The symptoms of COVID-19 that doctors are seeing the most right now

More than a year after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, experts have unraveled so many mysteries on how to treat the virus and how to prevent it. But at the same time, SARS-CoV-2 is constantly evolving as new variants emerge. And as a result, the ways the virus affects people also appear to be changing.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the more common COVID-19 symptoms that doctors are currently seeing, and how vaccines and variants fit into that picture.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most common symptoms of the virus have included a cough (often dry), shortness of breath, a fever of 100 degrees or higher, and sudden loss of taste and smell.

These, however, are by no means the only common symptoms. People are also reporting everything from headaches to diarrhea, all of which are listed on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of possible common symptoms.

For the most part, this list of the most common symptoms hasn’t really changed. “The symptoms are really the same as before. It’s headache, cough, fatigue, runny nose, fever – those kinds of generalized flu-like symptoms, ”said Jonathan Leizman, chief medical officer of Premise Health, a healthcare company. headquartered in Tennessee.

The emergency warning signs of COVID-19 have also remained roughly the same. These include issues such as difficulty breathing, persistent chest pain or pressure, and new mental confusion.

The delta variant (B.1.617.2) circulates widely around the world and is now the main strain here in the United States; it hits particularly hard areas with high numbers of unvaccinated Americans.

There is initial evidence that the symptoms associated with delta could be a little different from those of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, although experts warn that it is still too early to say definitively.

“The information we are getting from the UK and Europe and some initial surveys here in the US indicates that delta virus infection appears to be more likely to produce symptoms more typical of a cold,” said William Powderly, co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, which has recently seen a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. “It’s a sore throat, mild cough, and stuffy nose.”

“The symptoms we were seeing earlier, which looked a lot more like lower respiratory tract and fever, are less common,” Powderly added. “It doesn’t mean they don’t happen. But there appears to be a change in the frequency and type of symptoms reported. “

Experts do not yet understand why the symptoms may be slightly different. It just could be that there are more infections among young people now, Powderly said. At the same time, the researchers are exploring how the variants classified as “worrying” and “interesting” – including delta but also lambda and others – might be different in terms of their ability to be transmitted or to make people more or less sick.

While some people infected with the delta variant experience symptoms similar to a cold, there is also preliminary evidence suggesting that other people’s symptoms may be “felt more intensely” with delta, Leizman said.

“We have seen that hospitalization rates are apparently increased in younger populations with the delta variant,” he gave as an example.

But at this point, there is no scientific consensus on whether the delta variant is likely to make people sicker than the original strain, simply because it (and other variants) is so new. The best we have at this point are one-off studies, surveys, or even just anecdotal information from the field.

“There is now data from England and Scotland showing that the severity of the disease may be increased, and this may lead to an increased risk of hospitalization,” said Carlos Malvestutto, infectious disease specialist at Wexner Medical Center from Ohio State University.

“People who are not vaccinated are particularly vulnerable because the newer variants – and in particular the delta variant – spread faster and can cause more serious illness,” added Malvestutto.

While the vast majority of new cases and hospitalizations occur in those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 (about 99% of new infections in some parts of the country), the so-called “breakthrough cases” occur in those who have received both injections of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine.

But the symptoms that people experience in these cases tend to be relatively mild, according to the data available at this point. About a third of people infected after being fully vaccinated were completely asymptomatic, for example. The CDC now only tracks breakthrough cases that result in hospitalization or death, so there just isn’t really solid data on how many people have milder symptoms after vaccination (or no symptoms at all). , nor is there any clarity on the variant that these people may have caught. Still, there have been some high-profile breakthrough infections in the news, like the New York Yankees cluster or entertainment reporter Cat Sadler, who recently said she contracted COVID-19 after the vaccination.

Ultimately, however, the goal of vaccination is not only to reduce transmission, but also to dramatically reduce hospitalizations and deaths – and vaccines did just that.

“The vast majority of people who are fully vaccinated do not have these serious consequences of the disease, which makes us think that symptoms might be milder in general for people who are fully vaccinated,” Leizman said.

Cases of rupture also remain rare. As of mid-July, the CDC said more than 157 million people in the United States had been fully vaccinated. There have been around 5,000 patients with breakthrough COVID-19 vaccine infections who have been hospitalized or who have died – although not all of these cases have been directly attributed to COVID-19.

This is why health experts are adamant that getting the vaccine is the best thing people can do to protect themselves and others – and to avoid developing any kind of symptoms.

“I’m in a state where we’re seeing a significant increase in the number of hospital patients… and these are all people who haven’t been vaccinated, which is really difficult and devastating because they are completely preventable,” Powderly said. .

Experts are still learning more about COVID-19. The information in this story is what was known or available at the time of publication, but directions may change as scientists find out more about the virus. Please consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the most recent recommendations.