I was happy to see jazzmaniac provide us a glimpse at how an Omicron case is playing out. Like anything new, we’ll have a better understanding of Omicron once it’s in the rearview. But given how it’s expected to impact us over the next few weeks, it occurred to me that sharing anecdotal evidence can be useful. For whatever value anyone can glean, I’ve decided to share how the last few weeks have played out for my husband and me. Feel free to share any experiences you feel are relevant in the comments below.
Vaccination status: Both of us are fully vaccinated (two Moderna shots in March), and a Moderna booster in October. We’ve also both had our flu shots.
General health: Both of us are mid-fifties. My husband is a typical Midwestern sportsman—lots of hunting, fishing, hiking and camping. Luckily, he’s been blessed with good health. I’m a breast cancer survivor (twelve years cancer free, baby!). I have a heart condition / pacemaker that resulted from organ damage from the cancer drugs. I’m also diabetic (Type 2). Both conditions are well managed—I’m lucky to have good health insurance. My A1C ranges from 5.5-6.2, and I lap swim about 4K a week. A few weeks ago, I began training for my first sprint distance triathlon.
Full disclaimer—we could both stand to lose 10-15 pounds.
Daily exposure: I’ve been working from home since March 2020. Like many, we relaxed the mask wearing and socialized a bit more over the summer. When we first heard about Omicron, we put the masks back on, quit grocery shopping in favor of delivery, and scaled back all face to face interactions. I still lap swim, but that’s about it outside the house. My husband works with the public on a daily basis. He masks/social distances/hand sanitizes religiously for his own health, and for mine. His work told him to go home as soon as symptoms appeared.
Timeline: His first symptoms appeared 12/7, and continued until 12/18. We immediately moved into different bedrooms and distanced as much as possible in the house, but my symptoms appeared 12/13, and continued until 12/26.
Symptoms: They were the same for both of us:
- Scratchy throat—not sore, more of a tickle
- Dry, hacking cough (first week)
- LOTS of stuffy, nasal congestion
- Mild headache with sinus pressure
- Extreme fatigue—we both spent 3-4 days in bed, barely getting up. As symptoms began to subside, we still needed naps to get through the day.
- NO fever—this seemed odd, but we were both cool to the touch throughout. Anytime I’ve had these other symptoms, it’s usually accompanied by a low grade fever.
- Complete loss of smell and taste for about 2 days (around 6-7 days in)
- Productive cough (second week, the congestion migrated to the chest)
Testing: Negative for both of us.
I got online and scheduled him for drive through testing as soon as his symptoms appeared—the earliest I could get him in was day 3 of symptoms, and the results took 48 hours—negative. We were thrilled—but that night watching the news, we listened to the list of Omicron symptoms, and wondered if it might be a false negative. I went in and tested on day 2 of my symptoms—also negative. Once my husband lost taste and smell, he went back in for a second test—again, negative. I decided to forego another test. We both decided to just treat it as Covid, and quarantine.
Other anecdotal information: At both our workplaces, we seem to have a lot of folks out sick who are testing negative for both flu and Covid. The odd combination of symptoms (no fever, loss of taste/smell) makes me think it was Covid, but we’ll never really be sure. We’re both recovered now (thankfully), and being as careful as possible.
How about you?
