COVID-19: When to rush to the hospital
Amidst rising cases of COVID-19 in India, there is an acute shortage of hospital beds and resources to cater to the demand of increasing numbers of patients.
However, all COVID positive patients need not get admitted to a hospital and can easily recover by taking all the precautions, rest and following a doctor’s instructions while home quarantining.
Nevertheless, a COVID patient condition can get severe and they may require immediate hospital care. Below are the symptoms that are an alarm bell that the patient will require instant professional assistance.
- If your oxygen saturation dips below 90 percent. Signs like experiencing breathlessness despite resting, having difficulty in speaking, inability to walk across a room and dip in oxygen level despite the supply of O2 are all red flags that the patient needs to be admitted to a hospital as soon as possible.
- Persistent fever for 5 to 7 days. It is normal to get fever while you are down with COVID but if your fever is persistent for more than 5 days then you should immediately consult your doctor.
- Severe vomiting or diarrhea. If you have severe diarrhea and vomiting then your body is losing essential fluids and you might require an IV bottle injection in your body.
- Difficulty speaking. This is a severe symptom and needs immediate assistance.
- Confusion or sudden change in mental status. If a patient is acting delirious and speaking nonsensically, take them to the nearby COVID hospital.
- Extreme sleepiness or inability to wake. If a COVID patient fatigue is so severe that they are unable to stay awake, then they need to be admitted to a hospital.
Prevention is better than cure. To avoid such a situation to arise - practice social distancing, avoid unnecessarily stepping out from your homes, wear a mask, get vaccinated and report at the earliest if you get any COVID symptoms and self-isolate yourself.
You need to practice all these measures even if you have got COVID previously and even after receiving vaccination.
This is because you can still get a reinfection despite previous exposure to the virus and none of the vaccines is 100 percent efficacious and also even if it is effective, you can be a carrier of the virus and give it to someone who is not vaccinated or has low immunity.