With very limited access to PCR tests across Canada, some people who are getting sick are wondering if they have COVID, or a cold or the flu.
"Many people who have COVID infection feel almost nothing or very mild symptoms — especially if they're young and healthy — versus some people as they start to get into their 40s, 50s and upwards seem to be much more symptomatic," said Dr. Lisa Barrett, an infectious disease doctor and researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax."That loss of taste and smell, which was kind of a warning symptom of, like, this is very likely COVID ...
He recommends anyone who is elderly, immunocompromised, or who has multiple medical conditions to get a rapid antigen test at the very least, though a PCR would be best. Still, he said a positive rapid test "would put you in line to get these new antiviral medications," including Remdesivir or Paxlovid.A rapid home test for COVID-19 shows a negative result.
She advises swabbing your throat first, around where your tonsils are and where the uvula is in the middle.Pirzada said you can swab your cheek, too, in between doing your throat and nose. Doctors provide flu vaccinations to patients in their underground parkade in Vancouver in October 2020. Flu rates have been extremely low across Canada for the 2021-22 season.
Young children who present at hospital with COVID-like symptoms will also be tested for flu and other respiratory illnesses, including RSV.While COVID-19 is primarily airborne, colds and flu spread more on surfaces, too, so Pirzada said it's possible people are catching them that way."Children are spreading these viruses with gusto with each other, and they're bringing it home. And then you, if you have children, are spreading it to other people at your workplace.
"That if you are somebody who wants to live with COVID, that you have to forget about it and just do what you did before COVID — the same amount of interaction, the same type of interaction without a mask, no testing, no isolation. That is the dangerous misconception."Pirzada said it's also important to remember that if you get COVID, it doesn't mean you won't get it again.
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