We have been warned about the combination of the seasonal flu virus and COVID-19 becoming a health issue this fall. However, the experience of treating COVID-19 patients to-date has enabled hospitals to better prepare for this potential outbreak.
A recent article in the Health section of the Wall Street Journal suggests that our physicians and hospitals have improved their treatment protocols for treating COVID 19. This news is a good first step, but not an excuse to stop wearing masks or ignore social distancing recommendations. However, it is encouraging to know that our health care system is better prepared to treat this deadly disease.
When the new coronavirus first struck, beds filled up at record speed, ventilators were in short supply and proven treatments were scant. Since then, physicians say, they have developed a better understanding of who needs a ventilator and how quickly a patient can be discharged, and studies have pointed to a few drugs that can help. 2:05
The reported progress mirrors some gains physicians and hospitals in Europe said they saw after a challenging start, which helped to reduce deaths among the sickest patients. In the U.S., there are signs the changes are contributing to better outcomes for Covid-19 patients, physicians and hospitals say.
Factors beyond improved treatment also probably have played a role in the improving outcomes, physicians and hospitals say. Many hospitals, especially in the Northeast, have benefited from fewer Covid-19 admissions in recent months, which allows physicians to spend more time with each patient. Younger and healthier patients have also helped. Patients also seem to be seeking care earlier than before, physicians say, enabling treatment before their cases worsen and become harder to treat.
Yet physicians say they are also better able to manage care for hospitalized patients, as studies have shown which drugs work and which do not. Now, physicians say they are regularly using remdesivir and the steroid dexamethasone, while avoiding antimalaria drugs.
Another important factor in treatment, physicians say, is a deeper understanding of Covid-19’s wide-ranging effects on the body, such as a greater risk of blood clots. Many physicians say they have pulled back on putting many patients on ventilators, which can increase the risk of developing other infections or injure the lungs. Instead, physicians say they are trying less-invasive treatments, such as prongs called high-flow nasal cannulas that blow heated, humidified oxygen into patients’ noses.
This is encouraging news for anyone who is stricken with COVID-19 this fall. However, we are all awaiting good news regarding the development of a vaccine. The introduction of a vaccine that will be available widely to the public has been estimated to be the end of the first quarter 2021 or the second quarter 2021, per the CDC Director.