Omicron symptoms: how they differ from Delta, the flu and a cold, and how quickly they’ll show up

Although experts say that the widely recognized COVID-19 symptoms, coughing, fever or taste of smell or taste are still indicators for a possible infection, the researchers have found that the symptoms of Omicron can also be similar to those of a cold similarities.

The symptoms of the Delta variant were also compared to those of a cold, but some doctors said the cases of Omicron seen so far were particularly mild. A US study of around 750,000 people recently found that the five most common symptoms for both the Delta and Omicron variants currently are runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, and sore throat.

However, in many people, Omicron also causes atypical symptoms that were not seen with previous variants. In a popular TikTok video this weekend, people currently suffering from the Omicron variant weighed down on their unusual symptoms, including nausea, less back pain, muscle pain, and even eye pain.

While coughs, headaches, and fever manifest themselves after four to five days of infection with older COVID strains, the incubation time of Omicron can be even shorter. Data on the latest variant of COVID, first spotted in Botswana and South Africa in mid-November, is still limited, but a recent study in Norway suggests an average three-day window between exposure to the Omicron variant and symptoms, which means that Omicron could spread faster, reports Jessica Mathews of Fortune.

Preliminary studies of the Omicron variant have shown that infections may be less severe than the Delta variant. However, it spreads faster. Last week, the World Health Organization announced that Omicron is spreading faster than any other strain before and that the variant is likely to be found in most countries, even if it has not yet been detected.

An analysis published last week by South African researchers found that the risk of hospitalization among adults with COVID19 was 29% lower in people with the Omicron variant compared to the first wave of infections in 2020, the fastest increase since May last year . Another study from Imperial College London found that the infection in the Omicron cases analyzed was no less severe than in the Delta variant.

Johnson and Johnson, Sputnik, and Sinopharm vaccines have also proven largely ineffective at protecting against Omicron, as studies have shown, and due to the large number of mutations in the variant, which health experts say can be significantly resistant to Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as well.

Experts say COVID infections experience a “winter surge” even without Omicron. There are currently an average of 83,000 new cases of COVID in the US every day, even with 61% of the population being vaccinated. On Friday, the seven-day national average of new daily cases topped 197,000, a 65% increase over the past 14 days, the New York Times reported. Deaths also increased by 3% during this period. The highest national average of daily falls was set in January 2021 at 251,232 in the days after the holidays.

Reasons for the increase in cases include people roaming the country as they did before the pandemic, spending more time indoors due to the cold outside temperatures, wearing fewer masks, and falling protection from vaccines and previous infections, Ali Mokdad, professor of health sciences . from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, he told NPR. With more and more people wanting to return to life as they were before the pandemic and the new variant is extremely contagious and vaccine resistant, the risk of infection is very real.

While Europe is still fighting the Delta variant, Omicron is spreading at a “rapid pace”, European leaders are fighting to get the majority of their populations vaccinated and amplified as Omicron and COVID cases rise. of COVID19 cases with 121,371 infections in 24 hours. “[Omicron] is spreading at high speed and may be in danger of at least partially escaping our vaccines.

We know that our health systems are currently overloaded, “said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to reporters last week.

Shortly before the holidays, Cornell University closed his campus after he discovered 900 positive Covid cases, after the Bloomberg.stanford University, also his decision to return to online classes in the first two weeks of his winter quarters, because of the concern of the Omicron

Several major league sports have cut their seasons after the outbreaks, and many Broadway shows have closed, some even permanently. And companies continue to postpone their plans to return to the office indefinitely for fear of the new variant.

It gets worse when we move into the dead of winter, “said Anthony Fauci, senior medical advisor to the president, last week for the University of California Chamber of Commerce Foundation, especially for the unvaccinated.