- The list of coronavirus symptoms keeps getting longer as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers.
- Some of them, like the newly discovered symptom of itchiness, can be easy to miss and to overlook.
- The CDC has published an extensive list of other coronavirus symptoms, including coughing, fatigue, and the loss of smell.
There are so many strange and unusual realities associated with the COVID-19 coronavirus that continue to perplex health experts, such as the mysteriously broad spectrum of the virus’s severity. COVID-19 leaves some people completely unaware they have been infected, for example, and utterly symptom-free, while the virus goes on to viciously attack other people to the point of them needing to be put on ventilators (and ultimately dying from the virus, as has happened to more than 707,000 people around the world since the coronavirus pandemic began).
Coronavirus symptoms are another oddity associated with the virus because many of them are truly strange — and easy to miss. One of the newest symptoms associated with the virus? Itchiness.
Many of the symptoms associated with the coronavirus are fairly common, like that of itchiness. If you’ve experienced congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea recently, you might also be infected, according to a few of the additional symptoms listed on the CDC’s coronavirus symptoms page. The fact that itchiness can also be a sign of the coronavirus comes from Leanne Atkin, a vascular nurse consultant and senior lecturer at the University of Huddersfield, who said recently in a statement issued by the university that there’s been a concerning rise in the number of people suffering from COVID-19 and also complaining of itchiness.
Atkin goes on to explain that, while itchiness is something that’s easy to otherwise ignore, it often manifests itself in tandem with another weird coronavirus symptom — so-called COVID toes, an inflammatory condition in which rashes are seen on the feet of people infected with the virus. “It is really important that people start to recognize these early symptoms and if they notice any of them, they should be arranging for the patient to be tested for COVID-19 and considering carefully the need for referral onto vascular clinics,” Atkin said, according to Best Life.
The CDC has stressed that there is a wide range of symptoms that could present themselves when someone is infected with COVID0-19. Moreover, it could take anywhere from 2-14 days after exposure to the coronavirus for symptoms to appear, and examples, according to the CDC’s symptom page, include:
- Fever or chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- Muscle or body aches
- Headache
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
It’s also worth consulting the World Health Organization’s symptoms page, which puts various coronavirus symptoms into buckets of frequency, with some being more common than others. From the WHO, common symptoms include fever, dry cough, and tiredness.
Less-common symptoms:
- aches and pains
- sore throat
- diarrhea
- conjunctivitis
- headache
- loss of taste or smell
- a rash on skin, or discoloration of fingers or toes
Serious symptoms can include:
- difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- chest pain or pressure
- loss of speech or movement
