COVID presenting as mild flu
A recent study from Los Angeles found that 5% of people presenting with mild influenza-like illnesses actually had Covid-19 (see covid presenting as mild flu jama2020 in dropbox, or doi:10.1001/jama.2020.4958 Details: -- 131 patients with mild influenza-like illness presenting to the Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center between March 12-16 had nasopharyngeal swabs for influenza and RSV infection -- these swabs were automatically tested for SARS-CoV-2 -- patients were excluded if they had travel exposure or contact with a traveler, or if they were severely ill patients admitted for respiratory tract infections Results: -- 7 of the swabs were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (5.3%) -- median age of the patients who were positive was 38 years, 3 were male, median duration of symptoms was 4 days -- 6 of 7 patients had fever, 5 myalgias, and only one had a cough. -- All patients had mild illnesses, and...