My older brother just told our family that he's tested positive for covid-19 ...

[aggiesal]

He lives in San Antonio, TX.

I really hate this administration.

[Nevilledog]

1. Does he have symptoms? I hope he and the rest of your family come out okay.

[aggiesal]

3. He says he's feeling fine right now ..

No hint of fever, just a little tired.
He's attacking it like the flu: nyquil, dayquil, cough meds, throat lozenges, OJ, soup & rest.
No other symptoms

Only symptoms have been very infrequent senses of hot flashes for a few seconds & mild sore throat.
No coughing or other symptoms.

[W_HAMILTON]

4. No loss of taste/smell yet?

[aggiesal]

7. Apparently not. n/t

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. I'm sorry about your brother! Also, this list of...

... six categories of symptoms could be useful. Some of them are more likely to lead to serious problems later, at least according to these researchers:

https://covid.joinzoe.com/us-post/covid-clusters

The six clusters are as follows:
1 (‘flu-like’ with no fever): Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.

2 (‘flu-like’ with fever): Headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite.

3 (gastrointestinal): Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough.

4 (severe level one, fatigue): Headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, fatigue.

5 (severe level two, confusion): Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain.

6 (severe level three, abdominal and respiratory): Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, abdominal pain.

Next, the team investigated whether people experiencing particular symptom clusters were more likely to require breathing support in the form of ventilation or additional oxygen.

They discovered that only 1.5% of people with cluster 1, 4.4% of people with cluster 2 and 3.3% of people with cluster 3 COVID-19 required breathing support. These figures were 8.6%, 9.9% and 19.8% for clusters 4,5 and 6 respectively. Furthermore, nearly half of the patients in cluster 6 ended up in hospital, compared with just 16% of those in cluster 1.

Broadly, people with cluster 4,5 or 6 COVID-19 symptoms tended to be older and frailer, and were more likely to be overweight and have pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or lung disease than those with type 1,2 or 3.

The researchers then developed a model combining information about age, sex, BMI and pre-existing conditions together with symptoms gathered over just five days from the onset of the illness.

This was able to predict which cluster a patient falls into and their risk of requiring hospitalisation and breathing support with a higher likelihood of being correct than an existing risk model based purely on age, sex, BMI and pre-existing conditions alone.

Given that most people who require breathing support come to hospital around 13 days after their first symptoms, this extra eight days represents a significant ‘early warning’ as to who is most likely to need more intensive care.

[Cousin Dupree]

16. Thank you for posting this. Very interesting. I'm saving for future reference but hope I don't

need it.

[canetoad]

17. Thanks

[aggiesal]

18. Thank you very much. I've forwarded this to my brother. Hope it helps! n/t

[herding cats]

11. If he has any zinc lozenges, left over from the cold season...

There's some evidence (studies) which suggest using these may help keep it from navigating from the nasal passages to the lungs early on. It's a small help, but it is an aid.

[SergeStorms]

13. Vitamin D as well.

Vitamin D3 is also acceptable. Supposedly it promotes good respiratory system health. Who really knows if any of this stuff helps even a little, but it couldn't hurt. Just stay the hell away from Hydroxychloroquine, no matter who tells him it works.

I wish you and your family well. Please keep us informed of his progress, and if it's been spread around the rest of your family. Chin up! Get some rest.

[uponit7771]

15. +1

[secondwind]

14. ZINC AND 1,000 c's of Vitamin C

Zinc helps to deconstruct the virus!!!

[brer cat]

2. I hope his case is mild.

This administration is incompetent and evil.

[Maru Kitteh]

5. If you don't mind the question too much, how old is he?

Does he have any idea how he was exposed?

[aggiesal]

9. 59 and I don't know how he was exposed. n/t

[herding cats]

6. Peace to you and my heart to him.

45+% of cases are mild. I'm hoping he's in that percentage.

[aggiesal]

10. Let's hope n/t

[Dem2theMax]

12. From my own personal experience with the virus,

Tell him if he starts to get any kind of fever or body aches, to start taking Tylenol. And if he can, sleep in a recliner rather than a bed, especially if he has a cough of any kind.

I had a cough with it, but it wasn't too bad. The body aches kept me from sleeping in bed. I ended up in a recliner every night. At two weeks, I finally tried my bed. I woke up in the middle of the night fully congested, coughing like crazy. When I finally got back to sleep, I woke up the next morning with a cough that was definitely 50% worse than it had been the day before. I totally attributed that to laying flat, rather than sleeping in a recliner.

I also tried to keep moving, hard as it was. I knew protecting my lungs was probably the most important thing to do.

Fluids, rest and sleep, Tylenol, recliner. Chicken soup or broth. It really does work.

Tell him to take his temperature a few times a day, just to be aware of what's going on with his body. And if he can get hold of an oximeter, checking his oxygen level would be good as well.

Sending him my wishes for a quick recovery.