Good Question: Are there different symptoms for the different COVID strains?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Here’s a Good Question about those new strains of COVID.

There are two main fights going on right now to bring a stop to the pandemic: Getting more shots in more arms as fast as possible, while at the same time, trying to limit the spread of those highly contagious new strains of the virus.

Teresa asked News10NBC’s Brennan Somers about that: Do the new variants of COVID have any different/additional symptoms from that of the original strain?

Very good question. Let’s focus on the U.K. strain, which is the predominant variant in New York. It’s believed to be up to 70% more transmissible than COVID-19. But what about symptoms?

Researchers in England, where the first cases were discovered, looked at just that. While the symptoms among patients studied are the same as those with COVID-19, there are some differences in what people experienced. A cough topped the list for those with the U.K. strain. Additionally, fatigue and a sore throat were also more common.

On the other side of this,researchers found losing your sense of smell or taste to be not as common among patients with the new form of the virus compared to those who did have those symptoms due to the virus.

MORE | Coronavirus resources and information

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