With the arrival of the COVID-19 coronavirus, there are more questions than answers.
Among them, “What happens when I go to the doctor’s office or hospital with possible coronavirus symptoms?”
Although there may be some slight deviations among caregivers, Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, an infectious disease specialist with Baptist Medical Group, said the basic protocol has been in place as the virus begins to spread in the U.S.
“What happens when you get to the hospital depends on the level of suspicion there is for a patient having the virus,” Threlkeld said. “The first thing that will happen is that you’ll go through a screening process. We’ll want to know what your symptoms are, if you’ve traveled anywhere in the last 14 days to places where the coronavirus was widespread, if you have underlying respiratory issues that might make you more vulnerable. All of those things help us determine the degree of risk you may have.”
Threlkeld said the most symptoms of COVID-19 include, but are not limited to, fever, coughing and shortness of breath.
The presence of those symptoms are not a sure sign of the virus, however.
“What you find is that those symptoms are also found in other types of common viruses,” Threlkeld said.
If a patient is determined to be a potential coronavirus case, Threlkeld said, he or she is taken to an isolation area and provided with a face mask.
“From that point, what will happen is we’ll take swabs and test them to make sure it’s not a common infection, the flu being the most obvious,” he said. “If you don’t have any of those viruses, we’ll take additional swabs and send them to the state lab for testing.”
For now, most medical facilities do not have the testing available on site. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate it would take eight-to-10 weeks for the test to be widely available at local hospitals and clinics.
“Fortunately, things seem to be changing almost hour to hour,” Threlkeld said. “As of Thursday, there are three private labs that are offering tests, so a lot more of testing should be able to be done on site as opposed to send the swabs away for testing.”
Once the swabs have been collected, most patients will be instructed to return home.
“I think there’s some fear that if you go into a hospital and say you think you might have the coronavirus, you’ll be kept at the hospital under quarantine,” Threlkeld said. “The rule of thumb there is the same as it’s always been. People who need to be in the hospital stay in the hospital and those who don’t need to be in the hospital don’t stay. Unless there’s a medical reason to keep a patient in the hospital, you’ll be sent home and self-quarantine until the test results come back. When the test results come in, you’ll be notified by the heath department and be given further instructions.”
Even in the event that a patient does test positive for the virus, Threlkeld said there’s no need to panic.
“I know people are afraid,” Threlkeld said. “But it’s important to know that 80 percent of the people who get the coronavirus recover pretty quickly, much like they do with the flu. If you’re not in a vulnerable group or have other underlying conditions that raise the threat level, the coronavirus is not a grave threat to your long-term health.”
So far, reports of possible cases have been few in the Golden Triangle.
Urgent Team clinics in Starkville and Columbus report few inquiries.
State Urgent Care in Starkville, on the other hand, does not even see patients who suspect they have Coronavirus.
“We’re just not set up for it,” said receptionist Brooklyn Nunley. “We put up a sign on our door (Thursday) telling patients not to come in, that they should instead call us so we can talk to them about their symptoms. If they do have the symptoms, we advise them to go to the hospital.”
Nunley said only a few people had arrived at the clinic with coronavirus concerns.
“We have maybe one or two on Wednesday and maybe three (Thursday),” she said.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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