Question:
The video and instructions say that I should call my doctor first; why is that?
Answer:
Some people wonder why they need to call their doctor before informing others of the infection. The first reason is that the symptomatic person may not have the coronavirus. Instead, they could have a traditional medical issue, such as allergies, a sinus infection, or even strep throat. These medical conditions continue to develop as well, further complicating identifying COVID-19.
Your doctor will ask some questions to clarify if you have appropriate symptoms that require testing. At that point, you still will not be one hundred percent sure that you have the disease. However, you will learn that a doctor thinks that you may have it, which is enough information to share with the friends, family, and colleagues you were near in the previous two weeks. These potentially exposed folks should self-quarantine until they learn of your results: good or bad. If testing is not readily available, the exposed individuals should quarantine for fourteen days straight to see if they come down with the disease. If not, then they may return to their normal activities.
Another reason to call your doctor if you have any of the symptoms (see chart below), is because a small number, one in nine, of infected people do not exhibit a fever (1). They may instead display different combinations of the signs of the disease. Therefore, you should call your doctor if you have any of the symptoms listed in the chart, so a medical professional could determine if you need testing.
I know one person who early on in the pandemic called his doctor, who determined it was a sinus infection, and then prescribed an antibiotic to resolve that condition. More recently, a friend’s daughter thought she had strep throat and called her doctor, who arranged an appointment for testing. The daughter ended up admitted to the hospital with confirmed COVID-19.
These reasons and examples demonstrate why you should speak with a healthcare professional first to determine if you may have the disease before conducting contact tracing and calling others. You would not want to scare your friends and family inadvertently.
Take care and be safe!
Jeff
#SelfDirectedContactTracing #WhyCallDoctor #Coronavirus
SOURCE (1) “Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19),” (World Health Organization, 24 February 2020). <https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf>