One refrain we often heard during the Covid-19 pandemic was something of a type: 80% of those infected have mild symptoms or may have no symptoms at all. Of course, a lack of symptoms is ideal (if we have to get sick - and the chances are high), but many young, healthy people have been comforted by the label of "light." Older people and people with chronic illnesses never had this privilege. We've all got a cold, we've all had the flu; Although not a pleasant experience, we know the situation.
But we may have misunderstood the term "mild" when applied to coronavirus symptoms, according to Bruce Aylwrad, who led the WHO when visiting Wuhan at the start of the pandemic. Aylward has 30 years of experience in battles against polio, Ebola and other global emergencies. He says cases classified as mild in China include patients who have undergone pneumonia and who need breathing apparatus. The cases that were labeled "critical" were patients with lungs or more dysfunctional organs.
Of course, there may be those with mild symptoms that do not identify themselves or are tested. The Times reported that "Covid-19 is almost identical in symptoms to a cold or a flu." According to Sean Morrison, an expert in geriatrics at Mout Sinai Hospital, "mild" is used for affordable symptoms that do not require a doctor's opinion or a visit. But this may include people who have gone through pneumonia.
"Most people with pneumonia - any type of pneumonia - feel bad enough to be visited and treated," Morrison says. ?A group of people with pneumonia, stay home, are not visited and cured. Especially with viral pneumonia, for which antibiotics don't work. "
Pneumonia is not a pleasant condition and can cause other health complications - in patients with Covid-19, Morrison says, is one of the three causes of death. "Covid-19 deaths occur for one of three reasons: lung dysfunction due to pneumonia (meaning lung infection); infection throughout the body that passes into sepsis; kidney dysfunction, due to infection in the body. ?
In other words, there are some cases of coronavirus that resemble the flu or the cold and there are cases that do not resemble the flu. But it can be much worse. We do not yet know enough about this virus. "The facts change from day to day," says Morrison. "If you ask me after a month, I can give you a more accurate answer."
Right now we know that going public with or without symptoms simply contributes to the further spread of coronavirus and other illnesses that may not have mild symptoms.
Source: The Cut
