The DU Lounge

COVID often has no more symptoms than a mild cold. If you are getting a mild cold, not testing, and not masking if you come into contact with others while you have a "mild cold," you risk infecting others.

I've had COVID twice. Once I got it from my spouse when we were traveling, she believed she had allergies, and there was no way for me to isolate from her until we got a test. The second time I got it from my daughter. After I tested positive, she asked what symptoms triggered me testing - turns out they were the exact same symptoms she had 3-4 days earlier. She hadn't tested, and didn't mention it to me because she didn't realize it might be COVID. The first bout of COVID (very mild) put me in the hospital a couple of months later with pancreatitis, some sort of gall bladder crud, gut dysbiosis (which lasted for a year), and immune deficiencies.

Since my daughter had COVID, she has been put on immune suppressants - so any future bouts with COVID (or the flu, or a cold) are likely to be more serious for her. I will not likely be able to continue being vaccinated because of the side effects. My daughter and I both mask all the time, but masks are not 100% effective.

All that is to say - if you are sick (whether you suspect COVID or not) please test, and please mask up for the sake of others who can't rely on vaccines or our immune systems to protect us.