LAST week, I shared that getting real with Covid-19 is about going back to basics…prevention and reality check. We need to have a reality mindset that you can get Covid-19. I initially shared prevention measures given by our pediatrician. This week, let me also share her suggested home-care measures in the event that we gets sick or a person in our home does:
IF ANYONE FEELS UNWELL (FROM COVID-19 OR OTHERWISE). Anyone with a fever, cough, or cold should stay home, rest and take plenty of fluids. This person should wear a mask, practice hand and respiratory hygiene strictly, and stay isolated in a room with an assigned bathroom/toilet/sink. Also provide his/her own towels, beddings, utensils and dinnerware. Continue measures to disinfect high-touch areas in the room and everywhere at home. Do not bring this person to the Emergency Room immediately. Patients who have mild symptoms may not be tested for Covid-19 due to limited test kits. Many Covid-19 patients have been sent home to recover in order to keep hospital beds available for the critical ones.
AVOID DIRECT OR CLOSE CONTACT. Designate one or two home members as caregivers. These assigned caregivers should have no high-risk medical conditions (see below). While caring for the sick, they should wear a mask and practice strict handwashing after touching soiled objects, and these should be disposed in the trash after use. For additional protection, an outer coat or apron can be worn by the caregiver then thrown in a laundry bin after he/she leaves the room.
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO? For any fever, you may give paracetamol (a.k.a. acetaminophen). Concern has been raised that ibuprofen can worsen the course of Covid-19. This concern remains to be proven. While most outpatient clinics are closed now, get phone advise from a doctor on what other medications can be given. Keep the doctor updated through the next days of the illness.
WHO ARE AT HIGH RISK FOR SEVERE COVID-19? The elderly and those with chronic conditions. Those with heart disease, diabetes, or lung disease are at higher risk for becoming severely ill from Covid-19.
WHEN DOES ONE NEED TO GO TO THE E.R.? If the sick person has any difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, pain or pressure in the chest, bluish lips, seems confused, excessively sleepy or difficult to wake up, bring the patient to the ER for proper immediate care. Aside from our physical health, getting real with Covid-19 also means adopting ways on how to keep our overall well-being. For me, this means keeping our spirit and mind both positive and active.
During this period, we read many posts on Covid-19 news, reminders and states of people who have caught the virus. It gets difficult to understand why such pandemic is happening. It saddens us to see people losing family members to this virus. Then, there is also the economic side to worry about.
Amid all this, we can only take each day one day at a time. We can only push ourselves to appreciate the good in the face of this chaos. As Cardinal Tagle challenged us in his homily last March 22 during his livestreamed mass at the Pontificio Collegio Filippino in Rome, Italy, he asked, “Do we see new life?…Do we see good?” He posed a reality that all of us must admit, that we have some form of “blindness.” He challenged us, “What did we fail to see?” He advised us, “Let Jesus restore us to sight” and “We need more light in the Lord…not just ordinary light.”
Cardinal Tagle shared his thoughts on our daily lives that now when we need to be in face masks, we should try to find the smile in each other’s eyes. He also pointed out that now when parents have no choice but to spend their days with their kids at home, we should start to see how valuable teachers’ jobs are. Even if you choose to move pass the religious aspects, what stuck to me is his message of “new sight.”
We can also see today as a possibility for positive transformation of our culture. We see community groups mobilizing to bring food to health workers, or creating useful social-media groups to bring valuable information and support to the community. Most of all, we see the truly heroic health professionals risking their lives and even their families’ lives to ensure patient care. I could not help but cry when I saw the forwarded message of Bishop Ampo as he related the recent passing of Dr. Greg Macasaet, an anesthesiologist and dedicated frontliner in the fight against Covid-19. He also shared that Dr. Israel Bactol, a young and promising cardiologist also got exposed to the virus and died. There are still many health professionals on the list who were recently exposed.
May we continue to pray for the safety of all, especially those in the frontlines of this battle against Covid-19. I hope we can all set our energy to thinking of ways how to help. My son, Marcus, wrote this a few weeks ago:
Dear doctors of the world,
Thank you for trying to stop Covid-19. You have risked your lives for others. We hope your work will pay off.
I also hope that you are healthy and you should be proud of yourself. Even if you don’t stop Covid-19, you still inspire me to be a better person.
Marcus Co Say