The symptoms of COVID-19 - the disease caused by the new coronavirus - overlap with those associated with commons colds, allergies, and the flu. That can make it tricky to diagnose without a test.
Even President Donald Trump to ask pharmaceutical executives earlier in the outbreak if the flu vaccine could be used to stop the coronavirus. (The answer is no, but it's still good to get a flu shot to lower the chances that you get the flu and take up crucial healthcare resources.)
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The coronavirus primarily affects patients' lungs. It commonly causes a fever, dry coughing, and shortness of breath. Here are all the symptoms associated with COVID-19 and how they compare to symptoms of common colds, allergies, and the flu.
If your nose is running, you probably don't have COVID-19
COVID-19 can be most easily distinguished from from colds, allergies, and the flu based on a trifecta of symptoms: fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath. That last symptom is not associated with colds or flu, though it is with allergies.
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If you're sneezing and have a runny nose, it's unlikely that you have COVID-19. The flu is also more likely to come with aches and pains than COVID-19.
Diarrhea is a rare symptom of the coronavirus, but gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea and diarrhea could be early clues of infection, according to a growing body of preliminary research. It also is a symptom mostly unique to COVID-19, with the exception of some children with flu.
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Still, the overlaps between COVID-19 and other common conditions are in part why widespread testing is necessary. Some countries, like China and South Korea, have tested hundreds of thousands of people. But according to the COVID Tracking Project - a test-tracking resource from two journalists at the Atlantic and the founder of a medical data startup - only about 8,000 tests have been run in the US. They note, however, that those figures may be incomplete due to different state policies on reporting negative tests.
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