Covid19 :: Omicron Variant BA.4 and 5 Came A-Knocking 🦠

I've spent weeks, maybe months feeling fatigued and woozy from a severe lack of sleep. Being woken up two to three times a night isn't fun. I feel like the dog only lets me have a good night's sleep every 10 days,  just to keep me alive. That week, I felt particularly woozy, and started ARTs (we call them Antigen Rapid Test here, not the other way of RATs). Did six tests over two weeks. Negative. 

Then, right at the start of the man's heavy work conference week, he fell ill rather suddenly. Like how you feel a scratchy throat mid-afternoon, and then it all went downhill within two hours. He's got all the typical flu symptoms — sore throat, chills, fever, fevered dreams. He tested negative on the ART for a day and then turned C+ the very next morning. 

Okay lah, we've dodged the virus for 2.5 years. It's about time we catch it, and it might as well be now. We're vaccinated, boosted, and we don't have to quarantine like hell if we test C+. With a relaxed mask policy and overall regulations, numbers have soared. I don't doubt many people don't bother testing themselves till they fall really ill, of which they'd have been rather infectious for about a day or two already before they turn positive or before they actually tested positive. These Omicron dominant variants are too transmissible, and its incubation period is only two to three days. 

I made sure the man took meds regularly to keep the fever at bay. He felt better after two nights, and the fever subsided and chills stopped. Today, he just has to battle the rather severe headaches. A cough mixture is also included in his daily arsenal of drugs, an expectorant, not a suppressant. I also listened to his cough. I'm an expert at listening to coughs. He is rather inclined to bronchitis, and Covid-19 would be rather pleased to have that for company. That cough is the only indication that he has bronchitis, and any delay in treatment would compromise his lungs.  

The man totally believes in Lianhua Qingwen Jiaotang (以岭牌连花清瘟胶囊), and bought dozens of packs. Last November, our health sciences authority warned people not to take this herbal medicine to 'prevent or cure covid', and people should stick to using it to alleviate symptoms. Now, the packs have flooded the pharmacy shelves like it's Panadol and Tylenol. Okaaaay. Consume at your own risk. I took one look at the ingredients and grimaced. This is not for me. I'll stick to the regular drugs. Home recovery works well for us, and we have access to all the necessary medications. 

And me? I tested negative all the way in spite of the wooziness. I feel better today, not worse. Many people I've met in the past week also came down with C+ and fell ill over the weekend too. Ugh. I'll test for another few days after the man recovers; dunno if mine is a delayed C+. 

I totally put this theory to test. Sure, the man and I isolated from everyone else. But we didn't isolate at home from each other. We did however, gave the dog a wide berth in case she comes down sick too. Thank goodness she doesn't sleep in the room with us. She sleeps in her own room with her own air purifier. Hahahah. Let's see if my Pfizer-Pfizer-Moderna vaccines + massive food allergies + weird blood give me true immunity. Bwahahahah.