Coronavirus is looking more and more like a cold or flu

[New Sancai Compilation First Release] U.S. doctors say symptoms of mild COVID-19 infections have changed this season and are now more similar to symptoms of allergies and the common cold.

Dr. Teresa Lovins, an independent family physician in Columbus, Indiana, said many people infected with COVID-19 are now experiencing upper respiratory symptoms such as runny noses, watery eyes and sore throats.

Several patients told me "it felt like I had allergies, but my allergy medicine wasn't working. And I felt very, very tired and couldn't regain my energy," Lovins recalled. "I said, yes, we should test you for COVID-19." And often, predictably, it comes back positive.

Lovins and Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, said fatigue also continues to plague COVID-19 patients.

"Fatigue is prevalent in COVID patients and can last up to 24, 48 or even 72 hours," he said. "They just feel weak and tired. As we like to say in the South; not everyone needs bed rest, but there are A lot of people said they needed to take a nap because they were exhausted."

Lovins and Schaffner said other clear COVID-19 symptoms, such as a deep cough, loss of taste or smell, headache, fever, etc., appear much less frequently or are less noticeable.

“I’m hearing from clinical colleagues that there are indeed a lot of upper respiratory symptoms,” he said. “They often mention that patients have sore throats. In addition, the well-known loss of smell and taste are less common than they were at the beginning of the epidemic. These symptoms are no longer as common as before.” as unique or common as before.”

"Infectious disease experts are anticipating a shift to mild illness because almost everyone has experienced a COVID infection or been vaccinated, or even both," Schaffner said.

"We all have some level of immunity, and when we come into contact with a virus, we are more able to fight it off, and that may actually change the clinical picture," he continued.

People are also benefiting from the mutation trend of the new coronavirus, which tends to make the omicron strain and its descendants less infectious, Schaffner said. "The symptoms of these viruses appear to be less severe," he noted.

But Lovins and Schaffner stressed that people should not take the coronavirus lightly, even as milder infections become more like the common cold.

More than 20,500 people across the country were hospitalized with severe COVID-19 in the first week of September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data tracker. This represents an increase of nearly 8% in hospitalizations.

"I know hospitalizations are increasing again in our community," said Lovins, a board member of the American Academy of Family Physicians. "While it's significantly less than last fall, the numbers are up since May. During the summer, hospitals were COVID-free. patient, but is now recovering.”

COVID-19 remains a serious threat to the elderly, those with chronic medical conditions, or those who are immunocompromised. "These people are still at risk of developing more severe illness after becoming infected, leading to increased hospitalizations," Schaffner said. But he added that the CDC recently recommended a new COVID-19 vaccine booster dose for everyone. There's a reason, and it's not just those in high-risk groups.

"The emphasis on high-risk groups is correct," Schaffner said. "However, we are still occasionally seeing young, healthy people become infected with COVID-19 and end up in the emergency room and having to be hospitalized. So just because you're perfectly healthy, young, and strong, it doesn't mean you can survive COVID-19. Or treat it as a trivial matter. We still need to pay attention and take precautions against this virus."

The most common new coronavirus variant, EG.5, belongs to the Omicron XBB variant family. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it currently causes one in four coronavirus infections in the United States. The same goes for the second most common variant, FL.1.5.1, which accounts for 14% of new coronavirus infections.

"I have a feeling we may see the COVID-19 vaccine become very similar to the flu vaccine every year during flu season," Lovins said.

(Compiled by: Zhong Daren)

(Editor: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: First published by Xinsancai)