Everyone wants a tourist souvenir, huh?
I had some nasal congestion when the plane flight began descending, with a very infrequent cough to clear out a little swallowed mucous (just a little). Thought it was the air pressure change. Early in the trip, my wife had a stuffy nose; she thought it was the head cold she had a few months back. That was mostly gone by week 2.
The day after we got back, we both ran rapid tests and tested positive for Covid. I probably had it asymptomatically for days – possibly as grass pollen allergies on Wednesday (we were in outdoor museum complex on grass farmland). The BionaxNow test kit has a 61% false negative rate for asymptomatic cases – it literally misses 2/3ds of the asymptomatic cases – which are 35-40% of all cases. Which means frequent testing will not work to stop the spread (only immunity and mutations to less virulent forms will end the pandemic). My wife’s + result was likely residual detection from an infection that was now over with for her.
My Covid symptoms were:
- On Saturday, occasionally sniffing my nose – very, very infrequently – about the same as usual. Very intermittently swallowing some mucous. Felt tired.
- Later, felt very tired and had a bad headache. In fact, the best way to describe the symptoms is “super tired with a headache”. That’s all.
- On Sunday, still tired but less so than day before and much less headache. For a few hours, the tiredness and headache were completely gone, although the fatigue resumed later. Overall, other than fatigued, am fairly functional on Sunday (the day I am writing these posts).
- Bouts of fatigue lasting a few hours continued for 2-3 more days. The headache was gone. I mowed the lawn, did a 2-mile walk (I live in a small town, semi-rural area), worked in the yard and on various projects. Sort of the least bad common cold I’ve ever had.
- Will be staying at home for a while and not planning to retest until a while. Mid week still tested positive; I might re-test next week. I’m told that 10 days or 2 days after all symptoms have gone, you are over it.
We view this as good news – triple vaxxed plus acquired immunity from the disease is said to be a powerful combination more effective than being vaccinated only.
