How Do You Define Mild, Moderate and Severe COVID?

As the omicron variant spreads around the globe, everyone wants to know: Will it cause mainly mild disease? Moderate? Severe? And then there's the question of what exactly "mild," "moderate" and "severe" mean vis-a-vis COVID. It turns out that question isn't so easy to answer. That's because doctors and patients have different concerns when assessing COVID. Doctors think in terms of how your lungs and other organs are doing and what treatments might be required. Patients, meanwhile, think in terms of how horrible they might feel. A mild case could mean barely any symptoms and a quick return to feeling normal. As for moderate, patients in that category would experience shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. And perhaps you shouldn't worry about figuring out the right adjective for your case, it's more important to alert your physician to what you're experiencing.