So It's Not the Flu After All - COVID? Metapneumovirus? (Updated).

 

... that I've had for the past week.  Not only because COVID is going around the schools like crazy again (where my husband works) - but I just now realized the home test kits that I had expired in June! 

Whups! I thought this was different, it didn't follow the normal rules of the flu, it was weird.  Not worse, just different. 

I could get tested tomorrow, but it's awfully late in the game, and what could they do at this point?  Nothing, and it's not that bad, just annoying, having gone on for so long, plus today I had a coughing fit that lasted like three hours, never had that in my life, despite being a smoker.  

I mean, I've felt worse than this before, when I had just the regular flu, plus I'm vaccinated, but this was just different, it didn't follow the normal flu or cold pattern.  And this sounds gross, but the mucus is especially "sticky" if that makes sense, it doesn't want to clear, and once you think you're better, the symptoms suddenly come back.

It hit Mark harder, but mine lasted longer (probably because I'm a smoker).

Dangit, I thought I'd made it through this whole thing without getting it, argggh! 

Well, at least the vaccinations made it more mild than it could've been, whew!

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PS - So I just called the pharmacist at CVS to schedule a COVID test for tomorrow.  

He said that they stopped doing them in May, but are about to start up again with the uptick, but they're not equipped yet. 

He also said there's another weird, COVID-like virus going around called the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV).  It's a completely different virus from COVID, but the symptoms are  just as weird as -  and nearly indistinguishable from - beginning COVID, but  less hospitalizations/not as deadly.  

He said he had it in July and was down for two weeks, though he never misses work.  Presently, tests for it are hard to find anywhere.

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PS Again - So I just found out that my insurance will no longer cover healthcare-professional administered COVID testing (by local pharmacy, etc.) unless it's ordered by a doctor, ever since the public health emergency officially ended last May. 

Which means I have to find a way to be worked in to my doctor's office for an actual appointment and get the test, paying a regular office visit fee PLUS the copay for testing, taking the chance that I do not have COVID and thus paid the money for nothing - OR - I can pay $129 out of pocket for the test. 

Do I want to pay at least $100,  just to find out I don't have it  - or that I do, but there's no treatment for it a week into it other than letting it run its course? 

No, I do not - BUT - I will, so as to let other people I've been around know. 

The home tests are cheaper, but not very reliable.  Well, I should say positive results are reliable, but negative results aren't, so sayeth the CDC (look under the tap "Should I trust a self-test?" near the bottom of the page, click to expand). 

That makes sense, because almost everyone I know that has ever used a home test had a false negative result three or four times, only to have a healthcare-professional-administered one later that was positive. 

So that is either user error or home tests aren't sensitive enough - either way, Houston, we have a problem then lol. 

So if that is the case,  I doubt most people will now go get tested, then, if you have to pay completely out of pocket for it or need to see a doctor first before your insurance will cover it.

So how in the heck is the CDC supposed to track it then, and how do we find out if we have it so as not to infect others?

And what about the annual booster?  Because I'm pretty sure we're not vaccinated for life.

Way to go, CDC, healthcare systems, pharmacies, and insurance companies - for acting like everybody was vaccinated and apparently pretending like COVID doesn't even exist anymore :/

Ain't that a kick in the head?

Such is life in the KY in the good 'ole US of A lol