Topic #2: Coronavirus (COVID) Symptoms

Fever and persistent cough are the typical symptoms. Persons with moderate or severe disease also have shortness of breath because the infection tends to concentrate in the lungs. However, doctors in countries that have been dealing with coronavirus for several months, like China, Italy and the United States, have identified many other coronavirus (COVID) symptoms such as:

• diarrhea
• poor appetite
• nausea and vomiting
• inability to smell
• muscle pain
• extreme fatigue

These symptoms are less common and are typically also associated with fever. Other infected persons have described the symptoms of coronavirus as similar to a cold that just won’t go away.

Once coronavirus has taken hold in a community, doctors and nurses tend to have a difficult time telling who is infected or not based on symptoms alone. They need to combine symptoms with results of tests for the virus.