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Something else is going on. Even if my immune system is top notch, when I inhale the virus, it should work against it, and therefore I will have antibodies.
It's like my immune system never saw it, due to all the times I have been negative on antibody tests.
Is it something about my body, that even if I inhale the virus, it cannot access my cells?
I don't have time to look for it right now, but there was a study done early on that showed some people have true natural immunity to Covid. Maybe you're one of them.
At the start of this pandemic we were all the same. Little by little, some of us got the virus, some got vaccinated, and others both.
What's true now is that there are very little of us left who are neither.
What's so special about us? I want to know.
In 2020, I traveled 60,000 international miles, been in and out of restaurants, house parties.
This year, close to 80,000 international miles, even took care of my COVID + mother, again no infection.
Yet I have friends who sheltered in place, got vaccinated, and as soon as they resumed normal life, got COVID.
WTF is going on?
I was sick in Jan 2020 after my daughter came home sick from Italy. Antibody tests were not available until May. I took one & it came up negative.
My immune system is different though. I also show no antibodies to vaccines I have had, such as Hep B & Measles. I'm a 'genetic nonresponder'.
Since human-to-human transmission of covid began via people injected during the trial pan-vaccine experiment in Wuhan; Sars-Cov2 is a vaccine derived virus. I don't respond to vaccine viruses, so it makes sense I would test negative.
Son has been in school full time & his dad is an essential worker. Son is also a 'genetic nonresponder' to vaccines & now medically exempt from them. There have been multiple outbreaks at son's school & also at his dad's work. We just don't get sick (or haven't since that first exposure in January).
I don't smoke but I wear nicotine patches & occasionally vape. I do agree there is a protective factor from nicotine.
Also, I don't think my genetic immune status is rare & people who don't build antibodies from vaccination tend to be more susceptible to adverse events from vaccination. People who are more susceptible to adverse events usually figure this out & avoid flu shots. Flu shots blunt the CD4 T cell response vital for covid resistance.
So it makes sense that people who limit exposure to all vaccines may be more resistant to covid infection. Afaic; covid is a pandemic of the vaccinated, from the vaccinated.
Explained by a simple misunderstanding of the Catchy-Ness of COVID. Some of you seem to think it's like maple syrup - a tiny touch and THAT'S IT OMG IT'S EVERYWHERE.
It doesn't work like that. Last year (pre-delta) - it was statistically about as catchy as the common cold. That's it. Do you get a cold every - single - time you are near someone with a cold? I don't. Nearly never. Am I magical? No.
Genetics. Immune system. Exposure time. Luck. The Shed Viral Load of the contagious guy next to you. Your own dumb resistance to COVID. And a dozen other reasons. Lots of people do not catch it, even when their spouse has it. And as others have noted - you might have been asymptomatic.
Some of you hear "very contagious" and are just baffled. The cold is "very" contagious - it's just a subjective term with no real definition - but there are numbers - how many will you infect, if you get it? And (pre-delta) - the 'Rona was like a cold. If you didn't know that - look in the mirror.
Meantime - I gotta agree with the OP overall, though - I have traveled nearly continuously throughout the ordeal, some domestic, some international - no COVID. Never had an anti-body test though, so maybe.
Means nothing. I know many - many - people who have been sick - most recently a 19-year old on a flipping ventilator for 2 weeks - WTF?? So please don't downplay the possibilities. I count myself fortunate, the same as not getting the flu. But not remarkable.
I hope the op and rest of the unvaccinated don’t get a serious case of covid end up in ICU or dead. But a percentage of them do.
A very small percentage, yes. I think most of us are probably okay at this point. Covid has been prevalent enough, and things are back to normal enough, that most have had some exposure. We're at the 44 million mark for confirmed cases, and that doesn't count those who were asymptomatic or didn't bother to test. If NY was estimating 30% of their population had been exposed by the end of last spring, we're surely well beyond that by now.
Anyway, for those familiar with the old D&D game, my friends used to say I had an 18 Constitution. Almost never sick. Maybe it's DNA. Maybe it's having grown up on farms/around animals/in dirt. Maybe it's being one of eight kids and 35 cousins who all lived practically on top of each other. Who knows. As for my kids, they're rarely sick, either. Played in dirt and didn't wash their hands before they ate. Went to crowded NYC public schools when they were little. I really think early exposure has a lot to do with immune health. Hygiene Hypothesis is becoming more and more accepted.
So I have done antibody tests previously when close contacts came down with COVID19, I was negative. I have not done one recently however.
That’s a Covid test to see if you’re currently infected. An antibody test is another thing altogether. It tests your blood for the presence of Covid antibodies.
One thing is I smoke and what I understand is that the Nicotine in cigarette smoke out competes Sars-Cov-2 for the same receptors, blocking it from entering cells.
It's probably a combination of the smoking and the humble bragging that does it.
At the start of this pandemic we were all the same. Little by little, some of us got the virus, some got vaccinated, and others both.
What's true now is that there are very little of us left who are neither.
What's so special about us? I want to know.
In 2020, I traveled 60,000 international miles, been in and out of restaurants, house parties.
This year, close to 80,000 international miles, even took care of my COVID + mother, again no infection.
Yet I have friends who sheltered in place, got vaccinated, and as soon as they resumed normal life, got COVID.
WTF is going on?
Cool story about yourself.
Here is your answer.
Some people have caught Covid-19 and some not. This is like almost every other disease.
Some people get exposed and fight it off. This is like almost every other disease.
Some people get exposed and get a mild illness. This is like almost every other disease.
Some people get exposed and get very sick. This is like almost every other disease.
Some people get exposed and die. This is like almost every other disease.
Some people get vaccinated and the vaccine works very well. This is like almost every vaccine.
Some people get vaccinated and the vaccine works, but poorly. This is like almost every vaccine.
Some people get vaccinated and the vaccine dies not work at all. This is like almost every vaccine.
But here is the thing. Far fewer of the people who get vaccinated do not become the people who get very sick or die. Far fewer of the people who get vaccinated transmit the disease to others. This is true of every disease that has a vaccine.
The answer to your question "what is so special about us" is that you are not special, you are just part of the distribution of numbers. But you're focused on you and did not mention the millions of the dead and the very sick.
As for the " What's true now is that there are very little of us left who are neither. " That is wrong. You have a math problem. Only half of the world has been vaccinated and a far smaller number has caught the disease.
It's probably a combination of the smoking and the humble bragging that does it.
Bragging? Nah! I've just often said no self respecting germ wants to live in my body.
Like swilliamsny, I grew up and am still not at all germ conscious...wash hands only incidentally, cut veggies on the same board that chicken just got cut up on, hand to mouth with a cigarette when gardening,etc.
BTW, my mom did contract Spanish Flu when she was 9 or 10 and recovered well so maybe there's something genetic about it, too.
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