The cold that wasn’t Covid 

Last weekend I was relatively convinced that Covid, the current Delta variant, had finally found us. Or at least, found the teen. This week has been fun.

She came home from school on the Friday evening of last weekend with a slightly bunged up nose. She felt fine. I thought nothing much of it, she’s been back at school less than three weeks and there are OTHER viruses around. Probably just a mild cold, brewing. 

But she woke up the next day feeling grim. She hurt all over, her head was sore, her throat was sore, she was snotty, she was shivering then sweaty and she had a fever. 

Covid had found us? After a year and a half. 

We actually think we had the original Covid in March last year but we have no way to prove that and we have had a couple of trips for Covid tests when we have felt unwell and been unsure, but this time I thought it really was it. She felt so unwell and with all restrictions lifted and life getting “back to normal” and cases still very high, particularly in schools (despite what the government says about schools not being a source of spread) it seemed likely. 

Off we trotted for a Covid test for her. 

We also decided that until we knew if it was or wasn’t covid, that we would be staying at home. Legally children under 18 and fully vaccinated adults don’t have to isolate now, even if someone at home with them has Covid. I don’t agree with this, and because I work with children and some potentially vulnerable adults, and my husband has work colleagues who may be more vulnerable, we felt we would be irresponsible to just go about pretending things were normal.

Our local test centre is very efficient, and we were in and out in less than ten minutes and her test result came back just after 24 hours.

Despite the fact she felt, as she put it “utterly crap”, it was negative.

I rang her GP to update them, as part of her asthma protocol we have to let them know if she might have Covid. They told me they are seeing early cases of flu and also a really nasty mega cold that is making people feel really poorly. Because Delta now doesn’t always present with the atypical dry cough, loss of taste and smell and high fever, but in children particularly can present like a very bad cold it’s harder to tell if you have Covid or a cold.

Apparently because we have all been shut away and wearing masks and social distancing for so long as a population, and now we are back to normal mixing, the germs and viruses that we used to deal with are back with a vengeance and our bodies are not used to them. So we stopped the spread of Covid but also other illnesses and now we have to get used to those again. Fun.

I know so many people who are ill with this “mega cold” which has rampaged through our house, and hit us all.

Whilst I am grateful it wasn’t Covid, and the teen gets her vaccine in two weeks, I can’t say I am enjoying being “back to normal” and dealing with other germs.

So the cold that isn’t Covid, be gone…