Doctors Say Coronavirus Patients Often Feel Better Right Before Their Condition Worsens And They Get Hospitalized, Even As New Symptoms Emerges

Doctors have warned that people diagnosed with COVID-19 will often see a break in symptoms before their condition suddenly worsens.

Physicians across the country are beginning to get a better grasp of the deadly novel coronavirus as the number of US cases continues to climb – surpassing 30,000 as of March 22.

The symptoms are often mild early on, with patients complaining of slight coughs, headaches and low-grade fevers.  

A pulmonary medicine and critical care physician at Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans, Dr Joshua Denson, who has treated about 15 to 20 COVID-19 patients, described the first phase of the disease as a ‘slow burn’.

Denson told NBC News that;

Patients tend to have symptoms for about a week before either getting better, or getting really sick.

A pulmonologist in the critical care department at National Jewish Health in Denver, Dr Ken Lyn-Kew said he has seen a similar trend with his own patients. 

Lyn-Kew said;

It seems like there’s a period of time where the body is trying to sort out whether it can beat this or not.

He said that patients who suddenly turn critical often report feeling slightly better before symptoms get worse.

Lyn-Kew added that Coronavirus patients begin to feel okay and then all of a sudden “they’re really fatigued, a lot more shorter of breath and having chest pains.”

The new virus, called COVID-19, is transmitted from person to person via droplets when an infected person breathes out, coughs or sneezes.

It can also spread via contaminated surfaces such as door handles or railings.

Coronavirus infections have a wide range of symptoms, including fever, coughing, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

Mild cases can cause cold-like symptoms including a sore throat, headache, fever, cough or trouble breathing.

Severe cases can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory illness, kidney failure and death. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure.

An infectious disease expert and professor of medicine at the Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Dr Christopher Ohl, emphasized Lyn-Kew‘s findings regarding patients who end up in the hospital.

Ohh told NBC News that;

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,’ ‘Then they get hospitalized.’

Chris Kane, a Washington state man who tested positive for coronavirus after returning from a trip to Florida late last month, was among those who felt better before feeling worse, according to his wife Susan.

Chris tested positive for coronavirus about a week later and was hospitalized at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett after his case got worse, right after ‘feeling better.’

Meanwhile, hundred of people across Britain are believed to have lost their sense of smell and taste from coronavirus.

Experts say the new symptoms should be added to the list of official symptoms to stop the spread.

The problem appears mainly to affect those under 40, who have none of the red-flag coronavirus symptoms such as a cough or fever.

That is important because young people without symptoms are a major threat for coronavirus, walking around spreading the virus without realising they have it.

Doctors say taste and smell loss may be a warning these ‘hidden carriers’ have been infected.

Professor Nirmal Kumar, president of the British Association of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT UK), said;

Losing your sense of smell or taste suddenly should absolutely be a reason for self-isolation. I have been contacted by approximately 80 to 100 people around the world suffering from this in 24 hours.