Any think they might have had this early in the year?

fits

I came down with a dose on January 20th exactly five days after a trip to UK. It was a persistent cough which lasted into March and it was freaking me out as the Coronavirus story got bigger and bigger. I was out of work for a week but could have been longer. I couldn’t get to sleep some nights with the coughing. Now I’m 99% sure it was a bog standard winter dose but I’d be interested nonetheless. No family members came down with it.

NIMAN

I woke up on 5th Dec with the most painful throat I ever had. Could hardly swallow and very inflamed. No other symptoms, just the throat.

I know this isn't one of the symptoms of Covid btw.

It lasted 6 weeks with the odd day when it wasn't as bad, but generally most mornings when I woke it was very painful, easing gradually as the day went on.

Trying to get a gp appt in the north (I kept my gp there ) is nigh on impossible so I never went to get it checked out.

I know of a handful of other work colleagues and friends who also reported very bad throats around that time.

The Bishop Basher

My 16 year old daughter was floored by a flu just after Christmas.

She couldn't get out of bed for 3 days.

We all had various symptoms of varying severity but it was far more severe then anything we've had in the house before.

That was until my wife caught a "flu" a few weeks ago which completely floored her and had her in bed for over a week.

She had all the Corona symptoms but tested negative so who knows.

the kelt

My 7 year old daughter ended up in A and E on St Stephens Night on a ventilator.

She developed a cough Christmas Eve which gradually got worse over Christmas Day to the extent we had to bring her to Caredoc on Christmas Night. She got access to a Nebuliser there but in reality she was no better on Stephens Day. so we ended up in A and E.

It took her a couple of days to get over it, the overnight on the ventilator done the job for her at the time followed by antibiotics.

The thing is my wife recorded her at her worst at home here so the doctor could hear her coughing and struggling to catch her breath and still has it on her phone.

There was a clip online of a Cocid patient coughing and struggling to catch their breath (as a warning for what to look out for weeks ago) and that patient sounds exactly the same as my Daughter, its uncanny.

My Daughter is asthmatic so we put it down to that at the time. I remember getting the prescription from the Chemist who remarked to me at the time that they had never seen anything this particular strain of flu and there was only one antibiotic which seemed to work on it which was flying out the door she remarked.

Funny thing is my father who is 78 lives with us and has been going around with a cough for years never got a touch of it

ednwireland

wakka12 wrote: »

Flu symptoms are similar. Flu infects thousands of people in Ireland annually, and hospitalises hundreds here too. Any particular reason you think it was COVID back then as oppposed to much more likely situation you had flu?

a lot of our office had the same thing,there is alot of travel through main uk airports in our office.

ive had proper flu twice i think in 30 years nothing like this dose

jimbobaloobob

Revisit of tests shows it was in France a month before confirmed case so who knows
https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0505/1136477-covid19-coronavirus-europe/

Mike3287

threeball wrote: »

The RO is over 5. Let's just assume you were patient zero and have 5 in your family, that's 5 infections in a few days, they infect 25, they infect 125, they infect 625 and so on. So going by your dates we'd have over 1000 infections by new year and yet no deaths or presentation at hospitals til late March.

Alot of things we don't about the virus and RO, so wouldn't be so sure on those type figures, they don't make any sense anyway, think about it.

If it was truly over 5 we would have been seeing crazy exponential growth from the onset, it would be ridiculous

Take the case in France that came up at the weekend, patient had it late December in France, he infected his family or they infected him, they went into work and carried on life as normal

Why didn't he infect 1000 by New Year and millions by January?

Also what I find funny is how people are so sure this virus wasn't in circulation everywhere by December/Jan?

How could it not be?

Virus started in Wuhan in late November we are told, possibly earlier with an RO of upto 5.

Wuhan went into lockdown late January and over 1.5million passengers fly out every month on average

What did the Virus do for those 60 days till cases appeared in western world?

I like this Wuhan place, I think i will hang out here for 60 days, I won't go anywhere for a while, no flying for me.

60 days later, i'm bored think I will go Italy/Spain etc, nice weather there.

Happy4all

threeball wrote: »

If that were true we'd have had thousands of cases by January and not the middle or April. There was a dose going round but it wasn't CV19

Surprised you can be so sure. I was in bed from 26 Dec and virtually self isolating until returning to work 7 Jan

I still have a bunch of undelivered Xmas pressies

Tropheus

I had the dose over Christmas. It was the worst cough I've had in many years. It took me about a month to fully shift it.

I then had another cough starting on St. Patrick's week. It wasn't as bad as Chrstmas, but lasted for 3 weeks before it fully went. Myself and my yougest son had it. Three other members in the household were fine.

I was in Beaumont hospital for the past few days (not Covid related). A couple of the nurses were telling me that most of the staff on the ward had it. The reason they know is that they are tested as soon as they displayed any symptoms given their job. They said that for most it was a persistent cough and that most of them didn't have a temperature. I think a high temperature as a symptom is being overplayed as many I've spoken to who tested positive didn't have one.

Happy4all

Tropheus wrote: »

I had the dose over Christmas. It was the worst cough I've had in many years. It took me about a month to fully shift it.

I then had another cough starting on St. Patrick's week. It wasn't as bad as Chrstmas, but lasted for 3 weeks before it fully went. Myself and my yougest son had it. Three other members in the household were fine.

I was in Beaumont hospital for the past few days (not Covid related). A couple of the nurses were telling me that most of the staff on the ward had it. The reason they know is that they are tested as soon as they displayed any symptoms given their job. They said that for most it was a persistent cough and that most of them didn't have a temperature. I think a high temperature as a symptom is being overplayed as many I've spoken to who tested positive didn't have one.

Did the staff in Beaumont indicate how long ago they had it?

Mike3287

Tropheus wrote: »

I had the dose over Christmas. It was the worst cough I've had in many years. It took me about a month to fully shift it.

I then had another cough starting on St. Patrick's week. It wasn't as bad as Chrstmas, but lasted for 3 weeks before it fully went. Myself and my yougest son had it. Three other members in the household were fine.

I was in Beaumont hospital for the past few days (not Covid related). A couple of the nurses were telling me that most of the staff on the ward had it. The reason they know is that they are tested as soon as they displayed any symptoms given their job. They said that for most it was a persistent cough and that most of them didn't have a temperature. I think a high temperature as a symptom is being overplayed as many I've spoken to who tested positive didn't have one.

They tested postive?

Antibodies?

odyssey06

Just saw this on The Journal and thought it was relevant here.

TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said “it is very possible” that Covid-19 could have been in Ireland last year or in early January of this year. Speaking in the Dáil, he said future review of the data will give more detail.

https://www.thejournal.ie/leaders-questions-58-5093409-May2020/

Mike3287

odyssey06 wrote: »

Just saw this on The Journal and thought it was relevant here.

TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said “it is very possible” that Covid-19 could have been in Ireland last year or in early January of this year. Speaking in the Dáil, he said future review of the data will give more detail.

https://www.thejournal.ie/leaders-questions-58-5093409-May2020/

Can't be possible

Epidemiologist on boards said hospitals would have been over run

lawrencesummers

I had to take a week of work in mid December last year with a terrible flu and cough, had a temp for about 6 days and a bad case of the runs for 3/4 days. I thought it was the food in Kaifeng, China. Our flight was delayed in Beijing for 7 hours and by the time I got back I had about two hours sleep in a day and a half but I’m starting to think it could have been something else

Tropheus

Happy4all wrote: »

Did the staff in Beaumont indicate how long ago they had it?

around 10 days.

Tropheus

Mike3287 wrote: »

They tested postive?

Antibodies?

Yes, they are tested routinely once they show any of the symptoms.

They are currently undertaking a study of anti-bodies and some staff that previously tested positive are volunteering.

All patients are tested regardless of symptoms. I was swabbed on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. and got the result (negative) at 2 p.m. the same day.

piplip87

I had the bad dose around Christmas although similar symptoms I very much doubt it was Corona.

If it was circulating since before Christmas surely we would have been overwhelmed with deaths.

Tropheus

Tropheus wrote: »

around 10 days.

Sorry, just reread your post (properly). This was between 4-6 weeks ago. They said they were slammed with people of sick. However, things are getting back to normal and their numbers of Covid admissions have fallen.

lawrencesummers

piplip87 wrote: »

I had the bad dose around Christmas although similar symptoms I very much doubt it was Corona.

If it was circulating since before Christmas surely we would have been overwhelmed with deaths.

Do you think the HSE were publishing deaths back then? and that the media was looking for that story?

Ohmeha

I think there's a possibility I could have had it. I came down with a sore throat on Feb 24th and my lungs/chest tightened immediately, I have mild asthma so that's common when I catch a cold however I had no sneezing and my sinuses were fine so it wasn't evident I had a common cold. These symptoms lasted for 4/5 days and I forced myself through work

I posted on boards the next morning about how on the DART there was a unusual noticeable amount of coughing and sneezing which I put down to the poor weather the previous week, there was no cases announced in Ireland until the following Saturday 29th but looking back I can't help but suspect it was on the DART as there was too many sick people on it that whole week

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=112638896&postcount=396

Conall Cernach

If it was in the country in December or January then it is possible that many of those that died with an existing condition were just put down as having died of that rather than the doctors ordering tests for some virus they haven't heard of. Most of those that have died with COVID-19 have had other conditions and about half have been in care homes so they wouldn't necessarily have had post mortems to determine their exact cause of death.

Mike3287

Conall Cernach wrote: »

If it was in the country in December or January then it is possible that many of those that died with an existing condition were just put down as having died of that rather than the doctors ordering tests for some virus they haven't heard of. Most of those that have died with COVID-19 have had other conditions and about half have been in care homes so they wouldn't necessarily have had post mortems to determine their exact cause of death.

That's very true

My wife sister works in a nursing home, 11 died in January, was no big deal, it was winter it happens, they had all seen too many.

Take out the nursing homes and count only healthy people

How many died?

Is it much more than normal?

I don't believe Covid19 was widespread anyway in Ireland, maybe out of 1000 flu cases 1 or 2 could be Covid

Personally think it's far less contagious than we are being told and much harder to catch

It just took along time for it to seed and be noticeable as we don't have cities of 20 million people like Wuhan

It was for sure here in December though, it had to have been, how prevalent we will never know.

ressem

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Do you think the HSE were publishing deaths back then? and that the media was looking for that story?

There's always health statistics being published. There are always virus samples being submitted. (Though a virus in small numbers could be missed)

The main sign that suggests that the December/ Jan virus was a standard enough flu is the excess mortality rate. (or RIP notices)

We believe that Covid-19 is associated with many of these extra deaths since February.
The number of extra deaths was on the normal sharp decrease from January to February start. Increased faster than expected inn February, then skyrocketed March to April.

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0506/1136898-explainer-excess-mortality-and-how-its-calculated/

ceadaoin.

piplip87 wrote: »

I had the bad dose around Christmas although similar symptoms I very much doubt it was Corona.

If it was circulating since before Christmas surely we would have been overwhelmed with deaths.

No you wouldn't have been overwhelmed instantly. Despite what the media would have you believe, it isn't a death sentence for 99%+ of people who catch it. A good proportion of people, up to 50% or even more don't have symptoms. Out of the symptomatic proportion, 80% have mild symptoms which its possible to confuse with other illnesses. The people who are admitted to hospital or who die are a small proportion of the total infected and overwhelmingly have other conditions.

It would take a lot of total infections before people started to become admitted to hospital or die in large numbers that would even be noticeable and not just put down as a "bad flu season"

With what is coming out now about how this isn't as fatal or as contagious as first thought(German study for example) , I think it's entirely possible that it has been everywhere since december/January and in China since October (which I think they have already confirmed?)

ChelseaRentBoy

Conall Cernach wrote: »

If it was in the country in December or January then it is possible that many of those that died with an existing condition were just put down as having died of that rather than the doctors ordering tests for some virus they haven't heard of. Most of those that have died with COVID-19 have had other conditions and about half have been in care homes so they wouldn't necessarily have had post mortems to determine their exact cause of death.

That actually sounds very plausible.

ChelseaRentBoy

Mike3287 wrote: »

That's very true

My wife sister works in a nursing home, 11 died in January, was no big deal, it was winter it happens, they had all seen too many.

Take out the nursing homes and count only healthy people

How many died?

Is it much more than normal?

I don't believe Covid19 was widespread anyway in Ireland, maybe out of 1000 flu cases 1 or 2 could be Covid

Personally think it's far less contagious than we are being told and much harder to catch

It just took along time for it to seed and be noticeable as we don't have cities of 20 million people like Wuhan

It was for sure here in December though, it had to have been, how prevalent we will never know.

Wuhan has 9 million not 20 million inhabitants.

Mike3287

ChelseaRentBoy wrote: »

Wuhan has 9 million not 20 million inhabitants.

They had :pac:

smurgen

Conall Cernach wrote: »

If it was in the country in December or January then it is possible that many of those that died with an existing condition were just put down as having died of that rather than the doctors ordering tests for some virus they haven't heard of. Most of those that have died with COVID-19 have had other conditions and about half have been in care homes so they wouldn't necessarily have had post mortems to determine their exact cause of death.

I still think the surge in deaths and hospitals would have occurred. I mean given the illness I had I had thought it possible but I still think we would have had hospitals overwhelmed sooner in the year if this was the case.

Beechwoodspark

Varadkar has said its possible the virus was in Ireland in January

Personally I am 99% sure it was here over Christmas. I saw the turmoil it caused for a neighbour.

Ms2011

Our experience over Christmas:
My 7 year old came into us in the night of 23rd Dec, shaking with the cold but burning up with a 40°C temp, alternating Calpio and Nurofen was just about taking it down for an hour or so. Christmas Eve he started vomiting and just wanted to sleep, temp still high. He slept through Christmas Day more or less, just waking to be sick or take medicine.
7:30 Christmas Day my husband went down with the same thing, went to bed Christmas evening and didn't get out of bed for a week. My 4 year old went down with it on Stephen's Day but she bounced back after 2 days. All 3 had a lingering cough for sometime after. My husband was still complaining of feeling weak in mid January.
For some reason I escaped even though I nursed all 3.

In contrast, how much symptoms differ in the same household of my family members who tested positive:
My MIL (mid 70's, several underlying conditions) spent 2 weeks on a COVID ward, is still in hospital now, she had a breathing difficulties and a high temp.
SIL (mid 40's), no high temp, mostly gastrointestinal and extreme fatigue.
SIL (late 30's) cough and extreme fatigue.
Nephew (19, asthmatic) muscle soreness, headache.
Nephew (18) muscle soreness, headache
Niece (6) high temp for a day.