SAN ANTONIO – As of Sunday, more than 60 people or 16% in Bexar County who contracted the coronavirus have survived the battle and are considered “fully recovered.”
Dr. Holly Day, a hospitalist at University Health System and clinical associate professor at UT Health San Antonio, has been treating COVID-19 patients at University Hospital. Day said she’s seen patients get better and go home, but it’s not a quick recovery.
“The big part of helping someone get better is what’s called supportive care,” Day said. “And, that is basically making sure that they’re able to keep breathing, they’re able to keep eating and drinking and stay hydrated for as long as it takes the body to fight off the infection.”
Day said all COVID-19 treatments in the U.S. so far are experimental.
“You all may have heard about hydroxychloroquine, which is one of the medications that China has recommended to their providers to use based on their preliminary data, Day said. “That is one of the medications we used, and it’s a pill, and I’ve seen the patients that I have (who take it) get better.”
Day said it’s important to keep in mind that she is talking about patients who have not been in ICU.
And, when it comes to COVID- 19, Day said that some people end up in ICU, some recover after being in the hospital for a few days and some can treat themselves at home.
“Some people have been doing fine at home,” she said. “Some people have felt like they have a cold or a bad flu and they felt crummy for a few days and they stated getting better.”
Day said if you’re at home with COVID-19, it’s very important to isolate yourself, monitor your fever and breathing and if that gets worse, call a doctor.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.
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