At home test conundrum

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My MIL is in the hospital and my Brother-in-Law proposed driving here today (a 3 hr 17 minute drive) to see her. He called this morning to announce he gave himself an at-home COVID-19 test and got a positive result. He then did a 2nd one and also got a positive.

He says he hasn't been anywhere in the last couple of weeks except to buy groceries. I am having a hard time determining whether the town where he lives has an indoor mask mandate (where he lives these things are apparently decided by town/city rather than county so much harder to know for certain). Even so, if where he lives is anything like were we live before the mandate was imposed last week, then almost everybody in the supermarket would have had a mask and I would not consider such a shopping trip to be a significant exposure risk. BTW he lives in a very blue state and county but his particular town may well be much redder than that suggests. A couple of weeks ago, both his teenage children became ill with symptoms I would consider consistent with COVID-19. They were tested a week later and found negative, however I think it possible they could have cleared the virus before getting tested.

My Brother-in-Law has no symptoms and neither does anyone else in his family at the moment. BTW he is vaccinated but did not get a booster (for reasons of convenience not due to any philosophical objection). But not getting a booster would be more relevant with regard to having symptoms than simply testing positive with no symptoms.

I can't avoid doubting the quality of the test. If he doesn't develop symptoms then I will doubt the test result, which means I will question whether he really has it.

If he does, then this raises a lot of questions. It would seem he has been at least as careful about exposure as anyone in my immediate family. Does this mean it's impossible to avoid exposure short of complete 24/7 isolation? If true, then it would seem there is no reason to take any precautions whatsoever. Which makes somebody like me, who has been cautious since the beginning of the pandemic, wonder if they are being foolish and perhaps behaving in a way that harms society by withholding my business from restaurants etc.

I have no doubt there were reasons to be cautious early on, in particular before vaccines. And there seems to be general agreement that society will come to accommodate the existence of this virus long-term in some way that will probably include a degree of risk-taking.

Nevertheless, hospitalizations for patients admitted with a COVID-19 diagnosis have attained an all-time high in my state. So apparently people are still getting sick enough from it to require hospitalization.

It's very confusing. I'm not posting this in the Haven because it is not causing me the level of distress that would justify the need to share in the Haven, but I still wanted to share.

I tested negative three times, but suffered through symptoms that were exactly like the covid breakthrough symptoms. My doctor wanted me to go to the hospital, but I refused and treated it at home with help primarily from my brother, long distance, as he is an MD. Tests are an indicator, but not without error. I had two moderna vacs.

I have since gotten the booster.

I have to consider how risky exposure is for me (I am 68, and have chronic illnesses), and how risky it is for others. Do the people I am visiting have high risks or not. For my work, I have to make visits and go from one client home to another. I do not want to be a "super spreader" so I wear a mask to protect my clients and their families.

OTOH, if I had a young child in the hospita; no one could keep me away from the child. Likewise for my husband. If he got covid, I would not implement any precautions because I can so much for him.

You have to figure out your personal "algorithm" for making in person visits. And then modify as needed, because we never can foresee all circumstances.

No, but over the very long run of time - yes.

Covid is now endemic. It'll be with us forever and Eventually virtually every human being on the planet who has contact with others is going to contract some strain or another of Covid-19. Obviously complete isolation is how to avoid it entirely - and that was definitely more mission critical in the beginning when the virus was stronger and we didn't have vaccine immunity. Now that the virus that's circulating is much more transmissible (Omicron) it's becoming more and more probable that people will contract it during brief interactions. Doesn't mean you shouldn't still do the basic things to avoid it for as long as possible.. the longer you avoid it the better for you and everyone - as then eventually when you get it hopefully it's an even weaker strain that thanks to the vaccine is just a basic flu/fever/cold and that's it.

Taking no precautions whatsoever simply greatly increases the chances you'll get it sooner. That would have been a big gamble in the beginning when Covid was deadlier. Now it's still not a smart move, imo, but being vaxxed/boosted it's a way lower risk than it was before - up to you what your risk tolerance is. For ME I'm still around my high risk parents, especially my dad, so I'll continue to at least try to avoid getting covid for as long as possible so that when I eventually do hopefully it's so weak that I'm asymptomatic and if it does spread to my parents it doesn't kill either of them.

Time is still on our sides all around - the more time we spread this over the better for us and public health in general.

As for record numbers in hospitals - chances are the vast majority are unvaccinated. Meanwhile, here, vaccination rates are quite high. As for November 1st for Vancouver proper (City, not including the suburb cities where I live) fully vaccinated (double shot - boosters being done now) rates were 90-97% depending on which neighbourhood. We're probably a little behind those rates in my suburb city, yet in my city the Covid patients in our local hospital are less severe than early Covid. Way less. There are fewer admissions - people no longer doubled up in rooms, and they're not super touch and go requiring close monitoring.. they're just sick, and typically surviving and going home. Omicron is the beginning of the end of Covid - various experts have all stated similar things, that they expect it'll just mutate and weaken over the next few months or so and then fizzle out and become a regular flu like other viruses. I guess that's the natural progression of these types of viruses.. start of strong, and then just get weaker and weaker until they're pretty harmless vs. mutating into stronger versions again. (I dunno much about viruses - is that typically how they go? Mutate and fade? Yet others like HIV don't do that.. so maybe depends on the type of virus ? All statements about Covid are that it's expected to fizzle and fade.)

But where you live must not have high vaccination rates if so many people are hospitalized. (Our daily case counts tripled with Omicron but not so many hospital admissions because almost everyone is vaccinated.) Sooo, given the hospital situation - it still makes sense to me to do your part to try to avoid getting and spreading Covid so as to try not to completely overwhelm your healthcare system and have more people die than necessary.

It's not so much getting the virus, as myself and vulnerable loved ones should survive it if we have been properly vaccinated. It's more so the stuff you've got to go through whenever you get even a symptom of a cold. Due to vaccines a lot of people are experiencing covid symptoms as mild as just a sore throat at least at first, and a sore throat or body aches can be a sign of any kind of virus or infection, not just covid. But to be sure, we can't go out unless we have full proof that we are negative, so just a quick lateral flow test isn't enough evidence if you feel you may have symptoms even if it says negative. You still have to send away for a home testing kit, which takes a day or two to arrive, and takes another couple of days to hear the results. And sometimes they're inconclusive, even though you followed the exact instructions (it's not hard especially if you've done it a few times). So you've got to send off for it all over again. And during this time you're missing work, and not all businesses pay you when you're off sick, which is worrying when you've got rent and bills to keep on top of. And you have to go through this each time you show just the tiniest sign of a mild common cold, because you just don't know.

I know the precautions are important to take, and I do take all precautions, but with these vaccines that do appear to be working, we soon have to learn to live with this as covid just being another virus like the flu or norovirus. After all, all viruses start somewhere, and part of life is to get immune to these viruses.

I've just had my third jab. I've had swollen glands and body aches - which means the vaccine is doing its job. Sure it may not stop me from catching covid but it should only make it mild should I catch it, probably much less ill than what I'd get if I caught flu or norovirus.

Update. Since then I have heard so many anecdotes of people clearly ill with Omicron whose antigen (lateral-flow) tests were consistently negative and people getting positive results without either symptoms or any idea how they may have become infected, that I have lost almost all believe in the value of those tests. Probably a PCR test is the only thing that really counts, especially if you want to prove you're no longer contagious after recovering.

Had quite a discussion last night about this with some acquaintances (over Zoom of course).