Well here's an update on our Covid experience.
First off we're both fully recovered and doing well. What we experienced was not as bad as the version of flu that we both had last year about this same time frame. As I explained in the OP I was in close proximity with someone who tested positive the following day and within two days I was sick. Then two days after I became sick my wife was sick(i.e. fever, headache, lethargy, upset stomach, loss of taste). Both of us only had moderate fever which passed in 24 hours. My headaches left with the fever and I was tired for a couple more days. My wife continued to have headaches for several days after the fever passed. Both of us continued to have altered taste until a couple of days ago. Not so much loss of taste per se. More a matter of things tasting foul. Particularly anything acidic tasted really bad. Unfortunately that included coffee
If anyone experiences this I recommend ice cream. That's the only thing I found to taste normal. And in those conditions perhaps even better than normal
Another apparent effect that it had on us that is lingering is that both of us have elevated BP and pulse versus our historical norm.
Regarding covid testing, it's not as straight forward as one would think based on how it's being presented and how much reliance is being place on it by authorities. At least the authorities up here. At first we weren't going to test thinking it really doesn't matter since there's no treatment etc. And we assumed the worst and self isolated anyway. Then we decided it would be nice to know at least so decided to do it. Then it took a couple of days to get tested due to how crowded the test sites were. Bottom line is that we were both over the fever by the time we tested. Four days in my case and a couple of days for my wife. We both tested negative. After doing some reading on the CDC website that's not surprising. They say there have been multiple studies that have shown a :"significant" drop in virus present in nose/throat within 24 hours after
onset of fever. We were days past that. Our neighbor who tested positive(twice in 24 hrs) was much sicker than us and it lasted about a week for him. He went and got retested shortly after his fever subsided but he still had a cough. That test was negative. That was several days ago and he still has a cough. So apparently there's a fairly narrow window as the disease progresses during which a test will yield positive results.
So yesterday my wife and I both went and got the antibody test. We both tested positive for both antigen and antibodies. Which means yes we were sick and not long ago. Duh. Unfortunately the antibody test is specific to corona virus but not necessarily covid-19. Which according to CDC means that you can test positive for antibodies shortly after having a cold. OK this really is kind of ridiculous.
When it's all said and done did we actually have covid? Interestingly it seems no one can tell us for sure. So it's time to apply a bit of common sense. We were exposed, had symptoms consistent with the disease, tested negative for active virus, and tested positive for antibodies. I call that greater than 50 percent probability. Maybe even 75 percent. So is there a moral to this story? I'll let anyone who read this decide that for themselves.
There is some bad news. It's been grey and snowing pretty much ever since I took the photo in the OP