New COVID variants: What are the COVID symptoms to worry about?

Multiple coronavirus variants — and subvariants of those variants — are spreading throughout the United States and the world, raising questions about which COVID-19 symptoms to look out for.

The backdrop: New COVID-19 variants are popping up all over the world right now. Some of the variants are subvariants of the omicron variant or recombinant variants that combine two different strains.

Symptoms: Northwestern’s Dr. Michael Angarone, an associate professor of medicine in infectious diseases, told NBC Chicago that key COVID-19 symptoms right now are similar to other coronavirus symptoms.

• “So this is the same virus, so SARS Coronavirus 2, so we’re seeing the same symptoms,” he said.

Yes, but: Dr. Gregory Huhn, an infectious disease physician, told NBC Chicago that it’s too early to see the full scope of new COVID-19 symptoms connected to the variants.

• “I don’t know if we, right now, know the particular features that are distinct for BA.2 versus BA.1. I mean, for BA.1, we knew that it was mostly an upper respiratory-type infection rather than the lower respiratory infections that can lead toward pneumonia and further and greater complications,” he said.

The bottom line: Anyone worried about catching the coronavirus right now should look out for common COVID-19 symptoms, such as cough, fatigue, headaches and a fever. We’ve published a few resources to help: