It has been more than six months since the first reported case of COVID-19 in the United States, but there is still a lot doctors and scientists are learning about the virus.
WFAA looked up some of the top trending coronavirus-related questions according to Google and asked Baylor Scott & White Health's Dr. David Winter to answer them.
The answers have been edited for clarity.
How long are you contagious with the coronavirus?
Most folks with mild COVID-19 are not contagious after 10 days. Some folks have longer-lasting symptoms. Some get really sick and can be sick for weeks and weeks. So if you’re sick, you need to be three days where your symptoms are gone – or just about gone – and 24 hours with no fever before you can get back in society, still distancing, wearing a mask, and washing your hands.”
Are nausea and a sore throat symptoms?
Either one of those can be a symptom of COVID-19. They’re not common. The most common are cough, shortness of breath, and fever. And then below that is loss of taste and loss of smell. But some folks get nausea, abdominal cramping or discomfort and diarrhea. And some folks get a sore throat. So all those symptoms can be a part of that. The new symptom that just came up a couple of weeks ago is a rash. That’s very uncommon. So if you’re not sure, as your doctor.
Will the coronavirus go away?
That’s a tough question to answer. The way we’re doing in this world, it’s not going to go away for a while. It’s not going to go away on its own. It’s highly contagious, maybe even more contagious than it was initially. We think it’s mutated. It’s not more deadly, but it’s more contagious. Maybe a vaccine will work. Maybe some drugs will work. Right now, we have nothing except trying to let the cases go down by doing those three things: distancing, wearing a mask, and washing our hands.
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