Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Symptoms

Reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness and death for confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.

Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure*:

Fever, Cough, Shortness of breath

Officials are urging anyone who develops possible symptoms of the novel coronavirus to contact health care providers to inquire about next steps and possible testing, but with millions infected by the influenza virus in the U.S., many are wondering how to tell the difference between the two.

“There is so much overlap in symptoms between flu and COVID-19 but a couple of hallmark differences do exist,” Dr. Caesar Djavaherian, co-founder of Carbon Health, told Fox News. “Influenza tends to cause much more body pain and the COVID-19 virus tends to feel much more like the common cold with fever, cough, runny nose and diarrhea. However, in a small portion of the population with either COVID-19 or influenza, symptoms progress to kidney failure and respiratory failure.”

“The differences arise in the very small portion of the population who are at risk because of their lung or heart conditions whose lungs can fill with fluid or go into kidney failure and unfortunately, eventually die, with COVID-19,” Djavaherian said.

One of the most imperative ways to stop the spread, experts say, is to avoid contact with a sick person, and to practice your own good hygiene. Part of that includes staying home when you’re sick and thoroughly washing hands.

“If you are sick, monitor your symptoms daily, and when your common cold turns into a deep unrelenting cough and then shortness of breath, those are the signs that we worry about and the signs that require patients to get medical attention right away,” Djavaherian said. “They may be from pneumonia but in a very, very small group of patients, maybe a COVID-19 infection that has gone into the lungs.”