Bhubaneswar: Doctors working in several Covid hospitals have blamed the lax attitude of young patients for loss of many precious lives to the deadly virus.
The health experts opined that timely diagnosis of the viral infection and its treatment could reduce the chances of the infection turning severe. They also added that the second wave of the pandemic has affected the youths more and thus the young people should be more cautious.
“In the second wave, we witness more number of people below the age of 40 years infected with the virus. They are the ones who spend more time outside and are more exposed to risk environments. Also, most of them are not vaccinated,” said Dr Siba Prasad Dalai, who has treated many Covid patients in the last few months.
He also added, “Delay in testing certain key parameters which prognosticate the disease severity and course, and delay in starting medications during the appropriate window period increase the mortality and morbidity of the disease.”
The physicians opined that the youth should never ignore flu-like symptoms and get tested themselves as early as possible and start Covid medicines soon, if tested positive. However, most of them opined that youths with other comorbidities are prone to severity of the disease.
Some others, however, claimed that several asymptomatic Covid patients are also at risk due to ‘happy hypoxia’ – a condition where youths are unaware about the declining oxygen levels.
Dr Pooja Sah, who is working in a private Covid Hospital, said, “There are instances when the youths are asymptomatic or infected but their infection is not detected during RT-PCR test. In many of them the oxygen level sometimes declines and they remain unaware of the situation which could turn severe or fatal at any moment.”
She also added that youths should monitor their oxygen levels at regular intervals especially if they are comorbid or living in a house shared by other Covid patients.
The experts also said that undernourished and obese people can face severity of the disease if they ignore the symptoms or delay the testing and treatment.
Manish Kumar, OP