The majority of COVID victims experience the classic signs—difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, fatigue, and loss of taste or smell.
While the discovery of COVID symptoms is troubling, oftentimes, the patient will not end up in a state that threatens their life. This isn’t always the case, though.
When to seek medical attention for COVID-19
According to the CDC, you’ll know when to seek medical attention for COVID by looking out for any of the following:
- “Persistent” pain or pressure in the chest
- Unusual confusion, forgetfulness, and brain fog
- Difficulty rising in the morning and staying awake
- Pale, gray, or blue skin, lips, and nail beds
These emergency COVID-19 symptoms indicate that the victim might be in imminent, life-threatening danger. The CDC recommends calling 911, or, at the very least, seeking an urgent appointment with your physician.
When to seek medical attention for COVID if you’re immunocompromised
Those especially susceptible to respiratory distress might actually need emergency aid before their condition worsens.
The elderly, the diabetic, and those with underlying, pre-existing medical conditions like lung disease are advised to seek emergency care as soon as they notice any ordinary COVID symptoms on their own. This recommendation is the best way to prevent the problem from snowballing into something darker and to facilitate a speedy and complete recovery.
Emergency COVID-19 should be dealt with by a professional immediately. Short of the emergency symptoms and special cases outlined above, though, most normal folks should first make testing themselves at home a priority.
If you think you’ve been exposed, it’s best to test within two weeks of the exposure. After this period of time has elapsed, your chances of yielding a false negative jump up significantly.
We recommend keeping one or several emergency COVID tests on-hand at home—that way, you’re always prepared to test at home, even if simply in anticipation of a confirmatory RT-PCR test with a provider like us.
On the road to COVID-19 recovery?
For the majority of people, recovering from COVID-19 will be no problem with rest and self-isolation at home. If you happen to be immunocompromised or if you end up being sick for much longer than expected, you should always seek the advice of your physician, or any other healthcare provider.
If you think you might still be sick but aren’t sure, we invite you to get tested at your nearest Covid Clinic. When the path ahead isn’t quite clear, testing for COVID-19 is the surest way to plan the next few weeks accordingly.
