Three that have gained attention are nausea, night sweats and lower back pain.īut it's very possible that doctors and patients are simply paying more attention to these symptoms than they did with earlier variants, says Dr. And fewer patients have symptoms related to lower respiratory problems, such as shortness of breath, says Vanchiere, including older patients.Īt the same time, it appears - anecdotally at least - that certain symptoms show up more with omicron than they did with delta. In contrast, delta took about four days, and the original variant took more than five.Īnother difference doctors are noticing: Loss of smell and taste - considered a telltale sign of COVID-19 - is not nearly as common with omicron infections. Several studies have found that the incubation period - the time it takes to develop symptoms after being exposed - is about three days. With omicron, the symptoms also come on more quickly once you're infected. showing that fever and cough are not as prevalent with omicron cases there and that the five top symptoms are runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and sore throat. 'The cough is milder, if there's any cough at all, and fever seems to be a little less common.' John Vanchiere, the associate director of the Center for Emerging Viral Threats at LSU Health Shreveport. 'It's mostly that runny nose, sore throat and nasal congestion,' says Dr. In other words, what you think of as the common cold.

What those hospital numbers don't tell us is what a typical case looks like.Īs with previous variants, the vast majority of people infected with omicron have a mix of symptoms that resolve relatively quickly and don't require hospital care.Īnd doctors are finding many of these cases tend to look like an ordinary upper respiratory infection. When you get sick with omicron, what are the symptoms? now stand at more than 126,000, and more than 1 in every 4 ICU beds is filled with a COVID-19 patient, according to the latest data from the Department of Health and Human Services. 'Just like previous variants, omicron is hospitalizing people and it is killing people.' 'While omicron does appear to be less severe compared to delta, especially in those vaccinated, it does not mean it should be categorized as 'mild,' ' said the World Health Organization's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Thursday. 'You don't get off scot-free just because you happen to be infected in the time of omicron.' Pamela Davis, who's a pulmonologist at Case Western Reserve University and a senior author on the new study. 'In the older age group, it's still a nasty disease, even if it's less than the delta variant,' says Dr. Brendan Carr, chair of emergency medicine for the Mount Sinai Health System - where the emergency rooms are busier than ever but many of the COVID-19 patients are not sick enough to be admitted.īut as with any variant of SARS-CoV-2, your absolute risk depends on many factors, including whether you're vaccinated and boosted, your age, your overall health and your economic situation. 'This is a pretty different surge,' says Dr.

Omicron brain fog treatment