Preliminary data suggests Omicron symptons are different.
The ZOE COVID Symptoms Study, which tracks symptoms recorded from participants using a smartphone app, reported on Thursday that the top five symptoms for Omicron were runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and sore throat.
The data was collected between Dec. 3 to 10 in London, where Omicron has become the dominant strain, based on over 52,000 COVID-19 tests.
Unlike with other strains of the virus, symptoms of fever, cough and loss of smell were less common. The ZOE analysis found that only 50 per cent of those with Omicron had these three "classic symptoms."
Loss of appetite as well as brain fog were also commonly reported symptoms.
These findings are also consistent with early data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which studied 43 Omicron cases from Dec. 1 to 8. The CDC found that cough, fatigue, and congestion or runny nose were the most common symptoms among the cohort, three-quarters of whom were fully vaccinated.
Similarly, Dr. Angelique Coetzee, who is the chair of the South African Medical Association and the first doctor to detect the Omicron variant, has said that fatigue was among the most common symptoms she's observed, along with headaches, body aches and "scratchy" throat.
So Now I wonder again if we already have it from the school. My oldest got a severe cold (headache, cough, runny nose, tired), prompting him to stay home from school. And now my wife has severe soar throat and very tired.
"Hopefully people now recognise the cold-like symptoms which appear to be the predominant feature of Omicron. These are the changes that will slow the spread of the virus," ZOE lead scientist Tim Spector said in a news release on Thursday.
The school was already closed and we were already isolating again for the Delta wave, just sit it out I guess. Too late for a booster shot now.
