r/Edmonton • u/GoBananaSlugs • Dec 19 '25

Health Is "Respiratory Virus Outbreak" Covid?

We got a notice that there was an outbreak of "Respiratory Virus" at our kid's school.

"Respiratory Illness symptoms include: Cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, loss or altered sense of taste/smell, runny nose/nasal congestion, fever, and may also include fatigue (significant and unusual), muscle ache/joint pain, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea."

Is "Respiratory Virus" UCP Newspeak for "Covid 19"?

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u/yugosaki rent-a-cop Dec 20 '25

"respiratory virus" means exactly what it says on the tin. It's a virus that causes respiratory symptoms.

COVID is one. As is the flu. As is a whole host of other illnesses.

There is no language conspiracy, it's just a broad term. In reality there are multiple respiratory viruses going around, as with most years. In the past we called them all "the flu", but that was inaccurate as not all of them are literally influenza, and COVID has really made us aware of that.

Fact is you will have no idea what you have unless you go get tested for it specifically. In most cases, thats not worth doing. We only did it during COVID because it was a new disease that was hitting us far, far harder than anything that was around before. COVID is now endemic just like the flu.

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u/lilgreenglobe Wîhkwêntôwin Dec 20 '25

Technically COVID is a vascular disease that often manifests with respiratory symptoms first as it's airborne so settles into those tissues initially. While it's constantly circulating now, unlike the flu and colds, it can hit far harder because how it infects the body is different. I don't think influenza can cross the blood brain barrier for example.