Was Covid-19 Here Already?

Nurses COVID

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Have any of you seen cases of suspected CV-19 before this current outbreak? I personally suspect that it went through my family earlier this year, and whenever I share this with others they too have had or known someone who had a "mysterious viral illness" between November and now. A family member of mine had every symptom of CV in early February so we assumed this person had the flu (they tested negative).

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Specializes in Psych.

My husband was diagnosed with the flu the beginning of February. The next day I had a headache, cough and a 102.9 temperature, so I went to urgent care thinking that I also had the flu. I was surprised when I did not test positive like my husband had. The doctor treated me like I had the flu anyway. We were both prescribed Tamiflu, Bromfed, and Tessalon Perles. He got better quickly before he finished his Tamiflu, and never needed any of his cough meds. I still was not better after the Tamiflu and after finishing my bottle of Bromfed, I called telehealth. The doctor gave me 5 days of prednisone. After taking prednisone, I still was still SOB and had a bad cough. My other symptoms were fatigue and headache. Eventually things resolved after about 3 1/2 weeks.

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November? That's very unlikely since it was probably just getting its foothold in the human population in Wuhan at that time. First known case was diagnosed in early December in Wuhan. So if your family was in Wuhan in November, maybe. Otherwise, no. January thru February gets much more sketchy since it likely hopped a plane and came on over to the States at some point in December.

Several people at my job think the same thing because about 6 of us were sick w/ a nasty resp virus in late February/early March (one guy in his 60s even had pneumonia from it). I would be suspicious too except I insisted on being tested by my PCP (even though I didn't have a fever) and was positive for Influenza A.

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16 hours ago, eerrmm said:

November? That's very unlikely since it was probably just getting its foothold in the human population in Wuhan at that time. First known case was diagnosed in early December in Wuhan. So if your family was in Wuhan in November, maybe. Otherwise, no. January thru February gets much more sketchy since it likely hopped a plane and came on over to the States at some point in December.

Several people at my job think the same thing because about 6 of us were sick w/ a nasty resp virus in late February/early March (one guy in his 60s even had pneumonia from it). I would be suspicious too except I insisted on being tested by my PCP (even though I didn't have a fever) and was positive for Influenza A.

My family was sick in February, and I agree that the stuff back in Nov/Dec is more unlikely. I am beginning to suspect that CV made its way here in January though. Thanks for your input!

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Specializes in Dialysis.

Many in my area believe it may have been here since Nov or Dec (drs as well as nurses). My hubs and I had something late Nov/early Dec, tested negative for flu, took 3 weeks to recover. Both had fevers early on, which subsided, felt like death. UC Dr said virus, hydrate and let it run its course. All the symptoms match CV-19. Multiple folks at work have had the same.

We only know when China first reported this illness (and their govt and media are not known for their honesty and cooperation), so how many cases before the first was reported and noted to the rest of the world? People were traveling to and from there, and other countries, as normal, so this may have been traveling with them.

I've learned, never say never

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Were your facilities using the PCR flu test or the rapid flu? Rapid flu had a lot of false negatives. PCR flu has a much higher sensitivity. We switched to the PCR for the first time this season, but I've heard some other clinics were still using the rapid.

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2 minutes ago, 2BS Nurse said:

Were your facilities using the PCR flu test or the rapid flu? Rapid flu had a lot of false negatives. PCR flu has a much higher sensitivity. We switched to the PCR for the first time this season, but I've heard some other clinics were still using the rapid.

Rapid flu at pediatrician's office, for family practice I'm not sure what they used b/c I wasn't there. I think rapid b/c results were in same-day. How long is the wait for PCR results? Seems like that would take more than a day, no?

Edited to add: Yes I have heard of abundant false negatives. Is it possible that some of these were CV and not false negatives? It may explain the abundance of false negatives. Or were these results eventually confirmed to actually be influenza? I know a bad strain of both A & B went around my area this year. I suspected we all got B, but in retrospect, perhaps it was covid?

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1 minute ago, BSNbound21 said:

Rapid flu at pediatrician's office, for family practice I'm not sure what they used b/c I wasn't there. I think rapid b/c results were in same-day. How long is the wait for PCR results? Seems like that would take more than a day, no?

PCR takes about 1 hour so it is same day if ordered Stat. I don't know about all labs because some don't process certain specimens in house. Hard to know. You may be able to find that information if you can login to your online chart.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
9 minutes ago, 2BS Nurse said:

Were your facilities using the PCR flu test or the rapid flu? Rapid flu had a lot of false negatives. PCR flu has a much higher sensitivity. We switched to the PCR for the first time this season, but I've heard some other clinics were still using

PCR at UC, which is attached to hospital, meaning direct lab service. I suspect most don't use PCR because of that. I didn't even know what test they did, only they didn't use rapid, because if false negs per the MA. At least I know what it was now.

They did them at UC in morning, and called us later in the afternoon, about 3-4 hours later

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Since Christmas through the end of February, it seemed like every 2nd or 3rd patient was flu +. A few had A, then came back later with B. A few had both flu and strep. One had flu, strep and mono. It was a mess!

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12 minutes ago, BSNbound21 said:

Rapid flu at pediatrician's office, for family practice I'm not sure what they used b/c I wasn't there. I think rapid b/c results were in same-day. How long is the wait for PCR results? Seems like that would take more than a day, no?

Edited to add: Yes I have heard of abundant false negatives. Is it possible that some of these were CV and not false negatives? It may explain the abundance of false negatives. Or were these results eventually confirmed to actually be influenza? I know a bad strain of both A & B went around my area this year. I suspected we all got B, but in retrospect, perhaps it was covid?

This is why we urgently need the antibody test.

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1 minute ago, 2BS Nurse said:

Since Christmas through the end of February, it seemed like every 2nd or 3rd patient was flu +. A few had A, then came back later with B. A few had both flu and strep. One had flu, strep and mono. It was a mess!

Yikes. Another reason for my CV-19 theory is NYC. I think it must have been circulating there undetected for a long time (since for MOST people, it doesn't cause symptoms that require hospitalization) and now that it has likely infected over half the population, they are having a real epidemic there. The concentration of people and lack of forewarning allowed it to just absolutely wreak havoc.

3 minutes ago, 2BS Nurse said:

This is why we urgently need the antibody test.

Couldn't agree more! I know a rapid intranasal test was just FDA approved but I believe these only detect active viral infections. We need to be able to test people for immunity who may have been exposed and infected without realizing it.

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