NOW THAT THE sun is out and flowers are in bloom, hayfever season has begun.

This might make spotting Covid-19 a bit trickier, as we become rundown with hayfever symptoms which can affect the respiratory system.

To complicate matters, the new coronavirus (officially called SARS-CoV-2) is a respiratory virus that leads to the disease Covid-19.

Dermot Nolan, medical adviser to the Asthma Society of Ireland, said that we have to be “hyper-vigilant” about Covid-19, but to also be aware of the different respiratory symptoms.

Of the tens of thousands of people who have been tested for Covid-19 in Ireland, only 15% have been confirmed to have the virus.

“So the vast majority is not Covid-19 – obviously there are other things that are going around,” Nolan says.

As we come into hayfever season, it’s important to know the crossovers, but also the differentiating symptoms between the two – especially if you haven’t had hayfever before.

At the start of Covid-19, you typically can expect:

• To feel unwell
• To have a temperature
• To have a slight shortness of breath, or a persistent cough.

The common symptoms of hayfever are:

• Itchy eyes
• Itchy throat
• A running nose.

Nolan says that the loss of smell and loss of taste, which are symptoms of the start of the new coronavirus, can also be a symptom of hayfever.

A simple differentiation between the two is that hayfever tends to affect the upper airways, while Covid-19 hits the lower airways.

Another one is that a Covid-19 cough is persistent, while a hayfever cough tends to occur at nighttime. 

“And you’ll usually find that hayfever is precipitated by certain things, like if they’re out exposed to pollen, or if they’re out in the garden, or cutting the grass, etc. There’s usually a triggering factor.”

He also said that hayfever sufferers don’t usually feel unwell or tired, but that these are common symptoms of Covid-19. 

Patients with with hayfever, although they have symptoms, they’re not particularly unwell. When a patient has Covid-19, they tend to feel unwell, they tend to feel like a flu or aches or pains or chills in their body which is not typical of hayfever.

There is talk about tiredness as a feature of Covid-19 – usually, the tiredness that hayfever sufferers would experience is related to patients taking certain antihistamines.

He added that those who have hayfever, the “vast majority” of them will get it every year will know the symptoms of it and know it well, while if someone has hayfever for the first time this year, that could be “slightly worrying” for them.

Nolan, who runs an allergy and hayfever clinic said that it’s too early to tell how good or bad this year’s hayfever season is – because people aren’t out as much.

“Often, you get hayfever when people or kids are playing sports on pitches – that can be a big factor. Whereas at the moment, people are tending to adhere to the restrictions and are staying in the house.”