Quote:
Originally Posted by spiderplant
People would have got tested and self-isolated instead of just thinking "I've got a cold" and carrying on their lives as normal.
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Well, to be honest mass testing wasn't available really until about Autumn 2020, maybe even later really with actual access when desired to LFTs and also to PCR tests, So 2 years ago they were obviously only testing hospital admissions.
The issue is that even when they're saying it's a cough/fever/loss of taste (and not all three) is that those symptoms are pretty nonspecific and with varying severity or even infections with no symptoms at all. Even at the start of the pandemic we had some football players testing positive and as they were young and healthy usually they were saying it wasn't any more severe than a cold. But with some obviously it can still progress to more severe illness (as can other respiratory viruses).
The issue with that new list is, yes, they are symptoms people who test positive have had. But differential diagnosis with those is even more impossible without a test to confirm and you can no longer generally get these (probably a good thing in the long term even if that is maybe a little soon). Someone who presents with diarrhoea, stomach pains, being sick... OK so they could have covid but they are probably more likely to have food poisoning or norovirus or something like that. It's now basically a list of "feeling ill".