Five differences between COVID-19 and Common Cold

If you are having symptoms of COVID-19, it’s important that you visit your healthcare provider right away for medical advice. However, notably, COVID-19 and the common cold cause many similar symptoms. Both of the conditions have some similarities, they are developed as a result of a respiratory virus and spread from person to person through droplets that are released from the nose and mouth. But it is important to remember that they are not the same. A person can develop COVID-19 when he/she contracts the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is a type of coronavirus. There are four coronaviruses that usually cause the common cold in humans. SARS-CoV-2, however, leads to a different illness. Here are some of the differences in the symptoms of the two:

Incubation period

COVID-19 symptoms usually start after 2 to 14 days after exposure to SARS-CoV-2. But symptoms of a common cold may appear in 1 to 3 days after exposure to a virus that causes a cold.

Shortness of breath

Shortness of breath is one of the prominent symptoms of COVID-19. But when it happens with other key symptoms like fever and cough, the likelihood of having an infection with SARS-CoV-2 increases.

Sore throat and cough

Though a cough may or may not happen when you have a common cold but a severe cough is likely to happen if you have COVID-19. Such an infection leads to chest congestion.

Fatigue and fever

Fatigue and fever are more common in the case of COVID-19. A person infected with SARS-CoV-2 is likely to experience weakness in his or her body to a great extent. A common cold does not make you weak to such high levels.

Loss of smell and taste

Loss of smell and taste is one of the identifiers of COVID-19. In order to test for a loss of taste at home, a person should taste foods with strong seasoning and check whether they can feel any difference in the flavours. Nothing of this sort happens in the common cold.

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