Some Canadians experiencing different symptoms after getting COVID-19 twice

Canadians who have been infected twice with COVID-19 continue to experience a wide array of symptoms. According to experts, it remains difficult to predict whether reinfection with the Omicron variant will produce milder or more severe disease.

“The symptoms that we had in March were the same, just not as severe … For sure it was COVID,” he told CTVNews.ca over the phone on Tuesday. “I first started getting a scratchy throat on the Sunday. By the next Friday, I was feeling much better.”

The similarities in symptoms experienced in December and again in March led James, 40, to think he and his family were reinfected with COVID-19, and positive results using a rapid antigen test confirmed this was the case, he said. While James said he was not able to verify the COVID-19 strain he and his family members were infected with, both infections took place as the Omicron variant was taking hold in their home province of Ontario, as well as the rest of Canada.

The family was experiencing common COVID-19 symptoms such as an occasional cough, sinus pressure, a congested nose, fatigue and headaches. The main difference, according to James, was that the symptoms experienced in December were more intense compared to those in March. In addition, James, who was double vaccinated at the time of both infections, said symptoms from the first infection lasted much longer, resolving after about 11 days.

“It kept trying to do a comeback, so I would start to feel really good and think, ‘Great, I'm off to the races,’ and then that night, all of a sudden, my head pressure would be back [and] my sinus pressure would come storming back,” James said.