What to do if you get COVID-19ExBulletin

Scott Simon, Host:

No longer theoretical for millions of Americans Question-What if you test positive for COVID-19 and are told to quarantine until you get better? Dr. Harasaburi has joined. She is a Seattle emergency doctor. Dr. Sabri, thank you for being with us.

HALA SABRY: Thank you for being here.

SIMON: What do you tell patients who test positive for COVID-19?

SABRY: I’m not sure about this disease. So it’s normal to be scared. But I try to talk about what they currently have and what they should be aware of in the next few days and show them when they will come back. In short, it’s important to educate and prepare for what will actually happen in the next few days.

Simon: Yeah. Doctors, What Can You Do-What Can People Do On Their Own, or Maybe With the Carefully Adjusted Help From Family You Know?

SABRY: This is initially treated like any other virus when the patient is brought home. Therefore, the advice is to use Tylenol or Motrin at the appropriate dose to relieve fever. Also, if you have children, make sure you are getting the right dose from your healthcare provider. Make sure you are hydrated-hydration is the key to many of these viral illnesses.

And it often happens when the patient returns and is hospitalized for illness. Initial resuscitation requires confirmation of proper blood pressure and hydration status. Make sure you are walking around. You will not be debilitated, just lie down on the bed, keep a social distance, wear a mask, wash your hands and keep this from spreading to others-these are what the patient can do.

Simon: And you need to be aware that, at least as far as they can say, many people who are clearly positive are asymptomatic, right?

SABRY: Yes. There are many asymptomatic patients. They want to be tested because they have been exposed, are obliged to be tested because they have traveled, or want to return to work for some sign. And they find themselves positive. And while they remain confused because they are not ill, their family and friends may be ill. So I think there are a lot of different mental games that happen when the patient is playing. You know, what will happen to me?

Simon: Yeah. Uh-and what do you tell them to do? So do you go home, avoid your family, put a cover on your head and see if it smells like ketchup? what do you say?

Sabri: Some of them. However, we only discuss symptoms that are not very dangerous in their own right, shortness of breath, coughing, and signs of returning to the emergency department.

Simon: When is it?

SABRY: If you run out of breath, cough and can’t hold your breath, or the wind is so strong that you can’t walk a few steps, please come back. A big change in their ability to have normal functional tasks.

SIMON: What do you tell parents that one of their children is positive?

SABRY: As you know, make sure you have a really good connection with your pediatrician or pediatric hospital, or that your setup is in your area. You have really good communication about what you expect, do you know? And what is really important is that there are not so many cases of COVID in children where I work. And the instructions are the same: keep the child as far away as you know from other children and from other people in the family you know. And the statistics show that kids are doing very well-that is, most kids, not all kids.

SIMON: Dr. Hala Sabry, a New York doctor in Seattle, thank you for being with us. Thank you very much.

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