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sore throat is in, fever and loss of smell out when it comes to current symptoms of covid

experts warn that as the main symptoms of covid change, people could be spreading the virus without knowing.

by karen hawthorne

published oct 03, 2022

last updated oct 05, 2022

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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winter will bring immune-evasive omicron variants

if you’ve got a sore throat, get tested for covid-19. getty

covid-19 infection rates in the u.k. have jumped 14 per cent in a week, according to figures from the office of national statistics and experts are concerned that a new wave of variants this fall will be devastating, the independent reports.

more than 1.1 million people in the u.k. tested positive for the virus in the week ending september 20, which is up from 927,000 in the week prior.

while the exact cause of the increase isn’t clear, some experts warn that government guidelines on the symptoms to watch for are incorrect and people could be spreading the virus without recognizing they have it.

“many people are still using the government guidelines about symptoms which are wrong,” tim spector told the independent. spector is a professor of genetic epidemiology at king’s college in london and co-founder of the covid zoe app which is part of the world’s largest covid-19 study.

“at the moment, covid starts in two-thirds of people with a sore throat,” he said. “fever and loss of smell are really rare now — so many old people may not think they’ve got covid. they’d say it’s a cold and not be tested.”

spector also told the independent that the next wave is here with omicron variants becoming immune-evasive and far more problematic by the time winter arrives.

if you’ve got a sore throat, get tested

another expert, university of warwick virologist professor lawrence young, agrees that the virus is evolving and the battle with covid-19 isn’t over.

“we can only detect variants or know what’s coming by doing sequencing from pcr testing, and that’s not going on anywhere near the extent it was a year ago,” young told the independent. “people are going to get various infections over the winter but won’t know what they are because free tests aren’t available. it’s going to be a problem.”

he calls the situation in the u.k. a “perfect storm” of inadequate surveillance of new variants, a decrease in testing, people not getting vaccinated and the economic pressure making people who are sick reluctant to take time off work.

advisory table says family doctors should take over covid care

meanwhile, in ontario, the province’s now-defunct science advisory table released its final briefs, recommending covid-19 prevention and care should shift to family doctors and nurses, the canadian press reports.

“we’re seeing huge numbers of people who are unable to access primary care in ontario, we’ve got a workforce that is exhausted and we need to think differently about the care that we’re going to be providing in the future,” said senior author dr. danielle martin, a family physician and chair of the department of family and community medicine at the university of toronto.

the science table’s data shows that people who had a family doctor or primary care team fared better during the pandemic, increasing the importance of linking as many as possible of the 1.8 million ontario residents who currently don’t have a family doctor to primary care. the advisory table also suggests expanding primary care teams to include pharmacists, community health workers, social workers and physician assistants.

it’s not over

as canada’s covid-19 travel restrictions and mask mandates have officially ended, and governments around the globe are letting up on pandemic measures, health authorities are still calling on the public to get flu shots and covid-19 boosters this fall to get ahead of a possible surge.

“we are emerging from this pandemic…but there still is some uncertainty,” dr. bonnie henry, b.c.’s provincial health officer, told the vancouver sun. “it is very clear that covid will be with us for the long-term.”

karen hawthorne is a toronto-based writer.

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karen hawthorne

karen hawthorne worked for six years as a digital editor for the national post, contributing articles on health, business, culture and travel for affiliated newspapers across canada. she now writes from her home office in toronto and takes breaks to bounce with her son on the backyard trampoline and walk bingo, her bull terrier.

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sore throat is in, fever and loss of smell out when it comes to current symptoms of covid

experts warn that as the main symptoms of covid change, people could be spreading the virus without knowing.

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it’s not over

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