According to the report, COVID-19 typically presents with symptoms suggestive of viral infection, often with low-grade fever, cough and fatigue, and, less commonly, with gastrointestinal trouble. Shortness of breath usually emerges a few days after initial symptoms, becomes most pronounced upon exertion and may involve sharp drops in blood oxygen levels.
Chief among the team's findings:
Fever is not a reliable indicator. If present, it could manifest only with mild elevations in temperature. COVID-19 may begin with various permutations of cough without fever, sore throat, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, body aches, back pain and fatigue It can also present with severe body aches and exhaustion. A reliable early hint is loss of the sense of smell in the first days of disease onset. In serious COVID-19, shortness of breath is a critical differentiator from other common illnesses. Almost no one, however, develops shortness of breath, a cardinal sign of the illness, in the first day or two of disease onset. Shortness of breath can appear four or more days after onset of other symptoms. The first days after shortness of breath begins are a critical period that requires close and frequent monitoring of patients by telemedicine visits or in-person exams. The most critical variable to monitor is how the shortness of breath changes over time. Oxygen saturation levels can also be a valuable clue. Blood oxygen levels can drop precipitously with exertion, even in previously healthy people.
