So I had a DHL guy swing by today. He gives me my package and asks if I knew anyone with Corona, said he spoke to the past 50 deliveries and no one had it and that he thought it was a lie.

It made me curious: has anyone here had personal experience getting sick? I had it and it was the single worst illness of my life but I realized I didnt know anyone else who had gotten ill personally. Was curious if anyone had a totally asymptomatic experience or the full-on feels like elephant sitting on your chest for 3 weeks experience I had?

Have not had it but know at least 6 who are fairly certain they have had it, but weren't tested (classic fever, loss of taste, etc.) All said it was certainly more than just a bad cold, they were out for more than a week. Sadly, the parents of a (Swiss) colleague both contracted it on a cruise ship back in February, and one of them subsequently died.



I am in theory not at high risk (40-something and in good health) but I always seem to react very badly to any cold or influenza. I've had the flu at least 4 times, including the swine flu back in 2009 or whenever it was, and have always been laid out flat for at least a week. I'm a bit worried about corona as I've once been hospitalized for 5 days with a blood clot, we never did figure out why I got one.

The lovely patron of the Croix Vert restaurant in Nyon died from it at the HUG a couple of weeks ago. She was well into her 80s

And we know a lady in Geneva, also in her 80s that was hospitalised but is recovering.

A DHL guy asks 50 people, well it must be a cover up then.

I know 6 people who have had it and recovered or are recovering including my ex wife in the UK.

I know 3 who were officially tested positive and were fine after a couple of weeks.. plus another 5/6 people who probably had it but were not tested.. Again all recovered..

The department head in my job went into 2 week quarantine because his dad got sick and hospitalized. The dad recovered and back at home in Basel.

Farther away, 2 employees from the company offices in Ticino got sick. After this, the country manager stopped sending emails related to the virus. I'd guess to avoid getting all the employees depressed, anxious or both at the same time.

On the other side of the Atlantic, just relatives of friends. I'm thankful to lack more direct experience.

I have a close friend, early 40s, in NYC who I speak with almost every day. He does maintenance work in a hospital which has large covid wards. He got it, spend two weeks quarantined. Says it was very very unpleasant, very different from anything he's had before, and he was quite scared at a few points.
He got his antibody test back a few days ago, and his anti-body levels are double average. Suggests he did indeed have a tough case.

Out of interest is it difficult to motivate yourself to keep following the social distancing rules after having had it.

Hope you're feeling better. Hospitalized or endured at home?

I'm fairly certain I had it. I shook hands and had a sandwich with someone who had just gotten off the train from Lombardy, Italy at the height of their spread in the country (just before their lockdown). One week later, I developed all of the symptoms. Despite having asthma, I luckily never get a cough when ill, so there really is no doubt since mine was awful...it felt different to any flu I've ever had. I was in bad shape for a week, but sick for two. Out of that tough one week, I spent three days in bed almost not moving at all. The joint pain was out of this world bad.

When I couldn't breathe properly, I called my doctor for a steroid inhaler refill (hadn't needed it in months). We spoke about my symptoms and she advised I stay at home unless I needed to go to the hospital. This was right before they started doing widespread tests. The fact that I might have the virus was always in the back of my mind and anyone I informed that I was ill, was sure I had it. I am happy that I had it just before we knew how bad it was, otherwise the stress might have made me even worse. If I could go back, I wish I had had the test done. I think the steroid inhaler is what saved me, even though there are concerns that it could weaken the immune system and cause pneumonia.

Happy to hear you made it out OK! These conspiracy theorists like your DHL guy make me very angry.

It's good the DHL guy thinks it's a lie; ;he can keep doing his job
I have a friend who lost her father over CVID and I have another friend (over 70 years old) who has infected friends.

Is it real? Maybe people don't really die.

The DHL guy made me laugh. I have into more that a few conspiracy folks here.

The curious thing for me was I worked in infectious disease research for years before moving to Switzerland and am a healthy, in shape 32 year old.

I endured it at home but had to go to the clinic 4 times and had my dog packed up and ready to be picked up by coworkers when I hit the worst and wanted to check in at the hospital. It was general crappy headache, fever the first day and immediately I could describe the feeling as "something is off" compared to a normal illness. 3 days of headache turned to totally normal feeling on day 4. Day 5 I woke up with the feeling of hands around your throat or crushing your chest. Headache came back immediately the instant I stopped taking paracetamol.

That lasted about 3-4 weeks, not once did I cough, I got the weirder symptoms as well such as sores all over the feet. My last test was negative but my breathing feels as though it will never go back to normal, 6 weeks in.

If anyone here grew up with asthma, you know the feeling. Its a persistent asthma attack feeling. Susie-Q mentions the inhaler which on the worst day felt as though it saved me but within a week did nothing!

Yes and no. I got it right when the lockdown started, I imagine on SBB.
Today, no one seems to mind because I "had" it. I wear a mask, avoid social contact simply because im terrified to get it again. It was more than enough motivation.

Firstly, happy to hear you pulled through it, must have been an awful experience. You're through it now though.

The guy in the apartment below me loves to tell me how he thinks its all a lie and how he hasn't changes his habits etc. He is in my view a simpleton, as is anyone else who thinks the same. Just smile at them and nod.

As an infectious diseases specialist do you think there's a significant risk of catching it again within such a short timeframe? Do you think your symptoms would be milder if you did?

Do you think you know when exactly you caught it?

Sorry for the questions, really interested in your experience.

Elvis lives!

I had the exact same thing! I even thought it was just anxiety as I was in charge of a large offsite meeting at work that week. In my google search history there is "joint pain and shortness of breath caused by anxiety".

The one thing that still throws me off is that nobody I was in contact with seemed to receive the virus, including my husband and all my colleagues at the offsite meeting. Then again, I do practice good hygiene at all times and am very glad I didn't seem to give it to anyone.

Quick math (supposing sick people will be selfish and get in close/direct contact with delivery guys):

Population Switzerland: 8'570'000
CoVID19 Cases (officially): 29'000
Deliveries: 50

(29/8570)*50*100 = 17% chance meeting with a infected person

I've been sick for almost 3.5 months since last December. Not seriously, but every second week I had either sore throat, or cough, or running nose, or ear ache, or red eye with some pus, or horrible headache, or joint pain, always for a few days in a row.

Hell knows, maybe one of those occasions was it, maybe not. The fact is, I'm 30 and I've never have been sick for so long, except for this season.


Regarding the thread, I know one 70y old lady confirmed, stayed at home 14 days with fever, then ok, and one colleague suspected, but never got a test.

Key point is this. Most people now at most wave at a delivery person from a safe distance and certainly don't talk to them any more. Deliveries get left on the doorstep until someone picks up the courage to actually handle it.

Oh and 2 confirmed, 4 probables. That I know of.