The New York Times

Could My Symptoms Be Covid-19?

By Tara Parker-Pope and Mika Gröndahl

Aug. 5, 2020

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These days, every cough, sneeze or headache makes you wonder: Could it be Covid-19? Medical experts are viewing Covid-19 as a multi-organ disease that can affect the body from head to toe and everywhere in between. Here’s a guide to help you understand the symptoms.

These four symptoms are very common among Covid patients. Unlike flu symptoms, which typically come on fast, Covid-19 symptoms may emerge over several days.

Many patients commonly report one or more of these symptoms too. Some patients have only mild illness, but others begin to feel terrible, with worsening symptoms and a sense of constant discomfort.

Covid is not just a respiratory illness, and can show up in a number of unusual ways. These symptoms are less common or rare, but they can also be signs of Covid.

The nose is ground zero for Covid-19. It’s rich in a receptor called ACE2, which the virus uses to get into our cells. As the virus replicates inside the nose and spreads down the respiratory tract and into the lungs, patients may develop various respiratory symptoms.

Painful headache is common, but more serious neurological problems are less common or rare. Mild symptoms include dizziness or feeling lightheaded. Symptoms needing urgent care include confusion, an inability to wake, uncoordinated movement or signs of stroke like facial drooping, numbness or garbled speech.

Some patients develop Covid pneumonia as the virus attacks the lungs. Sometimes oxygen levels can drop so slowly that the patient doesn’t notice. Short, rapid breathing or severe shortness of breath, particularly at rest, are signs that require urgent medical attention.

The virus can show up in unusual ways across the body. Strange rashes — bumpy, smooth, itchy or innocuous — have been reported. In rare cases, the virus inflames joints or damages muscles in the thighs, shoulders or back, causing severe pain.

The virus also appears to attach to the insides of blood vessels, and in rare cases causes life-threatening blood clots that travel to the lungs, heart or brain. In very rare cases, clots can cut off blood flow in the limbs, requiring amputation. Patients sick enough to visit the hospital may be given blood thinning medications to prevent or treat blood clots.

Covid-19 typically is mild in children. In very rare cases, it can cause a severe inflammatory response. Seek emergency care if a child shows any of these warning signs or symptoms that cause concern.

If you have a symptom that might be Covid-19, doctors say you should isolate until you can be tested. Most patients will recover on their own within a few weeks.

It’s a good idea to monitor oxygen levels at home with a pulse oximeter. Pay close attention to symptoms during days five to 10 of the illness, when oxygen levels may drop to dangerously low levels.

Seek medical care at any time if you experience trouble breathing, any concerning symptom or take a turn for the worse.

From a sniffle or cough that feels like allergies to severe body aches and crippling fatigue, the symptoms of coronavirus can be unpredictable from head to toe. Read more about the many symptoms of Covid-19 and join the conversation.

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Notes and sources: This graphic is based on unpublished work by Dr. Mark A. Perazella, Yale University School of Medicine; Dr. Kenar D. Jhaveri, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell; and Dr. Hassan Izzedine, Peupliers Private Hospital. It is also based on studies published in Academic Emergency Medicine (May 2020); Annals of Internal Medicine (May 2020); Blood (July 2020); British Journal of Dermatology (June 2020); Gastroenterology (April 2020); Hopkins Guides (July 2020); JAMA (Feb 2020); JAMA Cardiology (March 2020); JAMA Dermatology (June 2020); JAMA Neurology (April 2020 and July 2020); Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (July 2020); Journal of General Internal Medicine (May 2020); The Lancet (April and July 2020); Nature Medicine (April 2020); New England Journal of Medicine (February 2020); NEJM (June 2020); Ophthalmology (July 2020); Review of Optometry (May 2020); Stroke (July 2020); and reports and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the New York Health Department and the World Health Organization.

Additional work by Josh Williams and Lalena Fisher.

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