I haven’t had it either. Up to date on all vaccines/boosters (Moderna - got the most recent booster about a month ago). I haven’t been sick in any way since June of 2019 when I picked up a cold while traveling. Like someone else mentioned I’m not big on crowds either but have traveled several times (masked) with no problems. One nice thing about FL is that we can eat outside all year. My parents haven’t gotten it either. My dad did pick up a cold on Sunday but he tested several times and all negative; he’s already feeling better.
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So far, so good for us. Our community was pretty divided for a long time, so we learned which establishments to avoid, due to the uproar.
We’ve both been keeping up with the vaccines and boosters, and aren’t very social. Still, I’ve had a few colds. And it’s way too easy to forget to mask up before going into a store. It’s really hard to be that vigilant for an extended period of time.
I have a few friends who have had mild cases lately. As they say, as it evolves it becomes more transmissible but less deadly. I’m not really worried about it for myself, but I could never forgive myself if I caught it and passed it to my elderly parents.
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I rode back to Navada with my good friend Randy to pick up a truck from my mom that used to belong to my dad in 2020. I was right next to him for 15 hours in the car. He had Covid and it was a bad run for him. He got so sick he had to go to the hospital for 2 days. He was at home and sick for nearly a month. I, on the other hand got it and was over it in 2-1/2 days and only felt “somewhat bad” for 1-1/2 days. It was like a mild cold to me. Not near as bad as the flu I have had a few times in years past.
I was thankful it was so non-consequential, but I was a bit amazed that it was so mild. I thought “That’s it? That’s what all the panic is about?” I have had worse paper cuts.
But as I said, Randy (who is one of the toughest men I ever knew) got knocked down hard by it and my sister and mom both got it too, (from me. 
) Mom, then 93 years old, was sick for 6 days and my sister, then 67 years old was sick for 2 weeks.
So it effects different people differently.
I did have it, tested and confirmed, but it was a big-nothing for me. Temp got to 100.2, a mild headache, chills, but nothing that even made me sit it out. I kept working in Mom’s back yard moving and splitting firewood and by noon the next day I felt fine. The following day I regained my sense of taste and smell That was it. Nothing more.
Are you getting a good amount of supplemental vitamin D? Studies have shown that it (especially the D3 analog, calcifediol, which is also used in treating hyperparathyroidism in people with kidney disease) can prevent infection from taking hold and also ease recovery.
All studies have shown that women have significantly stronger immunity to all types of infections. This is thought to be due to a genetic difference, having structures know as microRNAs located on the female X chromosome. Females typically develop higher innate, humoral and cellular immune responses to viral infections and in response to vaccine. There are some perks in having an immune system that is designed to build and sustain offspring. Though that may also contribute to our gender’s higher susceptibility to autoimmune diseases.
So far I have not been infected, at least not shown any symptoms that I did not check (all negative) and I have also tested within 72 hours of any exposure to indoor groups of people. Have had sniffles, sneezing and congestion since before Thanksgiving but again tested negative – I suspect that in my first winter in the new house (with forced air heat) I am reacting to dander in the ducts from the prior owners’ dog – I am pretty allergic to about one in 10 pups. I had my first get together since Christmas 2019 at my own house on Thanksgiving, inviting 4 friends who all live alone, work from home and are conscientious about exposure (and we all tested negative a couple days beforehand)
I’ve been fortunate in being retired and living alone since the pandemic began and I bought a fully outfitted camper truck early in 2020 so when and if I did travel, I was completely self contained and did not have to use public facilities and even had my own space to sleep in when I eventually began to visit out of town folks after getting my first vaccines.
Have had 5 vaxxes, all Moderna. I also educated myself thoroughly from the get-go on hygiene best practices around the virus. It was particularly helpful that my cousin, Tris Parslow, could steer us to the most reliable science, being as he’s a dean emeritus of Emory University’s med school and is a world renowned expert and consultant to the CDC on RNA viruses who had overseen research on both HIV and SARS-2 vaccine development. From the early months of the pandemic I was part of a network of volunteers who scavenged materials and sewed and donated/distributed tens of thousands of face masks and medical garb to nursing homes, hospitals, first responders, etc., when that critical gear became unobtainium from the usual sources.
I sewed around 1,500 masks in 2020 and 2021 including sending them to friends and family, and keeping a wardrobe of them for my own use. I developed some unique designs based on feedback from some of the agencies we were sharing these with that were comfortable, had head wrapping elastic that could be adjusted to any size as well as pulled down around the neck to be out of the way when not needed, sealed the mouth and nose better than the “face diaper” blue sneeze masks, were machine washable and even reversible (used different fabrics for each side) even made some that had 99% filtration medium inserts, based on the design and shape of N95 masks.
I do think my persistence in masking may have helped protect me from transmission. I sported an outfit-coordinated face-sealing mask every time I was out in public for 18 months and still carry with me and wear them for certain indoor gatherings and when I run errands or visit places that mandate them. Have not had a cold since Spring of 2019 either, so masking may have helped with that too.
There are concerns in the medical community that natural cumulative resistance to colds and other common viral and bacterial infections may be down since people were far less exposed to them during the pandemic lockdowns so new mutations will be around to which we have no devoloped immunity. In 2020 and early 2021, incidence of seasonal respiratory infections in the population dropped from around 30% to 0.2%. Rates have risen in the years since and may exceed the historical maxiumums eventually until herd immunity develops again.
I had it twice since it has been around. Last time was opening day of Deer season last November. I ended up in the hospital for a few hours with A FIB, which I had never had a heart issue before.
Have had a couple more mild attacks of A FIB since then, nothing that a Flecainide pill couldn’t stop.
No vaccines for us…my better half is a RN of 38 years and we decided against them.
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Edith got it I didn’t both vaccinate.
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I haven’t gotten it yet. Tomorrow I will be fully Pfizerated again and will still take care.
Like everyone I was told it was headed toward being an endemic problem,. but right 1000 people a day are being hospitalized, so I will keep being vaccinated.
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Got it in 2021 after a commercial flight to Idaho to visit family. It hit while I was out in the mountains overnight backpack camping. Fortunately it was mostly downhill back to the car. For the first two days after that (symptomatic day 2 and 3) I was so tired I couldn’t stand to be out of bed for more than a few minutes. Altogether wiped me out flat for about a week, then the cough lasted another month. No loss of smell, but strong metallic taste to everything the first few days. The fatigue was worse than any influenza I have had, but the cough was mostly dry, which bothers me less.
No vax, no covid. Wife the same as well as a few friends.Shared a desk with a guy who got hospitalized for it , then I got retired Bidens first day in office so got out before the mandates. I keep up on my nutrition and outdoor exercise, and avoid the medical professionals.
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I hear ya on crowds! No doubt I got COVID from being around so many different people from all over the country gathering in one small town. The accounts about coming down with it right after Thanksgiving only confirm that avoiding either concentrated exposure or more diffuse but repeated exposures is important. The vaccines only reduce likelihood of infection; they aren’t an encapsulating shield.
No Covid for my wife and I. We masked and vax’d and aren’t too social anyway. But we did both have an odd, flu-like illness in January 2020, before Covid became a “thing”. It flattened me on my back for a day and my wife even lost her sense of taste. So maybe we were patient zero in the USA (with our lifestyle, that’s about as likely as us winning the Powerball lottery) 
Do you check your sense of smell occasionally?
I once had total loss of sense of smell (and taste) 6 years ago. It happened after the bad reaction I had to trying the “self cleaning” function on a grease-imbued oven in the house we rented before moving into our own new house. That reaction morphed into what I thought was a severe cold. Then one day I lost all sense of smell. It took many weeks to slowly return. I would check it at first by sniffing something with a strong scent, namely, laundry detergent. The day when I detected a faint whiff of that familiar odor, I rejoiced.
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I probably had a mild case of it at the beginning of March 2020 [this corrects the previous date I noted; the birding festival was in late February, so I felt ill about March 2 or 3, after coming home]. No vaccines or tests were around yet.
Again, it was right after traveling. On the MORNING THAT I HEARD OF COVID BEING FOUND IN THE US, I was scheduled to fly to San Diego for the bird festival. Infected people had been quarantined in the hospital. In San Diego, if I remember correctly. The Phoenix airport where I connected was filled with coughers and sneezers, all of us jammed into lines that clogged what should have been aisles. But the flu was still circulating, and the two worst points of exposure were a single indoor lecture during the festival and one of the airplane flight legs coming home. Both situations were enclosed, stuffy, and both people had that peculiar COVID cough. The cough that never resolves the respiratory distress, despite the person’s hundreds of attempts.
The airplane passenger sat directly in front of me, both he and his wife had masks on, and neither one spoke aloud. They would whisper in each other’s ear, as if trying to hide something. Both he and the person in the lecture room kept taking menthol cough drops that did nothing to stop the dry coughs.
The first morning after getting home I woke up exhausted and chalked it up to a hectic week. Symptoms that did not feel quite like either flu or cold developed. With no test available, I just stayed home and avoided contact outside of my own household (spouse). We were being advised to stay home then anyway. That case was relatively mild.
The feeling of not getting enough oxygen no matter how hard I tried to breathe deeply was the key similarity both times I got sick. Worse than having all sinus clogged; these times even breathing theoufh the mouth wasn’t enough.
Getting boosted right now. Writing this while waiting for the doctor. Been very lucky and grateful to not have gotten it so far.
And even though I avoid crowds, live an isolated life in the middle of a forest preserve, I believe in the science. Having friends who are both doctors and work in pharmaceutical research and development. Have gone with Moderna the whole way.
Love many, trust few. Always paddle your own canoe(or kayak😉)
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I’ve had COVID two times. Not something I want for any third time. I am fully vaxed including all the recommended boosters. Pretty flu-y for several days but luckily I recovered fully and quickly. I have escaped most long term effects apart from not entirely trusting my senses of smell and taste.
I reckon I’d recognise the symptoms on a subsequent dose particularly that gasping sensation pikabike reported.
[EDIT] The second dose happened when I was interstate to visit my mother in an aged care home. The home insisted on a negative nasal swab test before every visit. I was very thorough in my approach to recovery, lots of rest and fluids and good nutrition. I was back to consecutive negative nasal swab tests in six days!
Haven’t had it and I traveled for work extensively during covid and only got a shot because I had to show a shot card to get into some venues. My Wife did get it this past May when she had to go to the Hospital for some tests, but it was minor symptoms and treated with Ivermectin and she was over it in about a week.
I’m aware of my loss of smell and olfactory hallucinations every day. Some things still smell the same but maybe not as sharp while other things smell completely different. Also, some everyday scents now catch up in my upper respiratory making breathing difficult. An example is dryer sheets. I’ve never liked the various scents but now I really can’t tolerate them. The same for a seasoning that we used to cook Salmon in. It turned into something that made it difficult for me to breathe. Sure was glad when they quit making it.
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I really dislike most all the various scents that are added to everyday items.
I was heading to conference in Bellevue (near Seattle) the in late Feb '20, a day or two after the first US death was reported in Washington State. One cluster of cases had been discovered at a nursing home there, and another at a nearby college. As I was leaving home for the airport I received word that the organizers, who were already onsite, had cancelled the conference. At the time I thought it was an over-reaction, but in retrospect I will always be grateful for their courage.
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No hospital would treat a covid patient with Ivermectin. It’s for parasitic diseases and has no effect on viruses. Not CDC approved either. Perhaps you meant the anti-virals, Paxlovid or Remdesivir?
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