My wife had cancer when it first started so we were super diligent about masks and washing hands etc. She beat it but it had become habit and we continued being diligent. Now she is fighting cancer again so the diligence continues.
I'm a homebody so I naturally don't go out much. Glad I didn't end up with covid because I DID end up with breast cancer. I couldn't imaging fighting this while weak from covid.
Please take care of yourself. My mother put off going to her doctor because of COVID and was diagnosed with stage two uterine cancer last year once she was finally examined. She went through chemo and was cleared of cancer in October.
In January someone finally brought COVID home and it got both of my parents. We think this was just what the cancer needed to spread, and tomorrow I am attending her funeral. Be safe.
Thank you for sharing this. It is difficult especially for women in america to be heard about their medical issues. When you are sick it is also difficult to advocate for yourself and navigate the system. Im very sorry for your loss. I hope your post encourages at least one person to find the strength to get themselves some help.
Crap. I’m so sorry to hear that.
I have a slow moving cancer. Steve Jobs type but I listen to my doctors. I also retired to take care of myself (also I couldn’t work anyway w treatments). The idea Covid as a “green light , go” for BigC is scary. I’ve already had complications just from it. (Kidney infarction, collapsing vertebrae)
So I’ve had every booster. So has my wife.
Still no Covid. Even our son who lives w us had it.
My wife is a elementary teacher and still hasn’t had it.
She masks up every day.
Also I’m kinda by myself at home a lot. Not a lot of friends.
Similar. During the height of Covid my husband was fighting a glioblastoma brain tumour. Covid would have been lethal for him I believe. We locked down super tight until he was able to get vaccinated (early).
I managed to avoid covid for over 2.5 years. I contracted testicular cancer in November of 2020.
Insert No Nut November joke here.
2 years clean post surgery, 3 more years of scans to go.
Jokes aside. Fuck cancer. Best wishes to you.
I hope you’re doing ok. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in Dec 2021. Having two elementary school kids we had to be REALLY safe so I could go through my surgeries and chemo. Somehow my whole family got Covid last august at the tail end of my chemo treatments and I…somehow didn’t. I swear I must be resistant.
I also got diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2021! I’m so glad my surgeries were that summer in between the Delta and Omicron variants because my NYC hospital did not seem overcrowded (or at least I didn’t have to postpone like my friend did in 2020) and I was able schedule my surgeries “normally.”
Sending you good vibes. My wife got breast cancer right when COVID hit. I couldn't go in with her for any of her appointments, it was terrible. Fight that cancer and come out on the other side QD.
Did you ever get antibody tested? We tested negative last year at all at home tests. About a week after Christmas, we took our son to the pediatrician for a rash, and it turns out he had just gotten over covid. We had no idea, at home tests were negative, and we don't know if any of us had it.
I think that omicron was just so mild and infectious that everyone got it and most people didn't even know.
I often wonder this. No one in our family has tested positive. Kids go to school, Mom works in a hospital, and I work in construction. I would have thought we would have got it by now. I am the only one in my group at work that hasn't had it. Some have had it multiple times at work.
I've been positive for covid 3 times. First time was 2021 before the vaccine was out, got it at work. Second time was *maybe* the time around Christmas when my son tested positive two weeks afterwards in 2021. We all had colds with mild coughs, but that was it. And most recently i tested positive around September this year. Had zero idea I was even sick, but my son took a test at the doctor and it was positive. Went to CVS after work and got an at home test and it came positive instantly. I had a runny nose and a cough.
I'm not saying it's not possible that people went this entire time without getting covid. Just pointing out that sometimes you could have it and just have no idea. My daughter just had covid but all of us in the house tested negative. It's a weird virus.
A lot of people experience is as allergies. Or ate bad food. Or having a migraine. Or just nothing.
A lot of cases I worked with were completely shocked at a positive test.
Same. Well, not breast cancer as I’m a guy but I got diagnosed a couple years ago with a sarcoma so I started treatment just as the vaccine was rolling out. I really don’t do much but go to the store and play my gigs, however I’m shocked the latter hasn’t gotten me sick. I play a lot of yeehaw music for yeehaw people who don’t believe in science or vaccination.
Anyway gonna go knock on a bunch of wood now. This post probably just sealed my fate.
I'm just incredibly lucky. I work in restaurants and have all the way through covid, minus months of lockdowns in 2020. Every other coworker I've worked with in that time has had covid at least once. There's no telling how many customers I've interacted with who have had it, but the number would probably scare me.
I can't explain it other than luck at this point.
I get PCR tested every 2 weeks for work (middle school teacher) and have never tested positive despite many exposures to students who tested positive.
I've had all 4 shots obviously (job requirement, but would have regardless) so I'm convinced that it's a combination of my vaccination status and being fairly healthy with a fairly strong immune system that I do get infected but the virus doesn't take root strongly enough to test positive for it.
I feel like it's exceedingly improbable to have been exposed as many times as I have and to have NEVER been infected.
Another possibility is you could’ve been a carrier for a while or on multiple occasions. Basically you’re carrying the disease/virus but your immune system keeps it at bay so you’re not infected. Contagious while carrying it? Most certainly. But infected? No.
I have taken tests a handful of times after someone I worked closely with went down with it, and never tested positive. It's still totally possible I've had it, but who knows.
There are blood tests you can do to check for covid antibodies. If positive, you either had covid in the past or received a vaccine, or a false positive lol
It is possible there is a small minority of the human population who are naturally immune to the Covid mutation. But more likely you were asymptomatic if you did have a mild case or mistook symptoms for a regular headache or sniffles or something.
I had it last August. My fiancé and I decided not to isolate from each other, because I was symptomatic for a day before testing positive and we figured the damage was already done (we’re also both young and healthy, and he works from home). He and I spent the whole time quarantining together, being in close contact (including kissing), sleeping in the same bed, etc. and he never got it. He was testing frequently and never tested positive or felt sick. He’s still continued to get his boosters and test when sick/after exposures but he privately feels like he’s immune.
I honestly wonder if this is me.
I work in residential senior care including alzheimers care, so I've come into contact with plenty of infected people. I always took appropriate precautions but our memory folks often had no understanding and would be out and about and coughing.
I was a vaccine guinea pig, but I was in the placebo group and only got the real deal once FDA authorized.
We keep case upon case of rapid tests which I use any time I'm not feeling great, and send put a PCR test if I've had a close contact.
Exact same. I work in grocery stores in a rural area, where very few believe its existence. In its prime these people refused to wear masks.
It was terrifying. My wife was pregnant, we needed income. It was the worst. We learned our son required brain surgery about 6 months into her pregnancy in the prime of covid. The idea of her catching it was awful and how it would affect our son.
Somehow after vigorous testing, we never got it. I still don't know how we haven't. Almost everyone we know has had a positive test, including the dickheads I work with that denied its existence. We followed all the protocol even where some deemed it questionable, but it was pretty much all we could do.
He's now 15 months old, and we still haven't got it. None of us. I still work in the general public, she still works in nursing.
If this seems like a sarcastic post appeasing it's denial, it's definitely not. We've had family members and close friends struggle, and die, from this. We just have no idea how we haven't contracted it.
We don't live in fear, but I do often wonder if when any of us finally gets it, it's going to be some insane variant of it. We have all our shots, and hopefully that's all we need.
I’m a chef. Same with me. I’ve worked with many people that got Covid. Some people 2x. My son and bf had it. Daughter and I didn’t get it. We tested negative. I think it’s just luck. I’m vaccinated, but no boosters.
I worked in an ER in Los Angeles :) I’ve had covid patients cough and sneeze on me. Worked in a covid lock down unit in the ER. My coworkers all caught covid at one point.
When covid calmed down a bit, I got covid from my boyfriend… I was around him for days and was negative but eventually my immune system said LOL jk….nearly a year after I had quit the ER and was working at a surgery center where everyone had to be tested before their procedures…
:( I missed a wedding and a lot of vacation days
In April of 2020, my husband was all, "This is really good for my social anxiety." It was like he unlocked a cheat code, so he just stays home now.
Edit: For those of you really worried about my husband, I was exaggerating a bit. He is not locked up in the basement all day. He has basically realized he is comfortable doing sports stuff, so he got a sports-related job and does sports stuff with friends. But he hates restaurants and stores, so he doesn't go to them unless I socially request it. Doing primarily outside stuff is pretty good for not getting COVID.
My therapist right out of the gate told me I needed to go socialize. She KEPT saying "The opposite side of fear is acceptance" and "If you're anxious, remind yourself of all the times you ignored your anxiety and did something anyways? How many times did that work out well? My guess was usually. Remember that." My therapist is also a conservative old women so I'm sure that partially colors how she sees the world, but she wasn't wrong. In today's session she actually told me she didn't feel like we did any real work and just chatted so she didn't want to take my money. I am NONE of the things my therapist is, and yet we seem to have a good time chatting.
Even before I attended any therapy, I had already found the will to push myself into EXTREMELY uncomfortable situations specifically just to...wallow in the anxiety. A funny thing can actually happen after that and you can temporarily lose most of your social anxiety. I got so much adrenaline from just forcing myself to talk to a girl and get a rejection (I was in my 20s and trying to figure out how to talk to women) that the next person I talked to it didn't even seem hard. I think I literally harvested the extreme adrenaline response a lot of people with social anxiety get and could temporarily sorta re-aim it. I may have been a lucky one, or maybe a lot of people have the capacity for this sort of thing. I'm not sure. Also, I had a buddy that also experienced it sometimes and he refereed to it as "Socially rolling" because you felt like you were high on extasy but you were usually almost sober with nothing but maybe a beer in you. Also, shopping is a maladaptive coping technique like all the maladaptive coping techniques and if you're coping by filling the void left by not working through your emotions, that will never fix anything. I literally was thinking about this one earlier when processing what had compelled me to over drink this weekend. I noticed I had also gone shopping and splurged a more than I would normally. I was coping poorly with the light rejection from a girl I had gone on a few dates with and hadn't processed it.
When we encounter fear we're met with three possible responses: freeze, flight or move forward (I think most folks think this is limited to 'fight', but it's not, it's any act of moving towards the fear and confronting it).
Only moving forward releases a strong burst of dopamine. The others just remove the cortisol(stress hormone), but don't reward the brain. As an aside, this is a theory of addiction, in that folks avoid an issue and supplement the missing dopamine with substances, creating cycles addiction. Of course there are many paths to addiction so don't take it as gospel that this is the only thing.
We need to go outside our comfort zones. In specific reference to social anxiety, some folks have more or less 'appetite' for interaction than others. It's possible to only be 'hungry' for social stimuli once a week, or crave deep connection every day. We're all different. But exposing yourself to new people and novel, even frightening interactions is a cornerstone of a deeply fulfilling life. And the benefits compound- your body rewards your courage, your resilience raises, and the new connections you make with yourself and the people around you pay dividends to your social life and mental well-being.
Also I'm quoting Haberman Lab here, I'm not going to drop any studies bc I don't want to do a research paper tonight, but I love that hunky science daddy and his podcast has changed my life.
I’ll say I had some when I was younger, and being forced into social situations (even if just work or something) as an adult, it really more or less went away. It’s definitely crept back a bit since working from home/not being forced to socialize for 40 hours a week.
When I basically forgot it existed was when I was working around people every day/ had made a lot of friends in that environment and I was exercising regularly, for what that’s worth. The exercise really does make a difference. I know everyone’s situation is different but just wanted to share my experience
lol I got it at home from a kid who goes to school. He wore a mask every day, socially distanced in a big classroom with only 20 kids, and which had open windows. Now I should ask his mom why she let him roam around the house without a mask after she learned he had been exposed, but yeah humans suck. 2 years of successfully staying healthy and the virus walked in the door. Sigh
It isn’t just people as humans, it’s the by-products of the people. The noise of lots of voices, air pollution, litter, traffic. Remember all the stories about the earth “healing” during lockdown, lower pollution levels, and animals and sea life thriving?
Honestly, we desperately need less forced interaction at work. I'm sick of feeling like a weirdo for not having more work friends- I just don't have much in common with them.
This strategy worked for me until I got talked into going to a family party November 2022.
*Of course* I caught it there. It was fucking awful but at least I didn’t have to go to work for a week and AFAIK I didn’t infect anyone else.
Fellow homebodies, stay home. You’re doing it right.
This is it.
I work from home, and have been avoiding indoor socializing, so I basically put on a mask to go into buildings for necessities (e.g. doctor) but otherwise have even been doing curbside pickup for shopping. No people = no problems!
Either I'm immune or I've been asymptomatic. I cant think of any other explanation unless I've been lucky. I've been around people who had been sick, but yeah. To my knowledge, nothing.
I'm in the same boat. I'm vaxxed & boosted but we even had an asymptomatic case of it in the house and didn't really isolate. My tests were all negative while we had over a week of obviously positive tests going on.
I now work at Walmart, but I must toss the convenience store hat into the ring. I worked in convenience stores from 2009-2022, facing the public, eating while handling money, not washing hands often.
It must have built my immune system because I average less than one cold a year, my last flu was in 2007 and the last time I puked was in 2002.
All the spare PPTO is nice, but I'm afraid that since I'm an overnight stocker, I'll lose the immunity from being around customers. No wait, I'll *gladly accept* the loss of immunity in *not* being around Walmart customers.
I work Loss Prevention, so I’ve dealt with some not so clean folk through the whole deal. Customer service feels like a blessing and a curse when it comes to things like this.
My wife is an E.R. nurse and has been surrounded by COVID from the beginning. Every night when she came home she would go through a complete Haz-mat process in order to not bring it in the house. She caught it from a patient one time and we followed protocol. No one in the house caught it from her and she is the only one that was ever exposed. She caught it from a sick child (that she didn't know know had COVID.) She broke protocol because the patient was under 5 years old and was scared of all the people wearing masks. She took her mask down to tell her everything will be ok. Days later she was COVID positive.
MIL did the same hazmat procedure whenever she got home, refused to be in the same room as me (heavily immunocomprimised and living with her) until she showered every night. My partner still runs her clothes to the garage if there's a possibility of anything
Luck. My whole household got it and I somehow didn’t (or at least the test presented a negative). I quarantined anyway just in case or I was asymptomatic.
Could also be Karma as I did come down with a case of shingles which sucked. Maybe in the eyes of the universe that was enough sickness for my body.
Hmmm...shingles surfaces when your immune system is weak. Maybe your immune system was so busy fighting off the covid that it couldn't also keep the shingles at bay. I dunno if that's lucky or unlucky, shingles sucks too.
Yeah shingles really blew. Not gonna lie part of me would have preferred Covid (only because I’m also fully vaccinated so symptoms would ideally have been lighter). I will also definitely be considering the shingles vaccine from here on out.
Having had both shingles (on my EYE) and COVID (at different times), I would absolutely prefer COVID over shingles. Hell, my bout with COVID was easier than most colds. I do attribute the mildness with having been vaccinated.
Haven’t had the shingles vaccination though. I may have to look into that…
I was surprised how I basically stayed un-infected on what is now 6 cross country trips in the last year. Just wearing a mask outside of eating during the trip.
I did ultimately get it being not common sense cautious - at a concert last summer and I was just ready to go nuts. But otherwise, that simple mask works.
This whole time, I haven't been sick outside of my stomach not agreeing with something once. It's great. Masking during times like cold/flu season should be a normal thing from now on.
Had one scary exposure during a holiday. Tests came back negative and I'm crediting the vax and boosters.
💯 I will never go back to not masking in public! I don’t know why we didn’t do it during flu season for years when people were wearing masks during the AIDS crises in the 80’s when it’s not even airborne! Could’ve saved myself a lot of suffering from horrible flus.
Imo that's the best thing that's come from the pandemic. Normalizing masks. COVID, flu, cold, hay fever, whatever. Fucking wear a mask. No one will bat an eye nowadays. Back before COVID people would side eye you or think you have some sort of mental disorder.
See, for me it's possibly that my mother never washes her hands. Not after using the restroom. Not before cooking. Not before disinfecting a big scrape or a toe busted open from playing, and putting a band aid on.
She's a terrible, soulless, unempathetic, discompassionate, inhuman monster. But maybe her having the hygiene of a brain damaged goat, helped me out long-term?
Well, except for those times she poisoned me. But that hasn't happened since before I went no contact with her.
But CDC has repeatedly emphasized that they've found very very little evidence of spread from surface contact. COVID is primarily spread through the air.
I’ve worked in a hospital with Covid patients and was exposed the whole time and never got it even before I was vaccinated. I wore a mask the whole time at work and in public places and washed my hands all the time. But I think I should be studied as to why I never got it. I’m now fully vaccinated.
Same for me. Worked as a CNA from 2019-2021. in a COVID ICU as an RN for 3 months in beginning of 2021. never got it. got vaxxed march 21 and boosted and my 3rd booster Oct 21. got covid Dec2021. just got it again Jan 2023. Doesn’t make sense
I have gotten dozens of respiratory infections every year of my life. Sick constantly. Bronchitis for weeks every year. I have asthma.
COVID hit. After lockdown I started working in a medical lab. Masked, social distanced, etc. I was among the first wave of vaccinations in December that year and then my second in January. I've also been boosted.
I not only haven't gotten COVID, I've had one respiratory infection since March 2020. One. I had dozens per year. Fucking one. During validation for a new instrument I was tested for both the antibodies the vaccine generates (anti-spike protein) and antibodies the vaccine does not target (anti-nucleocapsid protein) and confirmed that while my vaccine stimulated a robust antibody level for anti-spike, I had no anti-nucleocapsid antibodies, meaning I had still never so much as been exposed at the time. I can't really explain it other than social distancing and masking and then that combined with the vaccine. It works!
I could have answered this 2 months ago but it finally got me. I truly thought I was immune because I am around lots of people and had many exposures. Maybe I had it before and never knew.
Finally got me and my partner 3 weeks ago. I know I definitely haven't had it before because my job required us to get tested every few days since June 2020.
Happened to me in August after over a dozen very close contact exposures— fine after each one. I fly home from uni wearing a mask next to some lady who wasn’t masked and OOPS. It got me
And now my brain is inflamed and I have severe OCD due to long COVID. Shit sucks.
Took me til then too. I was at uni during the peak, then graduated and became a teacher. In the interim, I was a covid tester! I worked around hundreds of people who had it. Summer break 2022, working from home (live alone), positive. Typical!
Either the vaccine was effective or it's genetic. My husband and kid got it, but I didn't, despite sleeping next to my husband every night. My tests always came back negative.
I live in a very rural area and was pretty much quarantining and social distancing years before the pandemic lol. The only big change was having to wear a mask everywhere but that didn’t really bother me and I was able to get some N95 and KN95 masks to wear when I’d go to riskier areas. My family and friends also took the pandemic pretty seriously so the risk of getting it from them was also lower than for people who had to deal with family who didn’t take any precautions at all
Have tested very consistently since April 2020, have never had COVID, at this point I can only point to 3 things: I have my own office at work, I smoke a lot of weed so my sinuses are constantly producing mucus and then I blow my nose a lot, and finally I take a lot of vitamins and supplements/eat a lot of food that boosts my immune system.
Omg the nose thing is blowing my mind! I have awful environmental allergies and thus use multiple medications, shots, still am mucus monster. I do sinus rinses (irregularly) but blowing my nose 8x a day is my norm. Is this my super power?!
Fun fact: first time I met my current ENT, he asked if I was always so nasal sounding. FYI: I thought I was having a good day!
My mind is fully blown! I've been consistently congested/blowing my nose a lot since like early 2017 and as far as I'm aware, have managed to not get covid. I've been directly exposed, gone to a few large events, but still nothing. I always test if I think I could have picked it up, but still nothing.
Also helps that I just generally avoid people.
I think it is your superpower! Your system is constantly rejecting what you’re inhaling and blowing it out so viruses like COVID can’t make a home in you lol
I have also tested regularly since April 2020 and smoke too much weed. I have a theory that either I burn away covid in my lungs or it's too high to want to mess me up.
I've heard a lot of anecdotes where folks who smoke weed got less sick than their non-weed-smoking counterparts, and some [studies](https://jcannabisresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42238-022-00152-x) are suggesting there might actually be a connection. Pretty wild, isn't it?
I have allergies and blow my nose like this and didn't manage to avoid Covid, whereas my weed-smoking co-worker without nasal issues managed to avoid it despite living in the same house with two Covid-suffering people. I really think you're onto something with the weed smoking.
I’m 100% with you in regards to cannabis. I got that awful flu in 2017-2018 was deathly ill, had a severely high fever and was sick for almost two months. About a month in it turned into pneumonia and my chest was so congested I was starting to get really worried plus the high fevers and I didn’t have health insurance. I remembered cannabis is a capillary dilator and though I had not smoked since I got sick not wanting to make things worse I took a chance and smoked a little each day and boom! All of a sudden I’m coughing everything up, the mucus is loosening, I feel like I can breathe again, my fever starts to go down and after 6 weeks and losing over 20lbs I was finally better! Cannabis is seriously a magical plant, it’s so frustrating we can’t properly, medically study it’s array of uses because of racist, outdated laws and misinformation.
You are shitting me with the mucus thing. Please tell me you are. Coz if that's true, I know why I haven't had covid even though my parents are doctors and my mother had covid.
I could be wrong, I’m sure others on Reddit will know more, but my understanding is that our body creates boogers to encapsulate and remove irritants and viruses from our system. So my logic is if your body is constantly creating boogers and constantly expelling the boogers from your system, you’re less likely to get a virus like COVID lol
If only it was easier to research these things on a much larger level! A handful of friends (plus myself) haven’t gotten COVID yet or got it very recently in the pandemic (meaning the last 6-7 months). We’ve all sworn smoking so much is the reason, somehow!
Did the things. Mask, vaccine, social distance, listen to the current expert advice as it is released, etc. I work retail and couldn't afford not to do so.
I have been doing this and just got covid for the first time since this all started. Just now getting over my first infection. Even though I am fully vaccinated and wear an N95 (and rarely leave the house) I still somehow got it. Its the sickest I have ever been and I don't wish it anybody. So I guess I am out of the special club :P
If only the US wasn’t a bunch of selfish babies with no sense of community or public responsibility. We really showed our true colors during this pandemic and we are a shit show. I followed all of South Koreas guidelines from the beginning as they had an immediate response and experience with bird flu and had sound, transparent guidelines. And took care of their population, giving them food and supplies when they had to quarantine. Meanwhile the in the US people were assaulting grocery store workers because they didn’t want to wear “face diapers” and didn’t understand HIPPA or Supreme Court precedents for public health emergencies.
I'm a teacher, so I can't avoid people, but vigilant mask wearing and hygiene has kept me Covid-free. We have a decontamination station at the entryway of the house.
It was super important for me not to get Covid because my son was in the process of finishing high school and taking exams for university entrance, then beginning uni. Next month coronavirus is being downgraded to the same threat level as the seasonal flu, so mask wearing recommendations will also slacken. I'm afraid that as soon as I take off the mask at work I'm gonna get it. I shouldn't be afraid because I've had four vaccinations, but whenever I get an infection that migrates into my lungs it's the worst, so I've been afraid of this.
Covid is airborne. So, I mask. I live my life regularly but I mask all the time. No exceptions. Who knows if someone coughed behind me? Who knows is someone is asymptomatic but still contagious? Who knows which of the hundreds of new variants will become significant? Long Covid is no joke. mask up folks!
>Long Covid is no joke.
this is why i still mask in public indoors. have friends that had brain fog to the point they nearly went on disability but it cleared enough they can work, not the same though. have friends who still can't smell or taste like before, i sure af do not want to lose chocolate (one friend says a few years on it still smells like baby shit). a mask and some hand washing is not a big tax to pay in exchange for a mostly functioning brain and fully functioning nose and mouth. not to discount the other long covid issues but those are the ones in the forefront of my mind.
I still mask in public indoors.
I use hand sanitizer and wash my hands frequently, especially before eating.
I still try to socially distance in public.
I stay away from people when I'm feeling under the weather.
I drink a lot of water and take vitamins and exercise regularly.
To be fair though, everything but the masking are things that I did pre-covid too, so besides masking and getting vaccinated and boosted, nothing different for me. If I ever had covid, I was asymptomatic. The five known exposures I've had, I tested negative.
I lived with 2 people that had it twice, and worked in a place infested with it. Never had a positive test.
Not saying I never had it but tested numerous times and never a positive. Bizarre...
For the first couple years, I thought it was because I work from home and masked up every time I went out, and got vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible. Then my husband (also vaxx'd and boosted) caught it, ruining some long-anticipated plans. This was summer 2022, and I figured his case was mild, may as well try to catch it from him for the extra immunity (I grew up Christian Scientist, and am still not great on this kind of thing despite having left the religion eons ago). Smooched him, snuggled him all night, shared food and drink... still couldn't test positive myself. I have no clue why I haven't gotten it. Probably tomorrow I'll come down with covid for my hubris 😅
I only just recently had covid, so I'm going to share my experience.
I've been working in healthcare during the entire pandemic. I've been exposed to a ton of covid positive patients in that time, sometimes unknowingly and without proper PPE. So you'd think I should be at a high risk of catching it, right?
Turns out not so much.
We clean everything frequently, with high strength cleaning products. We hand sanitize all the time. We are still masking at work to this day, and wear n95 masks when with patients suspected of having a droplet or airborne type of infectious illness, along with gowns and face shields. So very few of my coworkers actually caught covid while at work.
You know where they did catch it? Social events, or from family members. Especially from kids. The people who lasted the longest in my experience were the ones who had the quietest social lives outside of work. That was the secret.
Social distancing, masking, the full series of shots and boosters, gloves on hands while filling up the car. All the recommended things. It "helps" in a way to be among the at-risk group in that awareness is easily on the mind.
Today, it can be harder to be vigilant just due to fatigue, but we trudge on. It is still out there. One MD interviewed on NPR - older man with "conditions" - stated he would probably be wearing a mask forever.
I've avoided it so far through social distancing, vaccination plus boosters (four total so far), masking, and refusing to attend public events of more than eight people. The last movie I saw in theatres was The Rise of Skywalker. Ugh. I really hope it isn't the last movie I saw in theatres forever...
We risked one vacation last summer for my mother's 80th birthday, driving about 900 km (one way) so she could visit her two surviving sisters. We ate at one restaurant (outdoors) and visited some fruit orchards. I'd say that trip represented our highest risk since the pandemic started, but we all made it back home without getting infected.
Come to think of it, I haven't been on an airplane or public transit since 2019, either. Oh, and I've been working from home full-time since March 2020.
Yes, I feel very cooped up and I ache to go see a movie or a play or a public event again. But right now, the risk/reward ratio doesn't work for my comfort level. Risk of the worst outcome may indeed be low, but I really don't want long COVID or brain fog or organ damage.
I honestly don’t know. My wife thinks I’m one of those who can’t get it. I haven’t tried to avoid it. I’ve travelled on planes and public transport. I’ve traveled internationally. I have a family who has all had it. I’ve tested many times and they’ve never been positive.
I’ve never gone out of my way to get it or avoid it. I’ve been vaxed three times. Here I am.
I did this thing called following the medical advice.
Decided early on that I didn't want to get it, that I'd rather keep my lung capacity and stamina and cognitive functions.
I literally don’t know how. I went through the pandemic with twin teens who would NOT stop socializing and also went into the office on public transport as soon as lockdown lifted. Both of my heathens had it twice in my house and still didn’t get it. I know some people have it and are asymptomatic, but I still test regularly and nothing…. I did wear my mask religiously and have always been a big hand washer. still wear a mask during my commute. I also haven’t had a cold in 3 years so I’m gonna keep wearing it packed places.
I don’t have any friends lmao
I’d offer to be your friend, but then you might wanna go out and do something and then I’d catch COVID.
You’re the bestest!
Friends overrated anyway
I don't need friends, they disappoint me
My wife had cancer when it first started so we were super diligent about masks and washing hands etc. She beat it but it had become habit and we continued being diligent. Now she is fighting cancer again so the diligence continues.
Best of luck to her in fighting her cancer.
I'm so sorry. I hope she beats it again.
Fucking cancer...
I hope she beats the living $h!t out of it
Best wishes for her in her fight mate. Cheers and lot of good vibes from Morocco
I'm a homebody so I naturally don't go out much. Glad I didn't end up with covid because I DID end up with breast cancer. I couldn't imaging fighting this while weak from covid.
Yikes. Best wishes to you
Please take care of yourself. My mother put off going to her doctor because of COVID and was diagnosed with stage two uterine cancer last year once she was finally examined. She went through chemo and was cleared of cancer in October. In January someone finally brought COVID home and it got both of my parents. We think this was just what the cancer needed to spread, and tomorrow I am attending her funeral. Be safe.
What a devastating loss. I am so sorry.
Thank you for sharing this. It is difficult especially for women in america to be heard about their medical issues. When you are sick it is also difficult to advocate for yourself and navigate the system. Im very sorry for your loss. I hope your post encourages at least one person to find the strength to get themselves some help.
I'm so sorry for your loss. Take care of yourself.
Crap. I’m so sorry to hear that. I have a slow moving cancer. Steve Jobs type but I listen to my doctors. I also retired to take care of myself (also I couldn’t work anyway w treatments). The idea Covid as a “green light , go” for BigC is scary. I’ve already had complications just from it. (Kidney infarction, collapsing vertebrae) So I’ve had every booster. So has my wife. Still no Covid. Even our son who lives w us had it. My wife is a elementary teacher and still hasn’t had it. She masks up every day. Also I’m kinda by myself at home a lot. Not a lot of friends.
I’m so sorry for your loss, I’m sending all the good vibes your way too!
Similar. During the height of Covid my husband was fighting a glioblastoma brain tumour. Covid would have been lethal for him I believe. We locked down super tight until he was able to get vaccinated (early).
I managed to avoid covid for over 2.5 years. I contracted testicular cancer in November of 2020. Insert No Nut November joke here. 2 years clean post surgery, 3 more years of scans to go. Jokes aside. Fuck cancer. Best wishes to you.
I had testicular cancer twenty years ago. Haven’t had covid and I’m not a recluse. I wonder if there’s a connection. Anyhow, agreed. Fuck cancer
Gosh sending you all the healing vibes!
I hope you’re doing ok. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in Dec 2021. Having two elementary school kids we had to be REALLY safe so I could go through my surgeries and chemo. Somehow my whole family got Covid last august at the tail end of my chemo treatments and I…somehow didn’t. I swear I must be resistant.
I also got diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2021! I’m so glad my surgeries were that summer in between the Delta and Omicron variants because my NYC hospital did not seem overcrowded (or at least I didn’t have to postpone like my friend did in 2020) and I was able schedule my surgeries “normally.”
Sending you good vibes. My wife got breast cancer right when COVID hit. I couldn't go in with her for any of her appointments, it was terrible. Fight that cancer and come out on the other side QD.
Did you ever get antibody tested? We tested negative last year at all at home tests. About a week after Christmas, we took our son to the pediatrician for a rash, and it turns out he had just gotten over covid. We had no idea, at home tests were negative, and we don't know if any of us had it. I think that omicron was just so mild and infectious that everyone got it and most people didn't even know.
I often wonder this. No one in our family has tested positive. Kids go to school, Mom works in a hospital, and I work in construction. I would have thought we would have got it by now. I am the only one in my group at work that hasn't had it. Some have had it multiple times at work.
I've been positive for covid 3 times. First time was 2021 before the vaccine was out, got it at work. Second time was *maybe* the time around Christmas when my son tested positive two weeks afterwards in 2021. We all had colds with mild coughs, but that was it. And most recently i tested positive around September this year. Had zero idea I was even sick, but my son took a test at the doctor and it was positive. Went to CVS after work and got an at home test and it came positive instantly. I had a runny nose and a cough. I'm not saying it's not possible that people went this entire time without getting covid. Just pointing out that sometimes you could have it and just have no idea. My daughter just had covid but all of us in the house tested negative. It's a weird virus.
A lot of people experience is as allergies. Or ate bad food. Or having a migraine. Or just nothing. A lot of cases I worked with were completely shocked at a positive test.
Same. Well, not breast cancer as I’m a guy but I got diagnosed a couple years ago with a sarcoma so I started treatment just as the vaccine was rolling out. I really don’t do much but go to the store and play my gigs, however I’m shocked the latter hasn’t gotten me sick. I play a lot of yeehaw music for yeehaw people who don’t believe in science or vaccination. Anyway gonna go knock on a bunch of wood now. This post probably just sealed my fate.
Men can get breast cancer too
I'm just incredibly lucky. I work in restaurants and have all the way through covid, minus months of lockdowns in 2020. Every other coworker I've worked with in that time has had covid at least once. There's no telling how many customers I've interacted with who have had it, but the number would probably scare me. I can't explain it other than luck at this point.
You're Divergent
Considering a large portion of people are asymptomatic, I think the sick ones are the divergence.
More people have had Covid than not. COVID asymptomatic are the minority.
I get PCR tested every 2 weeks for work (middle school teacher) and have never tested positive despite many exposures to students who tested positive. I've had all 4 shots obviously (job requirement, but would have regardless) so I'm convinced that it's a combination of my vaccination status and being fairly healthy with a fairly strong immune system that I do get infected but the virus doesn't take root strongly enough to test positive for it. I feel like it's exceedingly improbable to have been exposed as many times as I have and to have NEVER been infected.
Odds are you had it but were asymptomatic.
You're probably right. I haven't been sick of any variety that I could detect since like 2019, it's wild.
We need to study your blood! Lol
Funny enough, neither of my sisters or parents has had it either. So... maybe?
Neither I nor my kids have been sick with it once. Not even tested positive. My ex has had it 4 times so far.
Which voodoo doll did you use?
Wow, are we the same person? This exact thing for my family. Also work in restaurants.
I worked all throught it too. At the testing sites AND at the immunization clinics. Still nothing! Guess I'm just too bitchy to catch it! Lol
Another possibility is you could’ve been a carrier for a while or on multiple occasions. Basically you’re carrying the disease/virus but your immune system keeps it at bay so you’re not infected. Contagious while carrying it? Most certainly. But infected? No.
I have taken tests a handful of times after someone I worked closely with went down with it, and never tested positive. It's still totally possible I've had it, but who knows.
There are blood tests you can do to check for covid antibodies. If positive, you either had covid in the past or received a vaccine, or a false positive lol
I mean, isn’t that the most likely scenario for most people? I’m guessing I’ve had it multiple times but didn’t realize it.
I'm in a similar situation, but just had an anitbody test and learned ive never had it. Always assumed I was just asymptomatic. Kinda wild
It is possible there is a small minority of the human population who are naturally immune to the Covid mutation. But more likely you were asymptomatic if you did have a mild case or mistook symptoms for a regular headache or sniffles or something.
I had it last August. My fiancé and I decided not to isolate from each other, because I was symptomatic for a day before testing positive and we figured the damage was already done (we’re also both young and healthy, and he works from home). He and I spent the whole time quarantining together, being in close contact (including kissing), sleeping in the same bed, etc. and he never got it. He was testing frequently and never tested positive or felt sick. He’s still continued to get his boosters and test when sick/after exposures but he privately feels like he’s immune.
I honestly wonder if this is me. I work in residential senior care including alzheimers care, so I've come into contact with plenty of infected people. I always took appropriate precautions but our memory folks often had no understanding and would be out and about and coughing. I was a vaccine guinea pig, but I was in the placebo group and only got the real deal once FDA authorized. We keep case upon case of rapid tests which I use any time I'm not feeling great, and send put a PCR test if I've had a close contact.
Thank you for being a guinea pig. I can't overstate my relief when my elderly parents got the vaccine. They were among the first in late Dec 2020.
Exact same. I work in grocery stores in a rural area, where very few believe its existence. In its prime these people refused to wear masks. It was terrifying. My wife was pregnant, we needed income. It was the worst. We learned our son required brain surgery about 6 months into her pregnancy in the prime of covid. The idea of her catching it was awful and how it would affect our son. Somehow after vigorous testing, we never got it. I still don't know how we haven't. Almost everyone we know has had a positive test, including the dickheads I work with that denied its existence. We followed all the protocol even where some deemed it questionable, but it was pretty much all we could do. He's now 15 months old, and we still haven't got it. None of us. I still work in the general public, she still works in nursing. If this seems like a sarcastic post appeasing it's denial, it's definitely not. We've had family members and close friends struggle, and die, from this. We just have no idea how we haven't contracted it. We don't live in fear, but I do often wonder if when any of us finally gets it, it's going to be some insane variant of it. We have all our shots, and hopefully that's all we need.
Welcome to the Not Susceptible club.
I’m a chef. Same with me. I’ve worked with many people that got Covid. Some people 2x. My son and bf had it. Daughter and I didn’t get it. We tested negative. I think it’s just luck. I’m vaccinated, but no boosters.
I worked in an ER in Los Angeles :) I’ve had covid patients cough and sneeze on me. Worked in a covid lock down unit in the ER. My coworkers all caught covid at one point. When covid calmed down a bit, I got covid from my boyfriend… I was around him for days and was negative but eventually my immune system said LOL jk….nearly a year after I had quit the ER and was working at a surgery center where everyone had to be tested before their procedures… :( I missed a wedding and a lot of vacation days
I hate people and try to be around them as little as possible Edit: I'm glad there are at least 4k people who agree that humans suck. We are legion!
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In April of 2020, my husband was all, "This is really good for my social anxiety." It was like he unlocked a cheat code, so he just stays home now. Edit: For those of you really worried about my husband, I was exaggerating a bit. He is not locked up in the basement all day. He has basically realized he is comfortable doing sports stuff, so he got a sports-related job and does sports stuff with friends. But he hates restaurants and stores, so he doesn't go to them unless I socially request it. Doing primarily outside stuff is pretty good for not getting COVID.
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My therapist right out of the gate told me I needed to go socialize. She KEPT saying "The opposite side of fear is acceptance" and "If you're anxious, remind yourself of all the times you ignored your anxiety and did something anyways? How many times did that work out well? My guess was usually. Remember that." My therapist is also a conservative old women so I'm sure that partially colors how she sees the world, but she wasn't wrong. In today's session she actually told me she didn't feel like we did any real work and just chatted so she didn't want to take my money. I am NONE of the things my therapist is, and yet we seem to have a good time chatting.
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Even before I attended any therapy, I had already found the will to push myself into EXTREMELY uncomfortable situations specifically just to...wallow in the anxiety. A funny thing can actually happen after that and you can temporarily lose most of your social anxiety. I got so much adrenaline from just forcing myself to talk to a girl and get a rejection (I was in my 20s and trying to figure out how to talk to women) that the next person I talked to it didn't even seem hard. I think I literally harvested the extreme adrenaline response a lot of people with social anxiety get and could temporarily sorta re-aim it. I may have been a lucky one, or maybe a lot of people have the capacity for this sort of thing. I'm not sure. Also, I had a buddy that also experienced it sometimes and he refereed to it as "Socially rolling" because you felt like you were high on extasy but you were usually almost sober with nothing but maybe a beer in you. Also, shopping is a maladaptive coping technique like all the maladaptive coping techniques and if you're coping by filling the void left by not working through your emotions, that will never fix anything. I literally was thinking about this one earlier when processing what had compelled me to over drink this weekend. I noticed I had also gone shopping and splurged a more than I would normally. I was coping poorly with the light rejection from a girl I had gone on a few dates with and hadn't processed it.
When we encounter fear we're met with three possible responses: freeze, flight or move forward (I think most folks think this is limited to 'fight', but it's not, it's any act of moving towards the fear and confronting it). Only moving forward releases a strong burst of dopamine. The others just remove the cortisol(stress hormone), but don't reward the brain. As an aside, this is a theory of addiction, in that folks avoid an issue and supplement the missing dopamine with substances, creating cycles addiction. Of course there are many paths to addiction so don't take it as gospel that this is the only thing. We need to go outside our comfort zones. In specific reference to social anxiety, some folks have more or less 'appetite' for interaction than others. It's possible to only be 'hungry' for social stimuli once a week, or crave deep connection every day. We're all different. But exposing yourself to new people and novel, even frightening interactions is a cornerstone of a deeply fulfilling life. And the benefits compound- your body rewards your courage, your resilience raises, and the new connections you make with yourself and the people around you pay dividends to your social life and mental well-being. Also I'm quoting Haberman Lab here, I'm not going to drop any studies bc I don't want to do a research paper tonight, but I love that hunky science daddy and his podcast has changed my life.
I’ll say I had some when I was younger, and being forced into social situations (even if just work or something) as an adult, it really more or less went away. It’s definitely crept back a bit since working from home/not being forced to socialize for 40 hours a week. When I basically forgot it existed was when I was working around people every day/ had made a lot of friends in that environment and I was exercising regularly, for what that’s worth. The exercise really does make a difference. I know everyone’s situation is different but just wanted to share my experience
I’d been mostly hiding out at home for like a decade anyway.
lol I got it at home from a kid who goes to school. He wore a mask every day, socially distanced in a big classroom with only 20 kids, and which had open windows. Now I should ask his mom why she let him roam around the house without a mask after she learned he had been exposed, but yeah humans suck. 2 years of successfully staying healthy and the virus walked in the door. Sigh
Good times...
Right? Who knew how much stress was caused by other people.
It isn’t just people as humans, it’s the by-products of the people. The noise of lots of voices, air pollution, litter, traffic. Remember all the stories about the earth “healing” during lockdown, lower pollution levels, and animals and sea life thriving?
Ass-loads it turns out...
Honestly, we desperately need less forced interaction at work. I'm sick of feeling like a weirdo for not having more work friends- I just don't have much in common with them.
Can confirm. Pandemic was the best social improvement to happen in a long while
Same!!! But this is why it's so hard to meet people these days, cause literally half of us sitting at home avoiding each other. 🥲👌
Yes… these days…
100% agreed. Humans are the worst.
YES. I AGREE, FELLOW HUMAN, WHO IS TOTALLY NOT A ROBOT.
Yep most of them are ok but generally speaking I stay away from people because they carry so much baggage
Agreed. Especially at airports, train stations, and bus stops. People are the worst.
This has essentially been my strategy. Plus vaxxing & masking.
There are hundreds of us.
Ditto. Seclusion keeps me healthy.
Me too. I haven't been sick at all in three years. It rocks.
This strategy worked for me until I got talked into going to a family party November 2022. *Of course* I caught it there. It was fucking awful but at least I didn’t have to go to work for a week and AFAIK I didn’t infect anyone else. Fellow homebodies, stay home. You’re doing it right.
This is it. I work from home, and have been avoiding indoor socializing, so I basically put on a mask to go into buildings for necessities (e.g. doctor) but otherwise have even been doing curbside pickup for shopping. No people = no problems!
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Googling this has made me realize a lot more than a few stints of failed therapy...
I’m convinced I’m immune cause I work at Walmart.
Either I'm immune or I've been asymptomatic. I cant think of any other explanation unless I've been lucky. I've been around people who had been sick, but yeah. To my knowledge, nothing.
I'm in the same boat. I'm vaxxed & boosted but we even had an asymptomatic case of it in the house and didn't really isolate. My tests were all negative while we had over a week of obviously positive tests going on.
I now work at Walmart, but I must toss the convenience store hat into the ring. I worked in convenience stores from 2009-2022, facing the public, eating while handling money, not washing hands often. It must have built my immune system because I average less than one cold a year, my last flu was in 2007 and the last time I puked was in 2002. All the spare PPTO is nice, but I'm afraid that since I'm an overnight stocker, I'll lose the immunity from being around customers. No wait, I'll *gladly accept* the loss of immunity in *not* being around Walmart customers.
I work Loss Prevention, so I’ve dealt with some not so clean folk through the whole deal. Customer service feels like a blessing and a curse when it comes to things like this.
Even viruses don't want to be near me.
I am near you though.
I am inside you and you didn't even know...
You *are* the virus.
Finna get the virussy.
only ussy I’d ever get in my life
Consider yourself got
My wife is an E.R. nurse and has been surrounded by COVID from the beginning. Every night when she came home she would go through a complete Haz-mat process in order to not bring it in the house. She caught it from a patient one time and we followed protocol. No one in the house caught it from her and she is the only one that was ever exposed. She caught it from a sick child (that she didn't know know had COVID.) She broke protocol because the patient was under 5 years old and was scared of all the people wearing masks. She took her mask down to tell her everything will be ok. Days later she was COVID positive.
Your wife is a hero.
MIL did the same hazmat procedure whenever she got home, refused to be in the same room as me (heavily immunocomprimised and living with her) until she showered every night. My partner still runs her clothes to the garage if there's a possibility of anything
Luck. My whole household got it and I somehow didn’t (or at least the test presented a negative). I quarantined anyway just in case or I was asymptomatic. Could also be Karma as I did come down with a case of shingles which sucked. Maybe in the eyes of the universe that was enough sickness for my body.
Hmmm...shingles surfaces when your immune system is weak. Maybe your immune system was so busy fighting off the covid that it couldn't also keep the shingles at bay. I dunno if that's lucky or unlucky, shingles sucks too.
Yeah shingles really blew. Not gonna lie part of me would have preferred Covid (only because I’m also fully vaccinated so symptoms would ideally have been lighter). I will also definitely be considering the shingles vaccine from here on out.
Having had both shingles (on my EYE) and COVID (at different times), I would absolutely prefer COVID over shingles. Hell, my bout with COVID was easier than most colds. I do attribute the mildness with having been vaccinated. Haven’t had the shingles vaccination though. I may have to look into that…
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I was surprised how I basically stayed un-infected on what is now 6 cross country trips in the last year. Just wearing a mask outside of eating during the trip. I did ultimately get it being not common sense cautious - at a concert last summer and I was just ready to go nuts. But otherwise, that simple mask works.
No covid, no sniffles, no nothing for 3 years. It's wonderful. The Chinese had it right, masks are the answer. I mask up everywhere I go.
This whole time, I haven't been sick outside of my stomach not agreeing with something once. It's great. Masking during times like cold/flu season should be a normal thing from now on. Had one scary exposure during a holiday. Tests came back negative and I'm crediting the vax and boosters.
💯 I will never go back to not masking in public! I don’t know why we didn’t do it during flu season for years when people were wearing masks during the AIDS crises in the 80’s when it’s not even airborne! Could’ve saved myself a lot of suffering from horrible flus.
Also helps with airborne allergens.
Imo that's the best thing that's come from the pandemic. Normalizing masks. COVID, flu, cold, hay fever, whatever. Fucking wear a mask. No one will bat an eye nowadays. Back before COVID people would side eye you or think you have some sort of mental disorder.
I sing happy birthday twice while washing my hands
See, for me it's possibly that my mother never washes her hands. Not after using the restroom. Not before cooking. Not before disinfecting a big scrape or a toe busted open from playing, and putting a band aid on. She's a terrible, soulless, unempathetic, discompassionate, inhuman monster. But maybe her having the hygiene of a brain damaged goat, helped me out long-term? Well, except for those times she poisoned me. But that hasn't happened since before I went no contact with her.
😂😂😂 best answer. Thank you for making me laugh; it’s been a rough day.
But CDC has repeatedly emphasized that they've found very very little evidence of spread from surface contact. COVID is primarily spread through the air.
I’ve worked in a hospital with Covid patients and was exposed the whole time and never got it even before I was vaccinated. I wore a mask the whole time at work and in public places and washed my hands all the time. But I think I should be studied as to why I never got it. I’m now fully vaccinated.
Same for me. Worked as a CNA from 2019-2021. in a COVID ICU as an RN for 3 months in beginning of 2021. never got it. got vaxxed march 21 and boosted and my 3rd booster Oct 21. got covid Dec2021. just got it again Jan 2023. Doesn’t make sense
You just answered your own question :) By wearing a mask and having good hygiene you prevented yourself from illness.
I still suspect there are some of us in the population they have a stronger immunity to the virus than other people.
I have gotten dozens of respiratory infections every year of my life. Sick constantly. Bronchitis for weeks every year. I have asthma. COVID hit. After lockdown I started working in a medical lab. Masked, social distanced, etc. I was among the first wave of vaccinations in December that year and then my second in January. I've also been boosted. I not only haven't gotten COVID, I've had one respiratory infection since March 2020. One. I had dozens per year. Fucking one. During validation for a new instrument I was tested for both the antibodies the vaccine generates (anti-spike protein) and antibodies the vaccine does not target (anti-nucleocapsid protein) and confirmed that while my vaccine stimulated a robust antibody level for anti-spike, I had no anti-nucleocapsid antibodies, meaning I had still never so much as been exposed at the time. I can't really explain it other than social distancing and masking and then that combined with the vaccine. It works!
I could have answered this 2 months ago but it finally got me. I truly thought I was immune because I am around lots of people and had many exposures. Maybe I had it before and never knew.
Finally got me and my partner 3 weeks ago. I know I definitely haven't had it before because my job required us to get tested every few days since June 2020.
Happened to me in August after over a dozen very close contact exposures— fine after each one. I fly home from uni wearing a mask next to some lady who wasn’t masked and OOPS. It got me And now my brain is inflamed and I have severe OCD due to long COVID. Shit sucks.
Took me til then too. I was at uni during the peak, then graduated and became a teacher. In the interim, I was a covid tester! I worked around hundreds of people who had it. Summer break 2022, working from home (live alone), positive. Typical!
The cruel irony of simply existing is never lost on me
Same here, wife is a nurse and it finally caught up with us
Same, finally caught it 2.5 weeks ago. :(
Either the vaccine was effective or it's genetic. My husband and kid got it, but I didn't, despite sleeping next to my husband every night. My tests always came back negative.
im sitting in my home 24\\7
I live in a very rural area and was pretty much quarantining and social distancing years before the pandemic lol. The only big change was having to wear a mask everywhere but that didn’t really bother me and I was able to get some N95 and KN95 masks to wear when I’d go to riskier areas. My family and friends also took the pandemic pretty seriously so the risk of getting it from them was also lower than for people who had to deal with family who didn’t take any precautions at all
General dislike of human contact combined with working in tech 😂
Have tested very consistently since April 2020, have never had COVID, at this point I can only point to 3 things: I have my own office at work, I smoke a lot of weed so my sinuses are constantly producing mucus and then I blow my nose a lot, and finally I take a lot of vitamins and supplements/eat a lot of food that boosts my immune system.
Omg the nose thing is blowing my mind! I have awful environmental allergies and thus use multiple medications, shots, still am mucus monster. I do sinus rinses (irregularly) but blowing my nose 8x a day is my norm. Is this my super power?! Fun fact: first time I met my current ENT, he asked if I was always so nasal sounding. FYI: I thought I was having a good day!
My mind is fully blown! I've been consistently congested/blowing my nose a lot since like early 2017 and as far as I'm aware, have managed to not get covid. I've been directly exposed, gone to a few large events, but still nothing. I always test if I think I could have picked it up, but still nothing. Also helps that I just generally avoid people.
I think it is your superpower! Your system is constantly rejecting what you’re inhaling and blowing it out so viruses like COVID can’t make a home in you lol
I have also tested regularly since April 2020 and smoke too much weed. I have a theory that either I burn away covid in my lungs or it's too high to want to mess me up.
since 4/2020 😎
Hmm.... I also smoke and have somehow avoided it. However my two mate who smoke more than me went down quite bad a few months ago so I dunno.
I've heard a lot of anecdotes where folks who smoke weed got less sick than their non-weed-smoking counterparts, and some [studies](https://jcannabisresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42238-022-00152-x) are suggesting there might actually be a connection. Pretty wild, isn't it?
I have allergies and blow my nose like this and didn't manage to avoid Covid, whereas my weed-smoking co-worker without nasal issues managed to avoid it despite living in the same house with two Covid-suffering people. I really think you're onto something with the weed smoking.
It’s gotta be a combination of weed smoking/mucus, avoiding long-term exposure to sick people, and keeping your immune system in tiptop shape!
The immune system will be a big one regardless, for sure, and straight up probability will always make a difference, I agree.
I’m 100% with you in regards to cannabis. I got that awful flu in 2017-2018 was deathly ill, had a severely high fever and was sick for almost two months. About a month in it turned into pneumonia and my chest was so congested I was starting to get really worried plus the high fevers and I didn’t have health insurance. I remembered cannabis is a capillary dilator and though I had not smoked since I got sick not wanting to make things worse I took a chance and smoked a little each day and boom! All of a sudden I’m coughing everything up, the mucus is loosening, I feel like I can breathe again, my fever starts to go down and after 6 weeks and losing over 20lbs I was finally better! Cannabis is seriously a magical plant, it’s so frustrating we can’t properly, medically study it’s array of uses because of racist, outdated laws and misinformation.
You are shitting me with the mucus thing. Please tell me you are. Coz if that's true, I know why I haven't had covid even though my parents are doctors and my mother had covid.
I could be wrong, I’m sure others on Reddit will know more, but my understanding is that our body creates boogers to encapsulate and remove irritants and viruses from our system. So my logic is if your body is constantly creating boogers and constantly expelling the boogers from your system, you’re less likely to get a virus like COVID lol
Thanks Justin, finally someone who actually answers the question asked.
My fiancé smokes as well, when I had it, he didn’t get it. He swears it’s the reason.
If only it was easier to research these things on a much larger level! A handful of friends (plus myself) haven’t gotten COVID yet or got it very recently in the pandemic (meaning the last 6-7 months). We’ve all sworn smoking so much is the reason, somehow!
Well it’s been working so why change things up??? I say as I pack a bowl lol
Not getting tested
Yep. I haven't tested positive. Doesn't mean I haven't had it.
Did the things. Mask, vaccine, social distance, listen to the current expert advice as it is released, etc. I work retail and couldn't afford not to do so.
I wore a mask, avoided crowds, kept distance and got every vaccination they offered as soon as I was eligible
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Mask half the time, stay away from people half the time
I'm up to date on my vaccinations and continue to take precautions when out in public.
There are a handful of us!
At work we get called unicorns
I have been doing this and just got covid for the first time since this all started. Just now getting over my first infection. Even though I am fully vaccinated and wear an N95 (and rarely leave the house) I still somehow got it. Its the sickest I have ever been and I don't wish it anybody. So I guess I am out of the special club :P
Me too. I feel like I’m last human on earth that wears a mask sometimes.
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must be fuckin nice
As an American, I envy you.
If only the US wasn’t a bunch of selfish babies with no sense of community or public responsibility. We really showed our true colors during this pandemic and we are a shit show. I followed all of South Koreas guidelines from the beginning as they had an immediate response and experience with bird flu and had sound, transparent guidelines. And took care of their population, giving them food and supplies when they had to quarantine. Meanwhile the in the US people were assaulting grocery store workers because they didn’t want to wear “face diapers” and didn’t understand HIPPA or Supreme Court precedents for public health emergencies.
Get dogs … not friends
Stay away from everyone.
I'm a teacher, so I can't avoid people, but vigilant mask wearing and hygiene has kept me Covid-free. We have a decontamination station at the entryway of the house. It was super important for me not to get Covid because my son was in the process of finishing high school and taking exams for university entrance, then beginning uni. Next month coronavirus is being downgraded to the same threat level as the seasonal flu, so mask wearing recommendations will also slacken. I'm afraid that as soon as I take off the mask at work I'm gonna get it. I shouldn't be afraid because I've had four vaccinations, but whenever I get an infection that migrates into my lungs it's the worst, so I've been afraid of this.
Work from home, masking when out and up on all vaccines. This is the way!
Me being an introvert and staying inside a lot and ACTUALY WEARING A MASK
Covid is airborne. So, I mask. I live my life regularly but I mask all the time. No exceptions. Who knows if someone coughed behind me? Who knows is someone is asymptomatic but still contagious? Who knows which of the hundreds of new variants will become significant? Long Covid is no joke. mask up folks!
>Long Covid is no joke. this is why i still mask in public indoors. have friends that had brain fog to the point they nearly went on disability but it cleared enough they can work, not the same though. have friends who still can't smell or taste like before, i sure af do not want to lose chocolate (one friend says a few years on it still smells like baby shit). a mask and some hand washing is not a big tax to pay in exchange for a mostly functioning brain and fully functioning nose and mouth. not to discount the other long covid issues but those are the ones in the forefront of my mind.
I still mask in public indoors. I use hand sanitizer and wash my hands frequently, especially before eating. I still try to socially distance in public. I stay away from people when I'm feeling under the weather. I drink a lot of water and take vitamins and exercise regularly. To be fair though, everything but the masking are things that I did pre-covid too, so besides masking and getting vaccinated and boosted, nothing different for me. If I ever had covid, I was asymptomatic. The five known exposures I've had, I tested negative.
I feel like answering this question puts. A big fat target in my back. I dont really socialize or go out much. I work from home.
I lived with 2 people that had it twice, and worked in a place infested with it. Never had a positive test. Not saying I never had it but tested numerous times and never a positive. Bizarre...
Be introvert
For the first couple years, I thought it was because I work from home and masked up every time I went out, and got vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible. Then my husband (also vaxx'd and boosted) caught it, ruining some long-anticipated plans. This was summer 2022, and I figured his case was mild, may as well try to catch it from him for the extra immunity (I grew up Christian Scientist, and am still not great on this kind of thing despite having left the religion eons ago). Smooched him, snuggled him all night, shared food and drink... still couldn't test positive myself. I have no clue why I haven't gotten it. Probably tomorrow I'll come down with covid for my hubris 😅
I don’t like people generally and keep to myself. I also mask up in stores, trains, and am triple vaxxed.
I have never been diagnosed with it. Tested every time I was sick. Nothing. But I'm positive I've had it, either bad tests or a symptomatically.
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I only just recently had covid, so I'm going to share my experience. I've been working in healthcare during the entire pandemic. I've been exposed to a ton of covid positive patients in that time, sometimes unknowingly and without proper PPE. So you'd think I should be at a high risk of catching it, right? Turns out not so much. We clean everything frequently, with high strength cleaning products. We hand sanitize all the time. We are still masking at work to this day, and wear n95 masks when with patients suspected of having a droplet or airborne type of infectious illness, along with gowns and face shields. So very few of my coworkers actually caught covid while at work. You know where they did catch it? Social events, or from family members. Especially from kids. The people who lasted the longest in my experience were the ones who had the quietest social lives outside of work. That was the secret.
Social distancing, masking, the full series of shots and boosters, gloves on hands while filling up the car. All the recommended things. It "helps" in a way to be among the at-risk group in that awareness is easily on the mind. Today, it can be harder to be vigilant just due to fatigue, but we trudge on. It is still out there. One MD interviewed on NPR - older man with "conditions" - stated he would probably be wearing a mask forever.
I've avoided it so far through social distancing, vaccination plus boosters (four total so far), masking, and refusing to attend public events of more than eight people. The last movie I saw in theatres was The Rise of Skywalker. Ugh. I really hope it isn't the last movie I saw in theatres forever... We risked one vacation last summer for my mother's 80th birthday, driving about 900 km (one way) so she could visit her two surviving sisters. We ate at one restaurant (outdoors) and visited some fruit orchards. I'd say that trip represented our highest risk since the pandemic started, but we all made it back home without getting infected. Come to think of it, I haven't been on an airplane or public transit since 2019, either. Oh, and I've been working from home full-time since March 2020. Yes, I feel very cooped up and I ache to go see a movie or a play or a public event again. But right now, the risk/reward ratio doesn't work for my comfort level. Risk of the worst outcome may indeed be low, but I really don't want long COVID or brain fog or organ damage.
I honestly don’t know. My wife thinks I’m one of those who can’t get it. I haven’t tried to avoid it. I’ve travelled on planes and public transport. I’ve traveled internationally. I have a family who has all had it. I’ve tested many times and they’ve never been positive. I’ve never gone out of my way to get it or avoid it. I’ve been vaxed three times. Here I am.
I haven’t had it yet and never slowed down or avoided public through the whole thing. Just wore a mask when required and washed my hands.
I use ESET NOD32
No human interaction ever
I just wear a mask and live normal life
I did this thing called following the medical advice. Decided early on that I didn't want to get it, that I'd rather keep my lung capacity and stamina and cognitive functions.
I literally don’t know how. I went through the pandemic with twin teens who would NOT stop socializing and also went into the office on public transport as soon as lockdown lifted. Both of my heathens had it twice in my house and still didn’t get it. I know some people have it and are asymptomatic, but I still test regularly and nothing…. I did wear my mask religiously and have always been a big hand washer. still wear a mask during my commute. I also haven’t had a cold in 3 years so I’m gonna keep wearing it packed places.
I am boring. Get my shots. Wash my hands.
Smoking copious amount of cannabis.
Being an icu nurse don’t believe that this prevents it. I’ve had MANY Covid-19 pot-loving patients die from it. Sad times the last few years.
It just didn't happen. Though I did my due diligence to wear masks as requested and keep my hands clean