Yes, chills are a well-documented COVID-19 symptom. A meta-analysis of over 24,000 infected adults across 148 studies found that about 18% of people with COVID-19 reported chills or rigors. The symptom appears on every major medical organization’s official list of COVID-19 signs, often grouped alongside fever because the two are closely linked in how your body fights the virus.
Why COVID Triggers Chills
Chills during COVID aren’t random discomfort. They’re part of a deliberate process your body uses to raise its internal temperature and fight off the virus. When SARS-CoV-2 enters your system, your immune cells release signaling molecules that travel through your bloodstream to a temperature-control center deep in your brain. This region sits near an area that lacks the usual protective barrier between blood and brain tissue, which means those immune signals can reach it directly.
Once those signals arrive, your brain essentially raises the thermostat. Your normal body temperature suddenly feels “too cold” compared to the new, higher target. In response, your muscles contract involuntarily (the shivering you feel), your blood vessels near the skin tighten to conserve heat, and you get that familiar sensation of being freezing even under blankets. The chills stop once your body temperature actually reaches the new set point, which is why chills often give way to feeling flushed and warm as a fever takes hold.
Chills Without a Fever
Not everyone who gets chills from COVID will register a measurable fever. The Mayo Clinic lists the symptom as “fever or chills,” acknowledging that you can experience one without the other. This happens because your brain may only raise the thermostat slightly, enough to trigger mild shivering but not enough to push your temperature past the standard fever threshold of 100.4°F. In other cases, chills come in waves as your immune system ramps up and down, so you might catch them between temperature spikes that you never actually measure.
When Chills Typically Appear and How Long They Last
COVID-19 symptoms generally show up 2 to 14 days after exposure, with most people noticing something around day 5 or 6. Chills tend to be an early symptom, arriving alongside or just before fever in the first few days of illness. For mild to moderate cases, symptoms including chills typically resolve within two weeks.
That said, chills can linger well beyond the acute phase for some people. A multicenter study tracking COVID patients at three months found that 6.2% still reported chills long after their initial infection. The rate varied significantly by variant: 10.6% of people infected during the pre-Delta period still had chills at three months, compared to 7.1% during the Delta wave and just 1.9% during the Omicron wave.
How Variants Changed the Picture
The virus variant you catch matters. Earlier strains of SARS-CoV-2 were more likely to cause chills, fever, loss of taste and smell, chest pain, shortness of breath, and muscle aches. As the virus evolved into the Omicron family, chills became less common both during acute illness and as a lingering symptom. Compared to Delta infections, Omicron infections carried lower odds of chills, fever, sore throat, cough, and loss of taste or smell. This doesn’t mean current variants can’t cause chills. It means the symptom is less frequent than it was in 2020 and 2021.
Managing Chills at Home
Chills feel miserable, but they respond well to straightforward care. Layer up with blankets or warm clothing to reduce the discomfort of shivering, since your body is trying to generate heat anyway. Stay hydrated, because the combination of fever, sweating, and muscle contractions burns through fluids faster than normal. Water, broth, and electrolyte drinks all help.
Over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen can lower the fever driving the chills, which often brings relief within 30 to 60 minutes. Rest is genuinely important here. Your immune system is spending significant energy fighting the virus, and that involuntary muscle contraction is physically exhausting. Most people with mild to moderate COVID recover with just these basics: rest, fluids, and symptom management.
Chills vs. Other COVID Symptoms
Chills often show up alongside a cluster of other systemic symptoms rather than in isolation. Fever, body aches, fatigue, and headache tend to travel together because they’re all driven by the same immune response. If you’re experiencing chills with a sore throat, congestion, or cough, that points more toward a respiratory infection like COVID, the flu, or another virus rather than something unrelated like anxiety or a thyroid issue.
One useful distinction: chills from COVID feel like deep, whole-body shivering that you can’t stop by simply putting on a sweater. They’re different from the brief shiver you get walking into a cold room. If you’re shaking under blankets and it came on suddenly alongside other symptoms, testing for COVID is a reasonable next step.