Think you have coronavirus? Here’s when, and if, you should go to the hospital
As concerns over the spread of novel coronavirus continue to dominate Florida’s headlines, many people have basic questions about what to do if they start to feel sick.
That can be tricky, given the small amount of science behind the emerging pathogen, also known as COVID-19, making its way across the globe.
There are simple steps people can take to reduce their risk of getting infected, of course. The most important: frequent and thorough hand washing, for more than 20 seconds at a time.
But what do you do if you start experiencing symptoms that could indicate novel coronavirus? Jose G. Castro — a physician and infectious disease specialist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine — shared his latest understanding of COVID-19 to help answer questions about what to do if you think you’ve got the illness.
“The field is very fluid,” Castro cautioned. “We’re still learning a lot.”
I have coronavirus symptoms. Should I go to the hospital?
It’s important to recognize the initial symptoms associated with novel coronavirus: dry cough and fever. On that note, it’s probably a good idea to buy a thermometer to keep at home, if you don’t already own one.
But just developing those two symptoms doesn’t mean you should go to the hospital.
Castro said you should probably simply stay home if you start to feel sick, unless you are experiencing shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
That advice doesn’t apply to people with other complicating health factors like a compromised immune system from cancer or a recent organ transplant, Castro said. Those people should seek medical care immediately.
“Otherwise, healthy people who develop dry cough and fever — there’s no need to panic,” Castro said. “There are a lot of viruses right now that produce these types of symptoms.”
Staying home when you feel sick is so important, Castro said, because novel coronavirus causes mild symptoms in about eight out of 10 people. That means people who don’t think they are very sick could end up spreading the disease to others who are far more likely to develop severe symptoms, like the elderly and people with compromising health conditions.
If you do believe you meet the criteria to go to the hospital — that is, you have dry cough and a fever combined with difficulty breathing or a compromised immune symptom — call ahead to let your healthcare provider know you suspect you might have novel coronavirus, then follow their advice on the best way to get to the facility.
How are doctors treating novel coronavirus?
Doctors in the U.S. haven’t had a lot of experience treating cases of novel coronavirus, so there’s no established treatment for patients who develop severe symptoms from COVID-19, which can resemble a life-threatening case of pneumonia, Castro said.
If symptoms are mild or not present, Castro said, treat it as if you have a cold or mild flu: hydration, rest, and perhaps taking some over-the-counter medication to treat your fever. But those with severe symptoms will need to be admitted to a hospital for advanced medical care.
“There’s no specific treatment for this virus as of yet,” Castro said. “There are a number of medications being studied.”
At least two of those medications have been shown to be successful in a laboratory setting, Castro said, and he anticipates they will move toward trials that involve large numbers of sick patients soon to determine if the medications work for people.
But for now, doctors are offering supportive treatment, which could mean putting a patient on a ventilator if they stop being able to breathe on their own, Castro said.
“It’s similar to many other conditions,” he said. “It’s similar to the flu in that when the patient gets to what’s called respiratory failure, a cascade of events have been triggered at that point.”
Castro said the goal then becomes to keep the patient alive as their body heals naturally, but other complications could arise in the meantime, such as a secondary infection as the body’s defense mechanisms start to shut down.
“So, you support, but you’re also alert for additional complications,” he said.
I tested positive for a different coronavirus. How do I know I don’t have COVID-19?
Skepticism around the government’s ability to test for and identify cases of novel coronavirus has led patients to doubt physicians, even after they are told they don’t have COVID-19. For example, you may test positive for a different strain of coronavirus and think doctors should still test you for the novel strain.
Castro said that if a patient tests positive for an older strain of coronavirus, it’s highly unlikely that patient also has COVID-19.
“If you have a cold or a respiratory infection and you identify an old coronavirus, that’s what you’ve got,” he said. “It would be very difficult to get infected at the same time by two different strains of the virus.”
Another question that has been raised is whether someone who gets COVID-19 can then get reinfected with the same virus, instead of developing an immunity. Castro said it’s still too early for conclusive evidence on that.
For instance, Castro said, the most common cause of a typical cold is a type of virus called a rhinovirus, and you can catch those more than once because they mutate.
“I think it’s too premature to tell if this specific coronavirus will mutate enough to attack again on the same individual,” he said.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 4:38 PM.
