Seasonal Allergies Bring New Fears During COVID-19 Pandemic
There really aren't any good times to be sick but I can think of a few off the top of my head that would be bad. When you are visiting family over the holidays and you have a cough or a snot nosed kid - not good timing. Also really bad timing to show signs of a sickness - right now. During a pandemic is a horrible time to show signs if illness or to even feel sick without any outward signs.
If you have outward signs of a sickness right now, even if it isn't COVID-19, everyone is going to assume it is the coronavirus. You can't have the sniffles or a cough and go out in public and try to convince the rest of the community that it isn't what everyone fears it is. You are also probably fighting an inner battle with yourself about whether you really are sick or not. This time of year really is the worst time for a pandemic. We are still technically looking out for cases of the regular flu and the allergy season is about to hit us with full force.
I have mild seasonal allergies in the spring so I may get a runny nose, light cough, and generally feel like garbage. That kind of sounds like how many COVID-19 patients feel so the next few weeks are going to be tough deciding what is making each of us feel gross each day. You can check your symptoms with the CDC symptom checker to find out what ails you. The pollen count is rising each day and depending on where you look, because the internet is always in a battle with itself, we are either not dealing with much pollen pollution or we are getting destroyed by it.
The Weather Channel says that we are in a clean air time with no pollen from trees, grass, or weeds. On the flip side, Pollen.com says that we are in a terrible time with pollen level at medium to high ranges. I'm going to follow my (runny) nose this time and say that we do have a bit of pollen in the air.