Coronavirus body aches (myalgia/arthralgia) feel like widespread muscle soreness, stiffness, and tenderness, often described as deep, heavy, or aching pain, commonly in the lower back, legs, neck, shoulders, and head, similar to flu-like aches but can be persistent, sometimes lingering with long COVID. These aches stem from inflammation and can be accompanied by fatigue, making movement difficult and sometimes feeling like the muscles are overworked or lack blood flow, say experts at OSF HealthCare and Health.com.
COVID body aches feel like a dull, aching sensation in your muscles. You can feel as if your mobility is limited due to the pain. The pain can range from mild to severe and can occur if you already had body aches before the infection or if you didn't.
Day 4-7: Symptom Escalation
Symptoms
a high temperature – you may feel hot, cold or shivery, or your skin is hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature) a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours. a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste.
You can't tell if you have COVID-19 or the flu just by symptoms because they overlap so much (cough, fever, fatigue, etc.), so testing is essential to know for sure, especially since early treatment for either virus can prevent severe illness. Get tested with a medical professional using a test that checks for both viruses to get a quick diagnosis and start treatment, as COVID-19 can have unique symptoms like loss of taste/smell and potentially lead to Long COVID.
Currently, the dominant variant nationwide is XFG, with 61% of cases, followed by XFG.14.1, with 15% of cases, and XFG.1, with 5% of cases.
Unusual COVID-19 symptoms: What are they?
Mild COVID-19 means you might have symptoms like a cough, sore throat, or fatigue — but you don't have shortness of breath. Most of the time, people can treat mild COVID infections at home. Some people may need specific COVID treatments, so contact your healthcare team to discuss your options.
If it's a viral illness, typically symptoms are shorter lasting and classically the symptoms include fever, chills, sore throat, nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, and a lot of times you can have some body aches. A lot of times the symptoms last for maybe three days to a week and then slowly get better over time.
New information shows that getting COVID more than once could affect your long-term health. By now, most people have had COVID at least once. Those with compromised immunity, a lack of immunization, or who have not used precautionary measures, may have even had multiple bouts of the infectious disease.
The average recovery time for those who have mild or normal cases of COVID-19 or flu is between one and two weeks. If you have COVID-19, the CDC recommends isolation from others until your symptoms are getting better and you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication.
Key Points: In a highly immune adult population, median SARS-CoV-2 viral loads by cycle threshold and antigen measurements peaked on the fourth day of symptoms, with implications for testing practice.
Joint pain is a common symptom of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. Medically known as arthralgia, joint pain can be accompanied by muscle cramps or other signs of infection with the virus.
Muscle pain that is felt throughout your whole body is most often caused by an infection, such as the flu. Other causes include more-serious conditions, such as some diseases or health conditions that affect the muscles. Muscle pain also may be a side effect of certain medicines.
People who have flu often feel some or all of these signs and symptoms:
COVID-19 symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. The symptoms of a cold may come on gradually, while the flu usually starts abruptly. Below is a chart that may help determine which illness you have. Symptoms can vary widely with each of these illnesses.
Yes. Fever is one of the most common symptoms of COVID-19, but it's possible to have COVID without a fever. In a review of studies done during the early pandemic, only 78% of people who got sick with COVID developed a fever. That means nearly 1 in 4 people didn't develop a fever when they were sick.
For many people with COVID-19, fatigue is a fairly common symptom. It can make you feel dull and tired, take away your energy, and eat away at your ability to get things done.
KP. 2 is one of several variants being referred to as “FLiRT variants,” named after the technical names for their mutations. The prevalence of these variants comes at a critical time, when experts are deciding how to formulate the fall COVID vaccine.
Common New COVID Variant Symptoms in 2025
Early in the pandemic, experts believed that neurological issues in patients with COVID-19 were caused by the virus entering the brain. Scientists now know that when the body mounts a large inflammatory response to the virus — the same process associated with long COVID — brain function can be affected.
Research suggests that in general, antigen tests do a good job of picking up a variety of COVID-19 variants.
Taking Care of Yourself at Home
June 26, 2025 – The new COVID-19 variant that now makes up about a third of U.S. COVID cases has a signature symptom: a painful sore throat that feels like "razor blades." "This 'razor blade sore throat' was reported as a common symptom in China," where the variant first emerged in May, said Matthew S.