Experts recently revealed some key omicron variant symptoms to watch out for as cases continue to surge throughout the country.
Dr. Robert Goldszer, the chief medical officer for the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Florida, told WSVN-TV that most hospitals have seen COVID-19 patients, but most patients don’t have severe cases.
- “And the key big thing is the prior variants, you know, alpha and delta that we had in 2020, and then in December 2021, those seemed to be more attacking the lungs, seems to be a bigger difference,” he said.
Goldszer said there are some key symptoms for people to look out for when they’re wondering about the omicron variant.
- “A couple other differences would be, I think, significant fever with COVID,” he said. “People are having more fever a day or two, and obviously, if you get significant lung symptoms, if you get bad coughing for a long period of time, any kind of shortness of breath, those things are uncommon with the common cold.”
- Goldszer told WSVN-TV that anyone with cold symptoms or COVID-19 symptoms should look into getting tested for COVID-19.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” last Wednesday that people who get a negative rapid antigen COVID-19 test result — despite COVID-19 symptoms — may need to get a PCR test.
- “We do know that the most sensitive test that you can do is a PCR test, so if you have symptoms and you have a negative antigen test, then we do ask you to go and get a PCR to make sure that those symptoms are not attributable to COVID,” she said.
However, it is hard to find COVID-19 tests right now. As I wrote for the Deseret News, COVID-19 testing has been hard to come by because of the recent holiday surge. It’s also been difficult for shoppers to find at-home COVID-19 tests in stores.