With omicron, it may be harder to tell if you have covid, the common cold or flu

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

It starts with a sneeze, maybe a sniffle.

You think to yourself, it’s just mild allergies or a minor cold. You’re not worried about covid-19, because the symptoms don’t match up with the distinct, often severe indicators of covid-19: joint aches, violent coughing, a fever or chill, and the dreaded loss of ability to taste or smell.

But with the omicron variant now the dominant strain in the United States infecting the unvaccinated and fully inoculated alike, health experts warn the symptoms that previously helped people to gauge whether they had a cold, flu or covid-19 are no longer the useful marker they once were.

Making risks assessments on whether to travel, gather with others or get tested for the coronavirus based on symptoms “is not going to work anymore,” said Emily Landon, the chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine.

Complicating matters is that pandemic-fatigued populations must once again revise what they thought they knew about the coronavirus. Health experts said grids and infographics that suggest certain symptoms are particular to one virus or another, which are popular on social media, may have at one point been helpful but are now outdated with the rise of omicron.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/with-omicron-it-may-be-harder-to-tell-if-you-have-covid-the-common-cold-or-flu/ar-AAS6ohk

[Buckeye_Democrat]

1. Wait for it... the right-wing propagandists eventually...

... saying, "See?! We told you it was no worse than the common cold!"

Hundreds of thousands of deaths later, in the USA alone, of course.

[Ms. Toad]

2. This has been true at least since August (long before Omicron).

I've been exposed quite a few times since - generally by people with "allergies," "colds," or "headaches."

Fortunately, most of these were by people who (1) followed the work rules and tested even when they thought it was one of the above, or (2) developed more severe symptoms and were tested a few days afer exposing me.

I've had way too many discussions with contact tracing this fall. The most common symptoms for delta in a vaccinated individual is a cold. Second most - allergies. In fact - all but 3 of the many people I've talked with this semester who were sure they had one of the above actually had COVID. I'm one of the 3 . . . so far. Still one test pending.