Not all coughs are linked to COVID-19

Not all coughs are linked to COVID-19


Many of us have been there during the pandemic. You’re masked up for a quick trip to the grocery store. You’re not sick, but suddenly a tickle in the nose grows until here comes that dreaded sneeze. AH CHOO!

People warily glance your way. You can almost hear them thinking: There goes a super-spreader. How dare they go out in public when they’re sick? Maybe they have COVID-19?

But guess what? Humans are pretty awful at being able to predict whether someone is really sick based on nothing more than the sound of a cough or a sneeze.

University of Michigan researchers concluded as much in a recent study that found the diagnostic instinct locked in our brains does not always serve us well. We’re more likely to believe a person sneezing or coughing is truly sick based on nothing more than the sounds they make.

Guess again. Researchers found most of us are unable to reliably detect actual pathogenic threats. Study participants guessed correctly on average 40% of the time when asked to judge whether sounds they were asked to listen to came from an infected or noninfected individual. They might have had better luck flipping a coin.

Despite being such bad judges of the sounds of sickness, research volunteers were nonetheless pretty confident in their guesses. Perhaps this is human nature.

The research wasn’t tied to the COVID pandemic, and the study’s lessons go beyond the current crisis. Those poor guesses can have real-world consequences. Scientists say we might be led to exhibit bias against sneezing or coughing individuals. We might shun them unnecessarily to avoid infecting ourselves.

So, when you’re out and about, don’t always believe your lying ears.

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