A few months ago, the coronavirus didn’t exist. Now, it has affected the entire world. Even if people who don’t know someone personally who contracted the illness, the pandemic has changed the lives of so many as countries restrict travel, close establishments, and confine people to their homes. It’s vital to know what symptoms to look for in order to protect oneself from the disease and to seek treatment if needed. 

However, since COVID-19 is a new disease, doctors and experts are learning about it on the fly. As more information comes out, the more they are able to understand the pandemic and how to treat it. 

The Symptoms of the Coronavirus

Here are the prime symptoms:

• Fever
• Dry cough
• Fatigue
• Difficulty breathing
• Shortness of breath

Less common symptoms include:

• Runny noses
• Stuffy sinuses
• Gastrointestinal issues or diarrhea

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that whoever experiences the following symptoms should seek emergency treatment:

• Difficulty breathing
• Confusion or inability to wake
• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
• Bluish lips or face
• Any other severe or concerning symptoms [1]

A new discovery was made about the coronavirus. To identify it, one should look not only at the symptoms but at its pattern.

Read: Experts: Loss Of Taste, Smell Could Be Early Symptoms Of Coronavirus

“A Slow Burn”

As physicians care for the growing number of patients with the coronavirus, they have compared notes and made a vital observation about how it progresses.

In many cases, patients begin with minor symptoms like a slight cough, low fever, headache. Then they worsen. 

“Patients tend to have symptoms for about a week before either getting better, or getting really sick,” said Dr. Joshua Denson, pulmonary medicine and critical care physician at Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans, who has treated around 15–20 COVID-19 cases. He calls the beginning phase of the illness “a slow burn.”

Many others have made the same observation. 

“It seems like there’s a period of time where the body is trying to sort out whether it can beat this or not,” Dr. Ken Lyn-Kew, a pulmonologist in the critical care department at National Jewish Health, a hospital in Denver.

Often, the patients feel better just before their health deteriorates.

“That’s what we’re seeing with these patients who get a lot worse,” said Lyn-Kew. “They’re doing OK, and then all of a sudden they’re really fatigued, a lot more shorter of breath and having chest pains.“

Dr. Christopher Ohl, an infectious disease expert and professor of medicine at the Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has also witnessed this rapid decline.

“They say, ‘Hey, you know, I think I’m getting over this,’ and then within 20 to 24 hours, they’ve got fevers, severe fatigue, worsening cough and shortness of breath,” Ohl said. “Then they get hospitalized.” [5]

Susan Kane saw this take place first-hand when her husband, Chris, got a cough after coming home to Snohomish County, Washington from a business trip in Florida. He was 55, a non-smoker, and had no underlying health conditions.

“It started off as just a little bit of a dry cough,” said Susan Kane. “He didn’t have any other symptoms but this crazy cough.”

After a few days passed, his cough got worse. 

“It ramped up, and then it was coughing and choking and just gasping for air.“

One week later, he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was hospitalized at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington. He was put on oxygen as soon as he was admitted. He later recovered after an experimental treatment of an Ebola drug. [2]

Related: Italian coronavirus patient, 79, recovers after taking Ebola drug

Who is at High Risk for the Coronavirus?

Though there have been cases of coronavirus among young and middle-aged adults, older adults along with people with chronic health conditions are at high-risk for contracting the illness. These conditions include:

• High blood pressure – 76.% of patients who passed away from the coronavirus in Italy had hypertension or high blood pressure.
• Heart disease – One-third of patients in Italy who died had heart disease.
• Atrial fibrillation – One-quarter of the deceased in Italy had this condition.
• Diabetes – This is the second most common condition for deceased coronavirus patients.
• Cancer –20.3% of those who died in Italy had active cancer in the last five years.
• Chronic kidney disease – 18% had this condition.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung diseases like chronic emphysema and bronchitis was found in 13.2% of the deceased. [3]

Denson has noted that almost all of his severely ill patients had some combination of obesity, high blood pressure, and type two diabetes. 

Collaborated reports like ‘the slow burn’ symptoms pattern and most targeted demographics are crucial for medical practitioners to understand the virus that has swept across the world and affected over 576,000 people and caused over 26,400 deaths as of March 27. [3]

“We don’t have a nice COVID-19 textbook to go back to,” said Lyn-Kew. “We’re learning about this disease as it’s happening, minute-by-minute.”

Doctors advise at-risk people to pay close attention to their body, even when they begin to feel better.

“Be aware of what’s going on,” said Ohl. “If your symptoms start to get worse after you’ve been feeling better, then you need to contact your doctor. That’s probably something that doctors need to treat in an emergency.” [4]

Keep Reading: Former CDC Chief: Vitamin D May Reduce The Risk Of Coronavirus Infection

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