Originally Posted By: Matter-eater Man
How is everyone doing these days? I’m still doing the shorter day but I do see things getting busier. More coworkers are showing up for at least partial days I think more or less because they want to get of the house. I throw on a mask if in anyone’s around. Things are slowly coming back but our ICU’s are filling up so I’m wary like most people I know. Very grateful that so far everyone I know hasn’t gotten sick or lost their jobs so far.


I'm actually in a fortunate position where I can wait things out indefinitely, and can remain at home. I've actually lost about 20 pounds, have been exercising more, and spending more time outdoors than I have since college. I wear a mask when I go to any public places, but outdoors, I quickly saw that it's rare I get within 50 or 100 feet of another person, so I forego the mask when I'm walking or running.

I don't want to get complacent, but out of 1.5 million people in Palm Beach County, there are currently 5,429 reported cases, 1,064 hospitalizations, and 315 deaths. And I don't know anyone who has been infected. Of those total cases, an undisclosed number have already recovered.
And in fact... I had a mild fever and flu symptoms beginning on March 11th, that lasted about 5 weeks. When asked by others, I was dismissive that it could be Covid-19. But 5 weeks was a long time to have fever (below 100 degrees mostly), chills, body aches, sore throat, and especially for me, burning in my eyes and sinuses. And it's very unusual for me to be sick for that length of time, usually only 7 to 10 days at most.
But as more information came out about less severe Covid-19 cases, and the timing, I'm less dismissive, it possibly could have been Covid-19. I didn't leave the house for 7 weeks, and luckily I had a good stock of groceries, so I didn't have to. It could also have been the annual flu strain, which is said to be unusually brutal this year. I initially wanted to get a test in retrospect to find out for sure, but they weren't easily available for a long time. I might just purchase a home test, to find out.


One other time in 2011 I had a bad flu with severe body aches that lasted about 4 weeks, that in retrospect I think could have been Swine Flu. I had really sharp pains in my muscles and bones, particularly my cheek bones, like no other illness I've had. At the time, I was unaware there was even a Swine Flu outbreak. In restrospect I found out, that would explain the severe symptoms.