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For those who have not been infected with the new coronavirus, there is a lot of confusion about what are the typical first symptoms to spot, how these symptoms progress, and how the infection can get worse. Medical staff at a hospital in China were able to compile a daily diary of COVID-19 infections and how it affected patients in hopes of offering greater clarity on the deadly virus.
A daily breakdown
After observing thousands of patients during the COVID-19 outbreak in China earlier this year, hospitals were able to identify a pattern of symptoms.
A daily breakdown of COVID-19 symptoms includes:
Day 1: Symptoms start mild. Patients usually suffer from a fever, followed by a cough.
A minority may have experienced diarrhea or nausea a day or two earlier, which could be a sign of a more serious infection.
Day 3: This is how long it took, on average, for patients in Wenzhou to be hospitalized after symptoms began.
A study of more than 550 hospitals across China also found that hospitalized patients developed pneumonia on the third day of their illness.
Day 5: In severe cases, symptoms may start to get worse.
Patients may have difficulty breathing, especially if they are older or have a pre-existing health condition.
Day 7: This is the average time taken, on average, to hospitalize some patients in Wuhan after the onset of symptoms.
Other Wuhan patients developed shortness of breath on this day.
Day 8: At this point, patients with severe cases will most likely have developed shortness of breath, pneumonia, or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a disease that may require intubation. ARDS is often fatal.
Day 9: Some Wuhan patients developed sepsis, an infection caused by an aggressive immune response, on this day.
Days 10-11: If patients have worsening symptoms, this is the time of disease progression when they are likely to be admitted to the ICU.
These patients likely have more abdominal pain and loss of appetite than patients with milder cases.
Day 12: In some cases, patients do not develop ARDS until nearly two weeks after the onset of the disease.
One study found that it took 12 days, on average, for patients to be admitted to the ICU.
Healed patients can see their fever resolve after 12 days.
Day 16: Patients can see their cough resolve on this day, according to a study.
Day 17-21: On average, people in Wuhan have recovered from the virus and have been discharged from the hospital or died after 2.5 or 3 weeks.
Day 19: According to a study, patients can see their shortness of breath resolve on this day.
Day 27: Some patients stay in the hospital longer. The average hospital stay for Wenzhou patients was 27 days.
But just because patients leave the hospital doesn’t mean their symptoms have completely disappeared.
Some coronavirus patients report having symptoms for months, including chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea, heart palpitations, and loss of taste and smell.
People who have become ill and have never been hospitalized may also have persistent symptoms.
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