From the beginning, COVID-19 has been an insidious shape-shifter, spinning off variant after variant as the virus learns to adapt and evolve. That has been a problem not just because such mutability helps it spread—as the extreme infectiousness of the Omicron variant shows—but also because as the virus changes so do the symptoms it causes, making it harder to determine whether you have COVID-19 or a common cold or flu.
Early in the pandemic, coughing, fever, difficulty breathing and a loss of taste and smell were the hallmarks of the infection. But, as my colleague Jamie Ducharme reports, that has changed with the emergence of Omicron. During the current wave, many people are reporting symptoms more in line with the common cold, with some puzzling additions—like lower back pain.
So just what are the most common signs that you’ve contracted a case of Omicron?
Watch out for five symptoms: runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and sore throat, says Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist who founded the consumer health company ZOE, which runs a COVID-19 symptom tracking app to which more than 4.7 million people have contributed data.
Lower-back pain associated with Omicron has yet to be fully explained, but more and more studies are reporting it, including one by South Africa’s largest health insurer.
Loss of taste and smell, though not as common as with earlier variants, can continue to be a symptom of Omicron, report both ZOE and a small study from Norway.
Upper respiratory symptoms are common with Omicron, since that is where the virus tends to accumulate, as opposed to deeper in the lungs like other variants. This could help explain Omicron’s reduced lethality.
Overall, data from early Omicron hotspots including South Africa, the U.K. and New York City agree that the variant causes milder symptoms than its older cousins. A U.K. report from late December 2021, for example, found that, compared to people infected by the Delta variant, those with Omicron-related infections were about half as likely to seek care in an emergency department or require hospitalization.
All the same, more severe symptoms are certainly possible with Omicron, and, as with earlier variants, an infection can potentially lead to lasting complications like Long COVID.
As to how you can tell if you’ve been infected with Omicron or another variant? You generally can’t. When you take most standard COVID-19 tests, you’ll only get a positive or negative result; if you’re infected, it won’t tell you which strain is the culprit. No matter what, even if your case is mild, you’ll need to rest and isolate yourself from others until symptoms subside.
More than 310.4 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and nearly 5.5 million people have died. On Jan. 10, there were nearly 3.3 million new cases and 6,458 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 61.5 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. Almost 840,000 people have died. On Jan. 10, there were nearly 1.5 million new cases and 1,904 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents. In our most recent maps, Tennessee and D.C. appear to be outliers, but it's possible that because of the severity of the current surge in cases, reporting has become erratic, and in actuality, their trends likely follow closely with the rest of the U.S.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Jan. 11, 12 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
China’s lockdown continues to spread as a third major city, Anyang, home to 5.5 million people, was placed under quarantine yesterday after two cases of COVID-19 were detected, reports the Associated Press. Anyang joins the 13 million people of Xi’an, who have been locked down for more than three weeks, and the 1.1 million in Yuzhou, now in their second week of quarantine. Residents of Anyang are confined to their homes, and all stores have been ordered to shutter except those selling necessities. The move is intended not only to reduce the spread of the virus, but also to facilitate mass door-to-door testing. Officials have not said how long the city will remain under quarantine.
The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday issued a do-not-travel warning for Canada, citing the high level of circulating COVID-19 in the country. This month, reports Reuters , Canada broke its one-day record for people hospitalized with COVID. Last Friday, the Canadian government reported that cases had jumped 65% compared to the week before. Yesterday’s move represents a setback for North America, where, just two months ago, the U.S. lifted its curbs on travel to Canada and Mexico, which had been in place since the pandemic emerged in March 2020.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services yesterday announced that, beginning Jan. 15, private insurers are required to cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests. According to the new rule, insurers must pay for up to eight tests per covered individual per month—with no co-pays or deductibles to be borne by consumers. There is no limit on the number of tests that will be covered if they are ordered or administered by a health care provider following a clinical assessment of a patient.
The U.S. health care system is under increasing pressure as the number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 passed last winter’s peak,reports the New York Times. As of Sunday, the number stood at 142,388, compared to a high of 142,315 on Jan. 14 of last year. The seven-day average of hospitalizations is 132,086, which represents a jump of 83% from just two weeks ago. Unlike in past waves, the high rate of hospitalizations are being driven principally by people under 60; among older people, hospitalizations remain lower than they were last winter.
At a news conference yesterday, Dr. Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s director for Europe, warned that half of the continent could be infected with Omicron “in the next six to eight weeks,”reports the BBC. Kluge described a “west-to-east tidal wave” sweeping across the European region, with Omicron exacerbating an underlying surge of the Delta variant that is still spreading. Kluge’s predictions draw on findings by the Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which cited the seven million new cases of Omicron diagnosed in Europe in just the first week of 2022 and the doubling of infections there over the previous two-week period.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jeffrey Kluger and edited by Angela Haupt.
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