Got Covid

I’ve currently got Covid, I believe I caught it on the 11th of April (my first flight since the pandemic started) with a runny nose on the 13th and a positive RAT on the evening of the 14th. I got an official PCR test on the 16th with a positive result returned on the 17th. I think I didn’t infect anyone else (yay)! Now I seem mostly OK but still have a lack of energy, sometimes I suddenly feel tired after 20 minutes of computer work.

The progression of the disease was very different to previous cold/flu diseases that I have had. What I expect is to start with a cough or runny nose, escalate with more of that, have a day or two of utter misery with congestion, joint pain, headache, etc, then have it suddenly decrease overnight. For Covid I had a runny nose for a couple of days which went away then I got congestion in my throat with serious coughing such that I became unable to speak. Then the coughing went away and I had a really bad headache for a day with almost no other symptoms. Then the headache went away and I was coughing a bit the next day. The symptoms seemed to be moving around my body.

I got a new job and they wanted me to fly to the head office to meet the team, I apparently got it on the plane a day before starting work. I’ve discussed this with a manager and stated my plan to drive instead of fly in future. It’s only a 7 hour drive and it’s not worth risking the disease to save 3-4 hours travel time, or even the 5 hours travel I’d have saved if the airports were working normally (apparently a lot of airport staff are off sick so there’s delays). Given the flight delays and the fact that I was advised to arrive extra early at the airport I ended up taking almost 7 hours for the entire trip!

7 hours driving is a bit of effort, but sitting in an airport waiting for a delayed flight while surrounded by diseased people isn’t fun either.