Has anyone had a cold lately?

[dreamshark]

I haven't. The last cold I had was late November of last year. I believe I picked it up flying out to Portland for Thanksgiving - the last time we flew before everybody was hiding their faces and compulsively wiping down every surface with alcohol. I typically get 2-3 colds per year, so this seems notable. Not entirely surprising, of course, since one catches cold about the same way one catches coronavirus and I have been going considerably out of my way to avoid that. 

Is it possible that we will finally stamp out the common cold? That would be a nice silver lining. Is there an animal vector for cold viruses? 

Comments

[redbird]

There are enough different viruses, and even kinds of virus, that I doubt we'll stamp it out even if people start being more cautious about interactions, distancing, etc.

If I recall correctly, there are four coronaviruses that cause colds, plus rhinoviruses and some adenoviruses.

[lydamorehouse]

I have not had a cold, but I'm not a good indicator. I think Mason had one in March.

[quadong]

I had a cold in late March, right after everyone started being careful. I was significantly, but not seriously, sick. I had another a couple of weeks ago which was just on the borderline of being something rather than nothing. I have been pretty isolated and careful since March, so I don't have a great deal of faith in your theory of cold-eradication.

[laramie]

I've had bouts of congestion and coughing since last November, but I'm not sure what to attribute to allergies and asthma and what to the possibility of a cold.

[dreamshark]

I am sometimes confused by allergies, too. I sniffle and cough all winter and well into the spring from allergies of various types, but when an actual cold comes along I am reminded that it is quite different. Allergic coughs wax and wane, but a cold follows a trajectory. My colds almost always start with a sore throat in the afternoon or evening, followed by a progression of other symptoms over the next few days. If the initial sore throat is gone by morning, it will be a mild cold. If it gets worse all night and lasts 24 hours, it will be a bad cold.

The one in November was very mild, but a big nuisance because we were out in Oregon specifically to help with preemie newborns. I had to stay away from the babies for 5 days and took all the precautions we could think of not to spread it: constant hand washing, bathroom disinfecting, hand sanitizer. Richard and Olin caught it anyway. Amber and the babies did not, probably because primary school teachers have so many antibodies in their blood that it could be sold as a healing potion. Of course nobody had masks lying around the house back then: maybe that would have helped. Or maybe colds are just that much more contagious than "the novel coronavirus."

[laramie]

Oh yes. It's actually been a couple years now since I had the kind of sore throat that turns into a full-fledged cold (often with laryngitis). I've taken to heading them off at the very first sign of scratchy throat by taking a half dose of generic-equivalent Nyquil/Dayquil.

[dreamshark]

Well, quadong, you do have young children. Which, now that I think about it, probably is the "animal vector" that keeps the reservoir of cold germs alive and well over the centuries.

[quadong]

Except that my children were also quarantined, and having even less contact with the world than me.

[maruad]

No colds but three sinus infections in the last six months. Go figure.

[dreamshark]

Ouch.

[spiderplanet]

No one has had a cold or flu at work since March, probably about 25-35 people total. That was pretty well contained with lots of handwashing and no masks and the March safety meeting had a disease specialist that said that all the increased handwashing had cleared out the hospital beds that were occupied with flu cases.

It's probably not 'gone' but everyone has better handwashing habits already. I don't think that people will go back to 'a quick rinse' after this is all over.

Yes, a silver lining indeed.

[mizzlaurajean]

I heard a fun and interesting story a while back on NPR about a man who with his family during lockdown was exposed to nothing for at least 2 months when he came down with a cold and the doctors best theory was that the virus was dormant until he was stressed and his guard was down.

[dreamshark]

Interesting. Before the current troubles focused us all so obsessively on the science of virology I never gave much thought to the question of where colds live when they don't have human hosts. I mean, some diseases (like polio) live in the soil, so can never be fully eradicated. Horrific diseases like plague and ebola and rabies circulate in and out of animal populations. But maybe some of the cold viruses have evolved in such intimate contact with humans that they just live inside of us all the time, waiting to be reactivated.

[carbonel]

I had a godawful cold/bronchitis/whatever in the first half of February.

Right now, I've been wondering if I have or am coming down with a cold, because I had a slightly scratchy through and have been sneezing/sniffling for the last couple of days. But it could be allergies, too.

My only contact with people has be socially distancing as well as possible when grocery shopping, plus a haircut a couple of weeks ago.

[dreamshark]

Well, February was right before everybody went into lockdown, so not surprising. But if you're getting a cold now... where DOES it come from? Maybe some of the cold viruses fully aerosolize, like measles, and just blow on the wind?

[davidwilford]

I had a cold for about a week back in mid-February, and since then only had hay fever. Working from home and not going to science fiction conventions has certainly lowered my risk of catching one.

[jbru]

I've been healthy throughout, apart from my back complaining about working at the kitchen table with crap ergonomics (fixed now with acquisition of a separate monitor and office chair).

I'm guessing/hoping that the flu season this year is not as bad as normal due to the now-more-regular hand-washing, surface cleaning, and (hopefully) mask-wearing.