5 Sure Signs You've Had Coronavirus

With all the talk of coronavirus cases and deaths, some of the in-between cases tend to be underreported—until now. Researchers interviewed 219 patients we were hospitalized with coronavirus and then discharged and found "most patients requiring hospitalization for COVID-19 had symptoms…for a mean of 111 days after returning home, according to a research letter published yesterday in the Journal of Infection," reports The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Here are the symptoms the patients had, ranked from least common to most common. Read on, and to keep yourself and others safe during this pandemic, don't miss this essential list of All the Sure Signs You've Already Had Coronavirus.

…and 20 of those who did were women. "Doctors say telogen effluvium is to blame, a temporary condition where people experience excessive hair shedding after an illness, surgery, high fever, a stressful life event, extreme weight loss or giving birth," reports the Today Show. 

"Many 'long-haulers,' or COVID-19 patients who have continued showing symptoms for months after the initial infection passed, report neurological problems such as confusion and difficulty concentrating (or brain fog), as well as headaches, extreme fatigue, mood changes, insomnia and loss of taste and/or smell," reports MarketWatch.

Anxiety over the pandemic has caused sleep problems in those who haven't even been infected with the virus; those who are infected are also reporting insomnia or disrupted sleep.

This is because coronavirus affects the brain. "A study of 60 COVID-19 patients published in Lancet this week finds that 55% of patients were still displaying such neurological symptoms during follow-up visits three months later," reports MarketWatch. "And when doctors compared brain scans of these 60 COVID patients with those of a control group who had not been infected, they found that the brains of the COVID patients showed structural changes that correlated with memory loss and smell loss."

"Cara Schiavo, a 31-year-old woman living in New Jersey, had a fever, chest pain, and shortness of breath, and she tested positive for the new coronavirus on March 10," reports Advisory.com. "Four weeks after testing positive for the virus, her symptoms began to subside. 'I felt like I was getting back to my old self,' she said. But her symptoms returned one week later."

By far the most commonly-reported symptom for long-haulers, fatigue can come in many forms. "More than 90 percent of long-haulers whom"—David Putrino, a neuroscientist and a rehabilitation specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital—"has worked with also have 'post-exertional malaise,' in which even mild bouts of physical or mental exertion can trigger a severe physiological crash," reports the Atlantic.

"The researchers said they were surprised by the high percentage of patients—especially women—who reported substantial hair loss, which they indicated may be caused by telogen effluvium, a type of temporary hair loss triggered by stress, shock, trauma or viral infection, and/or the stress of being ill and hospitalized," reports CIDRAP. "But overall…most who had a job before their illness returned to work."

The nation's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci strongly recommends to wear your face mask and avoid crowds, social distance, only run essential errands, wash your hands frequently, and to get through this pandemic at your healthiest, don't miss these 37 Places You're Most Likely to Catch Coronavirus.