In order to test, doctors have to have some idea of what it might be. Tests are designed to be specific to what they're looking for. It's not as if they can order up something that says, "take a swab and tell me what it is." Sure, they cam test for everything under the sun, but neither you or your insurance company will be happy with the bill.
How long do you think covid has been in the US?
- Thread starter helixville
- Start date
In order to test, doctors have to have some idea of what it might be. Tests are designed to be specific to what they're looking for. It's not as if they can order up something that says, "take a swab and tell me what it is." Sure, they cam test for everything under the sun, but neither you or your insurance company will be happy with the bill.
Yeah, but you’re in ohio with buckeye athletic supporters everywhere. Who knows what the hell is going around there?
The woman worked for a company that had offices in Wuhan. So while her specific case probably didn't come from the guy in Washington, it doesn't mean that there was widespread spread of the disease in the US weeks or months earlier. Plus, given that she died of a heart attack shortly after having symptoms, specifically four days, she wasn't likely infectied very long, perhaps even as short as a week. The source of her virus could have arrived in the US around the same time as the guy in Washington.
No corpses, no disease.
Too many people flew in from China in December and January. It was here well before the first confirmed case. I talked to a Dr friend the other day who firmly believes it was here in December. Multiple coworkers have wives and family in health care one who is the director of a large ER. They all think it was here earlier than the first confirmed case. ER’s were hammered in Late December and early January with people who had flu like symptoms who tested negative for the flu according to a couple of these people.
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1) It was a bad winter for influenza
2) The flu test used in the ED and doctor's offices has 30-50% false negatives
3) ignore anyone who says they "firmly believe" something without presenting good evidence.
2) The flu test used in the ED and doctor's offices has 30-50% false negatives
3) ignore anyone who says they "firmly believe" something without presenting good evidence.
When is an interesting question, where it came from is another. Yeah, it appears to have started in China, but the east coast cases came here through Europe. We need to close off air travel a lot sooner in the future- and from everywhere.
There was a scientific study that looked at the genetics of the virus to determine source. The study concluded that the first cases in the US were the ones in Washington in late January/early Feb. Unfortunately, I can't find the link to the article anymore.
I first heard of the Wuhan-virus (that's what is was called in december) on the internet can't remember which site. Have been following pandemic since then. Funny thing is I used the "Wuhan-virus" reference on Jan. 2nd in my Advanced Ag Class as we were starting a unit on Animal Health right after Christmas break. My lesson started with a reference to the Spanish Flu pandemic and I used the "Wuhan-virus" as a current event with some similarities in China. I even made the statement at the time that this could be the biggest news story of the year and saw the "eyes rolling" from my students. Had no idea at the time that in a little more than two months what was going to happen.
Personally I came down in mid-november with a three week annoying dry cough and nasal congestion. Then my wife got hit with two bouts. First around Thanksgiving with a Type A flu (but without a fever) and then right before Christmas got hit again this time tested negative for both A and B. Two of my kids then right at Christmas had similar but milder symptoms with diarrhea for a few days but recovered. Never seen my wife in 25 years got hammered like this. She is not one to lay around but really knocked her down.
This leads to my last point. She is A Blood type. There is some research (not peer reviewed) that suggest A blood type is more susceptible with more severe symptoms than other blood types. The same research suggests the inverse for Type O.
Personally I came down in mid-november with a three week annoying dry cough and nasal congestion. Then my wife got hit with two bouts. First around Thanksgiving with a Type A flu (but without a fever) and then right before Christmas got hit again this time tested negative for both A and B. Two of my kids then right at Christmas had similar but milder symptoms with diarrhea for a few days but recovered. Never seen my wife in 25 years got hammered like this. She is not one to lay around but really knocked her down.
This leads to my last point. She is A Blood type. There is some research (not peer reviewed) that suggest A blood type is more susceptible with more severe symptoms than other blood types. The same research suggests the inverse for Type O.
Has your doctor said anything to you? I have basically the same timeline AND still have some effects today and nobody can tell me or has told me anything. I havent gotten the antibody test though because I am not sure of the cost.
It is an epidemiological tool. When I start seeing flu-like symptoms in the office, I start swabbing for flu. Once I get enough positives, I know that flu is in my community. Then I don't really need to swab. If someone has 104 fever, chills, snot, cough, and aches, then they (probably) have the flu, and no test is necessary. The test does not add anything at that point. It is not an ideal situation, but it is reality. I wish there were a more sensitive, fast test, but it doesn't exist. A negative rapid flu test does not rule out flu, especially if the illness really looks flu-like. This gets back to the idea that a test is never just a 'yes' or 'no.' It is a bit more nuanced than that. Unfortunately not all docs and nurses understand this.
The first time I went to the ER, I approached the check in desk and the told the woman I believe I have the flu and she handed me a mask. I kept the mask on in my ER room only to take it off to take the flu test. When the result came back negative, the nurse told me I could take the mask off even though I still had a 101 fever. Who knows how many people I could have infected with whatever I had.
Mid January: Horrible Cough, Fever, Sweats, Runny Nose. Didn't go anywhere.
February: Same Symptoms, two different doctors, two different negative flu tests. The one doctor actually said it was weird because when they tried to listen to my lungs he said "you have no movement".
March: Still a cough, but other symptoms gone.
April-Now: Still have small remnants of a cough. A little shortness of breath happens, although I am on the elliptical every single day.
Very frustrating to say the least.
February: Same Symptoms, two different doctors, two different negative flu tests. The one doctor actually said it was weird because when they tried to listen to my lungs he said "you have no movement".
March: Still a cough, but other symptoms gone.
April-Now: Still have small remnants of a cough. A little shortness of breath happens, although I am on the elliptical every single day.
Very frustrating to say the least.
I’ve described in previous threads that my wife had something that had all the same signs of Covid. Of course there was always a chance it was nothing but a flu. She went to her doctors in December right after Christmas and they told her she just had an upper respiratory infection but didn't say what it was. She works for a funeral home that has quite a few international funerals. I won't repost the whole scenario where they think the infection took place but it all added up.
She received a call from her doctors office last week asking her to come in for a blood test. They reviewed her records and seen that she was undiagnosed at the time with a specific illness and they wanted to test for Covid.
She got the results back and she tested positive for Sars-Cov2 antibodies and protein. They told her that according to her levels she was exposed more than once and it seemed to work as a booster.
So if anyone is curious if this was around before Christmas, it definitely was according to my wife's test. They told me to come in and get tested next. They said even though I was sleeping in the same bed with her every night she was infected there's a chance I wouldn't have had it. Which seems odd given what we have been told by health officials....but...I guess we'll see.
She received a call from her doctors office last week asking her to come in for a blood test. They reviewed her records and seen that she was undiagnosed at the time with a specific illness and they wanted to test for Covid.
She got the results back and she tested positive for Sars-Cov2 antibodies and protein. They told her that according to her levels she was exposed more than once and it seemed to work as a booster.
So if anyone is curious if this was around before Christmas, it definitely was according to my wife's test. They told me to come in and get tested next. They said even though I was sleeping in the same bed with her every night she was infected there's a chance I wouldn't have had it. Which seems odd given what we have been told by health officials....but...I guess we'll see.
Not to get too personal but did you sleep with a mask on? Just kidding...I remember your first post. Interesting story.
I understand what your stance is, but what about this?
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/...ster-suggestion-covid-spread-early-in-florida
Something I'm not getting at all is... whenever the media talks about how the number of actual cases might be 10...15.. 20 times higher than we know, it's expressed in an uh-oh tone.
Why?
If that number is much higher, then the mortality (and covid) rate is similarly that much lower. Right? So what would be bad about learning the true extent of the SARs-cov-2 virus? Covid we can see (symptomatic in a big way) but SARS not at all. And, if it's a vast number, theoretically we would be so much closer to achieving natural herd immunity without need for (or rush to) a vaccine.
I can see how politically on both sides it would be challenging one way or the other (given what has transpired). I can see how companies and brokers heavily vested in the vaccine market might be significantly worried. That I get.
But for Joe and Mary Average, I'd think this would be welcome news. For the world, I'd think this would be welcome news.
So clearly I'm missing something and what better place to get your hat handed to you than the Tommy Mac Board! Fire away.
That’s right - Why do you think this is COVID-19? This is the 19th coronavirus. They’re not uncommon.
You are joking, right?That’s right - Why do you think this is COVID-19? This is the 19th coronavirus. They’re not uncommon.
I'll quote the CDC not some radio host.
"On February 11, 2020 the World Health Organization announced an official name for the disease that is causing the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, first identified in Wuhan China. The new name of this disease is coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19. In COVID-19, ‘CO’ stands for ‘corona,’ ‘VI’ for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as “2019 novel coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV”.
There are many types of human coronaviruses including some that commonly cause mild upper-respiratory tract illnesses. COVID-19 is a new disease, caused be a novel (or new) coronavirus that has not previously been seen in humans. The name of this disease was selected following the World Health Organization (WHO) best practiceexternal iconexternal icon for naming of new human infectious diseases.
FAQs for Healthcare Professionals
Animals and COVID-19
Interim Healthcare Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Persons Under Investigation for 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
Data to inform the definition of close contact are limited. Considerations when assessing close contact include the duration of exposure (e.g., longer exposure time likely increases exposure risk) and the clinical symptoms of the person with COVID-19 (e.g., coughing likely increases exposure risk as does exposure to a severely ill patient). Special consideration should be given to those exposed in health care settings."
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html
Jesus tapdancing christ
I was mocking Rush and Conway who didn’t know what the 19 in covid-19 stood for when the poop hit the fan. I then saw helix’s post about keeping politics out of if so I deleted my posts with potentially politically upsetting quotes and I was saying it’s your choice if you want to leave my political posts up or not.
Interesting. I wonder what antibody test they had. There were a whole bunch of really bad ones out there initially. The FDA allowed literally any test to be used for about a 2 week period. Now they have it cut back to some of the better ones.
I don't think something that is extremely unlikely is impossible, just extremely unlikely. COULD there have been widespread COVID-19 throughout the USA in the fall? Sure. There could have been. But I'm not going to bet on it.
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Haven't spoken to a doctor yet. Got result through Quest labs. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I have some minor scarring or something in my lungs. I read that that is a very common result of the disease - even in those who are otherwise asymptomatic. Luckily it seems minor. More of a nuisance and doesn't really seem to affect my breathing.
Wanna know odd. I tested positive for the antibodies and yet my wife, who is a doctor who sees Covid positive patients regularly and sleeps in the same bed as me, was negative.
Me too (in bold sir)
I personally think it got here via the 'jet-stream' in November.
