Most coronavirus patients recover, still anxiety, fear loom
Amid all of the fears, quarantines and stockpiling of food, it's been easy to disregard the fact that more than 60,000 persons have recovered from the coronavirus spreading around the world.
The disease can cause varying levels of illness and is particularly troublesome for older adults and people with existing health problems, who are at risk of severe effects, including pneumonia. But also for almost all of those affected, coronavirus creates only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, with a large proportion dealing with the virus.
In line with the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about fourteen days, while people that have more severe ailments might take three to six weeks to rebound. In mainland China, where the virus first exploded, more than 80,000 people have already been diagnosed, but a lot more than 58,000 curently have recovered.
Because the difference in impact can be so great, global health authorities have the difficult task of alerting the general public to the virus' dangers without creating panic.
Already, the widespread consequences of the virus have already been staggering, sending shock waves through the world's financial markets. Global oil prices sustained their worst percentage losses because the the Gulf War in 1991, and new restrictions were imposed in Italy and in Israel as the Holy Week approached.
But even many of the most vulnerable patients can fight their way through the condition.
Charlie Campbell’s father, 89-year-old Eugene Campbell, has been identified as having the coronavirus and is hospitalized in Edmonds, Washington. Charlie Campbell said his father's doctor is cautiously optimistic, adding, “Under normal circumstances, he'd discharge my father, but these aren’t normal circumstances.”
Eugene Campbell found a healthcare facility from Life Care Center, a nursing home in Kirkland that has been associated with nineteen of Washington state’s 23 coronavirus deaths.
“We went and saw him yesterday and he looked very good,” Campbell said, noting that his father is breathing normally and his essential signs and heartrate are good. “He might be the oldest person to recuperate from coronavirus.”
For some who’ve been quarantined, anxiety and dread that they can become stigmatized by friends, neighbors and co-workers have made them reluctant to acknowledge even the most modest health impact. A few patients with the virus who were interviewed by The Associated Press - every one of them passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise liner that finished up quarantined off Japan - described symptoms that were no stronger when compared to a regular cold or flu.
“It’s been a 2 on a scale of 10,” said Carl Goldman, hospitalized in Omaha, Nebraska, since Feb. 17, after developing a 103-degree fever on a chartered flight from Japan to the U.S.
Goldman is staying hydrated with Gatorade. He said he continued coughing a lot more than fourteen days after he first got sick, but would probably only have missed one day of work if he previously been identified as having the cold or flu. He stays active by pacing in his room, trying to match his pre-sickness routine of 10,000 daily steps on the pedometer.
“I totally understand this is where I have to be and I ought to be cleared of the before I’m released,” he said.
Greg Yerex, who was simply diagnosed along with his wife, Rose Yerex, on the Diamond Princess, said he previously no symptoms and felt as healthy as he did on any other normal day.
“EASILY was home, I'd be out doing everything I normally do,” he said within an interview conducted via Facebook calls when the couple were still hospitalized in Nagoya, Japan. Rose Yerex tested negative when she surely got to the hospital.
For Greg Yerex, it was the couple's mental health that faced the largest threat because they they spent days in quarantine, isolated from family and friends and deprived of any direct human contact.
“It’s like being truly a prisoner," he said. “You pace, you worry, you fret, you imagine all sorts of things. You haven't any control.”
Greg Yerez said that he and hsi wife, who have since been released from the hospital, plan to go to counseling to work through the mental stress they experienced.
Fellow cruise passenger Rebecca Frasure knows how they feel.
“I don’t get to consult with anyone," she said in a Facebook call while still hospitalized in Nagoya. "I've a little window in my own room, but cannot leave. The only contact I've is through Facebook messenger. I'd never wish this on anyone.”
Frasure said one of the things she found most frustrating was looking forward to her test results another. Patients who have been identified as having the virus will need to have two consecutive negative tests before they may be released.
Frasure is now out of your hospital, but is worried about being stigmatized by her home community.
“Are they going to be afraid?" she wondered. ”Are they going to criticize me to be home, thinking I brought virus back with me?"
This story corrects that the Gulf War was in 1991, not 1999.
Milko reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely accountable for all content.
