Think you have summer allergies? It might actually be COVID
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- It's the subject of several Austin Reddit threads posted this summer -- what's this cold everyone has? The answer...might just be COVID.
"This thread prompted me to test...It's covid," one person responded to a thread, which was posted roughly a month ago. Another followed up "tested positive too yesterday."
Another thread started with the comment: "Whole family tested positive. This version hurts your throat a lot. Less fever, more spacing out and breathing issues. Pediatrician told us they're getting a lot of cases."
Wastewater activity for COVID-19 in Texas right now is "very high", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data as recent as Sept. 11 shows. Travis County is reporting the same "very high" level on that CDC dashboard.
Meanwhile, wastewater testing from the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute shows COVID-19 is at a "medium" level. That data was last updated Aug. 25.
"We saw an uptick of COVID probably towards the end of summer break and going into the beginning part of the school year. It seems like it may have slowed down a little bit more recently...I think definitely we're seeing a lot of viral illnesses and things circulating more frequently," Dr. Tina Philip, a family medicine physician in Round Rock, said.
According to the CDC, the dominant strain of COVID-19 right now nationwide is XFG, nicknamed "Stratus." It's a combination of previous strains, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Philip said symptoms she's been seeing are pretty similar to previous strains of the virus; including fever, sore throat, body aches, cough and congestion.
"Some people are presenting with allergy symptoms. So initially they may think that they just have allergies, you know, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, that sort of thing. But then it typically progresses and gets a little bit worse than their usual allergies, which is what alerts them that there might be something else going on," Philip said.
It comes at a time where some are confused about whether they're supposed to get a COVID vaccine.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced earlier this year that COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women — a move immediately questioned by several public health experts.
"I think first and foremost, if you're confused at all, talk to your physician. They should be able to guide you pretty clearly," Philip said.
Philip said the guidelines right now are for anyone 65 and older to get a COVID vaccination. From ages 18-65, "it's a little bit more gray," she said, but anyone with a condition that puts you at higher risk of developing complications from COVID should be vaccinated.
"I think where it gets a little complicated is we don't know how that relates to coverage and if you're going to be denied a vaccine. But I mean, if you're at all concerned, talk to your physician about it and get it sorted out, because we want people protected. We don't want people thinking we can't get it for some reason when we should," Philip said.