How To Know If It’s Just Allergies

There's one big difference between allergies and COVID-19 symptoms, and recognizing it can help put your mind at ease.

With allergies, there's usually no fever.

Healthline.com says allergies can make you more susceptible to bacterial or viral infections which might produce a fever later on, but allergies alone should show a normal temp.

Allergies can also bring on a runny nose and cough, which are also on the list of symptoms for COVID-19, but as long as there is no fever there's a good chance it's nothing more than the seasonal sniffles.

Dang, it's hard to be a human sometimes.  We're in charge of so much second-guessing and wondering, and overlapping symptoms don't help.

To be clear about COVID-19, data from China at the heart of the outbreak shows the symptoms breaking down this way in 55,000 cases:

Fever - 87 percent

Dry cough - 67 percent

Fatigue - 38 percent

Coughing up phlegm - 33 percent

Shortness of breath - 18 percent

AND...

The most common allergy symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic:

Sneezing

Itching of the nose, eyes or roof of the mouth

Runny, stuffy nose

Watery, red or swollen eyes (conjunctivitis)

When in doubt, call your doctor of course because I'm no expert!  I'm just a mom who reads a lot and thinks about a lot of stuff, and then I tell you because you're my friend.

Watch for the fever or lack of one this spring.  That seems to be the key.