In response to numerous inquiries from the public, the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) is providing guidance on the continued use of corticosteroids for patients with allergies and asthma during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As spring allergy season sets in, allergy and asthma sufferers may be concerned that continuing their normal use of inhaled and intranasal corticosteroids may not be advisable during the pandemic. However, it is more important than ever for these patients to keep their symptoms well controlled.

The ACAAI has provided the following statement: "With the COVID-19 pandemic coinciding with the Spring allergy season, you may be concerned about using your intranasal corticosteroids for nasal allergies and your inhaled corticosteroids for your asthma. There is no data to suggest that continuing these allergy and asthma medications will have any effect on increasing your risk of getting the COVID-19 infection, or if you get the infection, lead to a worse outcome. It is important to control your allergy and asthma symptoms as they could potentially lead to misdiagnosis of COVID-19 if there were an overlap of some symptoms."

Source: American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI)