With the Omicron variant on its way to being the most prevalent strain of COVID-19 in Ontario, many are wondering what symptoms they should watch out for to keep themselves and their loved ones safe before the holidays.
Early data from South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first detected, shows that this strain of the virus is milder than others. But scientists say the data doesn’t tell the whole story, as South Africa’s population is younger and many have already been infected with COVID-19 or are vaccinated and therefore have more antibodies to fight it.
“Those symptoms may actually be more representative of progressive infections, which are milder than a person who has never been vaccinated, who has never been infected, and who has it for the first time,” said Kelly Grindrod, a pharmacist and professor of the University of Waterloo.
What scientists do know is that Omicron is multiplying at a rate roughly four times that of the Delta variant, and projections are that it will send Ontario’s case count skyrocketing into the thousands in a matter of days. On Tuesday, Ontario reported 1,429 new COVID-19 cases, a 43.7 percent increase from last week’s average.
So as cases increase, what symptoms should people be aware of?
Dr. Alon Vaisman, an infectious disease specialist at University Health Network in Toronto, said there is no evidence yet to suggest that Omicron’s symptoms are different from any other strain of COVID-19. But all symptoms exist on a spectrum from asymptomatic to mild to severe.
On the mild side, Vaisman said infected people could experience cold-like symptoms, such as a sore throat, muscle pain, fatigue, a runny nose or cough. As the infection worsens, symptoms can progress to shortness of breath or chest pain.
“If you are fully vaccinated, as with other variants, you should anticipate that you will have it on the milder end of the spectrum,” Vaisman said. “However, it is not entirely clear yet and the data is still being developed.”
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States, the most common symptom of Omicron is a cough, followed by fatigue, runny nose, and fever. Eight percent of the cases reported loss of taste and smell. In the patient profile reviewed by the CDC, 80 percent were fully vaccinated.
A UK media report indicated that a smaller percentage of children with the virus, around 15 per cent, exhibited a rash. While those reports have not been locally duplicated or verified, Grindrod said the rashes are generally symptoms of a viral infection in children. “It is not unusual,” he said.
Grindrod warned, however, of a rare condition called multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which could appear in children aged five to 11 years, two to six weeks after a COVID-19 infection, a serious one. syndrome that requires hospitalization, a rash being one of its symptoms.
In all cases, experts say it’s important for people to limit contact with other people and get tested if symptoms arise, even if they appear to be as mild as fatigue or a runny nose.
“People deny to some extent the possibility that any symptoms they have could be COVID,” Grindrod said. “Whenever you think you have a cold, it’s a good time to get tested.” He added that pharmacists have seen people come for mild symptoms or to run tests as a precautionary measure, only to end up with a positive diagnosis.
Some mild symptoms, such as a small cough or runny nose, may not have been a cause for alarm in October or early November, Vaisman said, when COVID cases were low. But because there is more COVID-19 in the air right now due to the spread of Omicron, his main advice is to be cautious and get tested.
“Now you are more likely to have COVID if you start to have symptoms,” Vaisman said. He also emphasized the importance of getting vaccinated, as there is no evidence to suggest that Omicron causes milder disease in unvaccinated populations.
“It is important that those who are not yet vaccinated in Canada recognize that this is no less serious than Delta,” he said.
Reference-www.thestar.com