Note, if you know your kid has the flu keep them home! If you have the flu or have been exposed to it and have symptoms stay home!
Same with covid.
Hopefully this is all more accepted now. I don’t think we need different rules for covid anymore. Just a more aware common sense on respiratory virus spread.
But, we test for flu too…
… to determine treatment.
I have never had a stack of at home flu tests. We aren’t thinking about these on any comparable level yet.
I do hope people continue to take extra precautions about spreading respiratory viruses and limit contact like not going to the office when sick, but i think we are getting to “its not covid, so party on”.
Maybe I’m unusual in this, but when I thought I had the flu several years ago, I got tested not just to get Tamiflu, but also because I could isolate from my family and hopefully avoid spreading it (I did isolate and no one else got it). I agree they’re not the same, but saying we’re getting to the point where COVID is more like the flu is not really an argument not to test.
Why?
Sadly, common sense is sorely uncommon.
Since I’ve resumed frequent travel, I’ve seen plenty of people out traveling while sick, just like the Before Times.
Only because the medical establishment has jealously guarded the right to administer tests. I have to admit, I had hoped that some of the things that worked during covid, like home tests and telehealth medical visits, would be continued.
There’s no reason why we couldn’t do home flu and strep tests, for instance. Honestly, I don’t have “might be flu” very often, but i have “might be strep” frequently enough that I would keep a few strep tests lying around if I could legally obtain them. And it would be nice if I could pick up home flu tests at the drugstore. I think there’s enough demand for that that a drug store could profit by always having a few on the shelves, if that were legal.
Also, at least at my age, covid is still a lot more dangerous than flu. Very few adults survive flu but have lingering “long flu” that forces them to retire, destroys their sense of smell, or leaves them susceptible to ongoing respiratory problems or heart disease. But those all moderately common outcomes of covid in adults over 45 or so.
Strep is also somewhat likely to result in heart disease if it’s not treated (although that outcome is much less common than it used to be.) I over-test for “might be strep” because of that, not because I’m afraid strep will kill me outright. But I don’t feel the need to take any special measures to avoid strep because it CAN be treated with antibiotics, so long as you catch it quickly.
(Paxlovid is highly effective at preventing death from covid in the most vulnerable, but it doesn’t show any benefit for others, and there are theoretical reasons to think it might actually increase the odds of long covid. So the situations aren’t comparable.)
Still no covid for me, despite living in the same house with my son and spouse who both had it. And we didn’t even isolate inside the house.
I think I’m still covid-free, despite seeing my sister on Friday who is now positive for covid. We think she contracted it saturday though.
Assuming that antigen test I just took is accurate (which I don’t know for absolute certainty since my sister was negative on an antigen test and rapid test, but positive on a PCR test) I’d like to thank the covid gods which in their infinite wisdom had me hang out with my sister the day before she was exposed to covid rather than the day after.
My sister is now in the two-timers club.
I have some pretty awful cold symptoms right now. The worst of it at the moment is a very sore throat
Also have a cough and a little congestion. Its possible I am no longer in the virgins club.
No longer a virgin.
did you take a test?
When did you catch covid?
to be fair, that isn’t exactly what he said.
No, no test
why not?
best guess is last weekend. that’s the last time I went out.
BF tested positive first yesterday, I felt fine yesterday, went to the gym and all. Negative test. Discomfort in throat, postnasal drip, thought it was acid reflux.
At night it turned into a sore throat.
Then tested positive today.
Took paxlovid already. heard it works wonders. Let’s hope so. I have a Halloween party to attend this weekend!
I didn’t realize they give paxlovid to people under 50.
I have connections.
But I suppose the justification is that LGBT is high risk?