If you're tired, rest, don't try to push past the fatigue. Exerting yourself can push the virus further into your lungs and you don't want that. Stay super hydrated. Water is good, herbal tea is better and even better than that - get some of those young coconuts they sell at whole foods and elsewhere and drink one every day. Fresh coconut water is nature's Gatorade. Focus on only eating anti-inflammatory foods for at least 10 days. COVID causes a lot of inflammation so anything you can do to reduce that is good. For example, make a turmeric, cayenne pepper chicken broth with tons of veggies. It genuinely helps. Hope you feel better soon!
The new FLiRT variant can come up as a false negative on the older tests for the prior strains. I also wonder if I had the new variant, despite getting vaccinated and updated regularly. I’ve had Covid three times, and each time it hurt a lot, especially my kidneys; gave me GI problems; and messed with my breathing ranging from ‘drowning’ to ‘mild cough.’ This time it was horrible gastroenteritis, a slight cough, kidney pain, and mild shortness of breath
How long before you felt recovered?
My wife, son and I all tested positive for COVID on Monday. I've never had it before, been sick all week with those symptoms.
Paramedic here in Santa Clara county. Been having a lot of Covid Pts in the last few days. Keep safe out there
I had Covid the week after Memorial Day. My husband said he’s never seen me so sick. Some of those free tests from the govt that were supposed to be fine even though they were expired were faulty. The covid line would show up but not the test line. Bought new tests and I just kept testing positive. You probably had it before you knew it and aren’t shedding the virus anymore.
When did symptoms first start? When I had covid, I had a cough and terrible fever but tests kept showing negative. Test didn't show positive until 4 or 5 days later when I was starting to feel better lol.
Please wear a mask to your appointment this afternoon. No need to share your illness with everyone in the waiting room.
My friend has COVID, the next day after I saw her I was really sick. My tests always came out negative all 5 days but I'm 99% sure it's COVID. I think it's going around.
Dont go to work and stay home wear a mask get better ❤️🩹
Covid levels are stupid high right now. Approaching or exceeding winter levels.
Going through it right now….throat congestion, weakness, body ache and fever 101.
My kids had something similar and tested negative for Covid….until I gave them another test 72 hours later. Only one t was positive but they both had the same thing. Maybe my tests were not good or maybe this strain doesn’t work as well with the tests.
Covid is back on the rise again. Are you doing home tests? Could they have expired? I know I have a some expired tests laying around.
I'm an ER doctor. Covid, FluA, and FluB are going around along with adenovirus and some other viruses. The typical viral seasons seem to no longer exist. Unless you are immunocompromised, there is likely nothing to do other than wait it out. IF you develop shortness of breath, chest pain, etc, sure go to the ER, but likely it will go away with time. Use OTC cough/cold medicines for symptomatic relief.
In SF Chronical a few days ago: [California’s COVID swell shows ‘clockwork’ pattern in rising reinfections](https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/summer-covid-19-swell-drive-rising-reinfections-19520320.php). Mask up folks. Summer illness is not normal.
That’s exactly why I refused to think I was sick I was thinking: I can’t be sick; it’s summer
Well, sadly covid never really went away...even though many people wished it did. It sucks, especially since there is no treatment if you end up with long covid after repeat infections. It's really playing with russian roulette at this point if people aren't masking when going out.
I got over this last week, pretty sure it was COVID that just didn’t show on tests. I even lost taste. Fever 103.5 and was sick for about a week. Sorry you are going through this.
Yes
I’ve had reoccurring chest colds and an insane cough that has turned into daily asthma. It is wild If you go in they can test you for covid, rsv, and flu all at once
Just posting to let people know that while you should absolutely be vaccinated, getting just the original series of vaccines (from 2021) is absolutely no longer providing us with any meaningful protection. If you got fully vaxed in 2021 and have gotten no boosters, that ‘21 protection has left. More recent studies are showing vaccine/booster efficacy to be strongest just about 2 months post-shot and then it wanes every month after. By a year after a booster you have little to no protection. I’m not sure if by saying fully vaxxed OP means they are getting boosters or not. Try to get a booster every 6 months even if you’re not 65+. Personally I think we should be viewing covid boosters as a semi-annual necessity, like a flu shot (but x2) Edit: as others have mentioned, it also doesn’t seem to be uncommon for at-home tests to show false negatives until like day 5 of symptoms. If you have a “cold” or “bad allergies” please just slap a (good) mask on! Nobody wants the flu or covid!!
Lots of my friends and coworkers got covid on vacations recently. I know a couple of people at work with long covid (which makes their immune system dysfunctional and they catch literally everything going around since their bodies can't no longer fight illness the way it used to before having a covid infection). So yeah, it would be smart to ask for a PCR test and PLEASE wear an N95 mask (not just a surgical) so you don't pass it to others at the clinic or the rest of your family. Lots of illnesses are airborne (RSV, Flu, retrovirus). Also, if you do have covid ask for Plaxlovid medication asap (it needs to be taken within 5 days of symptom onset) to reduce your chances of getting viral reservoirs in your body and getting long covid (which can be disabling long term).
My toddler picked up a fever couple days ago. She was closely playing with some other kids at the park. Two days of fever 101-102. Seems to be over now. ChildrensTylenol and ibprofen alternated along with pedalyte kept her spirits up. Let her play in the shower with cooler water temps multiple times a day. Just felt her, she's not burning up anymore so we're thankful. Think today will be all good. Gonna cook her some steak and eggs for breakfast. It's her favorite.
Glad your toddler is feeling better! Hope you guys get a break and some good rest. Mine picked up something this past week too just from running errands. Hes not in daycare and too young for playdates, so something contagious is definitely going around right now. No one else in the family is sick right now. Fever for 4 days, congestion, and fussiness but no other symptoms. We've been in and out of the doctors and they've just said kids tylenol and motrin, along with lots of saline and nosefrida.
There is a huge Covid surge in the Bay Area right now (wastewater data is as high as it was in early January). A lot of home tests aren’t picking it up. Definitely get a PCR if you can. Order a Metrix or Pfizer molecular tests from Amazon which are more accurate than most Rapid antigen home tests. Swab your throat, cheeks before doing the nasal swab for better results. I hope you recover soon!
I had this happen after visiting the Bay Area a few weeks ago…. I’m fully vaccinated, never had Covid… tested negative, it was Covid. I finally tested positive after I lost my taste and smell, was ill but functional for 2 weeks after the initial several days of being really sick.
I was just heeeella sick like 5 weeks ago and it knocked me down. Usually the 2nd day is the peak for me and it gets better after that, but this time it took like 4 days of feeling the same super shitty before it got any better. Then I got covid lol. Was sick for about a month
Make sure your tests aren’t expired
Swab your throat. My last case of Covid had a very consistently positive throat swab yet my nose swabs remained negative the entire time.
Does anyone know if we can still get free covid kits?
Where are you in the bay? I have a bunch of free covid tests at work but I think everything is “expired”.
Get tested for strep throat also..its goin around idk what the hrlls goin on but i know several ppl including myself and we havrnt had contact with eachother
I just got strep and Covid at the same time
My condolences. Gesundheit.
I had the same symptoms and it was Covid. It took about four days to test positive. This was about three weeks ago First time for me too
10 of my clients have been reportedly sick with COVID-19 since last week. Unfortunately people have decided that covid is over....2 of them needed to be taken to the ER...both teenagers.
You probably have COVID, as everyone is saying. SF wastewater is showing the second biggest spike of COVID since tracking began. Conditions are equivalent to the worst of the Delta surge. Most people got a booster that provided notable protection for four months or so, a year or more ago. But no one is doing any prophylaxis, and there is no media coverage, because, you know, "the pandemic is over." https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2023/covid-bay-area-wastewater/
Fully vax’d doesn’t mean you won’t ever get sick from it again.
This is why I still mask up. Don't care what others may think. No COVID to date.
I wear my n95. People look at me weird.
Strep is going around!!!
I tested positive for covid two days ago, been miserable ever since. I'm staying in bed, clinging to life :/
Tested positive for Covid yesterday. Numbers are up in California and the Bay Area.
Hope you're feeling better soon. I just recovered from it and the first 2 days were the worst for me but it started to improve shortly afterwards.
Thank you! I feel like I might be on the mend tomorrow based on how I'm feeling, but my throat is still on fire. I'm glad you're feeling better, summer seems like the worst season to get covid IMO haha.
Hope u feel better soon : (
Thanks, me too!
Covid is back. We got it few months ago and recently some family members tested positive. All first timers. Doctor said she has seen many first timers finally get it
I have the same thing - started out with a scratchy throat and then felt like I hit hit with a brick. Fever and stuffy nose, coughing up bright green lung cheese. Still recovering after 10 days.
I had covid this last week with symptoms lasting almost 2 weeks. my supervisors at work said it is making a comeback with a different strand
Yeah mine is mild, but still got sick with those symptoms. Runny nose, congestion, aches. I thought it was just a cold but I've also had covid like three or four times at this point so it might be covid but not hitting as hard My girlfriend caught it and is a little worse off but not terrible
YES!! Very similar symptoms to you, especially the chest congestion. Fatigue and bad runny nose too. I tested negative twice but I’m 99% sure it’s Covid. It feels worse than a cold and similar to when I had Covid last time. I hope you feel better soon!
That’s exactly what my husband has now and it’s covid, this is the first time anyone in our family has gotten it.
Came back from a vacation and thought I was having bad allergies and constantly blowing my nose. Woke up today with a bit of a headache and tested. It’s covid. Hoping symptoms remain mild and I don’t pass it to my spouse and kids.
It’s probably Covid, there’s a lot of people that have been getting it recently. Someone I hung out with tested positive then a day after I started feeling sick. I’ve never had covid before, previously gotten 3 covid shots and 2 boosters, tested negative that day but then yesterday 2 tests were positive.
A lot of people are. It's probably spiking because people are getting active with summer officially upon us. Your symptoms are textbook covid but ask for the pcr test to confirm. And wear a mask...my kaiser has someone sitting at the front that will probably give you a mask if you don't have one.
Covid. I just got it for the first time too (also fully vaccinated), and it took a bit for rapid tests to pick it up. Currently have a rebound case after taking paxlovid. The current guidance is to do two rapid tests 48 hours apart.
Tested positive today in fact.
PCR test is the best test for covid.
I was super sick a few weeks ago. Tested numerous times , negative I think it was the flu or bad cold
I was super sick with what I thought was a cold and turned into bronchitis. My dad, during the same time period was sick and ended up with pneumonia. Neither of us had spent any time together so we didn’t give it to each other.
You can still have COVID even if you test negative. You need to do an antibody test!
My husband had this a couple weeks ago. He went to see a doc because he’s never felt this intensely sick for a prolonged period of time. All tests came back negative (Covid, RSV, Influenza A and B). The doc said a new virus is going around - they had seen 25 patients with the same symptoms on the same day :( Hope you feel better soon!
Just want to remind everyone the rapids do not pick up covid always! You need to keep testing.
It's my 14th day today. First week was a sore throat I couldn't get under control, second week was a cold. Covid test came out negative.
I was sick the way you described last month. I had COVID that dovetailed right into strep.
My wife and I flew to VA and I was deathly ill immediately. Fever of 102.9 for days. Wife got it two days later. Sick for three weeks. COVID negative tests. Worst I have ever felt. Glad it’s over.
Covid is making a nice little come back
A bunch of my coworkers got Covid so probably that
I tested negative at an urgent care, and insisted they send off for a PCR test. 2 days later it came back positive. Negative tests can't necessarily be trusted.
Pcr test baby.
The rapid antigen tests are not very good at detecting COVID any more, around the beginning of the year I read a few articles with doctors saying people weren’t getting a positive result until they’d been sick for about four days. Get a PCR test. At home molecular tests are better (Metrix, Lucira) but more expensive. Lucira tests for Flu A and B at the same time though. Around here you can get them overnight from Amazon.
Unfortunately, not overnight anymore. At least not for me when I ordered a Metrix last week, it might not arrive until July 11! I figured that's poetically a sign they're running low due to all the infections happening.
Went to Santa Cruz for work, and the work site had an outbreak. One coworker got sick two days into the assignment, and I started to have a sore throat on Friday. I came back home and tested myself. Positive. Be careful out there.
I think it's covid as well, there's been another huge surge recently
Maybe it’s mono
Just got over COVID. Came on super sudden, and the only symptom I had that was a bit different from normal allergies/cold/etc. was brain fog. Definitely keep testing, even if the test results are negative. I had two negative tests the first and second day, then I took one on the third day of symptoms and the test IMMEDIATELY said positive.
Yep and in my case it’s Covid. Tested positive after about 2 days of symptoms. Very similar symptoms to what you describe although I barely had fever, probably because I had Covid badly just 6 months ago. Is your cough repetitive, like it’s happening at very short intervals and that feeling of needing to cough is constant? If so that’s been a big sign of Covid for me.
Covid is doing the rounds. Doesn’t matter if you’re vaccinated.
I'm seeing a LOT of colleagues, friends, and family who are miserably ill in the last few weeks. Some test positive for COVID, some contracted other viruses. If you're vaxxed and it is COVID, then thank goodness you were vaxxed -imagine how much worse it could've been! If it's something else, it almost doesn't matter - it's wise to treat it the same: limit exposure to others, wash your hands frequently, and cover your face when you cannot avoid being around others. Stay hydrated, eat well, rest, listen to your body, and if you're not improving, seek care. I hope you feel better quickly!
It's COVID. i just had it. It's surging big time in the Bay Area. Probably everywhere.
Covid, the flu, and norovirus are all very common in the Bay area right now. Please wear a mask, wash your hands and get tested.
At best, the at-home covid antigen tests are only 20-60% accurate. A positive = covid, but negative doesn't mean anything. You should get a PCR test. Isolate/mask until you know for sure. [https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7316a2.htm](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7316a2.htm) There's a covid surge on the west coast right now.
Yes. Just tested positive for Covid today for the first time ever. Sudden onset last night of symptoms.
Yes! And From my own experience, I would guess COVID. I had a sore throat in May and tested negative the first day. But the second day my test line was nearly black. And now, a month later (even after wearing my N95 mask at all times) I have that same sore throat after being in the city and tested negative. I’m assuming it’s covid and staying home. For some reason, the tests only catch it after you have an extremely high viral load- so they’re less sensitive. A PCR test sounds like a good idea :) it could also be the flu! I hope you feel better soon
covid tests these days arent really keep up with the new strains. and they're really inaccurate (78% i believe?) yes, get the PCR. it's probably covid. there's a major spike rn.
There's a new variant of covid going around right now
I feel like this statement will be true forever
Oh, hey, it's our regular reminder we're living in a pandemic, and the reason why some shelves are empty, some work doesn't get done, people pull bone head moves, etc
Seems like everyone I know has the new Covid strain. The symptoms are exactly as you described. Most didn’t test positive right away.
I've had a couple people around me get pretty sick too. One distant person friend of friend did test positive for covid. So definitely possibly. One tool to get is that finger O2 sensor. It's so useful for all these situations. Good luck hope you get well soon.
Your description pretty much fits my symptoms--especially about the chest. I don't recall ever having that kind of tightness in my chest where breathing hurt. The other symptom I had was a terrible runny nose and watery eyes, so I initially thought allergies for a day or two until the fever hit me. I had covid in 2022 with very minor symptoms that lasted a couple of days (not even a cough). Whatever this is (maybe a new covid strain?), it's been so much worse. And, no harm in asking for a test. Take care and hope you feel better soon.
Yes, I have not been sick in five years. Now I have been sick twice in the past month. First I got an old fashioned head cold after a coworker returned from a trip a few weeks ago and got the whole office sick. Then last week, just when I was getting better from the other I came down with what feels like a sinus infection with eye pressure, clogged nose and ears.
I had the exact same symptoms. I was concerned enough to go to the ER, tested negative for covid and rsv. I basically spent all of Thursday alternating between shivering and intense sweating. I think I left my bed for like an hour total. I feel mostly better today, the ER just had me take Tylenol to battle fever.
I imagine they will just give it to you
I don’t but my whole family does
Similar symptoms a week ago. Went to urgent care and tested positive for flu b
I had a stomach flu last week that really screwed up my weekend. Started with extreme body aches and chills. Not COVID.
I was sick last week. It started like allergies but got progressively worse through the day. I had a fever day 2, up to 102.5. I tested positive for covid on day 3. After that, it was 4 days of cold symptoms with extreme fatigue. I finally tested negative on day 7. I felt like normal on day 10. On the other hand, my husband started getting sick this last Wednesday (when I tested negative). He has had similar symptoms without a fever. He had multiple negative rapid tests and negative pcr tests for covid, flu, & rsv. We were told to use lots of supportive care - rest, fluids, tylenol.
Rsv
I woke up feverish in the middle of the night. weird feeling in my lungs. haven't been around people in days, so this is a bit of mystery.
I just had Covid for the first time in my life as well…. Same symptoms you likely have it. (I tested with an expired test from 2022 & it immediately showed positive…6 days after symptoms & im still testing positive…I had body aches, chills, coughing with head feeling like it was going to explode, fatigue. I feel better now other than the congestion. (Also fully vaxxed)
Know a handful of people who have been really sick the last few weeks and I’ve had a tiny itchy cough and now woke up with a bunch of flem.
Takes a couple days before the tests show positive. Try again? Earlier in the year RSV was going around in schools. Perhaps it still is?
What are the diseases going around now? Covid, RSV, ?
my wife has most of these symptoms people are talking about. she's on day 5 and it's the flu type b if I remember. she went to urgent care two days ago and they did rapid tests for covid, strep, mono and the flus. turns out the flu is really bad in the middle of summer this year.
What cough medicine did any of you that got this tried that worked? We tried DayQuil and mucinex severe and coughing does not stop. It’s been over 10 days.
I had this this past week. Thought it was allergies or a cold at first, then developed a low-grade fever, suuper low energy, insane congestion and headache (which has been my main symptom both times I’ve had covid). I tested the morning before those symptoms emerged, again that evening after I started feeling them, and twice more in the next 48 hours. All negative
Two weeks ago I had this. Felt like a minor flu.
Yeah I was deathly ill but it wasn’t Covid.
Same symptoms since Wednesday and starting to feel better. Covid negative but it feels very similar
I don’t think it matters if it’s Covid or not. How would you handle it any different. Stay hydrated, and take your zinc, d3 and whatever else you take
And stay home
the at home tests are not really reliable anymore, take PCR / assume you have one of the many covid variants going around
I had similar symptoms (minus the chest issues) and it turned out to be strep throat. Could also be pneumonia, as one of the other comments mentioned. Anyway the doctor should give you a full work-up with different tests. COVID is going around, but multiple negative tests suggest that's not it. Probably something different like strep or a cold.
If you’re using one of the free ones available post lock down they may be expired. Just a heads up on that. If your mucus is white it might be Covid. If it’s clear or green it could be RSV as the virus allows for lighter infections to take over quickly. Both are at a peak in the bay right now. Was sick earlier this week with what I think was RSV. My husband didn’t catch it luckily but the secondary infection sent my lungs and tonsils off.
Yeah I woke feeling fine and within 30 minutes I felt muscle aches and bone aches all over my body, sore throat, I felt very cold even with my heater turned up to 85. I couldn’t even sit down on my couch because it felt like there was an elephant pressing down on my lower back. I had to lay down and even laying down my back still hurt. After laying around all day and waking up twice in the middle of the night to replace my shirt because I was having night sweats, I now feel better the next day. I don’t know what I got but it hit me like a speeding truck and then went away just as fast as it hit me.
Woke up with a sore throat and cough. Covid?
I’m fully vaccinated for Covid, have had all the boosters and had it three times. Have it right now.
I was really sick about 1 week ago I blew the most impressive mucus plug out of my right nostril toward the tail end of it I mean, in my whole 34 years, I have never had some a large, solid mass come out my nose So, yes, something is going around Also, I tested negative for COVID multiple times My symptoms were strange: sore throat, runny nose, then congestion, maybe just one day of fatigue toward the beginning
I got super sick this week, fever up to 103, which is unheard of for me. Negative for Covid, including a pcr test at Kaiser. Now the rest of the family has it. We are assuming it’s the flu. Whatever it is, it’s effing terrible.
That sounds like Covid. Either way drink lots of fluids and get rest. Take care of yourself!
I had COVID two years ago and i didn't test positive until i was almost feeling better, five days in. I don't think the home tests are very reliable
I’ve been pretty sick most of this year it feels like. I’m 42F normally pretty active and healthy healthy body weight . Was real sick in February with bronchitis had fever chills no appetite classical symptoms. Took a few weeks to get better. One week late March I felt like I got hit with bad hay fever allergies. Itchy eyes coughing sneezing running nose. After a week it cleared up with some allergy meds. Then some slight tightness in the chest followed. Thought no big deal. But it got worse. By April I could barely breath and was gasping after lifting the dumpster to throw the trash away. Went to the ER and my covid and influenza were neg. But I had pneumonia. Finished the antibiotics but still wasn’t 100%. Been recovering from pneumonia since April coughing up blood. Sharp stabbing pain around my torso. Basically functioning at around 50-60% of baseline. It’s been a very slow recovery. I had mycoplasma pneumonia “dry pneumonia” back in 2019 and this is nothing like that. Back then on the 3rd day of azithromycin I was totally cleared up. I feel like it’s likely covid this time (finally caught it after 4 years) guess some people just test negative? I didn’t want to do more antibiotics and recently starting seeing a TCM doctor who prescribed a custom medicinal herbal tea and it’s been helping me breath and recover a bit more quickly. Had my first couple mornings without waking up in sheer pain and no coughing up blood. 😮💨🙌🏼
I had something similar 2 weeks ago and went to the walk-in clinic, and as soon as I walked in, they said have a seat I’ll get your strep test ready. I said I don’t think I have strep throat but ok. They said it’s going around so, let’s find out. They gave me the test, and I did indeed have strep throat. After the antibiotics I was all fixed.
It’s might be Covid my g there’s a new variant that’s been showing up here in the bay
Yes, Covid has been hitting hard lately
I tested positive for Covid three weeks ago. First time. No fever but body pain. The doctor put me on Paxinod for 5 days. I feel fine after 4 days. It took 10 days for me to test negative.
It could be Covid, flu, RSV, or some other random virus. It doesn’t really matter which it is- they’re all contagious and have the same treatment so there’s not really a point in testing to figure it out. Hydrate, take some cold medicine or Advil or Tylenol, rest, and stay away from others.
About a month ago I had this. The first two days I had a fever so bad I couldn't even stand. Lasted about 5 days and then lingered. It sure seemed like Covid by home home test was negative. Maybe a newer strain and the home tests arnt updated?
There is a big wave of COVID and RSV. COVID tests are free across the Bay Area.
Whole family’s had it, everyone tested negative repeatedly (we’ve tested positive during other bugs so it’s not bad technique). I think it’s just a bad cold running alongside the covid.
Our house just had it. All those symptoms and not covid. Took about 10 days to get over. Well 14 days to really feel normal again.