Helping in the fight against COVID
flu season is here in full swing now
a lot to talk about this week and so
we want to welcome back medical expert
Doctor David Winter from Baylor.
Scott and White health good
morning doctor Wenner.
Thanks for being with us here
on New Year's Eve.
Good morning Jason. Happy New Year to you. I
wanna ask you. Hopefully this
will be a much better year ahead,
but we're going to have to get
through what's going on with
this Omicron variant here.
News reports have been suggesting
that early symptoms of the
coronavirus may be changing from
what we've been hearing about for
months and the past couple of years.
Really now, what are you seeing?
Yeah Jason, we used to see a lot
of people that lost taste and smell
is an early sign of COVID we're
not seeing much of that right now.
Newer symptoms are drenching sweats,
night sweats at night time that can happen.
We're also seeing folks that have
domnul symptoms, nausea, vomiting,
diarrhea, abdominal cramping.
Those are more common and a scratchy
throat more upper respiratory symptoms.
Less lower respiratory symptoms,
so they're changing a bit right now,
as COVID tends to mutate and change
out there in the environment.
We've seen a surge of COVID-19
cases here in North Texas,
and really all around the country.
Of course, Parkland Hospital here is said
to be full of COVID cases right now.
Just curious what you're seeing in your
hospitals in your office right now?
Are you seeing this same kind of surge?
Yeah Jason, I talked to a group of my
friends and my colleagues yesterday.
We're all seeing lots and lots
and lots of outpatient cases.
None of us have had admit anybody so far and
I didn't call the Chief Medical Officer,
Doctor Amy Wilson at Baylor Downtown.
She says they're seeing a slight
uptick in hospitalizations,
but not what they expected.
So hopefully, increase vaccinations,
distancing masking,
those are going to make a difference,
but right now the jury is still out.
We'll see what happens this next week,
so the silver lining there is that that word.
Outpatient that you're talking about.
We're not actually seeing as
this huge number of people,
even though we're seeing a huge number
of cases we're not seeing that same
huge number of people at this point
being admitted to the hospital.
That's something that's being treated,
and they're hopefully getting better.
Yeah indeed, the cases do
seem to be milder right now.
For the most part.
Hopefully that will maintain itself.
I think a big difference though,
is a lot more folks are vaccinated than
they were before, and the vaccination
is clearly make a difference.
So if you haven't been vaccinated,
it's a good idea to get one.
And if you want to increase or even lower
your chance of getting severe illness,
get a booster.
We think those make a difference also.
Yeah, we do keep hearing that
that anecdotal evidence that you
know most of the people who are
in those hospital beds with COVID
or people who were not vaccinated.
I wanna ask you this because this is
something that I've struggled with with
some relatives who live in other parts
of Texas who've been looking for tests.
There's a shortage of tests right now.
We know that.
What do you recommend at this point
for people who aren't able to go
to the store and find one and who
might not even be able to get one
after waiting in a really long line?
Yeah, we're hoping more test supplies
will be available in weeks to come,
but for now, if you have a healthy
immune system if you've been vaccinated.
If your symptoms are mild,
you can just stay home,
drink lots of liquids,
get plenty of rest, avoid other people,
and then the five day Mark.
If your symptoms are gone or minimal and
gone away or going away with no fever,
you can get back in circulation.
Although wear a mask for another five days,
those things work now if you do that,
Jason you need to know
about the severe symptoms.
So if you happen to come down with.
Severe shortness of breath,
tightness, chest pain, confusion.
If you get to have trouble staying awake,
you're sleeping a lot.
If you get bluish discoloration of your lips,
your fingers or toes,
you need to call a doctor or get
to a near emergency facility.
Those are the warning signs of COVID
that may require hospitalization.
Some great, very helpful advice.
This this morning. Doctor winter.
Thank you for taking the time with
us and and happy New Year and again,
hopefully 2022 will look a whole
lot better for us on this front.
Indeed, thank you Jason.
Happy New Year to you.