Are you self-conscious sneezing in public? You’re not alone. In the midst of a pandemic, it’s not only the sidelong glances or wariness of strangers you have to worry about, it’s the high levels of anxiety caused by fretting over every sneeze and cough that escapes your body.
How do you know if it’s a simple cold or something more serious? Israeli experts say that while some symptoms are unique to each malady, others can be common to all three and the only way to rule out COVID-19 is to get tested.
“The most important symptoms of COVID-19 are shortness of breath and loss of smell,” said Rivka Abulafia-Lapid, a Ph.D. lecturer in virology and immunology at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School and its affiliated nursing school.
These two tell-tale symptoms don’t show up in flu or the common cold. Early signs of the flu are different and may include headache, body aches, fever, chills, sore throat and loss of appetite. Children may get a middle-ear infection and stomach upset, too. A dry cough often goes hand in hand with COVID-19, but not a runny or stuffy nose. So, if you’re blowing your nose, it’s probably a cold.
However, like the flu, COVID-19 can cause a fever and, like COVID-19, a cold can cause a dry cough. In addition, it is possible for flu to progress into pneumonia, triggering upper respiratory symptoms just like COVID-19. The bottom line is, if you are unsure, the only way to find out is to get tested.
Source: Israel 21C Sept. 24, 2020