COVID-19, allergies, or a sinus infection? Comparing Symptoms

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(Newswire.net — April 30, 2020) —

Everyone today is worried about the COVID-19 virus. We do everything needed to be protected, such as washing hands, wearing masks, and practicing social distancing, but sometimes you still get sick. It’s easy to assume that you have the coronavirus when you start to feel unwell, and this is enough to cause any normal person to panic. Fortunately, there are a lot of others, less deadly, illnesses out there that you can come down with which are in no way related to COVID-19. The hard part is figuring out if your illness is serious enough for medical treatment. Nobody wants to go to the doctor these days due to the risk of infection, so instead, try considering these common systems to see if you’re at risk for the cornavirus or not.

 

COVID-19

 

COVID-19 is a respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus. It’s highly contagious and spreads fast through personal contact. A person can have the coronavirus and not even know it. It’s possible to show no symptoms, or only show minor symptoms, yet still infect other people around you or become infected yourself at a later date. Some of the symptoms of the coronavirus include the following;

 

  • Fever

  • Cough

  • Fatigue

  • Sore throat

  • Headache

  • Chills

  • Stuffy nose

  • Nausea or vomiting

  • Diarrhea

  • Lack of appetite

  • Shortness of breath

  • Coughing Up Mucus

  • Body aches

While this might seem like every symptom for every illness there is, there are a few traits that stand out with COVID-19.

 

Fever

COVID-19 usually comes with a very high fever that lasts for days. The fever might not respond to typical fever-reducing medication and can get as high as 104 degrees. If this happens to you, you should seek medical care and get tested for the virus.

 

Coughing

Coughing isn’t that uncommon. Anything as simple as dust in the air can trigger a cough. If you have COVID-19 though, expect  a more intense cough. Since the illness attacks your lungs, it can feel like you’re drowning on dry land as your body tries to cough up all the mucus in your lungs.

 

Shortness of breath

 

Shortness of breath is one symptom that is not often found in allergies or a common sinus infection. If you are experiencing this with a cough and fever,  it may be COVID-19

Allergies

 

With spring in the air, it’s common for people to be coughing, sneezing, and just generally feeling like crud due to all the pollen in the air. Thankfully, allergies are fairly easy to differentiate from the cornovirus. The symptoms include;

 

  • Runny Nose

  • Stuffy Nose

  • Sneezing

  • Wheezing

  • Shortness of Breath

  • Cough

  • Rash

  • Headache

  • Fever

While there are a few symptoms that allergies and the cornovirus have in common, the main ones to look at are the following;

 

Sneezing 

 

Sneezing is one of the most common allergies symptoms people, especially in the spring and summertime when all the plants are blooming. An estimated 20 million percent of adults will suffer from hay fever due to high pollen counts.

 

Sneezing is not a symptom of the COVID-19, so even if you’re sneezing your head off for weeks at a time, odds are you don’t have the virus. Instead, you should contact your doctor and ask for an allergy test.

 

Itching

 

Itchiness in any form isn’t associated with COVID-19. However, an itchy throat, itchy eyes, or itchy ears is common with allergies.

 

Coughing

While the cornovirus does include coughing, the cough will be much milder with allergies. There also won’t be a sense of drowning like with COVID-19.

 

Sinus Infection

Another common illness people often come down with is a sinus infection. This illness doesn’t share too many traits with the cornovirus. These symptoms include;

 

  • Postnasal Drip

  • Green Nasal Discharge

  • Nasal Congestion

  • Tenderness In Face

  • Front Headaches

  • Pain In Teeth

  • Fever

The main difference between a sinus infection and COVID-19 is that a sinus infection affects the front side of your head instead of attacking your respiratory system. It’s common to have pain in your teeth or jaw during a sinus infection. You may also have a low fever, but nowhere near the 104 degrees that the cornovirus causes. 

If you think you are experiencing non-coronavirus symptoms or have other medical conditons, it is important to consult your local medical practitioner on how to safely get treated during this time.