I know a few people who had "A really bad cold" in October 2019. As in "never had a cold this bad" type.
Exactly, I'd already had the flu earlier that year around October/November, and this thing that hit me the last week of 2019 was severe. I remember the lingering symptoms taking over 10 days to fade. And I was a superspreader, because I was recruiting for the Census at the time, and I only got to take off two days.
And I was one of them! Sicker than I had ever been, a cough so deep I could hardly stop. I even pulled a groin muscle I was coughing so hard ... that took months to fully heal. I've never had laryngitis until that illness, could barely talk for a few days. Sickest I've ever been from a flu or cold ... I've had pneumonia and bronchitis a few times in my life, this was worse. I was down hard for most of 10 days, recovery was a couple weeks to feel somewhat normal. I didn't bother to see a doctor.
Edit - and I haven't been sick since then. Never caught covid19 thereafter either. It was a very notable event for me, damn sick, I'll never forget it.
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