With respiratory virus cases on the rise in Illinois, leading to an increase in hospitalizations and the potential for masking to return to some health care settings, it can be important to know the symptoms to watch for.
As of Friday, 44 counties in Illinois were at an elevated level for COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the state's Department of Public Health. In all, 39 counties were at a medium level and five were under the "high" alert as the state saw a 20% increase in hospitalizations within the last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“As we anticipated, we are seeing an increase in respiratory viruses – including COVID-19, flu and RSV - both in Illinois and across the nation,” IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a statement last week. “IDPH is closely working with our health partners to educate the public, monitor our hospital capacity, and develop effective mitigation strategies as we experience this surge."
But with so many overlapping symptoms between the currently active respiratory viruses, how can you tell the difference?
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NBC Chicago spoke to multiple doctors to get an idea of what to look for with recent COVID infections, and if symptoms are changing as of December.
Here's what they said.
COVID Symptoms
If you suspect you've contracted COVID, here are some symptoms you might experience:
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Runny nose
- Sneezing
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Altered sense of smell
In October, a Chicago-area doctor said she's noticed shifts in the most common symptoms her patients have reported when contracting the COVID-19 virus this fall.
Dr. Chantel Tinfang, a family medicine physician with Sengstacke Health Center at Provident Hospital of Cook County, noted that many of the recent cases she's seen have reported less of the fever, body aches and chills, and more presented with sore throat, fatigue and coughing.
"We still see some patients experiencing decreased appetite, a loss of taste or smell. So it kind of depends," she said. "One patient was just very, very tired. Like she couldn't really do much. And that's when you know ... it's different. It's not just coughing and shortness of breath. We still see that though."
She suggested consulting with your doctor if your symptoms don't begin to improve outside of the recommended isolation period.
As for timing, symptoms can last for several days, but in some cases, even longer.
"Some people who have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 can experience long-term effects from their infection, known as Long COVID or Post-COVID Conditions (PCC)," according to the CDC.
Such symptoms can last for weeks and possibly even years.
In Chicago, Dr. Brian Borah, medical director for vaccine-preventable diseases surveillance with the Chicago Department of Public Health, said while a number of newer variants are currently circulating in the area, they may not be behind shifting symptoms.
"We have not noticed a shift in symptoms necessarily due to different variants. That's certainly something that we keep a close eye on and the CDC as well, you know. If a new variant causes a completely different syndrome, or a different set of symptoms, you know, we will absolutely let the public know," he said. "Right now, I think the shift in in people's symptoms and the way that they experience COVID-19, that illness, that may be changing in large part because of the fact that they've had previous infections, perhaps, or they've been previously vaccinated against the disease. So the type of symptoms somebody gets when they are first exposed to the virus can look quite a bit different from the set of symptoms someone gets, you know, after they've built up some level of immunity. So well, we can't say for sure, you know, if if there is a pattern of of different symptoms that are emerging, I think it's fair to say that ... lots of the changes of symptoms that people might be noticing are likely due to the fact that there is widespread community immunologic protection against this virus as opposed to in years past."
Dr. Nimmi Rajagoal, associate chair of family and community medicine at Cook County Health, shared a similar sentiment, though she noted that even those who are healthy may still experience seemingly severe symptoms.
"People that are at high risk or ... that have underlying conditions that make them at high risk, it's more concerning for them to end up in the hospital ...The people that are otherwise healthy, the symptoms may feel a little bit more severe, but they're not necessarily ending up in the hospital," she said. "And then we do know, again, the vaccine keeps the severity at bay. So even if someone gets it, if they've been vaccinated, it's usually less severe."
Doctors acknowledged that symptoms alone aren't always enough to determine which illness someone has.
"Sometimes, especially in kids, it's very hard to differentiate between the COVID and flu. And it depends on what underlying conditions they may have," Rajagoal said. "But you might have the cough, congestion, body ache, all with the flu as well as with COVID. So there's a lot of overlap in those and again, particularly in kids, the symptoms can be much more nebulous and we're not able to necessarily differentiate them. That is, of course, the value in the home testing for a COVID — to not take that risk and not take that chance and to to go ahead and test. But the other is that if somebody's experiencing any of these symptoms, take the precautions to avoid passing anything that you have on. So, you know, avoid gatherings if you're not feeling well stay home rest. Try and kind of isolate yourself as you recuperate to avoid passing anything on to other people."
Borah agreed.
"We do recommend, you know, if you if you're feeling sick, a few things, you know. Number one, we, as hard as it is, we recommend people to stay home, or at least avoid gatherings where they know there'll be around other people who are vulnerable. You know, people who are advanced in age, or very young babies, or people that may have immunocompromising conditions. So that's number one," he said. "Number two, we do recommend to get tested ... it's not uncommon, if you test yourself for COVID for that first test to be negative. Doing a second test 48 hours after a first negative test increases the chances that you'll catch a COVID diagnosis with those home tests. But of course, there are also tests for flu, and if necessary for RSV. Those are more accessible through your primary care doctors. So if you're feeling sick, and want to get tested, you know we encourage people to go out and get tested."
