{"id":115509,"date":"2020-11-12T08:41:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T13:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=115509"},"modified":"2020-11-12T08:41:05","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T13:41:05","slug":"is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your Ailment a Cold, the Flu or COVID-19?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Y<\/strong>ou\u2019re sick with coughing, sneezing and a fever. Do you have a cold, the flu or COVID-19? All three are contagious respiratory illnesses with similar symptoms. The only way to tell for certain that you have COVID-19 is through a diagnostic test, but here are some guidelines on symptoms of a cold, the flu and COVID-19:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One of the hallmark symptoms of COVID-19 \u2013 and what sets it apart from other respiratory illnesses \u2013 <strong>is a loss of taste and smell<\/strong>. COVID-19 also can cause the most severe symptoms of the three conditions for some people, including shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. Other symptoms include fever and chills, cough, headache, fatigue and muscle or body aches.<\/li>\n<li>Upper respiratory symptoms \u2013 <strong>sneezing or a stuffy or runny nose<\/strong> \u2013 <strong>are most common in a cold.<\/strong> They may appear with the flu but <strong>are very uncommon<\/strong> with COVID-19. A cold also may cause watery eyes and post-nasal drip but most people with colds don\u2019t get a fever. Colds also don\u2019t usually cause the intense fatigue that come with the flu and COVID-19.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The flu usually hits you fast<\/strong>. Symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, head and body aches, and vomiting and diarrhea (more common in children than adults) come on suddenly. By contrast, COVID-19 symptoms usually take longer to develop \u2013 two to 14 days after exposure to the virus.<\/li>\n<li>A cold usually peaks in two or three days. The flu generally lasts five to seven days. COVID-19 can cause severe illness in some people, including those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The flu can also cause serious complications for high-risk individuals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While there is currently no cure or vaccine for COVID-19 or the common cold, we have a flu vaccine that can protect you from the flu virus or reduce your symptoms if you do get sick. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important for everyone to get a flu shot \u2013 and remember it takes two weeks after you get your vaccine for your body to produce protective antibodies. So get your vaccine now.<\/p>\n<p>Physical distancing, hand washing and wearing a mask in public reduce the spread of all three of these viruses. In fact, some public health officials believe we may have fewer cases of the flu this year thanks to so many people following COVID-19 safety protocols.<\/p>\n<p>If you feel sick, don\u2019t diagnose yourself. Call your healthcare provider \u2013 don\u2019t just show up to the clinic. Your provider can determine if you need to be tested for COVID-19 and what treatments you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A guide to common symptoms of these three contagious respiratory viruses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":115510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[979,23581],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-115509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-college-of-medicine","tag-health-tip"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is Your Ailment a Cold, the Flu or COVID-19? | 海角直播 News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A guide to common symptoms of these three contagious respiratory viruses\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Your Ailment a Cold, the Flu or COVID-19?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A guide to common symptoms of these three contagious respiratory viruses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"海角直播 News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-12T13:41:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2020\/11\/woman-mask-lonely-teen.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Wendy Sarubbi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Wendy Sarubbi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Wendy Sarubbi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2658b36b762dc51dbdefb8fa83c66915\"},\"headline\":\"Is Your Ailment a Cold, the Flu or COVID-19?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-12T13:41:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":437,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/woman-mask-lonely-teen.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Medicine\",\"health tip\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health &amp; Medicine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/is-your-ailment-a-cold-the-flu-or-covid-19\\\/\",\"name\":\"Is Your Ailment a Cold, the Flu or COVID-19? 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