Yes, some common colds are caused by coronaviruses. Four specific coronavirus strains have been circulating in humans since at least the 1960s, and they’re responsible for a meaningful share of colds worldwide. But coronaviruses aren’t the only cause. Rhinoviruses account for the majority of colds, with coronaviruses, adenoviruses, and other viral families splitting the rest.
The Four Cold-Causing Coronaviruses
Scientists have identified four human coronaviruses that typically cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory illness: 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1. The first two are alphacoronaviruses, and the latter two are betacoronaviruses. The CDC notes that most people get infected with one or more of these viruses at some point in their lives.
These aren’t new arrivals. The 229E strain was first isolated from patients with upper respiratory infections in 1966, and OC43 was identified the following year. NL63 and HKU1 were both discovered in 2004, though they had likely been circulating undetected for much longer. All four infect the upper airways, producing the stuffy nose, sore throat, and cough you’d expect from any ordinary cold.
How They Differ From SARS-CoV-2
SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, is also a coronavirus, which is part of why this question comes up so often. It belongs to the same betacoronavirus group as OC43 and HKU1. But the similarities are largely structural. The cold coronaviruses stay in the upper airways, while SARS-CoV-2 can penetrate deeper into the lungs and spread to other organs.
One key difference is how each virus gets into your cells. The cold coronaviruses use a mix of entry points: 229E latches onto a protein called CD13, NL63 uses the same ACE2 receptor that SARS-CoV-2 targets, and OC43 and HKU1 bind to sugar molecules on cell surfaces. Despite NL63 sharing a receptor with SARS-CoV-2, it causes far milder illness because of differences in how aggressively it replicates and how the immune system responds to it.
OC43 and HKU1 also carry an extra surface protein that the other coronaviruses lack. This protein helps them latch onto cells and then detach, functioning similarly to a protein found on influenza C and D viruses. It’s a reminder that even within the coronavirus family, there’s significant structural variety.
Coronavirus Colds vs. COVID-19 Symptoms
A cold caused by a coronavirus looks and feels like any other cold: runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, sneezing, and sometimes a mild cough. Fever is rare. Symptoms typically appear within 2 to 4 days of exposure and resolve in 3 to 10 days, though some colds can linger for up to two weeks.
COVID-19 has a longer incubation period of 2 to 14 days and tends to produce symptoms that colds don’t. Muscle aches, significant fatigue, shortness of breath, and loss of taste or smell can all accompany COVID-19 but are essentially absent in a regular cold. Headache is common with COVID-19 and rare with colds. That said, the most common COVID-19 symptoms have shifted over time and now overlap more with cold symptoms: runny nose, headache, and sore throat.
Why You’ll Never Know Which Cold Virus You Have
When you visit a doctor with cold symptoms, there’s no routine test to determine whether a coronavirus, rhinovirus, or adenovirus is responsible. Diagnosis is based on symptoms alone. A provider might take a nasal or throat swab to rule out other conditions like strep throat or COVID-19, or order a chest X-ray if a lung infection is suspected. But identifying the specific virus behind a garden-variety cold doesn’t change treatment, so it’s rarely done outside of research settings.
Estimates from epidemiological studies suggest coronaviruses cause roughly 15 to 30 percent of common colds in adults, with rhinoviruses responsible for the largest share at around 30 to 50 percent. The exact proportions shift year to year and season to season.
When Coronavirus Colds Are Most Common
In the United States, infections with the four common coronaviruses peak from fall through spring, following a pattern similar to flu season. You can catch one at any time of year, but the cooler months bring the highest activity. This seasonality is partly driven by people spending more time indoors in close contact, and partly by the viruses themselves surviving longer in cool, dry air.
Because these coronaviruses have been circulating for decades, most adults have been infected multiple times. Unlike some viruses that confer lasting immunity, the cold coronaviruses reinfect people throughout life. Your immune system does build some short-term protection after each infection, which is why repeat infections tend to be milder and shorter, but that protection fades within months to a few years.