My covid experience thus far2 Jan 2022 14:31
I've been pretty careful all over the holidays, and on the 2 or 3 occasions I went out, took an LFT beforehand.
Went out to meet a mate last mon night, bar was reasonable busy, but here we recently re-introduced new rules for hospitality, table service only etc. Was there for 4 hrs, and join by another friend for the last couple of hrs.
Tues morning got a text from my mate to say he'd felt ropey, took an LFT and it was +ve. Turns out he didn't do an lft the night before. I live with my brother, and his woman is clinically vunerable, where I work there is a woman who is similarly, both shielded for over a year. So even though an LFT showed -ve, i decided to isolate.
Tried to book a PCR "none available anywhere". Booked a postal one. Later in the day a testing centre became available 50 miles away, so booked in there.
Wed morning, LFT was negative. PCR test result came in 6:30am, -ve. Heard the postal PCR come thru the letter box. I decided to stay off today as well. However during the day, between having 2 -ve LFt, a -ve PCR and half a thought that a cold I'd had start of Dec was omicron, I managed to convince myself that I didn't have covid. So although I didn't go out, I didn't keep myself away from my brother, and we sat watching TV that night.
Thurs, LFT POSTIVE !. Only took 3-4 minutes. I kicked myself for not continuing to isolate. My throat felt a bit ropey, but no other symptoms. The walk-in testing centre beside me had slots so booked the PCR. iwatch was telling me that my resting heartrate was 1-15% higher than usual.
Fri, LFT -ve. This one took about 2 mins to get a much stronger line than the previous one. Throat unchanged, resting heartrate still elevated. A slight productive cough. Breathing slightly compromised.
Sat, I didn't bother doing an LFT as I saw no point. Symptoms unchanged. About 4pm I get the result from the wed postal PCR to say it was +ve. Late Sat night, I noticed my heartrate readings were starting to reduce.
Sun (today), LFT is still +ve, although the line took a little longer to appear, and is not as bold as the one Fri. I got the PCR result from the walk-in done on Thurs (+ve). Heartrate is back to normal, Throat and cough still unchanged.
According to the new rules here, if I get a clear LFT on Mon & Tues (which are days 6/7 since my first PCR test was +ve) then I'm good to go. None of my mates other 3 household members have had a +ve result as of today, and remember he would have been freely mixing with them for several days. My Brother has not have a +ve LFT either.