COVID-19, cold, allergies and the flu: Health experts discuss the differences

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Rudy Galamay knows what it’s like to have both allergies and COVID-19.

"It’s very confusing because the symptoms of allergy is exactly the same as COVID-19," said Galamay of Santa Maria.

When Galamay came down with COVID-19, he wasn’t sure if it might have been his allergies.

"When it started with the body aches and then congestion I thought it was just like a minor and sometimes I get the allergy and I get that body aches and the congestion," said Galamay.

But Galamay isn’t the only one confused over the symptoms.

Dr. Scott Robertson at Marian Regional Medical Center has seen a handful of similar cases.

"Almost all seasonal allergies are going to be centered around the face so this is really the nose and the eyes ... seasonal allergies can cause runny nose ... congestion ... watery itchy eyes," said Robertson.

Robertson says you can develop seasonal allergies at almost any age.

The symptoms can also disappear later in life.

In Galamay’s case, he says his allergies have not gone away.

But he did just what Robertson recommends if you’re unsure of your symptoms.

"So the next day I went for a test and that is how it turn out I found out that I had COVID-19.

"Because of the pandemic and what we’ve been dealing with over the last two years … it may be very difficult to understand at least initially whether these are true allergy related symptoms or could they be a new infection … it’s probably still very important to get tested to make sure that you don’t have COVID-19 … and that you don’t need to be isolated," said Robertson.

Whatever symptoms you might have, Robertson says the best step to take is to get tested for COVID-19 just in case.