Amherst, NY (WBEN) It's that time of year for sniffles caused by pollen and other allergens. But with COVID19 still on the minds of many, some allergy suffers wonder if it's more than that.
Are allery sufferers passing off COVID-19 symptoms as allergies? And are periodic allergy symptoms being feared as COVID-19?
Dr. Kathleen Donovan of Buffalo Amherst Allergy Associates says there is a way to distinguish between typical allergies and possible COVID19.
"You can be allergic and have COVID so you can be having your allergy symptoms with COVID or you could not be allergic and just COVID, but these people will tell you they've never had symptoms before and now they have them, you may think this may be the virus versus someone who from year to year has seasonal allergies and you're thinking allergic disease. If they're not responding to allergy medicine, it may be something else," says Donovan.
Donovan's advice for those puzzled between allergy or COVID? "The concept is, if someone thinks they have COVID, we don't want them out and about, we want them at home, unless they're having more siginficant respiratory symptoms that would take them to urgent care or the emergency room," says Donovan. "I think if they think it's allergic disease you treat it, if it's not getting better or if there's an increase of symptoms, particularly respiratory, those are things that will take to an emergency room to sort out whether you have an acute viral infection"