Early symptoms reported by some people include fatigue, headache, sore throat, or fever. Others experience a loss of smell or taste. COVID-19 may cause mild symptoms at first, but then become more severe after five to seven days, with a worsening cough and difficulty breathing. According to the study, although the flu usually starts with a cough, the first symptom of COVID-19 is fever.
All variants, including omicron, cause similar symptoms, such as cough, fever and fatigue. There is some evidence that fewer people with omicron experience a loss of taste and smell. Omicron is also less likely to cause serious illnesses, such as pneumonia, which may require treatment in the hospital. Most patients with omicron infection will have mild symptoms, especially those who are vaccinated against breakthrough infections.
These patients may experience fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, muscle pain and headache without progression to pneumonia. Vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19 are usually asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms. Rarely results in hospitalization or death. Your symptoms are more like those of a common cold, such as cough, fever, or headache, with the addition of significant loss of smell.
If you think you have been in contact with the virus or if you have symptoms, isolate and check your temperature every morning and night for at least 10 days. Fever is the most common symptom of COVID-19, but it is sometimes below 100°F. In a child, fever is a temperature higher than 100°F on an oral thermometer or 100.4°F on a rectal thermometer. Katherine Poehling, an infectious disease specialist and member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, told NBC News that cough, congestion, runny nose and fatigue appear to be prominent symptoms with the omicron variant.
But unlike delta, many patients do not lose their taste or smell. Even so, CDC data showed that the most common symptoms so far are cough, fatigue, congestion and runny nose. According to previous CDC guidelines, symptoms of COVID can appear between two and 14 days after a person is exposed to the virus. CDC says its guidelines have been updated to reflect growing evidence suggesting that transmission of COVID-19 often occurs one to two days before symptoms appear and for two to three days after.
According to the CDC, the incubation period for COVID is between two and 14 days, although the agency's latest guidance suggests a five-day quarantine for those who do not receive a booster, but are eligible or are not vaccinated. Those who want to be tested after exposure should do so five days after exposure or if they begin to experience it, CDC recommends. Those who receive a booster and are vaccinated, or those who are fully vaccinated and are not yet eligible for a booster shot, do not need to quarantine, but must wear masks for 10 days and also get tested five days after exposure, unless they are experiencing symptoms. Health officials say no vaccine is 100% effective in preventing infection, but insist that COVID-19 vaccine is effective in preventing serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths.
Researchers looked at severe COVID outcome rates among unvaccinated and fully vaccinated individuals in the time period when the weekly prevalence of delta cases rose from less than 1% to 90%. In that period, fully vaccinated people accounted for 9% of new deaths from COVID and 8% of new hospitalizations. Infections in unvaccinated people can be serious and accompanied by typical symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, fatigue, headache, cough, difficulty breathing, and even low blood oxygen levels, according to the University of Iowa Health Center. .
