TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — There’s a new COVID-19 symptom doctors say they’re seeing in patients: an earache.

This symptom, according to experts, is now being reported more and more by those who end up testing positive.

With new emerging variants, doctors all over the world are reporting the symptoms of COVID-19 are, indeed, changing.

In fact, this month, Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, cited this very symptom specifically during a news conference. He made the announcement on a Zoom call, providing details surrounding his positive diagnosis.

The announcement came less than 24 hours after the team was in Tampa over the weekend for a Buccaneers preseason game. The coach listed two primary symptoms during his news conference, one of them was an earache.

“This morning I woke up with a sore throat and earache, so I went and got tested,” he said Sunday.

Doctors say this symptom is being reported more and more by patients, many of them thinking it’s just an earache, but it turns out they have the virus.

Dr. Nicole Frommann is the medical director for TGH Urgent Care, Powered by Fast Track. She tells 8 On Your Side the new delta variant is different from alpha.

“The reason we are seeing earaches more often is because sore throat is so prominent, and the earache is coming from sore throat.”

She was quick to point out that while earaches are a symptom of COVID-19, they’re not the only symptom.

“We sometimes see earaches, but usually associated with other symptoms especially sore throat,” Frommann said.

So, as the waiting room at her urgent care center remains packed with people, and the numbers are increasing every day, she shared a familiar, sobering prognosis – the pandemic shows no signs of slowing.

These new, emerging variants and the symptoms that come along with them are now causing numbers to rise rapidly day after day around the world.

“COVID patient after COVID patient, we are overwhelmed with the patients with COVID. I would say it’s worse than last year,” Frommann said.

In the end, she wanted to remind people that COVID-19-positive patients who report earaches also report other symptoms, including a sore throat and headache. She did note that loss of taste and smell are still happening, but that symptom is just not as prevalent.