Last week, almost a thousand cases of Covid-19 were registered in our country, according to INSP, and 43.3% of the cases were reported in Bucharest and in the counties of Cluj, Constanţa, Prahova and Braşov.
Current symptoms of the Covid-19 disease – Photo Archive
At the same time, 13 deaths in patients with COVID-19 were recorded in the counties of Tulcea, Bihor, Neamţ, Bistriţa Năsăud and Constanța. Two thirds (66.7%) of the deaths occurred in unvaccinated people, reveals the weekly surveillance report.
It has already been four years since the pandemic began and many of us have been through the disease at least once. Over time, the symptoms associated with the condition have changed and it is treated differently, according to The New York Times.
The most common symptoms for Covid are fatigue, sore throat, runny nose, headache, muscle aches and cough, says Dr. Soniya Gandhi, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
“All or any of these in isolation may still be Covid”said Dr. Gandhi.
Other people may get conjunctivitis or have nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, but these symptoms are not so common. Even the loss of taste and smell is no longer associated with the disease, being rather rare.
“The biggest change is that people have milder symptoms overall“said Dr. Amanda Casto, acting assistant professor of allergy and infectious diseases at the University of Washington.
That's because more and more people have acquired some immunity, either because they've been vaccinated, or because they've been through the disease, or both.
However, the condition remains dangerous for those who have comorbidities, and the above data confirms this. INSP data show that deaths in our country were more frequent in those suffering from cardiovascular diseases, 71% of people who died of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic and until now had a heart disease. Moreover, 93.8% of the deceased had at least one associated comorbidity, the INSP report, published this week, also shows.
The good news is that serious illness is less common than in the early years. In Romania, during the week of February 19-25, the number of people admitted to wards with COVID-19 in hospitals is currently 192. Also, 12 people are admitted to ATI.
What's more, the INSP report shows that adults over 60 are at greater risk of serious infections and death.
Because now Covid can easily be confused with a cold or flu, doctors recommend that we test ourselves if we have symptoms or if we have come into contact with a sick person. Currently, isolation is no longer mandatory, but doctors in the US recommend that we isolate ourselves for five days and then wear a mask for another five days if we want to protect those around us.
Tailored treatment
The recommended treatment is the antiviral Paxlovid, which is highly effective against severe Covid, reducing the risk of death by 73% if given within the first five days of infection, according to a preliminary study by the National Institutes of Health.
The drug is available by prescription, and doctors prescribe it if patients test positive or have specific symptoms.
“If you are elderly or have co-morbidities, before it gets worse, you should already seek medical attentionsaid Dr. Bernard Camins, medical director of infection prevention at Mount Sinai Health System in New York.
In Europe the drug was underused. Even though it was bought in large quantities in 2022, around 3.1 million doses of the drug are set to expire in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and France by the end of this month, writes Euronews.
However, the drug is not for everyone because it can interact with several drugs, including those commonly used to lower blood pressure or prevent blood clots, and it is also not recommended for people with severe kidney disease.
For healthy young people, the drug does not offer much benefit. They can treat the illness at home, like any common cold, with rest, hydration, and cold and flu medications.
The time we should call a doctor is when we face breathing difficulties like rapid and shallow breathing, then we should report to the emergency room, doctors say.
