With the start of the school year and the end of summer, the common cold is coming back.
But the associated symptoms, close to those of Covid-19, worry patients.
Difficult to distinguish while the virus continues to circulate in France.
In his medical practice in the Paris region, Dr. Bertrand Boruchot tries not to prescribe too many unnecessary PCR tests.
A runny nose, a few coughing fits, swallowing difficulties: the cold season returns with the start of the school year and brings with it its share of worries.
In the midst of an increase in Covid-19 contamination, +8,000 new cases in 24 hours, sometimes difficult to distinguish benign nasopharyngitis and Sars-COV-2.
In Sèvres, in the Paris region, the patients of Doctor Bertrand Boruchot are wondering.
Madeline, retired, suffers from a sore throat and has a high temperature.
She preferred to make an appointment to reassure herself.
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Charlotte, mother of 3, is even more worried.
Her son has symptoms but no fever.
"He blew his nose a lot, no fever, no cough. I tell myself 'damn if he has this, he's going to have to go for a test', and it takes hours," she says.
"We wait for days, we have a little worry and we ask ourselves more questions."
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Do not clutter up laboratories
Behind the door, Bertrand Boruchot ensures that nearly half of the patients come for the same thing.
In order not to contribute to laboratory congestion, he is very careful not to immediately prescribe a PCR test.
"When the patient really can have a runny nose, a very minimal cough, no associated symptoms, no fever, and he is doing very well we tend to think that we can wait a day, two days and see how it evolves ", explains the general practitioner.
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The first symptoms of Covid-19 as described by scientists suggest a fever above 38.5 degrees for several days, a dry cough, muscle pain, nausea and diarrhea.
The common cold can lead to a sore throat, a runny nose.
If the patient has one or more symptoms plus fever, Bertrand Boruchot immediately prescribes a test and asks him to isolate himself at home.