No, it was COVID - I took a quick home test and, by the time the liquid reached the control line, the "you have COVID" line was already bright red. A PCR test later that day confirmed it.

And second, I have never had these types of symptoms before - fever yes, dry cough no. Sure, I also have never been this old before, but if I get COVID and suffer the symptoms that health authorities say are typical of COVID, Ocam's razor would force me to discard the "it must have been something else" theory.