Anyone reckon they had it before it went all mainstream?

[wooders1978]

I was sick as a bastard for a week or two in feb 2019 - I had a really bad fever and a cough so bad that i ended up having a trip to hospital with a mini hernia from all the hacking (was fully gowned up and about to be operated on but they found they could just push it back in and me me go)
Pretty certain it was COVID - anyone else had a suspected bout pre it being well known?

[jamiefairlie]

Had the worst flu in my life post Christmas 2018, wife had it too.

[Cold Meat Platter]

I had a bad cold in 2019 that gave me anosmia for the first time. Inclined to think coincidence though.

[flotemysost]

I don't think I have, but my mum had an operation in February 2020 (not long after the first UK case had been identified) which required a few nights' stay in hospital. When she was discharged she had a staggering cough/cold and fever, although my dad was alright. That hospital ended up being one of the worst in the UK for covid cases, staff dying etc. at one point, so I do wonder, but I guess it could've easily just been standard ward plague.

And one of my friends returned from a trip to Japan in late 2019 unable to smell her own shit, which seems like a smoking gun. Though tbf when I went to Japan I was producing probably the healthiest, most inoffensive solid waste of my life, so maybe it was just that.

[wooders1978]

Shit, I meant Feb 2020 not 2019; what a dunce

[buttgammon]

My partner had a flu-like virus in late 2019 that left her basically bedridden for two weeks. It may have been a coincidence but it certainly ticked a lot of the covid boxes.

We have a friend who picked up covid in Spain just before it became a real issue of concern in Europe and although there were testing problems that meant it was never formally confirmed, he was quite possibly the person who brought the virus to Ireland. This would've been around mid-February 2020 as I think he was at the first leg of the Atlético Madrid - Liverpool Champions League tie; the second leg was played in a full stadium during the British government's herd immunity phase and led to dozens of deaths.

[Zetetic]

Was a bit bunged up at some point in the 2010s.

[mothman]

We went to Prague for a pre-Christmas weekend break in 2019, and about a week to ten days afterwards I had a sort-of cold for a couple of days: mainly a cough and a bit of a high temperature (so, mainly night sweats), no other symptoms. I've wondered a lot about that cold. Until they have a freely-available antibody test (would being vaccinated affect that?), I may never know. L

[Zetetic]

You can create antibody tests that look for antibodies other than antibodies for the thing that the vaccines target.

The vaccines (almost?) all target the spike protein alone, I believe, and actual COVID-19 will result in you developing antibodies to other bits of the virus.

But, of course, you might've caught it any time in the last two years and not noticed.

[Alberon]

There was a spate of severe colds that went around the office in my university in January and February 2020 and we do have a fairly high number of Chinese students. We wondered a fair bit in the early months if we'd had it.

But then one of us who came down with it definitely caught Covid back in early 2021 and still has Long Covid symptoms to this day.

So probably nothing to do with the Pandemic after all.

[Jack Shaftoe]

I'm convinced my whole family came down with it Jan 2020 - we've never all been ill at the same time before, and we had all the proper symptoms, including loss of taste and smell, dry cough, fever, all that. Which could well have been a flu, but I don't see why having Covid so early is that unlikely.* My wife was properly out of it for a fortnight and kept trying to go into work for week three but having to come home again. I was lucky to pile through most of the symptoms in three days, then just felt a bit knackered and had a cough for a couple of weeks. Pretty sure I gave it to my parents as well, but they weren't too ill, thank gawd.

*There was a tonne of this about in Cornwall at the very end of 2019/early 2020. Think my daughter got it off her friend, was chatting to her dad and half his office came back from a trip to Wuhan(!) a month or so previously. They're heating gas engineers rather than bio-terrorists, in case anyone's wondering.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

Had a persistent cough for what seemed like at least a month in November/December 2019, and about a week in had a high fever, listlessness, and a weird mental state, which lasted for about a further week and kept me off work. It must have been bad if I didn't go in, because my contract did not include sick pay. Even had a chest X-ray done, because I was concerned that it wasn't lifting. Unfortunately, this was in South East Asia, and I didn't bring the X-ray when I left, otherwise I could maybe get someone knowledgeable to look for any tell-tale signs on the image.

[Capt.Midnight]

There was a spate of severe colds that went around the office in my university in January and February 2020 and we do have a fairly high number of Chinese students. We wondered a fair bit in the early months if we'd had it.

This scenario also happened for me. I was off sick with it the two weeks before the first lockdown. There were reports that some Chinese students had returned to campus from Wuhan - The university had failed to put any measures in place, or rules for isolating. I'd been swanning freely about the various faculties doing IT work, possibly contributing to the spread.

[JesusAndYourBush]

I caught something while at a pub on 29 Dec 2019 and on 1st Jan lost my sense of smell and taste for 10 days.

[H-O-W-L]

In mid-late Feb 2020 me mam went down with some horrific "chest infection" for two weeks and had taste/smell symptoms for a few days after, then spontaneously went down with kidney issues (which are now known to be correlant to long COVID according to her kidney doctor) at the end of the month. Shortly after that I contracted a similar and horrific "chest infection", almost 14 days to the date, right at the start of March, and I remember laying in bed several days thinking "this is it, I am fucked, I am dying" because I couldn't breathe at all. Lockdown shortly after that, and ever since I've had my own kidney issues and my chest has never been the same -- my asthma, which was only mild beforehand, is now daily-steroid severe. Mam's had an antibody test and someone she was around in early Feb also had a positive antibody test, so who knows. I think I caught it real early.

[Proactive]

Had a virus of some sort last week of Jan 2020 which wasn't flu as it was tested for (I spent a night in hospital with it). Probably just a coincidence but I've never had anything like it in 42 years, so who knows. Wife works at a Uni with loads of Chinese students which would be the obvious infection route.

[Consignia]

I had something in Februrary 2020. Like a really bad cold that knocked me for six. I did think for a while, it was the 'Vid. However, I had an antibody test in July of that year which proved I never had it. I think that's true for a lot of people who think they had it before it went big.

[Zetetic]

I think I really despise people who claim this[NB]A little less if they're saying it because they think they have debilitating long-'ViD.[/NB], and would continue to do so even if there was incontrovertible proof that they were correct.

[Buelligan]

I was talking to someone last night whose son thought he had it at the start - all the symptoms but wasn't tested.  He recovered, was double vaxxed anyway and now has it again.  So there's that.

[Chedney Honks]

My cousin works in ITU and has had it twice, once at the start, once a month or so ago. She was ill both times. Looking forward to my next dose next Christmas.

[shiftwork2]

I think I really despise people who claim this[NB]A little less if they're saying it because they think they have debilitating long-'ViD.[/NB], and would continue to do so even if there was incontrovertible proof that they were correct.

It's harmless.  This is just similar to people mentioning they walked through a train station an hour before a bomb went off, collective chatter about something that made them anxious.

Not me though - deffo had it when I flew back from Seville in late February.  Sorry about that guys!!

[Buelligan]

I did walk through a train station, ran would be more accurate, but it was when the bomb was going off.

[MojoJojo]

I'm convinced my whole family came down with it Jan 2020 - we've never all been ill at the same time before, and we had all the proper symptoms, including loss of taste and smell, dry cough, fever, all that. Which could well have been a flu, but I don't see why having Covid so early is that unlikely.

I mean, because, because literally very few people had it at that time, so it is unlikely?

I think I really despise people who claim this, and would continue to do so even if there was incontrovertible proof that they were correct.

Try this then: I probably did have it just before lockdown. Ex who I was still living with at the time had mild symptoms, along with two children in the same house. 21st of March, so just before first lockdown, which started with complete self isolation which was not good.. No PCR test available, but ex did get an antibody test when they were briefly available May/April time (GP so easy ish to get a nurse to take a blood sample) and it was positive. So it's I think it's likely I had it with out symptoms.

(although now I look they've recalculated the number of people who get it asymptomatically down a lot, so maybe I did somehow avoid it)

[Chedney Honks]

Every time anyone get Covid from now on it'll be more dangerous because you're older

[mothman]

I think I really despise people who claim this[NB]A little less if they're saying it because they think they have debilitating long-'ViD.[/NB], and would continue to do so even if there was incontrovertible proof that they were correct.

Do I think I had it for sure? Nowhere near. I wonder if I did, often. Would I be surprised if it turned out I hadn't had it? Not really. Disappointed, sure - it'd mean I'd had it and could potentially have some sort of immunity AND had avoided Long COVID. On which note...

It's the lack of any suggestions of Long C or odd aftereffects amongst all the anecdotes posted in this thread that has me wondering how many of us might realistically have had it. For so many of us to, so early in the pandemic - almost pre-pandemic in fact - would statistically require tens of thousands of people here (on the other side of the world) to have caught it when it was only really letting rip in Wuhan, and - here's the rub - hardly anybody dying. When it's more likely there would have been noticeably elevated death rates, and far higher than could have been convincingly been just seasonal flu.

So no. I hope some of us here did have it and came through and avoided death, hospitalisation and aftereffects. It'd be nice, you know? But the chances are that few to none of us did.

[wooders1978]

Ok maybe it was just a cold; *maybe*

[Captain Z]

Now, I don't know anything about virology... epidemiology... pulmonology... immunology... vaccinology... biology... anatomy... physiology... or demography, but I think... what if we'd all had it before.

[imitationleather]

My grandad died in 2002. The so-called doctors said it was due to being hit by a bus, but now I've really got my doubts.

[nugget]

I was working in Milan for a week at the end of January 2020, then a few days later I suddenly developed quite a violent, dry cough, which went away again after a few days. At the time, COVID was still believed to be just a Wuhan thing, but later on there were reports about COVID being detected in waste water in Lombardy from back in late 2019. I did take an antibody test in September 2020, the result was negative, but I think the 8-month gap could have been enough for any antibodies to fade away. I had to go to Spain the week after I returned to Italy, which (I think) was the second country to detect a major outbreak, and then in February I flew from my home in Germany to the UK for my mum's 60th... it definitely seemed like the disease had followed me around Europe.

[Buelligan]

Do I think I had it for sure? Nowhere near. I wonder if I did, often. Would I be surprised if it turned out I hadn't had it? Not really. Disappointed, sure - it'd mean I'd had it and could potentially have some sort of immunity AND had avoided Long COVID. On which note...

It's the lack of any suggestions of Long C or odd aftereffects amongst all the anecdotes posted in this thread that has me wondering how many of us might realistically have had it. For so many of us to, so early in the pandemic - almost pre-pandemic in fact - would statistically require tens of thousands of people here (on the other side of the world) to have caught it when it was only really letting rip in Wuhan, and - here's the rub - hardly anybody dying. When it's more likely there would have been noticeably elevated death rates, and far higher than could have been convincingly been just seasonal flu.

So no. I hope some of us here did have it and came through and avoided death, hospitalisation and aftereffects. It'd be nice, you know? But the chances are that few to none of us did.

If it helps at all, since having it I've had this horrible restricted lung feeling every night when I lie down to go to sleep.  Also had some heart flutters.  I've been walking a lot and trying to build lung capacity through gentle climbing.  After more than a year, the heart thing's stopped (heh) and so's the lung thing (almost completely) but it was pretty horrible to think that I might have to go the rest of my life like that.  Also, extremely sadly, there are people who were here who aren't any longer.  I had one particular friend whose leaving was very much to do with the pandemic, so, you know. 

I only mention it because it's very easy to take silence for lack of evidence when that might not be the whole story.