A Covid-19 testing centre at Northcote, Auckland on August 22. Photo / Alex Burton
A Covid-19 testing centre at Northcote, Auckland on August 22. Photo / Alex Burton
A lung specialist working on the frontline of the Covid-19 crisis in Sydney's west has warned those with breathlessness as a symptom of the deadly virus to call an ambulance immediately.
Dr Lucy Morgan gave a harrowing play-by-play of how symptoms worsen in patients with Covid-19, and said breathlessness was a vital sign a person required urgent critical assistance.
Early Covid symptoms can be "very mild", according to the respiratory specialist who works at the Concord and Nepean Hospitals, but the patient needs immediate care when the virus progresses to dizziness and limited breath.
"If you have Covid-19 and you feel breathless, you have trouble breathing and you are feeling dizzy, you need to call an ambulance," Morgan told reporters on Wednesday morning.
"Don't ring up and make a GP appointment, call an ambulance because these other sorts of symptoms and signs tell me that the Covid-19 illness is progressing and progressing quickly.
"As people become increasingly restless, the oxygen in their blood starts to drop and they need increasing levels of extra support to keep those oxygen levels up."
Morgan said this extra support initially included breathing assistance through oxygen connected directly to the nostrils, but then meant a person would be hooked up to a ventilator "to do the breathing for them".
NSW today recorded Australia's most devastating day of the pandemic, with 919 new local infections and two deaths. Photo / Getty Images
"And that's the point at which someone who is in a hospital having care for Covid-19 may require intensive care therapy ... a machine to do the breathing for you, a machine to possibly support the blood and do the work of organs in your body," she said.
The disturbing warning comes after a woman in her 30s died in her home in western Sydney, with NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant refusing to comment on whether she had declined rapidly.
The woman is one of hundreds of younger adults to be infected with the virus, which data from NSW Health shows is affecting those under 40 the most.
"One of the things that I noticed in my most recent days in the hospital was the heartbreaking stories of patients who were very, very young," Dr Morgan said.
"I've been looking after patients in their 20s, in their 30s and in their 40s. Many of whom have very young children, many of whom have partners who are in hospital in other hospitals, dislocating their families.
"Many of these patients have children who have needed to be hospitalised so that there is someone who can care for them safely.
"All of them have extended families who have been impact in many, many ways by the impact of Covid-19 illness."
The specialist pleaded with NSW residents to get vaccinated to reduce the pressure on hospitals and health workers.
"Anything that we can do to reduce the severity of the illness and reduce the need into intensive care is very, very important," Morgan said.
"And getting vaccinated is clearly something that we can do to reduce this severe illness."
