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It started with the sniffles.
Worryingly, I haven’t had a runny nose since before the pandemic. I half-hoped it was related to the wildfire smoke that had drifted to the San Francisco Bay Area from the Caldor and Dixie wildfires near Lake Tahoe.
It got worse. The next morning, I woke up suffocated, almost completely unable to breathe through my nose. And a sore throat accompanied. This is when panic sets in.
It went beyond the symptoms of wildfire smoke or seasonal allergies. As the day went on, my sore throat got worse. I had sneezing, a headache, a mild cough, and just a general feeling of being sick. Even though I had been vaccinated, I feared I had contracted a revolutionary case.
I began to obsessively Google the revolutionary symptoms of Covid. Alarmingly, according to the Zoe Covid study, headaches, runny nose, sneezing, sore throat and loss of smell are the top five symptoms reported by fully vaccinated people when infected. . I was four out of five. My husband started to feel suffocated too, so he joined me in making an appointment for a COVID-19 test the next day.
Almost 24 hours later, our results had fallen: we were negative. Obviously it was just a cold.
I was grateful, in more than one way. Because I work from home, I easily avoided exposing anyone to the virus (other than, unfortunately, my immediate family). But the experience sparked reflection: In the midst of a pandemic, symptoms of a normal cold can be something more worrying.
In part, that’s because quarantine recommendations for even a mild case of COVID-19 – as most breakthrough cases are – are much more severe than for a normal cold. Those with symptoms like mine (which could just as easily have been COVID-19 are supposed to self-isolate until they receive their test results. If a fully vaccinated person is positive, they are must self-isolate for at least 10 days In other words, catching a post-pandemic cold is quite different from having a cold in 2019.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that with the delta variant (which is the dominant strain in the United States), fully vaccinated people can still pass the virus to others – although, notably, they appear spread the virus for a shorter time.
My experience is not unique: millions of vaccinated Americans have or will experience similar symptoms and fear the worst. I was fortunate in being able to easily find and schedule a COVID-19 test, although not everyone is so lucky. In this situation, how are fully vaccinated people supposed to know if their cold symptoms mean COVID-19, allergies, or just a common cold? And what challenges will we face this winter, as the cold season begins in earnest?
In an interview, Dr Amesh Adalja said that when it comes to deciphering between seasonal allergies, a cold and COVID-19 infection despite vaccination, the easiest to rule out are seasonal allergies.
“People with allergies usually have a history of seasonal allergies, so it’s usually not something that comes out of the blue,” Adalja said. “It’s something that has triggers, depending on certain pollens or certain times of the year, or certain exposures like cats or dogs or whatever, so allergies usually have a history that helps. to distinguish them from something that is not an analogy is an infection. “
Adalja said allergies usually don’t include a fever, which is usually a good indicator that a person’s body is fighting an infection. Dr Purvi Parikh, immunologist at Allergy & Asthma Network, agreed.
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“In general, allergies have more itchy symptoms – they are bilateral or both sides rather than unilateral and there is a seasonal component,” Parikh said in an email. “Usually with the common cold or the Covid, there is fatigue, muscle pain and fever (over 100.4 °) and a loss of taste and smell. Covid and flu can also have stomach problems such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. “
Doctors have reported seeing sneezing as a symptom in groundbreaking cases, which was reported in the Zoe Covid study. Sneezing is a new symptom compared to those that have characterized – cough, fever, fatigue, muscle pain – since the start of the pandemic. While there has been speculation that it is unique to the delta variant, this has yet to be scientifically confirmed. Still, Zoe Covid Study researchers say, “If you’ve been vaccinated and start sneezing a lot without an explanation, you should take a COVID-19 test, especially if you live or work near people who are at greater risk. to contract the disease. sickness.”
Of course, people with breakthrough cases often experience very mild symptoms. COVID-19 vaccines remain effective in protecting people from serious illness or hospitalization from COVID-19. However, infections despite vaccinations can occur. As doctors continue to say, no vaccine is 100% effective.
Adalja said the only way someone can know for sure if they have a cold or COVID-19 is to get tested.
“I think because there is a lot of public health importance in even mild COVID-19 cases, you can’t just rule out the upper respiratory tract symptoms and assume it’s harmless because that you might be infected with COVID-19 and you might be able to pass it on to someone, “Adalja said.” I think these types of symptoms should trigger testing or thinking about ‘Do I have allergies?’ – all of those types of questions. “
Adalja added that home testing is a good option for people in this situation. The BinaxNOW COVID-19 test is available from Walgreens and provides results in 15 minutes, but it costs $ 23 for a two-test kit. If these tests are not available near you, or if you cannot afford them, you will probably have to look for a free test site nearby. This could be difficult for many during the winter, when colds and flu usually increase.
“There are so many people who don’t have paid time off, or can’t take time off during the day, they have to be at work,” said Shelby O’Connor, a professor in the department. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“It’s really hard for them, and I don’t judge anybody – I just think it’s hard to make those kinds of decisions.”
Dave O’Connor, who is also a professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, believes the government should make rapid home tests free. O’Connor said the move could be “critically important” and form the barrier between families whether or not to send their coughing or runny child to school.
“More of this kind of testing could be very helpful in determining whether to send your child to school or not,” Dave said. “But if it’s $ 25 to buy a set for two of these tests, it will be $ 25 too much for a lot of families.”
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