Updated Symptoms for COVID-19

I just heard on the news that the CDC has updated their symptom list for COVID-19 .. there isn’t a date to confirm if there’s anything new-new (some are new to me). The list includes:

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Chills
• Repeated shaking with chills
• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Sore throat
• New loss of taste or smell

The other bit that looks updated is “Should you Get Tested” .. but note that the only reason to run to the hospital is if you’re showing severe symptoms. That said, “I’m not a Doctor ..” check with yours.

Other guidance that has surfaced takes into account when you may felt any of these symptoms for them to be relevant .. some notes:

• COVID-19 arrived in the US to coincide with the first-reported index case on January 15, 2020 (Wikipedia) from a Wuhan visitor arriving in Everett Washington.
• Italy reported their first case on January 31, 2020 and their second a week later when an Italian man repatriated back to Italy from Wuhan.
• The New York Times has “A Timeline of the Coronavirus Pandemic” article they’re continually updating .. the dates are slightly different than the Wikipedia post, but still in the January timeframe.
• The Times also has “Amid Signs Coronavirus Came Earlier, Americans Ask: Did I Already Have It?” referencing symptoms that appeared in a call center in Chicago impacting 30 people. This was also in January.

Other areas may have had returning visitors from Asia in or around that timeframe .. but at the time we weren’t actively looking for it. There were also some early deaths attributed to pneumonia .. some are being investigated, I’m sure, but these are lower priority than getting testing going.

Recall the virus transmits asymptomatically .. carriers don’t know they have it. This suggests we may be able to surmise the earliest you could have had it (barring returning from Wuhan yourself) is sometime in January. So:

• If you had similar symptoms in the November-December timeframe, it was most likely a cold or the flu.
• If you had similar symptoms in the January-February timeframe, it could have been COVID-19 and you may have fought it off with minor discomfort. You also might have the antibodies.

While New York is Ground Zero for the US impact and the broadest testing thus far, they are finding antibody-positive rates as high as 14% from a sample across the state (references to this in “It Takes A Village .. And An Army“) .. this suggests that these people are now immune and could return to work. Still some unknowns:

• We don’t know ‘how’ immune. Forever? Or for a little while?
• We don’t know if they can still ‘shed’ the virus if they are exposed again.

I go a bit deeper in “The Resolved” .. albeit this is an earlier post. The main point I land therein is “Testing, Testing, Testing“.

We need more tests.

Stay connected. Stay safe. Stay home.