How are researchers discovering new COVID-19 symptoms?

The app, dubbed COVID Symptom Study, was used by 2.6 million people in the U.S., U.K. and Sweden from March 24 to April 21. It was created by Zoe Global, King’s College London and Massachusetts General Hospital. Both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals who had been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus self-reported their symptoms in real time, as well as demographic data, hospitalizations, pre-existing conditions and reverse-transcript PCR test outcomes.

Since downloading the app and inputting the data was strictly voluntary, the results should be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, what the researchers did find was interesting. A fever and cough are the most widely reported symptoms on lists from health organizations like the World Health Organization. 

However, the data from the app found that loss of taste and smell, followed by fatigue and acute muscle pain, were the most reported symptoms. The researchers found that they could most accurately predict COVID-19, at a rate of 80 percent, when screening first for these symptoms rather than a fever and a cough.