I received a positive Covid-19 [edit: it was a PCR] test less than 2 weeks after my first vaccine. We only went for tests because the Covid-Zoe study app (https://covid.joinzoe.com/) suggested we have one. This happened in February too and we were both negative and assumed the same would happen again. However, this time I was positive and Mrs C was negative.
Cue a great deal of puzzlement. Neither of us had any symptoms whatsoever and I had been nowhere for months, on account of my GP telling me last year that there had been quite a lot of overweight men of my age seriously affected by Covid, so I should "exercise extreme caution". Those words are etched into my memory because they came as a shock.
The 2 lessons that I take from this are
- Covid-19 must be extremely easily transmitted if I caught it, so be careful out there
- The likelihood is that the vaccine stopped me getting ill, even though I still tested positive, so thankyou to the scientists
Mrs C had been very cautious too, but had been to a couple of places in the week before; places where the correct precautions were taken and where she was socially distanced. There is a possibility that she caught it, then passed it to me, and was then clear of it when tested. Another possibility is that I had a false positive. Neither of us had any symptoms apart from Mrs C feeling slightly nauseous one day for a couple of hours in the previous week.
So we self isolated for the required 10 days - and self isolated from each other too. Luckily our house is big enough and my home office is near a spare bedroom and bathroom, so was consigned to there. Mrs C kindly brought meals to my door. It was a strange experience living separate lives in the same house. Mrs C found it hard to be stuck in the house for 10 days, but it wasn't so bad for me. It reminded me of being away on business - doing some productive work-like things during the day, then pottering around at the hotel room's desk, having room service food while sitting at the laptop or watching the TV. In fact I hardly watched any TV for the whole 10 days, preferring to occupy myself on the internet or reading.
Having been really worried about Covid, I am so relieved not to have felt at all unwell. It is almost unbelievable that I may have had it at all. As I said - it has been rather surreal.
Another thought I had, by way of a footnote, I wonder whether the great decline in positive tests is actually not accurate. I wonder how many people like me there are out there, who are asymptomatic due to the vaccine, but also Covid positive - and never get tested.
Hope everyone else is keeping well.
Clariman