Overlapping symptoms leave people confused

Common cold or COVID-19?

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Due to the cold weather, people these days are suffering from cold, cough, and fever. As these symptoms are similar to the symptoms of COVID-19, people are now getting confused about whether they have contracted the common cold or COVID-19. Because of this confusion, most people suffering from cold, cough and fever do not go for COVID test and resort to self-medication and home remedies for treatment. This, say, doctors, is a dangerous trend as asymptomatic COVID-infected people end up spreading the virus in this way.

The symptoms of common cold and COVID-19 during the ongoing third wave are pretty similar – fever, sore throat, dry cough, blocked nose, shortness of breath, fatigue, and body ache. Hence, any person having these symptoms should immediately go for COVID test.

"While the symptoms of COVID-19 generally appear 2-14 days after exposure to the SARS virus, symptoms of common cold appear 1-3 days after exposure to the cold-causing virus. But anyone suffering from common cold will not have diarrhea or vomiting. Nausea and vomiting are usually symptoms associated with COVID-19," said a doctor.

He further said, "Flu and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory diseases but they are caused by different viruses."

"In this ongoing third wave of the pandemic, we have observed that most of the COVID patients are asymptomatic. Usually these cases are detected when they go to the hospital for treatment of other health issues. This is worrisome because asymptomatic people end up becoming carriers of the virus, resulting in a surge in COVID cases," he added.

"Anyone suffering from cold-like symptoms should get himself tested because it is difficult to tell COVID symptoms apart from the common cold. Only when the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and RTPCR come negative it can be confirmed that the person is suffering from common cold and not COVID-19. Even if a person is suffering from common cold, it is advisable to consult a doctor instead of going for self-medication," said another doctor.

Since COVID cases are increasing by the day and people are also suffering from common cold, standard precautions should be followed to reduce the risk of getting infected. These include avoiding close contact with others, wearing a face mask, washing your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, avoiding crowded indoor spaces, covering your mouth and nose with your elbow or a tissue when you cough or sneeze, and avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

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