I regularly feel "wiped out" from a typical cold, often for 4+ days in a row.

This whole thread is full of anecdotes from people implicitly claiming that their experience applies to everyone, when in reality everyone's going to have different experiences with everything from colds to covid. Unfortunately, the latter has a much higher prevalence of seriously-worse side-effects (long-haul, ageusia, anosmia, death, etc) compared to the former.

My 15 yo son got Covid about three weeks ago, symptoms matched what the parent poster described, including feeling "wiped out". Oh wait, no he didn't. Testing all came back negative. Diagnosis from his pediatrician: common cold.

Ah, yeah, you're right. It was probably just the cold that myself, my son, and my wife got after being exposed to someone that had symptomatic, PCR tested Covid. I'm sure it was just a coincidence that we then all three tested positive for covid.

Wow…You definitely missed the entire point of that comment.

Did I? If I did ... sigh. But I'm not convinced! But I also wouldn't be surprised :)

technothrasher wasn't doubting that you had COVID, but rather making the point that the common cold and COVID now have the same symptoms and severity, and that getting a test is now the only way to tell which one you have.

Whoosh

I'm not convinced it wooshed! But I also wouldn't be surprised :)

Joint pain and being mentally "out" (not being able to hold complex structures in my mind = unable to code) are two hallmarks of common colds for me and why I always take ~2 days off work when I have one - I'd just get frustrated trying. Sore throat is another one.

Omicron now is no different. Ended up taking 3 days off work and am now back to normal capacity.

FWIW: To me, it sounded like an atypical cold or a typical flu. I've been "wiped out" by colds before, though rarely, and I'm always "wiped out" by flus, though I catch them a lot less often than once a year.