Flu or Covid-19? Should I get tested?

It has been more than a year now and people still think that Covid-19 would not easily go away yet. We are too scared to lay back and remain relaxed because we know that once we drop our attention on this virus, then the number of cases will start to rise again. This pandemic has affected most of the countries in this world. Some lose their jobs, some lose their friends and a lot of countries seem to go downhill. The effect is too big for all of us to swallow. The Covid 19 symptoms itself are very scary. Symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath and also cough can become severe and eventually claim someone’s life. Lots of people had been infected since December 2019 and thousands had lost their lives. The fear of getting Covid-19 infection grows stronger every day.

As mentioned above, the symptoms of Covid-19 infection did mimic the flu symptoms. Symptoms such as cough, fever and runny nose can be shared between these diseases. This is the reason why people had been neglecting to get tested for Covid-19 infection. They think that they are infected with a flu, instead it was Covid-19 who infected them. So, a lot of people have been confused about how to differentiate between flu and Covid-19 infection? How do you determine when to get tested? This article will try to give the required information on this problem.

When someone is having a fever and a cough, they might think that they suffer from a common cold or a flu. This is very true especially during the pre-Covid era. However, with this Covid-19 pandemic hanging around, we might be thinking that these symptoms could possibly be a Covid-19 symptoms as well. To differentiate between a flu and Covid-19 symptoms, we must know the other related symptoms as well. So, for a flu, the list of its symptoms include fever, runny nose, cough and sore throat. For Covid-19, the list can be very extensive and this includes fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, headache and other organ-related symptoms such as gastrointestinal disturbance and so on. So, we can clearly see through this that there are some differences between the symptoms.

Based on these differences, we will know when to get tested for Covid-19 infection. If you are having a fever and cough, you do not need to worry because there is a high chance that it is a seasonal flu. Usually, people with these symptoms can just stay at home and use home remedies in order to relieve the flu. In fact, if you go and meet your doctor, he or she will probably give you some medications that can resolve your symptoms and they will ask you to rest at home. However, if you have Covid-19 symptoms that were mentioned above, there is a possibility that you might get infected with Covid-19. Hence, this is why people that have these symptoms need to get tested for Covid-19 as soon as possible.

To get tested, you can simply meet your doctor and tell your symptoms. Your doctor will double check whether your assumption matches their assumption. If you are a Covid-19 suspect, then they will refer you to get tested. However, please do not decide on when to get tested on your home. If you have symptoms mentioned above, it is recommended for you to meet your doctor as soon as possible. Your doctor will be the one that will decide whether you need to undergo a Covid-19 swab test or not. Until then, you must take care of your health in the best possible way.