Pollen or pandemic? Here’s what to ask
yourself.
Rachel
Feltman April 12, 2020
COVID-19 has already killed
more than 16,000 people in the United States alone. But the disease’s
frequently mild symptoms have left people fretting
over harmless colds, or even wondering
if a panic attack might be a sign of fatal illness. Now that the weather is
warming up and flowers are blooming, many are facing another tricky question:
Are these my seasonal allergies, or have I come down with the novel coronavirus?
Here are some questions to
ask yourself as you decide how to proceed:
Does it
actually matter if you have allergies or COVID-19?
This may seem like a silly
question, but it’s important: How would a COVID-19 diagnosis change how you
feel and what you’re doing?
An allergy-triggered sneeze
can still help spread COVID-19.
For people with certain underlying conditions, like a compromised
immune system or severe asthma, knowing you have COVID-19 early (even if
you end up with only mild symptoms) can certainly be worthwhile. If you or
someone in your household faces a particularly high risk of serious
complications from COVID-19, getting tested can help you access medical support and
keep an eye on developing symptoms before things get dire.
But for individuals who are
not considered particularly high-risk and who experience only mild COVID-19
symptoms, the best advice is to stay put and care for yourself the same way you
would if you had a cold or the flu. Take your temperature regularly and look
out for signs of respiratory distress, drink plenty of fluids, get plenty of sleep, and eat healthy
foods. Limit direct contact with other members of your household.
Even if you have COVID-19,
chances are very good that you will recover quickly, and the current overload on the US healthcare system means
trying to get out of the house to get tested could do more harm than good.
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The flip side of this is
that even if you’re pretty sure you just have allergies, you should already be
acting as if you probably have COVID-19—because that’s what everyone should be
doing.
Because as many as 25 percent of COVID-19 carriers feel
completely fine, we must all operate under the assumption that we have
COVID-19 and are capable of transmitting it. You should practice social
distancing to whatever extent you’re able to, even if you don’t feel sick and don’t live in an area with
confirmed COVID-19 cases.
This becomes even more
crucial if you suffer from seasonal allergies, as coughs and sneezes are the most common ways of transmitting
an upper-respiratory virus like COVID-19. If you’re a silent carrier of
COVID-19 who’s only coughing because of pollen, those coughs still serve to
propel viral particles out into the air and toward other people.
If you are growing sicker
and sicker and have reason to believe you need medical attention, consider
calling your doctor for advice (or 911, if you’re having serious trouble breathing).
But if you are only feeling mildly to moderately unwell, your marching orders
are the same no matter what actually ails you: Stay inside as much as
possible, cover your mouth and nose with a mask when you need to leave
the house, and wash your hands frequently. Treat any allergy symptoms in
whatever manner you usually treat your allergy symptoms. If you feel like you
have a cold, do what you usually do when you have a cold.
Could
allergies explain all of your symptoms?
The Mayo Clinic lists the
following symptoms of seasonal allergies:
·
Runny nose and nasal congestion
·
Watery, itchy, red eyes
·
Sneezing
·
Cough
·
Itchy nose, roof of mouth, or throat
·
Swollen, blue-colored skin under the eyes
·
Postnasal drip
·
Fatigue
If you usually get seasonal
allergies and your symptoms are all present on that list, the most likely
explanation is that you’re experiencing seasonal allergies. Doctors recommend starting allergy medication early in the season to
nip symptoms in the bud. But if your condition is worsening, isn’t
responding to allergy medications that usually do the trick, or doesn’t follow
the usual pattern of your seasonal allergy onset, it’s possible you have a
virus.
Do you
have any COVID-specific symptoms?
Allergies do not cause
fevers, so high temperatures are typically signs of viral or bacterial
infections. And while allergies can cause fatigue, body aches and pains are
far more likely to come from a pathogen than an allergen. Diarrhea and nausea
also affect many COVID-19 patients, and these symptoms are not associated with
seasonal allergies.
That being said, these
symptoms are not necessarily an indication that you have COVID-19—you might
have the flu. As we noted before, your behavior should be the same regardless:
We should all be acting as if we might transmit COVID-19 without knowing it,
and this is doubly true if you feel at all sick, or are coughing or sneezing
for any reason.
But if your illness is mild
and the looming specter of COVID-19 is making you anxious—which is a completely
understandable frame of mind to be in at this time—reassure yourself with the
knowledge that you are likely going through seasonal sniffles or the equivalent
of a mild cold. While you should take extra precautions to keep others from
contracting your maybe-COVID cough, you shouldn’t assume you will suffer
life-threatening symptoms.
One of the more
unique signs of COVID-19 is a total loss of smell and taste, which is
not an allergy symptom (though an extremely stuffy nose or blocked sinuses
may limit your sense of smell). The CDC’s
symptom checker can help you confirm whether or not the things you’re
experiencing could be due to COVID-19.
Shortness of breath can
occur due to allergies if you also suffer from asthma, so make sure you’re
continuing to take any allergy and asthma medication you’ve been prescribed. If
you’re having serious trouble breathing, you should call 911.
Do your
symptoms follow the usual progression of your seasonal allergies?
It’s understandable to feel
anxious about sniffles and coughs when we’re in the midst of an unprecedented
pandemic. But if you get allergies every spring, and your current symptoms
mirror those typical seasonal allergies, you should not be overly
concerned. If you’re having unusual symptoms or they’re getting
progressively worse day by day—instead of simply spiking when you spend more
time with the window open, for example—reach out to your doctor.
What to
do if you’re still not sure if it’s allergies or COVID-19
If you are having trouble
breathing, call 911. If you are only experiencing mild to moderate symptoms,
stay at home as much as possible—that’s the best advice to follow even if
you do have COVID-19.
Because as many as 25
percent of COVID-19 carriers never experience symptoms, you should always
assume you have COVID-19 and are capable of transmitting it. You should
practice social distancing to whatever extent you’re able to, even if you don’t feel sick and don’t live in an area with
confirmed COVID-19 cases.
This becomes especially
important if you’re coughing and sneezing, as COVID-19 spreads most efficiently
via the aerosolized droplets that come out of your nose and mouth. COVID-19
doesn’t cause sneezing, but even a pollen-triggered sneeze can send the virus
spewing into the air around you. Wearing a mask
over your nose and mouth may help lower your risk of infecting
others, and
you can easily make one at home—but the best way to kick COVID-19 to the
curb is to stay inside and isolate yourself as much as possible.
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