Scott Campbell, chief medical officer for Firelands Regional Medical Center, said many people have been able to recover from COVID-19 at home.
“Some have minimal symptoms, while some flu-like symptoms but do not require hospitalizations. Some have needed hospitalization and some supportive care for respiratory illness and a smaller portion have required critical care,” Campbell said. “The care of the critically ill COVID patients have improved markedly as the literature has expanded and our knowledge has increased.”
In the beginning, Campbell said, many patients were placed on ventilators but they’ve learned holding off on intubation is preferred.
“Ventilators have their place and are essential to prolonging life when severe respiratory compromise is noted. These have been lifesaving in many instances,” he said.
Also in the beginning, staff used hydroxychloroquine because observational studies saw it had an effect on COVID-19. New data and the emergency use authorization from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), however, has led Firelands to no longer use hydroxychloroquine as a medication.
“We have been able to successfully use convalescent plasma on several of our critically ill patients. Good critical care medicine and supportive care has been the key to the quality results we have been able to produce here at Firelands,” Campbell said. “Close management of pulmonary care, renal function, proper hydration and medication management has led to successful outcomes.”
Convalescent plasma is the liquid part of blood that is collected from those who have recovered from COVID-19. These patients develop antibodies in the blood against the virus and these proteins could help fight the infection.
“There remains no cure for this disease, expert medical care is the patient’s best hope for the best outcome. Some patients recover very rapidly and quite fully from the disease,” Campbell said. “There have also been patients with prolonged shortness of breath, fatigue, persistent lack of smell and taste and just overall general illness that has persisted for many months since the initial COVID diagnosis.”
He said some patients have reported thought process issues, confusion and general weakness after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Recovery for all patients varies greatly, some returning to work quickly and some needing extensive rehab in an effort to return to normal.
“We have become more adept at treating COVID-19 patients due to constantly educating ourselves, discovering what works and does not and working together to give excellent medical care through our physicians, nursing and ancillary staff,” Campbell said.
Gary Moorman, chief medical officer for Fisher-Titus Medical Center, said most patients with the coronavirus were treated with supportive care for symptoms, like dehydration, fever, secondary infection and breathing or respiratory problems.
“As more COVID-19 patients were treated, it was recognized that they have a somewhat different type of ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) and treatment protocols have been adjusted as more is learned,” Moorman said.
He said as more information is gained from experience and research, treatment options will continue to change.
“Development of a vaccine continues to move forward with large scale clinical trials currently being conducted,” he said. “These trials will monitor and establish clinical efficacy and safety through the FDA approval process.”
Moorman said hydroxychloroquine has been used, including antiviral agents like Remdesivir, potent steroids like Decadron and convalescent plasma from recovered patients.
“Multiple other types of medications and treatment protocols are currently undergoing clinical trials in the U.S. and around the world as the medical knowledge continues to grow about this viral disease,” he said. “These trials will clarify the best medications and treatment protocols that can be used to appropriately treat this viral illness in humans.”
Moorman said the recovery process for patients with COVID-19 differs. Many, he said, have mild to no symptoms.
“The first symptoms for most people appear within 4-6 days after exposure although some may take longer. Most will recover within a week to 10 days although some cases may have symptoms that persist, especially for those who require hospitalization,” Moorman said. “Since this is a new virus it will take time to understand what if any long-term effect there may be.”
He said while coronaviruses have been known to science for a long time, this is a new strain of virus.
“We will continue to learn more about this disease as time progresses and more medical knowledge is gained to treat and prevent the effects of the virus,” Moorman said.
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