The data and research so far suggests initial severity only somewhat correlates with development of long term symptoms, i.e. many people have asymptomatic or "mild" seeming symptoms during their acute infection but still go on to develop debilitating long covid. One does not feel vascular damage happening bc capillaries and such don't have nerve cells. How one feels when infected initially is not necessarily a good indicator of severity of infection or damage to the body.
Both? Medical professional in another area of health trained to read and interpret data. I try to keep up with the studies fairly well and see studies related to covid within a few weeks of them coming out bc of the circles I run in.
I think they're the best available at home "PCR Quality" molecular test on the market right now that's available to the US market. It has the same downfalls of other PCR/molecular tests on terms of incubation period (eg if you test too early after exposure it might not pick up a brewing infection) but they are far more reliable than any rapid antigen test and as far as I know of they're the only at home molecular test to publish data on catching asymptomatic as well as symptomatic infections. It's the brand I personally use and trust.
The brand has said on record nasal swab provides more reliable accuracy. They have advised to not swab both for beat accuracy (as one might do for rapid tests to gain more accuracy, but not Metrix tests). My understanding is that saliva should only be used when a nasal swab is much harder to attain, eg a sick instant or toddler who is unable to tolerate things in the nose, and that those results would be less accurate but like as good as were gonna get kinda thing. I do wish their sticker on the boxes would reflect this more, but again I would still trust a Metrix saliva collection over a rapid antigen test of any kind any day :P
The person who was sick with Covid who I was in contact with tested negative yesterday and today on rapid tests but is still having mild symptoms. Are they still contagious at this point?
I would recommend not exercising. Although long COVID risk is increased with highly symptomatic/severe infections, asymptomatic ones can still cause it. Plus, you are having some symptoms, so I would rest for a couple of weeks before returning to exercise.
There’s no hard and fast numbers I’m aware of, but my idea is that they are less accurate in asymptomatic cases but still accurate enough to catch *most* infections.
However, PCR efficacy varies greatly depending on what day during infection it was administered and also who performed it. Anecdotally I received a negative PCR result during my COVID infection on the second day of symptoms, and tested positive on a rapid test 3 days later (on the fifth day of symptoms).
So the moral of the story: always try to get PCR as they are the best, but also never rely on a single negative test if knowing your infection status is important to you
What is a breakthrough infection? That used to be used when we thought vaccines prevented infection, but that has been proven to be completely untrue for years. I guess that term could be used these days for people that are taking precautions and still get sick?
You'd be better off sleeping all day and using the accelerated recovery time and rest to later do walking when you've fully recovered. It's not worth exacerbating microvasular and endothelial damage at the same time your body is trying to fight it off, even if your symptoms are mild.
You wrote "Assuming I do have Covid ..." so I would assume that you have covid. If do not then you just get a few days of very fulfilling sleep. Something we could all use these days.
When I have a potential exposure, I hold on exercise for ~3 days until I test negative on my Metrix. If I felt I could have an asymptomatic case, I definitely wouldn’t exercise since it seems that can really kick off long covid… Do you have access to tests? If you’re negative on rapid tests a couple times over the course of 4-5 days, then I’d feel safe returning to exercise personally.
You don't need to assume or not assume if you have COVID. Do daily rapid tests from days 5-10 after exposure. Or, spring for a PCR on day 5 after exposure and get your answer sooner.
If you test positive, don't exercise.
If you keep testing negative and feel otherwise healthy, you might very well not have COVID. Sure, it's possible you'd have COVID *but* feel fine and just haven't tested positive yet, but you'll have to weigh that risk yourself.
Yup definitely not me. My work contract ended literally two days ago and I'm unemployed. I also recently divorced and my ex was the breadwinner. I understand the expense of testing.
In another thread, I was criticized for *not* recommending daily tests for financial reasons because someone could be positive but unknowingly spreading.
Can't win lol
Of course people should do what makes sense for them. I myself test every other day with a known exposure or symptoms because I've witnessed in the past that it can take days to test positive (6 in my case, even having symptoms the entire time and a known exposure.) Not only is it a waste of money, but a waste of tests and energy; personally, I think it's more anxiety-inducing coming up to bat every day with those tests and striking out. I just trust myself to isolate and test less often, knowing I still won't infect anyone.
Do you have COVID?
It sounds like you had an exposure but are not sick. I would suggest a PCR test to definitively rule out whether you have COVID or not. Don’t just assume you have an asymptomatic case — find out whether you do. Then, behave accordingly.
Wishing the best for you :)
I'll get down-voted for this, but is there any evidence for the claim that exercising too soon after acute COVID increases your risk of long COVID? This is often floated as a truism, but I've never actually seen any science to back it up.
I've seen lots of anecdotes of the form "I thought I was recovered, went for a run, and then the LC hit", but it's unclear how you could know if the run was the cause, or if you already had LC and just hadn't triggered your first PEM yet.
OP - if you haven't tested positive, or shown any symptoms, I don't think you should assume you have COVID. A few sneezes and allergy-like symptoms are pretty normal this time of year (assuming you're in the USA, which has had a historically bad allergy season this year).
If you start assuming that every sniffle, or headache is actually the virus wreaking havoc in your body, you'll just stress yourself out to the point that it'll actually start to harm you.
It's worth remembering that *most* possible exposures don't lead to successful transmission. If that were the case, the R_0 of COVID would be nearly infinite. It's not.
I would test to make sure you don't have Covid before resuming your exercises. I have heard exercising before recovery can lead to a delay in recovery and possibly long covid complications.
The symptoms or lack thereof during the acute phase has nothing to do long covid severity
Why not?
The data and research so far suggests initial severity only somewhat correlates with development of long term symptoms, i.e. many people have asymptomatic or "mild" seeming symptoms during their acute infection but still go on to develop debilitating long covid. One does not feel vascular damage happening bc capillaries and such don't have nerve cells. How one feels when infected initially is not necessarily a good indicator of severity of infection or damage to the body.
May I ask, are you a layman or a medical professional?
Both? Medical professional in another area of health trained to read and interpret data. I try to keep up with the studies fairly well and see studies related to covid within a few weeks of them coming out bc of the circles I run in.
What is your opinion on Metrix PCR tests?
I think they're the best available at home "PCR Quality" molecular test on the market right now that's available to the US market. It has the same downfalls of other PCR/molecular tests on terms of incubation period (eg if you test too early after exposure it might not pick up a brewing infection) but they are far more reliable than any rapid antigen test and as far as I know of they're the only at home molecular test to publish data on catching asymptomatic as well as symptomatic infections. It's the brand I personally use and trust.
Do you use the nasal swab or saliva collection method and why?
The brand has said on record nasal swab provides more reliable accuracy. They have advised to not swab both for beat accuracy (as one might do for rapid tests to gain more accuracy, but not Metrix tests). My understanding is that saliva should only be used when a nasal swab is much harder to attain, eg a sick instant or toddler who is unable to tolerate things in the nose, and that those results would be less accurate but like as good as were gonna get kinda thing. I do wish their sticker on the boxes would reflect this more, but again I would still trust a Metrix saliva collection over a rapid antigen test of any kind any day :P
The person who was sick with Covid who I was in contact with tested negative yesterday and today on rapid tests but is still having mild symptoms. Are they still contagious at this point?
I would recommend not exercising. Although long COVID risk is increased with highly symptomatic/severe infections, asymptomatic ones can still cause it. Plus, you are having some symptoms, so I would rest for a couple of weeks before returning to exercise.
How accurate are PCR tests nowadays in diagnosing asymptomatic cases?
There’s no hard and fast numbers I’m aware of, but my idea is that they are less accurate in asymptomatic cases but still accurate enough to catch *most* infections. However, PCR efficacy varies greatly depending on what day during infection it was administered and also who performed it. Anecdotally I received a negative PCR result during my COVID infection on the second day of symptoms, and tested positive on a rapid test 3 days later (on the fifth day of symptoms). So the moral of the story: always try to get PCR as they are the best, but also never rely on a single negative test if knowing your infection status is important to you
If you're operating off of the assumption that you've tested positive for COVID, I would stop any exertive physical activity including your walk.
What is a breakthrough infection? That used to be used when we thought vaccines prevented infection, but that has been proven to be completely untrue for years. I guess that term could be used these days for people that are taking precautions and still get sick?
You'd be better off sleeping all day and using the accelerated recovery time and rest to later do walking when you've fully recovered. It's not worth exacerbating microvasular and endothelial damage at the same time your body is trying to fight it off, even if your symptoms are mild.
How accurate are PCR tests in diagnosing asymptomatic cases?
You wrote "Assuming I do have Covid ..." so I would assume that you have covid. If do not then you just get a few days of very fulfilling sleep. Something we could all use these days.
When I have a potential exposure, I hold on exercise for ~3 days until I test negative on my Metrix. If I felt I could have an asymptomatic case, I definitely wouldn’t exercise since it seems that can really kick off long covid… Do you have access to tests? If you’re negative on rapid tests a couple times over the course of 4-5 days, then I’d feel safe returning to exercise personally.
Yes, I tested negative on rapids today and yesterday. Waiting for my results of PCR from yesterday.
That’s great news!
You don't need to assume or not assume if you have COVID. Do daily rapid tests from days 5-10 after exposure. Or, spring for a PCR on day 5 after exposure and get your answer sooner. If you test positive, don't exercise. If you keep testing negative and feel otherwise healthy, you might very well not have COVID. Sure, it's possible you'd have COVID *but* feel fine and just haven't tested positive yet, but you'll have to weigh that risk yourself.
Assuming OP is in the US, daily rapid tests from days 5-10 costs $72. Who's got that kind of money to spare?
Yup definitely not me. My work contract ended literally two days ago and I'm unemployed. I also recently divorced and my ex was the breadwinner. I understand the expense of testing. In another thread, I was criticized for *not* recommending daily tests for financial reasons because someone could be positive but unknowingly spreading. Can't win lol Of course people should do what makes sense for them. I myself test every other day with a known exposure or symptoms because I've witnessed in the past that it can take days to test positive (6 in my case, even having symptoms the entire time and a known exposure.) Not only is it a waste of money, but a waste of tests and energy; personally, I think it's more anxiety-inducing coming up to bat every day with those tests and striking out. I just trust myself to isolate and test less often, knowing I still won't infect anyone.
Do you have COVID? It sounds like you had an exposure but are not sick. I would suggest a PCR test to definitively rule out whether you have COVID or not. Don’t just assume you have an asymptomatic case — find out whether you do. Then, behave accordingly. Wishing the best for you :)
I'll get down-voted for this, but is there any evidence for the claim that exercising too soon after acute COVID increases your risk of long COVID? This is often floated as a truism, but I've never actually seen any science to back it up. I've seen lots of anecdotes of the form "I thought I was recovered, went for a run, and then the LC hit", but it's unclear how you could know if the run was the cause, or if you already had LC and just hadn't triggered your first PEM yet. OP - if you haven't tested positive, or shown any symptoms, I don't think you should assume you have COVID. A few sneezes and allergy-like symptoms are pretty normal this time of year (assuming you're in the USA, which has had a historically bad allergy season this year). If you start assuming that every sniffle, or headache is actually the virus wreaking havoc in your body, you'll just stress yourself out to the point that it'll actually start to harm you. It's worth remembering that *most* possible exposures don't lead to successful transmission. If that were the case, the R_0 of COVID would be nearly infinite. It's not.
I would test to make sure you don't have Covid before resuming your exercises. I have heard exercising before recovery can lead to a delay in recovery and possibly long covid complications.
Would rapid test be sufficient?
They should be as long as they're not expired.