
Watch for symptoms
People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness.
Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fever
- Chills
- Muscle pain
- Sore throat
- New loss of taste or smell
Children have similar symptoms to adults and generally have mild illness.
This list is not all inclusive. Other less common symptoms have been reported, including gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.

Lessons to be learned
Although there are significant differences between the pandemics above and COVID-19, there are some key takeaways here. Surveillance is important — we need to know who is affected and who has been affected. Indeed, testing is key to our understanding of COVID-19 and how to slow its progress. We have also learned that physical distancing […]