Trending
WHEELING -- As time wears on, even the most diligent will grow weary of wondering whether every cough, sniffle and random ache is a symptom of COVID.
Wheeling-Ohio County Health Administrator Howard Gamble said the intensity of symptoms is plainly obvious between the vaccinated and unvaccinated, but that in both cases, the disease mostly affects the respiratory system when displaying symptoms.
While unvaccinated people will generally display more serious symptoms over a 10-day period, vaccinated people tend to have only mild symptoms, which may make it difficult to distinguish a breakthrough COVID case from seasonal or routine sickness.
"Individuals who are vaccinated might have moderate to very mild symptoms that are similar to a seasonal allergy, or a seasonal cold, and mistake that for something else," he said. "That's a concern, because those individuals may not test, and may be moving around to spread it.
"They're not carriers as a lot of people have described this; they are symptomatic, but very mild, thinking they have something else. With a seasonal (sickness), allergy or a traditional cold, if individuals have that in this day and age, when we're dealing with COVID, by all means, get tested."
Seasonal allergies and colds don't usually last as long as COVID symptoms do, Gamble said, which could give a clue to people suffering from an unusually persistent cold to get tested to see if it's something more.
"Keep in mind, a seasonal allergy does not last as long, and usually it's something (a person will have) always had and can be treated by taking over-the-counter or prescribed medication," he said. "If it's something that's onset pretty quickly and something (a person) thinks 'I get that regularly,' it's time to look at getting tested to make sure you're not walking around with something mild as an individual who's vaccinated."
Among the unvaccinated, Gamble said it would be somewhat difficult to confuse the worst of COVID symptoms for something else.
"Symptoms of COVID, especially with individuals who are unvaccinated, are very different from symptoms in individuals who are vaccinated," Gamble said. "With the unvaccinated population, we will have more moderate-to-severe respiratory symptoms: cough, fever, congestion, shortness of breath, body aches, to the point of being very difficult to move, and it lasts about 10 days."
As COVID is primarily a respiratory illness, symptoms that deviate from respiratory problems could be an indicator that a person is not suffering from COVID.
"It's a respiratory illness, so most of the time if there's something that's not respiratory-based, there's a good chance it's not COVID," Gamble said. "For example, (gastrointestinal), things dealing with cardiac or other aches and pains. But usually when we have respiratory problems, congestion, sniffles, ... that could be connected to COVID."
Additionally, Gamble said that as the omicron variant gains traction locally, those who have gotten and survived COVID may not enjoy natural immunity to other variants.
"Now that we have a new strain, omicron, individuals who may be exposed to omicron can get it again," he said. "Even within the three-month time frame, you can get it again. The difference is, if you're getting vaccinated, you're not going to have as severe symptoms, and therefore you're going to keep yourself maybe out of the hospital, recover faster."