someone please explain this to me. If I contact a virus, (or bacteria) that is mainly transmitted through the air, my body's immune system will respond and begin trying to ward off the virus' spread inside me. If my immune response is strong enough, and the viral attack isn't overwhelming in numbers, I might never know I was invaded....a situation that occurs constantly, because we are constantly in contact with pathogens. OR, I might suffer some symptoms before the pathogen is eliminated (some of which are from the pathogen and some from my immune response). OR, I might get a full blown debilitating sickness which either my immune system eventually overcomes, or which requires medical aid.
I know that with some infections, I might be considered non-contagious even though I'm still suffering. My question is when am I NOT contagious up to that point? And, If I have successfully fought off the invader without ever feeling any symptoms, won't I still test positive for antibodies? Am I considered to have had Covid just on the basis of antibodies being present when in actuality I successfully fought off an infection? It seems to me that with colds and flu and I assume other airborne diseases, we spread a lot of sickness around without getting sick ourselves. Is this wrong, and if not, isn't Covid spreading in the same manner? If that isn't wrong, you could be vaxxed or have built your own immunity and still be a transmitter by picking up and immediately expelling fresh pathogens.