A question whose answer I find difficult to find on the Internet.

[Enrique]

I'll ask a question whose answer I find difficult to find on the Internet. It is about the covid-19. From the first symptoms, say tiredness, until the sickness is clearly visible, that is until the most serious symptoms arrive, how long does it take? How many days?

[Hollywood]

I don't think anyone knows for sure just yet. We had no idea that my husband had Covid-19 until he was admitted to hospital and was after a couple of days he tested positive. This was back in the end of March and since then we have learned more about this virus and its symptoms. When the hospital called me to say that my husband tested positive for Covid-19 they didn't tell me that since he tested positive that I should also get tested. To me it would be logical that if your partner tested positive you should also get tested. So on my own I called to get tested and on 1 April they came to my flat and tested me. I then learned that I too was positive for the virus. At this time I only had one of the then 4 symptoms listed for this virus which was fever. Today there are about 10 symptoms on that list which now includes diarrhea that I also had but was not one of the original symptoms back in March. To this day I have no idea where my husband got this virus from. I think that he contacted it from a friend who was a member in this motorcycle club that my husband created a website for. I never met any of these bikers so I have no idea if any of them have tested positive or not since my husband died from Covid-19 back in April.

It's still early days with knowing everything there is to know about this virus. All most every other day here in Austria you'll hear something about Covid-19 on the news. More people are testing positive again so it looks like the second wave is already starting here. We still have to wear a mask on the public transportation, in supermarkets, in the post office, banks and Dr.'s offices. Since I tested positive on 1 April I take my temperature everyday and so far it's been normal. I don't want to get reinfected especially since it's just me and my cat Gizmo living in our flat. This is what is really scary for me. I don't want to die alone and have my body discovered days later by the police breaking down the flat door. So all one can do is to take one day at a time and hope for the best. I've got my fingers crossed...

[Peter]

It's such an insidious thing with so many variations in the degree that people are affected. Most people probably have it so mild they don't even notice or think much of it, for others of course it is much more serious. I would have thought that if you had mild symptoms it would only be a few days if it was going to get more serious. All you can do is follow the guidance on how to stay safe.

[Hollywood]

I don't think that anyone is going to do a study on how long it takes from showing symptoms to when you actually test positive for Covid-19. It's so true what Peter mentioned that there are many people who don't even know they have this virus. I didn't know until my husband tested positive in hospital and then I tested positive as well.

Many of the symptoms are the same as the flu so one might think that it's just the flu and not get tested. What's scary about this virus is that it attacks people differently. I had only fever and diarrhea but Covid took my husband's life. It's going to take more time to study this virus before it can be conquered (hopefully).

[Harvey]

Strange thing. We are nine months into this and still I don't know anyone who has had Covid, or if they did, they did not present much in the way of symptoms.

[Hollywood]

Strange thing. We are nine months into this and still I don't know anyone who has had Covid, or if they did, they did not present much in the way of symptoms.

This is what's so scary about Covid. God knows how many people out there have no idea they are infected. In March when I had fever and diarrhea for a week, I had no idea that I had Covid until I tested positive in April. Back in March was the first time we even heard of this virus here in Austria and at that time this virus had only 4 symptoms and fever was at the top of the list (no mention of diarrhea on that list). But after my husband died in the middle of April the symptom list for Covid grew from 4 to 10 (diarrhea included as a symptom).

Here 9 months later in Austria we are still learning more about Covid and hoping that a vaccine is in sight. An german bio medical company called BioNTech (which has a branch here in Klosterneuburg a few miles from where I live) is working with the U.S. drug company Pfizer and they have come up with a vaccine. I'm curious to see how successful it will be. Unfortunately for me this is too little too late. I know that this won't bring my husband back but I hope that it will help to prevent Covid from taking more lives. Fingers crossed...

[Peter]

This is what's so scary about Covid. God knows how many people out there have no idea they are infected. In March when I had fever and diarrhea for a week, I had no idea that I had Covid until I tested positive in April. Back in March was the first time we even heard of this virus here in Austria and at that time this virus had only 4 symptoms and fever was at the top of the list (no mention of diarrhea on that list). But after my husband died in the middle of April the symptom list for Covid grew from 4 to 10 (diarrhea included as a symptom).

Here 9 months later in Austria we are still learning more about Covid and hoping that a vaccine is in sight. An german bio medical company called BioNTech (which has a branch here in Klosterneuburg a few miles from where I live) is working with the U.S. drug company Pfizer and they have come up with a vaccine. I'm curious to see how successful it will be. Unfortunately for me this is too little too late. I know that this won't bring my husband back but I hope that it will help to prevent Covid from taking more lives. Fingers crossed...

Good to hear from you. Yes there must be so many people unaware they have or have had this. I suspect I might have had it in January because the symptoms matched with a fever and dreadful persistent cough for weeks - it was completely different to anything I've had before. yet they say it wasn't around then? I'm not so sure. Wishing you all the best and hope you're doing ok.

[Decrepit Poster]

Yeah, symptoms are an odd thing....both directions. I recently took ill with a number of symptoms, including some that match C19's. Chest pain/discomfort (left side only), periodic coughing fits. Food didn't become tasteless but lost much of its flavor. What flavor remained was obnoxious. Loss of appetite. My whole body felt as if I was on fire, though I had no fever. Blood pressure, normally on the lowish side (100/xx - 119/xx) shot up to 130/xx to 150/xx. Not a happy time.

Now, I have a gimpy left lung which is easily infected. When that happens I get left-sided chest pain akin to that experienced above. And my extremities can experience a burning tinkle, though never before has it extended to include the entire body. But food taste? No, that's new. Loss of appetite. Absolutely not. During 'lung episodes' blood pressure tends to drop lower than the norm, not rise.

After two days of this, on the third I had myself C19-tested at my clinic's Urgent Care section. Result? NEGATIVE. Quite a relief.

Putting two and two together after the fact, I suspect my illness was a consequence of having recent been put on CPAP treatment. The machine's doctor-set airflow upper limit seemed excessive to me from the get go. I put up with it, assuming the pros had a handle on what was right for me.

After testing negative, I discussed this theory with both the urgent care doctor and the lady who remotely monitors/adjusts my CPAP unit. They both say no, treatment doesn't trigger symptoms such as mine. After complaining that I felt I was struggling against a too high airflow, they lowered the unit's upper-end by half. Since then, my symptoms have not returned, except occasional left-side chest/lung discomfort. What's more, with the setting lower I feel that CPAP is improving my overall health, which wasn't the case with the higher setting.

My guess is that the original CPAP airflow setting was too much for my gimpy left lung, and brought on an 'episode'...on steroids. I'll possibly no more this coming Monday when I see my (new) Primary Care Physician.

[Hollywood]

Glad to hear you tested negative for Covid and that you are doing better. But it sucks when you're having awful symptoms and nobody can tell you what you have. At least they can tell you what you don't have.

I just went to our local Covid testing place in my neighborhood and got myself tested again. My original Covid test was done on 1 April and was positive. So I wanted to find out if I was still positive or not. My new Covid test was negative. Yeah. So I tested negative on the 1st day after Austria's 2nd lockdown was lifted on 7 Dec. I had to pay €45 for that test but I then received a coupon from the doctor who did the test for a free Covid test in the future. I think I'll save it for sometime in the springtime of 2021. We'll see if Covid is still a threat or hopefully it'll have run its course.