Covid 19 – Overview and Emergency Room

Transcript

COVID-19 is a disease caused by a specific strain of coronavirus. Coronaviruses are one of the causes of the common cold, and most humans have been infected with coronavirus sometime in their life. This particular coronavirus is important because it can cause a very serious illness that can even lead to death. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are very similar to influenza and other upper respiratory viruses. These include fevers, chills, sweats, runny nose, sneezing, sore, throat, cough, trouble breathing, and severe body aches. You can also experience nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Unique symptoms to COVID-19 include loss of taste and loss of smell. If you cannot keep down food or fluid, even with medications given by your ER doctor, if you are unable to breathe, and if you develop chest pain or lightheadedness that causes you to faint, come back to the ER. COVID-19 has a way of making you very hungry for air and short of breath. If you’ve gone home with a positive COVID-19 test, be alert for serious trouble breathing and come back to the hospital as soon as you can, if you can’t breathe.