There is plenty of anxiety. And many patients have made appointments with a request to be tested. But the answers they have been getting are confusing and often frustrating as well. What should you do if you think you have COVID-19 (the disease caused by the novel coronavirus aka SARS-CoV-2)?
The first step is figuring out if you need to go to the emergency department. If you are feeling short of breath and/or having trouble breathing, this is definitely an indication (or a reason) to go to your nearest emergency department for evaluation. Having low oxygen saturation (or hypoxia) may necessitate supplemental oxygen usually being provided by a nasal cannula.
The second step is to call your primary physician and check with your county’s Department of Public Health. These two resources should help you understand the testing capabilities of your locale and unfortunately this will be a big determinant of who can get tested if they are not “sick enough” to require hospitalization.
Many of my visits have involved advising patients about the realities of our situation and lack of adequate testing. I have had to advise patients that have symptoms that they ought to stay at home and assume they have COVID-19 and self quarantine at home. The reasoning for this is that we assume many people who have COVID-19 will be in the spectrum from asymptomatic to mild/moderate disease that does not require admission to the hospital. If people who are well enough NOT to require a hospital admission, then the information obtained from testing will not change the treatment (self quarantining and treating the symptoms).
What symptoms should one look out for? That question is tricky. As we learn more about the disease we are seeing more and more symptoms that can be caused by COVID-19. For example, early on we advised patients to be on the lookout for a new cough, fever, or shortness of breath. However there have been reports of other symptoms including diarrhea, loss of taste/smell, etc. As this is changing, I would recommend the following sources:
This week I returned to work after needed to stay off and isolated for the last week. While I didn’t come to work, I wouldn’t consider it a vacation. My days were filled with taking care of the toddler (3 year old) while my wife worked from home. In one word, it was exhausting.
As far as recovering goes, I noticed improvement almost each day in terms of the severity of my cough. I was coughing less frequently each day. I never developed a fever. I also never developed any shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
And so, here I am, back at work.
Stay safe and healthy, everyone.
To be clear, I had a cough. I don’t know if I had COVID19. I did not get tested. My time off was to protect those around me in case I did actually have COVID19.
This week I returned to work after needed to stay off and isolated for the last week. While I didn’t come to work, I wouldn’t consider it a vacation. My days were filled with taking care of the toddler (3 year old) while my wife worked from home. In one word, it was exhausting.
As far as recovering goes, I noticed improvement almost each day in terms of the severity of my cough. I was coughing less frequently each day. I never developed a fever. I also never developed any shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
I have seen that a few companies are offering paid leave if their workers test positive for COVID19. In theory this is great. In reality, this is bogus.
Policies are worded very specifically. Most of the statements I have seen that list paid leave are for patients that TEST positive for COVID19.
The problem is we do not have enough tests!
At my practice (a large, tertiary, University-based clinic in Southern California), we are operating under the assumption that most people who contract COVID19 will have a mild form of the disease that will not require a hospital admission. However, they will need to be off work for the duration to limit the spread and prevent a high-risk patient from contracting it and needing a hospital stay.
So the majority of my patients who develop fever and cough (in cold/flu season) are told to stay off work and to act/behave as if they have COVID19 but they do not have a confirmed positive test to support the diagnosis.
Are these people going to be able to claim benefits? I don’t know the answer to this. But if not, it will be a huge disincentive for people to follow recommendations and stay home when sick.
Hello, I would like to know how your system is dealing with medical students who are still in the pre-clinical phase ? Are they having online courses ? How about the on-field training ? Im sorry to ask in such a blunt way but I live in a third world country and would like to know how developped countries are dealing with this issue. Thank you !
I heard that the 1st and 2nd year medical students are doing online courses. I am not sure what the 3rd and 4th year medical students are doing at this time.
I’ve been watching and waiting each day. I’ve been following the advice I give to my patients who had cough or fever and otherwise were healthy enough to stay at home.
Last night I felt warm. I got up and checked my temperature and it read 100.3. I froze. I did it two more times but the subsequent temperatures were 99 or less. I breathed a sigh of relief. My wife (RN) took my temperature too and I didn’t have a fever.
There was a slight moment of panic, I’ll admit, when I looked at the 100.3. I’m 5 days from when I first noticed the cough. I thought everything was improving each day since then.
This morning I haven’t had much of a cough at all. I had a normal temperature as well.
I make no guarantees that I am being serious. I might be, but most of the time I probably am not.
For my "more" serious side, look elsewhere (preferably at my other blog: JeffreyMD.com).
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