As the title says:
She's fully vaxxed and double-boosted, so it will only be a minor nuisance - probably a 3-4 day wonder, like my breakthrough Omicron infection a few months ago. She's asymptomatic for now, and it will probably remain that way through the week. Just hydrating with plain water or orange juice should be sufficient to see it off.
About a month ago, I let my guard down just a bit and ate in a restaurant. The restaurant was not very crowded and I sat a good distance away from other customers. A day or two later, I had some significant nasal congestion. So I soon took a home covid test. The result was negative.
My sinuses cleared up pretty quickly, although I don't remember if they were already clearing up when I took the test or a day or two afterwards.
Now I'm wondering: when I tested negative, did it mean that I never had covid, or did it mean that I had a mild case that cleared up by the time I took the test?
The vaccine does not protect you against infection. It does not protect you from getting sick. It protects you from getting so sick that you have to go to the hospital and may die. So yes, depending on personal health characteristics, it may be like a light cold or a bad flu. But you are not going to take up a spot in the ICU or the graveyard.
I’ve got a different story. Ive been front line HCW since day 1 of pandemic. Zero PPE for like the first 2 months of it. Me and coworkers ran COVID tests daily starting in 5/2020. In a small building with a sham of a plexiglass shield, all breathing the same air. Positive people coughing, sneezing all the time. Since I was always very very careful I didn’t get it. Also I think I’m just very lucky in that my immune system has been vaccinated against anything and everything known to man. I’m halfway convinced my extremely up-to-date immune system was helping me fight COVID in ways we might not even be aware of. fast forward to now- quad boosted, still front line HCW. Ive absolutely lost count of how many times Ive been coughed on, sneezed on, handed cash, credit cards, merchandise from verified positive cases. At thanksgiving, I shared a glass of wine with my son who ended up positive with what we think might’ve been omicron 2 days later. He was double boosted, but I was already triple vaxxed by then. During the Christmas holidays we had dinner with friends who both tested positive. They were doubled, not boosted. All I can say is I’m very lucky and grateful to never have had COVID (that I’m aware of). There have been a few times when I’ve dealt with a runny nose or congestion in the last few months, but allergens are flying around like crazy so who knows..
About the only thing I can take away from the "breakthrough cases" is that everyone seems to have a different reaction than the next breakthrough case. As far as I'm concerned if you stay out of the hospital and/or don't die and/or don't even have to go to the doctor, it's a win for the vaccine. As a fully vaxxed double boosted 70 plus year old with multiple co-morbidities my breakthrough case was fierce - completely body-slammed sick for exactly 18 hours. Then the fever broke, I fell asleep, and when I woke up I felt fine. Damnedest thing I've ever experienced. I'm going to give props to the CDC and the vaccine researchers/producers on this one, I don't care how many breakthrough cases occur.
I hope it is mild and short lived for her. They say it will reach us all at some point. My family has been hunkered down and untouched so far. My husband has to travel on a plane for the first time since the pandemic next month, and we are pretty anxious about it, but its for a new job so necessary. Fingers crossed that’s not when it finally hits our home!
Given paxlovid.
The vaxxing also kept all y'al from haviing permanent long haul symptoms which can be particularly cruel. So there's that. Glad all y'all are better and back in the saddle.
Counterpoint -- my wife (triple vaxxed), kids (double vaxxed), and I (triple vaxxed) were all infected with Omicron when the surge started.
My symptoms were even milder than the mass media has made it out to be. Mildly runny nose, mild sore throat, both of which DayQuill stopped. Lasted maybe 3-4 days.
My wife had a mild cold/cough, also completely controlled by DayQuill. Lasted maybe 4-5 days.
My two older kids had a standard cold/cough. If it were 2019, I'd have kept them home from school, but it wouldn't have been enough for me to take them to urgent care. It was effectively no different than the cold/cough they've had plenty of times before. Actually, that's not true. It was a bit milder because they did NOT have fatigue at all. They spent their time running around the house like spazzes, playing video games, etc. Their more severe symptoms lasted maybe 3-4 days, but they did have mild coughs for about 10 days after.
My little one (who had only just had her second vax, as she had just turned 5) had no symptoms. I think she may have coughed once.
So, it's different for everyone. I think the correct thing to point out is that the vax will stop you from dying and make it more likely that you'll have just mild symptoms, but there's still a possibility you'll feel like warmed over shit.
But sniffles are totally the same as ECMO! See! See, I was right! ~antivaxxers everywhere
It may be more than a minor nuisance. Every adult member of my family is triple vaccinated, yet all but two of us has been infected by Omicron since December. They were all miserable for 5 to 7 days. A week later my sister still sounded congested. She said it felt like the worst cold she ever had.
They all recovered fine. Probably no long term effects. The only one who was in any danger was my elderly brother, who recently had chemo. He drove himself to the hospital for one overnight treatment. I think it was antibodies, but I am not sure. He was fine a week later.
My point is, breakthrough cases are a lot worse than the mass media has been saying. I was thinking of flying to California to attend a 5-day conference, but I decided not to. I am not afraid of getting sick. Not living in fear. But I can easily imagine feeling sick three days into the conference and then having to spend a miserable week in the hotel. What's the point? I can participate virtually for $200. It is shame I won't be seeing friends there, but it is not worth getting a bad cold for that. Giving all these idiots on airplanes without masks I think it likely I would be infected.
Even a breakthrough case of COVID can be as bad as influenza. Which is worse than people realize. They confuse a bad cold with influenza. In my 30s I had influenza that caused pneumonia. I had to spend a week in the hospital. It was miserable. Not life threatening, but miserable. I will go out of my way and skip a conference to avoid getting that again.