Written by Susan Kohn Ross

The CDC has expanded the list of symptoms which may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the COVID-19 virus and may cause mild symptoms to severe illness. As companies plan their eventual return to work, or plan to terminate or decrease telecommuting (pending when their local jurisdictions’ shelter-in-place orders change or cease), they will want to consider this most recent information from the CDC to determine and account for the safety and well-being of their employees. The original and newly added symptoms are listed below.

Originally listed symptoms:

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Newly added symptoms:

• Chills
• Repeated shaking with chills
• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Sore throat
• New loss of taste or smell

For those who are imposing testing as a condition of return to employment and/or allowing visitors to come onto their premises, it is important to keep in mind those symptoms beyond a temperature elevated to 100.3 or higher.

It is also critical to keep in mind any test results are at best a snapshot of a person’s condition at the time the test was taken. Of course, access to adequate testing and the reliability of the test being administered are also factors to consider.

More information can be found on the CDC’s website here.