Cold, flu, or COVID symptoms? Here's how to tell them apart

Are these COVID-19 symptoms? Is this a cold or the flu?

As Canada heads into flu season, we hope these questions don’t arise in your household. But if you or someone in your home falls sick, you might want to learn to differentiate between the three.

According to medical experts and the Canadian government’s advice, there are some ways to differentiate between the three.

“The flu and COVID-19 can have similar symptoms,” says Health Canada. “If you start to develop any of the symptoms below, follow the same precautions taken for COVID-19.”

Regardless of whether you’ve got a cold, the flu, or coronavirus, you may be coughing, have a sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, have difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle pain or body aches, vomiting, or have diarrhea.

All three are most commonly spread person-to-person by droplets that leave your mouth and nose while coughing, sneezing, or talking. Droplets can land in the mouths or noses of those nearby and land on surfaces people touch.

Common cold vs. COVID-19

Both COVID-19 and the common cold are caused by viruses, and while there’s no vaccine for the cold, you can get COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters from your local clinic or pharmacy.

If you have COVID-19, you could experience complications such as blood clots in the veins and arteries of the lungs, heart, legs or brain, and multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children. Long COVID-19 can leave more profound, lasting effects.

Mayo Clinic has created the following checklist to help you differentiate between COVID-19 and common cold symptoms:

Mayo Clinic

Complications of a cold range from sinus and ear infections to bronchitis, pneumonia, strep throat, and asthma attacks.

If you notice fever, chills, and headaches, it is likely you don’t just have a cold. Any loss of taste or smell aligns with symptoms of COVID-19.

Symptoms of the flu appear more quickly than those of a cold or COVID-19. These include sneezing, coughing, body pain, and even diarrhea in children. That’s why getting vaccinated every year when flu season rolls around is essential.

Severe effects of the flu mean you may experience pneumonia, respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, heart attacks, stroke, multiple organ failure, worsening of chronic medical conditions, heart, brain, or muscle tissue inflammation, and secondary bacterial infections.

The following chart from Alberta Health Services can help you identify symptoms at a glance:

Alberta Health Services

Read Canada’s health guidance on flu symptoms and treatment here, and learn what to do if you suspect you have COVID-19 here.

If you think you might have a cold, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety has an excellent guide for you, too.

With files from Alyssa Therrien