r/COVID19positive • u/BriefPicture6248 • 28d ago
If you have just tested positive, or you are trying to understand what COVID-19 and Long COVID actually mean for your health this post is meant to answer most of what you are wondering before you have to ask. Every claim below links to a real source - the CDC, the WHO, the NHS, and Mayo Clinic.
A couple of things before we start. This sub does not allow medical advice, and this post isn't medical advice either. Nothing here tells you what to take or do for your specific situation, that's between you and a doctor. What this post does is lay out the established facts so you are not walking in blind.
It is long so if you feel like , you can just read the TL;DR below and skip the rest unless you want more.
TL;DR
Most COVID infections resolve without complications, but it's not "just a cold" for everyone. Stay away from others until your fever has been gone for 24 hours and symptoms are improving, then take extra care for several more days (exact local rules vary, check your country's health authority). Seek emergency care immediately for trouble breathing, persistent chest pain, confusion or blue/pale lips or face. Antiviral treatment can help certain higher-risk people if started early, talk to a doctor promptly. Roughly 1 in 10 to as many as a third of infections, depending on the study and definition used, may lead to persistent symptoms lasting three months or longer, ranging from fatigue and brain fog to serious conditions like ME/CFS , it can happen after a mild or even symptomless infection, vaccinated or not, and each reinfection carries its own independent risk. Children usually get off lightly but watch for MIS-C, a rare inflammatory complication that can show up weeks after the initial infection. Pregnancy raises the risk of severe illness and complications, so don't sit on a positive test if you're pregnant. There's no cure yet, but layered prevention (vaccination, good masks, ventilation, testing, staying home when sick) meaningfully lowers your odds. Some people also report lingering symptoms after vaccination ("long vaccine"), which is a real but genuinely contested topic we're not getting into here. If you're struggling emotionally with any of this, that's a normal reaction to something genuinely hard, and crisis support is listed further down if you need it.
What COVID-19 Actually Is
COVID-19 is caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2. The first cases were identified in Wuhan, China, with symptom onset in mid-December 2019. By 31st December 2019, the World Health Organisation had been told about a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown cause. China confirmed it was a new coronavirus on 7th January 2020 and made the genetic sequence public five days later. The WHO called it a public health emergency of international concern on 30th January 2020, and declared it a full pandemic on 11th March 2020.
Exactly how the virus first reached people is still genuinely unresolved, investigations have looked at both an animal source and a lab-related origin, and as of the most recent joint WHO findings there wasn't enough evidence to settle it either way. That question belongs to virologists, not our department, frankly.
What matters more for day-to-day purposes: it spreads mainly through the air, people can pass it on before they ever feel sick, and it hasn't gone away , it's still circulating and still mutating into new variants years later.
You Tested Positive. Now What?
Most people get through the infection itself without anything serious happening. Below is what's worth knowing in the first day or two. This sub has members everywhere, so the broad strokes below apply globally, the specific isolation rules may differ by country, which is covered further down.
Children
Most children who get COVID have mild illness and recover without issue. There is a rare but serious complication worth knowing about called MIS-C (Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children) , it typically shows up two to six weeks after a COVID infection, even a mild one, and involves persistent fever along with inflammation that can affect the heart, gut, skin, or other organs. It's uncommon, but it's serious enough that any persistent fever in a child a few weeks after a COVID infection is worth a prompt call to their doctor or paediatrician, not a wait-and-see approach.
Pregnancy
Pregnant and recently pregnant people are consistently flagged as higher-risk for severe COVID illness, including higher rates of hospitalisation and ICU admission, and COVID during pregnancy has been linked to increased risk of preterm birth and stillbirth. Vaccine recommendations for pregnant people specifically have become a contested area between different health bodies recently, which is exactly the kind of disputed territory this post isn't going to wade into but the underlying risk itself isn't in dispute. If you're pregnant and test positive, that's a good reason to contact your midwife, Gynaecologist , or GP promptly.
Symptoms and Testing
Symptoms differ a lot from person to person. Common ones: fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, body aches, headache, sore throat, congestion, nausea, sometimes diarrhoea. Loss of taste or smell which a lot of people remember from earlier in the pandemic shows up less often with current variants but still happens to some people.
You can also have no symptoms at all and still be infected. An infection does not need to feel severe to have consequences later; some people who report Long COVID describe their initial illness as mild or even symptom free. That matters because, as covered below, an asymptomatic infection can still lead to Long COVID, you don't need to have felt sick to end up dealing with after-effects.
Symptoms usually show up somewhere between 2 and 14 days after exposure, most commonly around day 4 or 5.
Rapid antigen tests are quick and convenient but miss more cases than PCR tests, particularly early on or when symptoms are mild. If you have symptoms but a negative rapid test, testing again a day or two later or getting a PCR test gives you a more reliable answer than trusting a single rapid result.
PCR is the more sensitive option and is what is used when a definitive answer matters, but it takes longer to come back.
If you've been exposed and have no symptoms yet, it's generally too early for a test to pick anything up in the first couple of days the virus needs time to build up to detectable levels.
Treatment and Vaccines
(We are not going to tell you what to take, and you should not take medical advice from a Reddit post anyway)
This is a hard line for this sub and for good reason because nobody here knows your full medical history, what else you are taking, or what your actual risk factors are. What we can say in general terms is that treatments exist, some of them work best when started early in the illness, and whether any of them make sense for you depends entirely on things only a doctor can assess properly. If you want background reading to bring into that conversation, the CDC's page on COVID treatment is a reasonable starting point but it's a starting point for a conversation with a clinician, not a substitute for one.
Vaccination has consistently been shown to lower the risk of severe illness, hospitalisation, and death from COVID. The formulation gets updated periodically to keep up with whichever variants are circulating.
Whether a vaccine makes sense for you, and when, is something to work out with your own doctor based on your age, health history and risk factors , current guidance leans heavily on that individual conversation rather than a one-size-fits-all answer. You can find up-to-date official information at NHS's vaccination page or the CDC's vaccine page.
Long COVID
(This is the part people don't take seriously enough until it happens to someone they know)
What Long COVID Is: Long COVID also called Post-COVID Conditions is the term for symptoms that show up, persist, or come back weeks, months, or even years after a COVID infection. The CDC's working definition requires symptoms to still be present at three months after the illness. It is an umbrella covering a genuinely wide range of conditions that can follow infection, and more than 200 distinct symptoms have been documented across people who have it.
How common it is: This is one of the most argued-over numbers in COVID research. It depends entirely on how and when you measure it. Looking at people who currently have symptoms at any given time, U.S. national survey data has put that figure somewhere around 6 to 7.5% of all adults. A separate and much larger question is how many people have ever developed Long COVID symptoms after an infection, even if they later got better pooled analysis across many studies puts that figure considerably higher, with estimates in some reviews landing in the 20s to mid-30s percent range, depending on the study population and which variant was dominant at the time. Earlier variants appear to have carried a higher Long COVID risk than more recent ones, though risk hasn't disappeared.
It's common enough that you almost certainly already know someone affected. You probably just don't know it, because a lot of this is invisible from the outside.
A Note on "Long Vaccine"
Some people report ongoing symptoms after COVID vaccination, sometimes called "long vaccine" or vaccine-associated adverse effects. This is a real area of patient-reported experience and ongoing research, but it's also one of the most contested and politically charged topics in COVID discourse, which makes it a bad fit for a pinned post that's trying to stick to settled, sourced information. If you're experiencing symptoms you think may be related to vaccination, that's a conversation for your doctor.
If you want to go deeper:
Other Effects Linked to COVID Infection
Worth knowing about, stated plainly, with the caveat that an increased risk in a study isn't a guarantee for any one individual.
Plenty of people walk away from COVID completely fine, but some don't. There's no reliable way to know in advance which one you'll be, so don't gamble on it.
Lowering The Risk
None of this gets you to zero, but each layer genuinely helps, per CDC guidance:
Mental and Emotional Impact
Testing positive or living with ongoing symptoms can stir up a lot, worry, guilt about exposing other people, grief if things are not improving the way you hoped, loneliness from being stuck at home. None of that means you're handling it badly.
If you're struggling and need to talk to someone right now, please get in touch with a crisis line almost every country has one, and they are free and confidential. A few verified examples:
If your country isn't listed here, Find A Helpline is a verified directory covering 175+ countries search yours directly there, since this is a more current and complete source than any static list, including this one.
A Few Things People Often Get Wrong
Sources Worth Bookmarking
The World Health Organisation) is the most globally relevant starting point, since its guidance isn't tied to any one country. Most national health ministries and agencies publish their own COVID and Long COVID guidance too a few examples, not an exhaustive list: the US CDC and its Long COVID hub, the UK NHS, Health Canada / PHAC, and Australia's healthdirect. Whatever country you're in almost certainly has an equivalent searching "[your country] ministry of health COVID" will usually get you there directly. For a clinical overview not tied to any government, Mayo Clinic's Long COVID guide is a solid general-audience reference.
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However you ended up here, fresh positive test, supporting someone else, or just trying to understand this properly, welcome.
r/COVID19positive • u/BriefPicture6248 • Mar 29 '26
One thing I feel people ignore is that even if you never caught COVID, the pandemic still affected your body in some way. We were exposed to fewer everyday illnesses, routines changed, stress went up, and even things like diet and gut health shifted. All of that can influence how your immune system responds now.
Also, not everyone who got COVID actually knew they had it. Some people had it without any symptoms, but asymptomatic doesn't always mean unaffected. There can still be mild, long term effects like fatigue, breathing changes, or things related to the heart and circulation that just aren’t obvious right away.
Even if you're vaccinated or think you've never been exposed, that's not a reason to ignore how your body feels now.
Just because you didn't feel sick doesn't mean your body walked away untouched. You should still stay aware and take care of yourself even if you're part of the 'never-caught-COVID' crowd.
r/COVID19positive • u/That_Ear_1830 • 5h ago
Me and my mother have both tested positive so now I’m just listening to questionable podcasts on Spotify while trying to live my life
r/COVID19positive • u/monsterhunterghoul • 9m ago
Have any of y'all been hit by this double whammy of Covid and pneumonia? Kinda scared of having it since I don't want to die from this and I have auto immune problems already 🤪🤪🤪
r/COVID19positive • u/Past-Motor-4654 • 10h ago
Maybe it’s because I haven’t been boosted since 2022 (they were not available anywhere when I tried) and maybe it’s the strain, but this sucks. Mild symptoms according to the heath care/WHO/CDC standards, but joint pain and the knife-like sore throat came on first and hurt so bad I was sure I had strep. My throat doesn’t hurt anymore but I’ve got a simultaneously stuffy and runny nose, watery eyes, fever, body aches, fatigue, hacking cough. Currently unable to sleep. Wishing I had worn a mask when I traveled last week. I don’t think I’m at risk of moderate or serious symptoms but am wondering if I should get paxlovid anyway (coming up on day 4).
Just a middle of the night whine. Stay safe out there!
r/COVID19positive • u/throwthrowthrowfuck • 2d ago
I'm posting here because I feel really anxious. My parents are outta town and my uncle's family has been visiting for the past two weeks. They leave Friday.
Last week I noticed one of the kids was coughing randomly and his older brother was clearing his throat. His mom mentioned she felt something in her throat but attributed it to how cold our water is. I started feeling mentally uneasy at that point and also even started feeling something in my throat and fatigue so I started masking. I took a test and it was negative.
Fast forward to today, I had those three family members take COVID tests (I didn't have one for myself to retest) because I planned on visiting my boyfriend's mom who's receiving chemo right now. The adults tests COVID back negative but my younger cousins comes back with a faint thin red line that even my camera won't capture.
I'm so frustrated because i have diagnosed OCD and can get obsessive about these things and become a boy who cried wolf. But I know a line was there. My uncle couldn't see it and I couldn't capture it on camera to send to people but I know it was there because I know what a negative test looks like given how obsessive I am. Also I just had a feeling the younger one would turn up positive because this happened once when we were visiting them, same faint line right at the last minute.
Now I have a few dilemmas. Obviously I am not going to visit my boyfriend's mom. But, my parents and sister who are out of town still want me to fly out to join them across the country. I'm supposed to leave Wednesday. I said no I don't want to go. They think if I'm testing negative I am fine but I had symptoms no matter how subtle and false negatives exist. Also I'm still being exposed to the cousin even if I'm masked up around him. I just don't feel comfortable but I think everyone thinks I'm crazy especially since I don't have photographic proof of a strong positive.
Everyone in the exposed family even visited my uncle in the hospital last week who is also a cancer patient. Luckily everyone was masked up but even then I didn't wanna go but no one took me seriously.
I just don't know what to do. I'm already at an extremely depressed place bc of my boyfriend's mom's cancer diagnosis, I don't know how to advocate for myself right now to tell my parents I don't wanna get on a plane even if I am testing negative and the kiddos test is faint meaning he's likely on the up and up. On top of that my OCD is gonna spiral outta control bc idk how to disinfect once these guys leave Friday. I don't even know how to interact with them.
A few months ago an aunt came from abroad and was sick and no one batted an eye there but I masked. Thrned out she has COVID. No one ever gets sick, including during our close call with this same cousin a year ago, so I feel like I look extra silly going above and beyond masking and refusing to travel
I was able to convince my mom to cancel my flight but my sister wants to wait and see how i test morning of. It'll likely be negative but I still don't want to go! Also I'm just so anxious for the inevitable moment when my cousin tests again (I guess in two days) and it's so faint that no one believes me. Or maybe it truly will be negative. God and I'm just so anxious about trying to disinfect this house after they leave bc I really do wanna see my boyfriend and his mom but she cannot get sick.
I have a good feeling that I'll come out of this COVID negative but why take risks if I don't have to. I probably have to go to my internship, where I've been masking but a cross country trip?
Sorry for the rant I'm just really anxious right now and feeling alone
r/COVID19positive • u/Noara97 • 2d ago
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r/COVID19positive • u/TrillLogic_ • 2d ago
Has this happened to anyone else here? Was it a true reinfection or a rebound?
My timeline:
June 30 - symptoms start
July 2 - positive rapid Covid test
July 3 - started taking paxlovid (symptoms already improving)
July 5 - positive rapid Covid test, fainter line
July 7 - finished paxlovid treatment, very minimal symptoms
July 8 - negative rapid Covid test
July 9-17 - feeling good besides lingering cough and coughing fits, no additional testing, trying to go back to normal life
July 18 - nasal congestion begins, coughing fits still present
July 19 - positive rapid Covid test bright red line
I’m not sure if this is a rebound since I think the timeframe has passed for it to be a rebound. But I’m pissed at my bad luck. The last time I was sick was 3 years ago. Pretty sure I got it at the beginning of July from a cruise.
(I am not seeking medical advice)
r/COVID19positive • u/NoEscape2500 • 4d ago
I’m on like day three of real symptoms and one thing that’s diffrent this time is I’m so hungry all the time. I’m having trouble sleeping because I’m so hungry. First night I was awake till 6:30am because I thought my stomach hurt but I was just starving. But I also lost like five pounds in a few days of having Covid. Has anyone else experienced this??
r/COVID19positive • u/TimeHouse9 • 4d ago
During the first two years of Covid lockdown, when we had to reserve our swim places in advance, there evolved a 6 AM, 7 AM, and 8 AM group at my pool. Each group swam for 45 minutes.
My point? None of us got Covid nor did any of the pool staff. Did the exercise protect us or the chlorine in the air? (We would be briefly unmasked while showering, getting in the water, etc.)
Note: half were over 60.
(Text corrected.)
r/COVID19positive • u/Practical_Buy4533 • 5d ago
Im a 36M, 5'9'', 60kg. I take euthyrox 88mcg for hypo with hashimotos. Don't drink or smoke.
A kid relative visited that had a cough and two days later I had all the usual symptons (fever and sore thorat first couple days, coughgin and mucus, and most destacable the distorted smell from hell). I had a sprain trying to sleep and each cough was hurting for a while. I didnt sleep barely for 10 days. I recovered but since a month ago i have been coughing in waves throught the day and sometimes i cough up soime greenish mucus. I hope no permanent damages on my lungs or some sort of silent reflux problem or something.
Anyway not sure what to do. I never got vaxed as I work from home and kind of forgot about covid at all. Nobody wears masks not even in hospitals. At least I always wear ffp2 there. When I went to the dr during the infection they didn't even test me for what I had. Im from Spain Barcelona btw, not sure if they test you when you go with some viral symptons in your country but here they didn't bother.
Someone said "sars-cov2 nucleocapsoid" test would tell you if you had covid at some point but not if recent.
Yesterday I went to the ambulatory and the nurse checked temp, oxygen saturation %, heartrate, and ausculated me, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary and I was given fluimicil 200 powder with a glass water which is what I took back in april for a while. I was told to take it 3x a day for 5 days but I dont know how to take this 3 times a day if you are supposed to not take it unless you wait 8 hours in between so im taking it two. It's my second day and i've noticed a bit less cough and green muccus. But im worried this is something to do with digestion as I notice it sometimes after foods. I also have had post nasal drip for many years. Stool is normal and sometimes a bit loose. Im also hoping no lung damage as i have some nights where I had coughing attacks during the infection in april but recovered as well as my smell sense, everything was pretty much recovered but since a month this cough with some mucus and its giving me anxiery.
Any ideas let me know.
r/COVID19positive • u/Character_Chemist_38 • 5d ago
Hi everyone,
This is my first time having COVID, and I tested positive today. My doctor started me on Paxlovid, and I just took my second dose.
So far I’ve had:
Sore throat that started first
Fever (up to about 101.9°F) but now on day 2 down
Chills followed by drenching sweats
Fatigue
Mild cough and throat mucus
Elevated heart rate while I had a fever (around 100–105 bpm at rest)
Body aches on day 2
The good news is my oxygen saturation is 99%, I’m able to eat yogurt, drink fluids, and keep my medication down.
One thing I’m really anxious about is Long COVID. I have a history of a traumatic brain injury, so I’m especially worried about prolonged fatigue or cognitive symptoms.
For those who’ve had COVID:
Did you take Paxlovid, and when did you start feeling better?
Did anyone here develop Long COVID despite taking Paxlovid early?
Are there things you did during recovery that you think helped reduce your risk?
What vitamins did you take ?
How long did it take before you were back to your normal energy level?
I’m trying to rest as much as possible and follow my doctor’s instructions. I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences, both positive and negative.
Thanks so much.
r/COVID19positive • u/SeaLeopard5555 • 6d ago
half venting but figured I would do a report in case it helps anyone for my 2nd experience of COVID.
Location: Massachusetts USA
Prior vax: yes, but I hadn't gotten a booster in over a year.
First symptom: scratchy throat evening of 7/13
Progression: chills, headache, muscle aches, sore throat, dizziness, fever of 102-103, fatigue, hoarse
Tested: bought a fresh Flu A/B and COVID home test, which I took yesterday, 7/15. Strong immediate positive for COVID alone.
Went to urgent care to have it recorded and obtain Paxlovid script.
My first COVID time was I believe Dec of 2022.
trying to get caught up on the latest knowledge and suggestions. Super bummed I have it, even the urgent care Dr said "we aren't seeing much COVID" and I said, yeah, because no one's bothering to test or come in.
Best of luck to others fighting COVID off this summer.
r/COVID19positive • u/Derek2830 • 6d ago
About a month ago I caught what I thought was a bad summer cold with chills, stuffy nose, sore throat and aches for about a week. I saw a nurse as I thought I had a chest infection which came up clear and now I seem to have a lingering cough and suffer coughing fits at random times for about 3 weeks now
Has anyone else had these symptoms of a random chesty cough that just starts at completely random times?
If you did, do you know how long it lingered for?
r/COVID19positive • u/PowPopBang • 7d ago
My toddler and I have been dealing with a mystery virus over the past two weeks. For context:
Wednesday I start experiencing a very painful sore throat only at night. This lasts until Thursday and then disappears. I also have a bit of a cough and runny nose. Very mild congestion. I also have a very mild elevated temperature of 100 F while my toddler is 102-103 F over the course of a couple of days. My "fever" goes away in a couple of hours.
Friday my daughter gets diagnosed with a double ear infection. She starts antibiotics and her fever breaks. Sunday she gets what her pediatrician calls a "post-viral rash" but is deemed well enough to go back to daycare.
Saturday I come down with viral pink eye. I also lose my sense of smell and taste completely. It's not due to congestion because I can breathe out my nose easily at this point. I get antibiotic drops that seem to help a little but I still have mild pink eye today.
Monday I take four COVID tests. Only one comes back with a slight positive. I also start getting an ear infection. When I go to the urgent care for antibiotics, he mentions it's not COVID if most of the results are negative.
My cough starts getting worse at night to the point where I'm throwing up.
I am so frustrated at this point. I hate being sick.
r/COVID19positive • u/NoEscape2500 • 7d ago
Pissed because this time I feel like i didn’t expose myself in any big ways. I’ve been mostly at home and work. First time was from prom second from a free amusement park trip. This time. Nothing.
It started with postnasal drip and today’s the second day. Less than 24 hours after symptoms started. Still just postnasal and a bit of nose congestion. Hoping it stays mild. Normally with any infection for me it gets worse overnight but this time it seems to have stayed the same.
Did anyone else start with mild symptoms and have them stay mild?
r/COVID19positive • u/ajburch92 • 9d ago
I got COVID 1.5 years ago and I lost my libido and ability to feel happiness, pleasure or joy. Has anyone else gone through something similar?
r/COVID19positive • u/No-Diver-9111 • 10d ago
Hello everyone. Bit of a long story but I will try to keep this brief.
Around late March last year I had a bad covid infection. It was so brutal I was pretty much bedridden for several days, experienced extreme throat and chest pains and I also had loss of taste and smell (everything smelled and tasted like vinegar...even bottled water). Even walking a little around the house would make me feel tired and winded.
On April 5th last year I woke up with my serious brain fog and with right ear completely blocked, the right side of my neck was stiff and painful, and I felt pain radiating (from what it felt like) my right ear to my neck, jaw, teeth, and right eye. I'm a professional musician and I also noticed that all bass frequencies on my right ear were completely gone, not just from music and music instruments but from *everything*. Even tapping my fingers close to my right ear sounded drastically different from doing so close to my left ear.
Later that day, I experienced nausea, vertigo, and my hearing became distorted on my right ear. People's voices sounded very strange, robotic, doubled and just outright distorted. I also had an intense feeling of pressure inside my ear. This was worrying enough that it led me to scheduling an appointment with an ENT.
After a hearing test and a tympanometry came back normal my ENT said I had labyrinthitis. She prescribed betahistine dihydrochloride and said I had to wait about a year for it to normalize. I was not satisfied with this and saw another ENT who...pretty much told me the same.
About six months later, on October 2025, my hearing normalized somewhat. It was never what it was before, I still had some lingering issues with low frequency hearing perception, but it was much better than when all of this started. All other symptoms disappeared as well.
...until two weeks ago, where all of these auditory symptoms and pain came back with a vengeance. The facial pain this time around has been UNREAL, and so has the feeling of pressure in my ear. Absolutely no bass frequencies can be perceived out of my right ear either. No vertigo this time around, however. The brain fog is also killing me, it was a struggle to just write this post.
I will be seeing an ENT and possibly a neurotologist as soon as I can, but I can't help but wonder: Has anyone been through or is going through anything similar? I did not expect this to happen again and I'm very saddened, frustrated and...tired. Last time was bad enough. I do not want to go trough this again.
r/COVID19positive • u/Gibbo_03 • 10d ago
(First paragraph is my true story from years ago) My first covid experience was horrible I felt unwell no appetite, hot, tired, but the anxiety… I had what I can only describe as this chest pressure with what felt like anxiety radiating out of it, I’m not lying when I say this lasted for a week straight like no anxiety I had before where u normally just wait for it to die down because it goes away eventually, it was like a week long anxiety attack/adrenaline surge is the closest to explain it, from the time i woke to the time i slept. But and maybe im wrong this anxiety felt like it was caused directly or as a symptom of covid not necessarily because I was worried about having covid. The only temporary fix was a hot bath and distracting myself with house work. But the second these stopped it was back. Now I didn’t have a sore throat or even a cough when I got sick but nonetheless it was horrible without those. Eventually it did go away though thankgod. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?
Anyway I also have covid of late but thankgod the anxiety is “normal” in the sense that it’s only because I’m worried about weird symptoms/sensations that pop up, i was feeling good for the last day other then a slight cough and now I have a weird throat sensation like a sore throat without the soreness it’s like there is something there? How did u deal with the anxiety because each time something new or weird is felt while I’m sick my anxiety goes through the roof until I calm down later and it would be good to know if other people have had similar experiences (not that I wish this anxiety on anyone)?
r/COVID19positive • u/Technical-Forever972 • 11d ago
I have a negative rapid test on day 7 - am I good to go?
My day one of symptoms started this past Sunday, July 5th. I tested the next day (Monday) and was indeed positive for covid. I was sick this whole week (still mild symptoms- congestion/sinus cold, mild body aches, and a low grade fever ONLY on day one/sunday and never came back) and have felt fine and basically fully recovered since yesterday, Friday the 10th. I also feel fine and fully recovered today. I just tested negative on two rapid (strip version) tests. My friend’s birthday party is tonight and I was weary about going but since my (mild) symptoms have totally passed and I’m negative on my rapid tests, am I good to go? Transparently, if I went, I would not wear a mask. I was worried about contagiousness but I don’t think I can spread it if this isn’t enough of a viral load to be picked up on either test. I’m also not coughing or sneezing, at all. Today is technically day 7. Thanks in advance!
r/COVID19positive • u/OddPanic4147 • 11d ago
Sometimes I'll wake up with light pressure in my chest, almost like resting your hand on top of your chest without pressing down. It feels like I need to take a deep breath and my lungs feel "stiff" when I do - slight resistance to inhaling with a sensation like stretching after sitting for too long, but in my chest. The "stiff lung" feeling gets better after a few breaths though the pressure remains, I feel a bit like I'm not getting enough air then an hour late, I'm fine.
Did anyone have a similar problem after COIVD? I caught it earlier this year with a lot of respiratory symptoms and body pain. Pretty sure I also had it in 2021, but that was my first confirmed infection and it hit me hard. For a whole month my legs were sore, my lungs felt like they had a chemical burn, it was rough. I had a spirometry and echocardiogram done, both were normal.
r/COVID19positive • u/RubOk9764 • 12d ago
I experienced flu-like symptoms a few weeks ago, and it went away after 9 days. Exactly a week ago, those symptoms came back, and then I tested positive for Covid-19 4 days ago. Because it takes a while for someone to test negative for covid after recovery, there's a possibility this is just the flu, and I only had covid a few weeks ago. (or at least thats's how I understood it.) My symptoms eased up recently, so I decided to catch up on school.
I'm taking this very content-heavy class that I was doing reasonably well in before getting sick the second time. I only started trying to catch up yesterday and trying to complete an online test today, but I noticed that I can't retain information as well as I used to, and I get tired from studying so much more easily.
Is anyone else experiencing this? Google said that Covid-19 can cause brain fog but I'd like to know if I'm alone in this, especially since I have such a short and mild case.
r/COVID19positive • u/Practical-Ad-8348 • 12d ago
I'm gutted to be writing this in 2026 but wanted to share in case it helps anyone. I'm UK based and got back from a staycation on Monday. Tuesday was uneventful. On Wednesday morning I noticed on my Fitbit stats that my resting heart rate was out of range. From about lunch time, I started feeling ropey - very tired, tension headache. I figured it was the inevitable return to work (luckily I was working from home that day).
Fast forward to the evening and my throat had that prickly feeling before you get sick. My right nostril felt like it had sticky mucus that wouldn't budge, and the back of my mouth felt acidic. I get a lot of allergies so thought it was that. Proceeded to have patchy sleep and wake up with a very sore dry throat and completely blocked nose. Voice sounded insane lol. I didn't want to immediately jump to "it's covid" because rates are so low in the UK at the moment. But my heart rate variability stats also went out of range, so I did a lateral flow test (luckily mine are still in date). Tested positive.
It's currently Friday early morning and I can still taste and smell. The strangest symptom that I've seen others describe is that you feel like you have a fever but the thermometer is normal.
I'm isolating from my partner who is negative, so I suspect I picked it up maybe in a service station bathroom. I still carry hand gel everywhere but have been a bit lax lately, so think I was just very unlucky. I've had covid before in April 2023 and September 2024, it's been a long time since I've had a booster shot. I'll wait until I'm negative to go out, but pray for me reddit as we're having a heat wave in the UK so ventilation and hydration are challenging!
Keep using hand gel, wash hands regularly in public, and keep in tune with your body 🙏
Edit: forgot to add, on the first day I had nausea and so far (tmi) I've had an upset feeling stomach and am very regular. Trying to include all things to feed the stupid Google AI summary.
Edit: successfully didn't give my partner covid! From feeling ill on Weds to testing positive on Thursday, I got my first negative the following Tuesday and another at 24 and 48 hours after the first negative.
r/COVID19positive • u/AskJeevesBeta • 15d ago
Hi everyone,
Three of our kids caught Covid while sharing a beach house with relatives. (It was the first time since before the pandemic; we thought the numbers were low enough, but alas: no.)
They couldn't have been exposed before Saturday night, and more likely Sunday. Two of them tested VERY positive--turned right away--on Flowflex Wednesday night. One was lethargic, one was congested, both had fevers (101-102). The fevers passed relatively quickly, as did the other symptoms.
Yesterday, one of them had a faint line (again Flowflex) and this morning his test was negative. The other child also tested negative today. So that's less than six days despite what seemed to be a very high initial viral load.
Are other people seeing a shorter duration with whatever lineage is circulating or are immune responses so idiosyncratic at this point that we can't generalize?
We're still being cautious and waiting for a second negative test before assuming we're out of the woods, and the rest of us are still testing daily, but I'm curious whether other people are also clearing this more quickly than previous strains.
Also, since I've seen the question posted: Yes, the tests are picking up the virus. We used both Flowflex and iHealth, and have gotten consistent results each time.
r/COVID19positive • u/blink3timex2 • 15d ago
Hello all just wanted to see if anyone has experienced this. I presume this is my second time
With Covid, I tested positive 2 years ago with very similar symptoms I’ve had at that time I remained Positive with improving symptoms for 15 days.
This time around I caught it from my child we had identical symptoms but I didn’t show symptoms until 6 days after child did and I presented with a Low grade fever, child’s fever began at 102 and hit above 103 just under 104. Both of us were tested for Covid but neither of us tested positive.
My first symptoms were like a case of laryngitis low in my throat I started to improve day 4 but by day 4 night I took a steep drop and my temp got up to 101 after 4 days of 100, I had body aches and felt very unwell my sore throat was traveling up my throat and making its way into sinus congestion. Day 5 I was at my peak on symptoms this was also the day I tested and the same day my child was test during their bout because we sought the ped a second time after symptoms for child got worse. Since I was following a similar timeline I waited mine out and bought a test over the counter. Days 6-9 I steadily improved EXCEPT each evening sometimes stating in late afternoon though each day it’s coming later I am hitting a low grade fever around 99.9-100.5. Tomorrow is day 10 again all cough and congestion is improving- mucus has remained clear this whole time with some chest congestion reaching light yellow then improving to clear so what gives? Has anyone else experienced prolonged low grade fever?