Got Pfizer COVID-19 shot #1 today

[Carmella]

shipo do you know for sure you had covid in January or is that a guess? Many of us thought we had it. I got the antibody test and never had it, my boss donated blood (and they check for antibodies) she never had it. One of the other ladies I work with thought she had it, but then her whole family got Covid so evidently they didn't have it when they thought they did.

I recommend the night before the second vaccination get very good night's sleep. And plan to do nothing AFTER your first day of work, but go home and rest/sleep. I only know one person who got the vaccination (Pfizer) who also had Covid. She felt kind of crappy, but nothing extreme just tired and under the weather and it lasted a few days, it was not terrible.

I hope your first day on the new job goes well.

[shipo]

I know I had it, but I don't know exactly when.

As for the confirmation, my wife and I donated blood at a local American Red Cross blood drive and six weeks or so later they contacted us and A) informed us of having the antibodies, and B) asked us to come in and donate plasma.

As for the when, I visited my elderly mother in Hackensack Hospital during the third week of January 2020; the hospital was so full of patients they needed to keep my mother in the ER for nearly a week before they could admit her. Yes, this was within a week of the first official patient here in the United States, so on paper at least, it is unlikely I was infected there. That said, they couldn't explain why my mother was ill (she tested positive several weeks later), they couldn't explain why the hospital was so full, and about ten days later, while I was on a business trip to Greensboro, I got sick with what I thought was a sinus infection. The thing is, the "sinus infection" was unlike anything I'd ever had before, and it lasted into late April. Naturally I came home from Greensboro, not realizing I most likely had "The 'Rona", and promptly infected my wife who also exhibited symptoms of loss of taste and smell for months on end.

So, while I know I had it, I can only guess when I had it.

[Carmella]

shipo that's good you know you had it. I guess you don't really need to know the exact date you had it.

I hope the vaccination goes well without too much fatigue or other side effects.

We now know that someone can test positive past the initial 2 weeks, up to 3 months afterwards which is why the required testing in nursing homes is waived for those who were positive for a 3 month period. In the beginning some people were missing work for weeks or months since the test was STILL positive. What we didn't know was that yes, the test was positive, but the person was no longer contagious that whole entire time period.

So today it's possible if someone had a mild case and thought nothing about it. Then a month later they get tested the official records will list their onset date as the day of the test and they quarantine when not really positive, but there's no way to know! Crazy virus it is.

I'm glad you had the antibody test because at least you have a definitive answer and not just guessing or assuming you had it.

[sophieanne]

Carmella ..another good information post. One of my stay at home jobs over the last seven months has been working for a healthcare company. One of my duties Was to book Covid tests for people. The number of people who test positive then call back in 10 days or even three to get retested was crazy. Had to explain that people who tested positive would not be tested again, and for the reason you wrote above. People can very easily test positive for a period of time after having the virus. People would get really upset because their company wanted a negative test result. We had to tell them to follow the CDC guidelines which did not allow a follow-up test after 10 days. That part of the job is some thing I look forward to seeing come to an end.

[shipo]

Thanks for the explanation Carmella, by the time my wife and I got the "swab up the nose" test last summer we were no longer testing positive, it wasn't until October our donated blood showed we had the antibodies. My mother on the other hand appears to have had it either before she got to Hackensack Hospital in January, or she contracted it there; that said, they didn't get tests to her nursing home until March and didn't get around to testing the asymptomatic patients until early April. She tested positive twice in April, twice in May, and once in June; her second June test ended up being her first negative.

By the time she had her first positive test in April I had already come to the conclusion she had COVID while in the hospital and strongly suspected I'd had it as well; she called me in a panic thinking she was going to die, even though she was asymptomatic. I honestly laughed and said, "Mother, I think you've already been through it and you should be good to go from here." She immediately perked up and hasn't been impacted by COVID since; errr, except she no longer needs to share a room. Why? The took so many body-bags out of there last year the facility is still up to only about 70% capacity.

[bornfree2]

I cant wait till this whole covid thing is over. What a huge wreck it has had all around the world. I cant wait till we can walk about maskless and enjoy the beauty of human emotion expressed through our faces. (though it has been fun sticking my tongue out at people behind the masks as i walk by lol). Seeing children run around freely, exchanging smiles and glances with those we find attractive, and just being human again