Mild' Covid-19 doesn't always feel that way--more on the effects

What Covid-19 actually feels like can vary dramatically. Studies have shown that disease from Omicron is generally milder than from the Delta coronavirus variant, and some people have no symptoms or only brief, minor sniffles. But it can still cause serious disease, especially among the unvaccinated. There are 126,410 people currently hospitalized with Covid-19, about 89% of the way to last year's peak, according to US Department of Health and Human Services.

But even disease considered "mild" can still be uncomfortable and prolonged.

The National Institutes of Health's definition of "mild" Covid-19 includes symptoms that people are all too familiar with these days, like fever, cough, sore throat, and fatigue. They're symptoms that Dr. Shira Doran has realized are nothing to, well, sneeze at.

Use of the word "mild" "isn't meant to minimize your experience," said Doran, a hospital epidemiologist and infectious disease physician at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

 

Even people with mild illness can develop what's called long Covid, with symptoms that stick around for six months or more. She thinks the "mild" term that experts prefer may need to be reframed.

 

"When we or when the CDC or the NIH says 'mild,' we really mean it didn't make you sick enough to go to the hospital," Doran said. "But when you get a flu-like illness that puts you in bed, that's not mild to you." ...

 

ALSO SEE: How do I know if I have a cold, the flu or COVID-19?