Tickle in the throat, thought it was from inhaling smoke from a minor electrical fire I had to extinguish (damn garbage disposal). Had some friends we’re leaving for a Europe trip scheduled to come over the next day, so out of an abundance of caution, I took a test because I did not want to be responsible for their hold up. Test was positive….scratchy throat persisted one more day, fatigue rolled in for the next two days, along with tender-to-the-touch skin.
Wife got it (we are both double vax’d), 3 unvaxxed kids got it (10 yo boy, 6 yo boy - both no symptoms; 8 yo girl vomiting 2 days, fatigue), 65 yo mother in law (vaxxed) got it, 70 yo mother (unvaxxed) got it. Everyone had mild symptoms and is all good now.
We’re all in green shape relative to our age. It was a piece of cake, minus the kids being force out of school for an unreasonable amount of time.
42M, 2X Pfizer plus booster. Have not caught COVID in any form so far, despite not being particularly careful about things. My wife and I dine indoors, see friends, go to events, etc. Conversely, one of her co-workers who has been taking precautions more appropriate for airborne Ebola just tested positive. She's young and healthy and almost certainly fully vaxxed and boosted so I'm sure she'll be fine. The universe is not just.
On the other hand, about three weeks ago, my 80-year-old uncle died from what was almost certainly COVID, and his wife/my aunt is still in the hospital recovering (very slowly) from definitely-for-sure-COVID. He was relatively healthy, she has a lot of underlying comorbidity, and it wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't vaccinated given her politics.
Other anecdata I'm personally aware of:
1. 50F family friend, caught COVID Prime it before vaccines were available, described it as the worst she's ever felt. Subsequently vaxxed and boosted and still caught Omicron, but basically just a cold this time around.
2. ~30M coworker, safe to assume he is vaxxed and boosted since our company requires it, just came down with it and it has him laid pretty low - mostly fatigue (or he's using the positive test as an excuse for a few days off, who knows).
45M, took the shots in april. daughter brought it home from school or wherever else she and her friends would hang. the wife also came down with it at the same time. felt much of the same as you described. little to no fever but constant swings between chills and sweating. started off with a sore throat for a day and then went to 4-5 days of fatigue and coughing/congestion. didn't bother with the tests because, as you said, it didn't feel much worse than any other cold I've ever had. daughter did get a negative test (so she could go back to school) on about day 7. still dealing with congestion and cough 2 weeks later. the cough is causing my throat to still be sore, but it is starting to relent some. i'm actually wondering if I came down with a secondary infection that caused the additional upper respiratory symptoms that haven't relented.
37M 2-shot last summer -- Currently have the cooties, or at least I am about 99.9% sure I do. Still waiting on the results of the PCR test I had yesterday morning. But since my dad tested positive a few days ago, right around the time my symptoms started to manifest, I will be very surprised if it turns out to be anything else.
Began to have a slightly scratchy throat and headaches on Friday/Saturday. By Sunday, I'd developed a cough and congestion, felt fatigued, and I think was running a bit of a fever. Can only guess about the last one since I didn't have access to a thermometer. I believe I'm over the worst of it, though I think my sense of smell is somewhat weakened now; it's hard to tell to what degree because I can still pick up some aromas.
Jan 26, 2022·edited Jan 26, 2022Liked by Handwaving Freakoutery
31F who caught it last week (on my damn birthday!). Fever for 24h of 101F, no respiratory symptoms. I'd still take that over the vaccine, since the vaccine gave me heart palpitations and a month long period!
One common thread is seeming to be fever/chills, which from what I read was a less common symptom of earlier rounds.
37 male 2x shot here- Cough, sore throat, and headache for the first day, lessening the second day, and basically gone the third. Mild fever throughout (99ish). Noticeably tired for 3-4 days after that. Grandmother got it shortly after I got it (82, 2x shot) and had similar symptoms, but they lasted about twice as long for her as they did for me. I had the original variant back when this all started and the Omicron is noticeably milder.
Had it last week. One of my daughters had it the week before and I had her breathe all over me a couple times a day just to ensure I got it. I just wanted to get it over with. Took about 3 days before I got all the symptoms everyone else here is describing. Then, it was gone in 2 days.
My 14yo daughter, unjabbed, and 46yo ex-wife, double-jabbed, both caught omicron early in the South African wave. Mild illness in both cases. Daughter's lasted a day and a night, and the ex's about three days.
My daughter was staying with me when she got sick, but, oddly enough, I didn't catch the bug despite having been yakking in the same room with her for hours on end, and then nursing her cautiously in her room once she was ill.
I'm double-Pfizered so maybe it was the vaccine that saved me, ha ha. Or perhaps it was the ivermectin I took as soon as my ex tested positive. Hard to know.
Whole family vaxxed but not boosted. 41 yo wife started getting symptoms on a Saturday (1/8/22). 42yo me started getting them Sunday. She's a teacher and I've been working from home most days and she had a student test positive, then another so we're pretty sure it was through her. Anyway, she used a rapid test at the school on Sunday which came up negative. We both got tested Tuesday (positive). Symptoms were like a bad cold or mild flu. She had a mild fever with muscle aches, coughing, etc. Mine were similar, but replace the fever and muscle aches with a really awful sore throat. This lasted for three days or so. We were both feeling better by Thursday. Lingering symptoms for her were sporadic coughing fits and I had a headache for three days straight that was barely treated by Excedrin.
Then our 20yo son got it and he's still feeling pretty bad. Mostly coughing and fatigue. Illnesses that spread through the family typically hit him twice as hard as anyone else, so we expected this.
We checked with our 16yo son every morning before school. Not one symptom.
Family (44y female, 13y male, 11y male) thought it was allergies while I (46y male) was away on travel, seemed reasonable for April (2021). Symptoms initially presented as runny/stuffy nose, sneezing, light cough; for about a week. I came home from work travel Thursday, exhibited same symptoms by day 2 (Saturday). 44y female tested positive on Monday, self isolated. Myself and the 2 boys tested positive on Wednesday, all self-isolated. All started an increase (more than the typical “One a Day”) on daily vitamins, specifically C, D, and Zinc. No symptoms for all, just fatigue, until Saturday. Muscle/joint pain for myself on Saturday, similar to flu, gone by Sunday. Lost sense of taste and smell on Sunday. Monday started temperature, 100-102, with cold chills. Not sleepy, but fatigued/exhausted. All symptoms gone by late Wednesday or early Thursday, sense of taste/smell returned. Initially concerned upon positive test, based on media reports and entire family is overweight (25-30% BMI). No concerns post recovery.
Note: caught bronchitis in December (8mo post C19), which happens annually. Bronchitis was worse than the C19, and about normal for my annual bout with bronchitis. Entire family unvaccinated, pre and post.
No lingering symptoms or complications Post-recovery for C19 or bronchitis.
Omicron Anecdotes
Tickle in the throat, thought it was from inhaling smoke from a minor electrical fire I had to extinguish (damn garbage disposal). Had some friends we’re leaving for a Europe trip scheduled to come over the next day, so out of an abundance of caution, I took a test because I did not want to be responsible for their hold up. Test was positive….scratchy throat persisted one more day, fatigue rolled in for the next two days, along with tender-to-the-touch skin.
Wife got it (we are both double vax’d), 3 unvaxxed kids got it (10 yo boy, 6 yo boy - both no symptoms; 8 yo girl vomiting 2 days, fatigue), 65 yo mother in law (vaxxed) got it, 70 yo mother (unvaxxed) got it. Everyone had mild symptoms and is all good now.
We’re all in green shape relative to our age. It was a piece of cake, minus the kids being force out of school for an unreasonable amount of time.
42M, 2X Pfizer plus booster. Have not caught COVID in any form so far, despite not being particularly careful about things. My wife and I dine indoors, see friends, go to events, etc. Conversely, one of her co-workers who has been taking precautions more appropriate for airborne Ebola just tested positive. She's young and healthy and almost certainly fully vaxxed and boosted so I'm sure she'll be fine. The universe is not just.
On the other hand, about three weeks ago, my 80-year-old uncle died from what was almost certainly COVID, and his wife/my aunt is still in the hospital recovering (very slowly) from definitely-for-sure-COVID. He was relatively healthy, she has a lot of underlying comorbidity, and it wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't vaccinated given her politics.
Other anecdata I'm personally aware of:
1. 50F family friend, caught COVID Prime it before vaccines were available, described it as the worst she's ever felt. Subsequently vaxxed and boosted and still caught Omicron, but basically just a cold this time around.
2. ~30M coworker, safe to assume he is vaxxed and boosted since our company requires it, just came down with it and it has him laid pretty low - mostly fatigue (or he's using the positive test as an excuse for a few days off, who knows).
45M, took the shots in april. daughter brought it home from school or wherever else she and her friends would hang. the wife also came down with it at the same time. felt much of the same as you described. little to no fever but constant swings between chills and sweating. started off with a sore throat for a day and then went to 4-5 days of fatigue and coughing/congestion. didn't bother with the tests because, as you said, it didn't feel much worse than any other cold I've ever had. daughter did get a negative test (so she could go back to school) on about day 7. still dealing with congestion and cough 2 weeks later. the cough is causing my throat to still be sore, but it is starting to relent some. i'm actually wondering if I came down with a secondary infection that caused the additional upper respiratory symptoms that haven't relented.
37M 2-shot last summer -- Currently have the cooties, or at least I am about 99.9% sure I do. Still waiting on the results of the PCR test I had yesterday morning. But since my dad tested positive a few days ago, right around the time my symptoms started to manifest, I will be very surprised if it turns out to be anything else.
Began to have a slightly scratchy throat and headaches on Friday/Saturday. By Sunday, I'd developed a cough and congestion, felt fatigued, and I think was running a bit of a fever. Can only guess about the last one since I didn't have access to a thermometer. I believe I'm over the worst of it, though I think my sense of smell is somewhat weakened now; it's hard to tell to what degree because I can still pick up some aromas.
31F who caught it last week (on my damn birthday!). Fever for 24h of 101F, no respiratory symptoms. I'd still take that over the vaccine, since the vaccine gave me heart palpitations and a month long period!
One common thread is seeming to be fever/chills, which from what I read was a less common symptom of earlier rounds.
37 male 2x shot here- Cough, sore throat, and headache for the first day, lessening the second day, and basically gone the third. Mild fever throughout (99ish). Noticeably tired for 3-4 days after that. Grandmother got it shortly after I got it (82, 2x shot) and had similar symptoms, but they lasted about twice as long for her as they did for me. I had the original variant back when this all started and the Omicron is noticeably milder.
Had it last week. One of my daughters had it the week before and I had her breathe all over me a couple times a day just to ensure I got it. I just wanted to get it over with. Took about 3 days before I got all the symptoms everyone else here is describing. Then, it was gone in 2 days.
My 14yo daughter, unjabbed, and 46yo ex-wife, double-jabbed, both caught omicron early in the South African wave. Mild illness in both cases. Daughter's lasted a day and a night, and the ex's about three days.
My daughter was staying with me when she got sick, but, oddly enough, I didn't catch the bug despite having been yakking in the same room with her for hours on end, and then nursing her cautiously in her room once she was ill.
I'm double-Pfizered so maybe it was the vaccine that saved me, ha ha. Or perhaps it was the ivermectin I took as soon as my ex tested positive. Hard to know.
Whole family vaxxed but not boosted. 41 yo wife started getting symptoms on a Saturday (1/8/22). 42yo me started getting them Sunday. She's a teacher and I've been working from home most days and she had a student test positive, then another so we're pretty sure it was through her. Anyway, she used a rapid test at the school on Sunday which came up negative. We both got tested Tuesday (positive). Symptoms were like a bad cold or mild flu. She had a mild fever with muscle aches, coughing, etc. Mine were similar, but replace the fever and muscle aches with a really awful sore throat. This lasted for three days or so. We were both feeling better by Thursday. Lingering symptoms for her were sporadic coughing fits and I had a headache for three days straight that was barely treated by Excedrin.
Then our 20yo son got it and he's still feeling pretty bad. Mostly coughing and fatigue. Illnesses that spread through the family typically hit him twice as hard as anyone else, so we expected this.
We checked with our 16yo son every morning before school. Not one symptom.
Family (44y female, 13y male, 11y male) thought it was allergies while I (46y male) was away on travel, seemed reasonable for April (2021). Symptoms initially presented as runny/stuffy nose, sneezing, light cough; for about a week. I came home from work travel Thursday, exhibited same symptoms by day 2 (Saturday). 44y female tested positive on Monday, self isolated. Myself and the 2 boys tested positive on Wednesday, all self-isolated. All started an increase (more than the typical “One a Day”) on daily vitamins, specifically C, D, and Zinc. No symptoms for all, just fatigue, until Saturday. Muscle/joint pain for myself on Saturday, similar to flu, gone by Sunday. Lost sense of taste and smell on Sunday. Monday started temperature, 100-102, with cold chills. Not sleepy, but fatigued/exhausted. All symptoms gone by late Wednesday or early Thursday, sense of taste/smell returned. Initially concerned upon positive test, based on media reports and entire family is overweight (25-30% BMI). No concerns post recovery.
Note: caught bronchitis in December (8mo post C19), which happens annually. Bronchitis was worse than the C19, and about normal for my annual bout with bronchitis. Entire family unvaccinated, pre and post.
No lingering symptoms or complications Post-recovery for C19 or bronchitis.