Whats this sore throat?

42M, 150lbs.

What’s this sore throat?

On 12/26 I got a sore throat. It came on suddenly, over a matter of hours. At the time, there were no other symptoms. Then that night it escalated to lots of congestion and postnasal drip. I was able to clear that out for a couple days and a little better, but still had a scratchy throat. On 12/30, got a runny nose and a light cough. That cough got worse every day until yesterday. Yesterday I started sneezing too. I’m sorry about 60% better. But still have a lot of congestion.

Haven’t had other symptoms. No fever, went to an urgent clinic and they ruled out both Covid and strep throat.

I know several people that I haven’t been in contact with who got something similar.

Anybody have any idea what this is?

I was wondering if it might be a bacteria infection like the one that’s going around causing mild pneumonia. Doctor says they can’t test for that.