Last December, I caught COVID for the first time, and I ended up having symptoms for 14 days and continuing to test positive on at-home rapid-tests for 18 days. I was testing daily at that point, and didn’t exit isolation until day 21, after 3 days of negative tests. I think I caught the infection early, and I started on Paxlovid immediately, and sort of wonder whether the Paxlovid contributed to the infection having lasted so long.
A week ago Monday, I came home from teaching and felt I had a bit of a headache and sore throat, and so did a COVID test, and was positive. This was nine months after my first COVID infection, and just 10 days after having gotten the new vaccine.
I started Paxlovid immediately, but Tuesday I felt quite sick and had a fever. But then Wednesday, I felt basically fine.
And then Thursday through Saturday I felt totally fine and tested negative each day, and so I declared victory and stopped isolating from my family. (I continued to do my teaching online, though, just in case.) I tested negative again on Monday and this morning (Wednesday).
But then this evening I realized that I had a runny nose, so I tested again and it was positive. So back into the basement I go.