Doc’s advice: Don’t be scared of third wave, take precautions
Dr Sudarshan Ballal
09.01.2022
With Covid-19 cases rising exponentially, Dr Sudarshan Ballal, chairman of Manipal Hospitals, tells STOI about the dos and don’ts to follow during the third wave of the pandemic. How should one prepare differently for this wave? It is important to know that the preparations and precautions are similar for any form of Covid — Omicron, Delta or any other variant. The measures to be taken are to prevent spread of the virus through Covid-appropriate behaviour like masking, distancing, hand-washing and avoiding large crowds, especially indoor in poorly ventilated areas. They include aggressive vaccination protocols which certainly would mitigate the seriousness of the disease,and reduce ICU admissions and mortality significantly even if they don’t always prevent infections.
Even though Omicron is less virulent than Delta, it spreads more rapidly. Hospital beds should be reserved only for severely ill patients to ensure the healthcare infrastructure is not overwhelmed. Since children have not been vaccinated so far, paediatric care should be given importance. What are the medicines you should keep handy (if any)? I would strongly urge the public not to self-medicate but consult a healthcare worker for appropriate treatment if there are any symptoms. Most patients with Omicron get better on their own and do not need any specific therapy.
In gene- ral, warm salt water or betadine gargling for sore throat, and paracetamol for pain and fever could be useful at home. So would masks, thermometer and pulse oximeter. A few drugs, when administered early, could modify the disease like Paxloid, Molnupiravir, Remdesivir and monoclonal antibody cocktail. Steroids may be needed in specific situations, but should be taken strictly under medical supervision. What are the symptoms/ signs to watch out for? Since there is a significant overlap in the symptoms of various respiratory viral diseases like common cold, flu and Covid, it is sometimes difficult to make a diagnosis of Covid based on symptoms alone.
The common symptoms for Omicron may be a scratchy sore throat, bodyache, headache, fever and fatigue. For other variants like Delta, there may be significant shortness of breath and loss of smell and taste in addition to many other medical compli- cations that may be associated with Covid in some cases. In case of a reinfection, what should you do? Neither vaccination nor a previous infection with Covid will guarantee absolute immunity against a reinfection. Hence, it is important that you keep this in mind and consult your doctor if you have any of the symptoms listed above even if you have had Covid in the past or have been vaccinated. When should you seek hospital admission? Certainly, the serious symptoms that warrant admission to hospital would be high fever, extreme fatigue, lethargy, shortness of breath, low oxygen levels on pulse oximeter (oxygen saturation consistently below 94%) if they are being monitored, severe nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea which may cause dehydration. Should one continue to monitor O2 level? Omicron does not involve the lungs as much as the Delta variant, hence hypoxia and shortness of breath are unusual with Omicron infection.
However, since one does not know for sure what kind of variant you have been infected with just by the symptoms, it is prudent to monitor the oxygen level using a pulse oximeter even during the current wave.
