WUHAN AGAIN?
The CDC is unhelpful. (That’s not new, I’m just reminding you.)
My wife was “potentially exposed” to the virus Sunday when she spoke to a woman who didn’t know she was infected. The lady was kind enough to text later in the day.
My first question for the CDC was “If my wife is going to get sick, when should we expect symptoms to appear?”
CDC said, “2 to 14 days.” (I remind you that they said the same thing on their website in May, 2020 and January, 2021.) Back then they were recommending that anyone exposed should hole up in their basement for two weeks, post warning red-letter “C” signs on the yard fence, and lock every deadbolt found. If they didn’t show symptoms they could enjoy sunshine again (from inside).
I remind you also that back then hospital websites were recommending that people with COVID resist the desire to come to the emergency room. (Because it wasn’t an emergency or because the hospital didn’t have the resources? Which?)
In any case, I was left wondering exactly how many people refuse to come down with symptoms for 14 whole days … do we have a list of names? I suspect it was only a couple people who had poor memories (forgot that Cousin Sue, who also has COVID, had dropped by 5 days before for a visit).
We’ve had the Wuhan. The first time my wife was exposed to it at a pharmacy (weird, right?) and came down with symptoms 3 days later. Of course I got it, too, we lived in a cramped apartment at the time. I had the symptoms 3 days after she did. (An elephant on my chest, dry cough, and chills that couldn’t be calmed by the heat of white hot steel in steel mill cauldrons).
Since the CDC hasn’t changed their website in years, I continued my search and found a “day-by-day” report of what happens after exposure. There I found that symptoms can appear as early as 1 day (doubtful), but the average is (semi-scientifically studied) 5-6 days. They mentioned there that the CDC does say it can take 14 days, “but that is extremely uncommon” as studies have revealed that it is rare for people to hole up in their basements for two weeks at a time. (In other words, most people socialize, go to work, have someone in their home who does go out, and/or attempt shopping more than once a week. Thus they may not realize they have been exposed, and the 14 day window is not very probable.) I might note there have been no human studies which isolate subjects for 2 weeks, then purposely expose them to COVID, and then isolate them again for 2 weeks to determine the time it takes to the onset. One study took people who had been exposed (not on purpose) and isolated them…the average in that group was 4 days.
So, my wife is waiting for clear evidence. Should we do a swab? Nah! Those are notoriously inaccurate and our experience is that WE never have had an incidence of “asymptom-ism” to this dread virus. We excel at displaying all the common symptoms (except death).
How long do other human viruses take to manifest? Flu takes 1-3 days. Cold takes 1-3 (depending on the type). Wuhan … 3-6. But then it lasts longer, too.
Why it is so difficult to get a straight answer about this? I made multiple searches and only “lucked out” through persistence. I distrusted the CDC website, which everyone should.
May I say that this is not the first time I had to search for truth in the medical field! Many moons ago I read an article about the HPV virus and that it can cause cancer. The point of the article was that every teen MUST get the vaccine. It got me to thinking: “Are there OTHER viruses that can cause cancer?” and “Are there others against which teens should be vaccinated?” Those questions took me on a very long journey. It seems no one wants to talk about all the other dangerous, cancer-causing viruses. However, eventually I found that there are 6 known cancer-causing viruses, 5 of which can be contracted by acts of passion. Nobody tells the teens about this. Nobody is out there warning the general public, or writing articles about them. That is because there isn’t a fortune to be made by doing so (HPV is a very profitable virus it seems). Here’s the crazy thing about these 6 viruses which can cause cancer … all of them can be avoided through behavior changes. (But we only educate teens and their parents about ONE treatment and nothing about prevention?)
The CDC is strangely silent about the viruses issue. Local health departments don’t say anything about that either. The only thing health organizations push is one vaccine, never prevention. (We wouldn’t want to prevent such a profitable virus, would we?) Well, maybe I’m seeing boogie-men where there aren’t any! By the way I found this wealth of info at The Cleveland Clinic.
Going back to the first time we got COVID, my wife went to a testing site to make sure it was. Then, because she tested positive, she received an urgent letter from the county health department. It said, for the most part, that if she did not stay at home she could be arrested and/or fined (I kid you not). No info about when to choose to go for medical care. No suggestions for what to take to feel better. NICE! Hopefully we have advanced from straight-up fear by now. I might mention that they called her EVERY DAY (multiple times if she didn’t answer) to ask about her symptoms and remind her not to exit the house (on pain of death, no doubt) … I’m guessing they had a person surveilling our front door. They always woke her from a much-needed nap to ask inane questions, but never gave any helpful advice (like “eat some chicken soup … it won’t taste like chicken soup, it will taste like dodo snot, but it will help you feel better.”). Near the end of my bout with COVID my wife made pancakes (my taste buds said, “metallic burnt rubber disks with grease-bitter syrup.” Yum!) … it was a long time before I was eager to try pancakes again.
Update: No infection this time.
Copyright 2025 Donald Whelpley
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