What should the elderly pay attention to after their test results turn from positive to negative?

Under the epidemic, the elderly are one of the key groups for medical treatment. How to protect the elderly? How to prevent the elderly from becoming seriously ill or dying? Zhong Ming, director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, answered questions about the protection of the elderly.

01

To prevent serious illness or death in the elderly

What should family members do?

If the elderly have mild symptoms, they can be monitored and observed at home, but detailed self-monitoring is needed, and the elderly's family and caregivers should also observe the elderly's physical changes more carefully.

Since the novel coronavirus mainly affects the respiratory system, once there is a tendency for severe illness, the respiratory function will be affected first. From the appearance, the elderly will have chest tightness, shortness of breath, and faster breathing rate. When the symptoms worsen, the elderly will become listless or even apathetic.

Copyright image, no permission to reprint

Elderly people sometimes suffer from "silent hypoxia". As they age, their physical functions, metabolic rate and ability to perceive stimuli decline. When they are prone to severe symptoms, they cannot show it themselves. It is recommended that families with the conditions can purchase a finger-clip oximeter, which can more accurately and timely reflect the decline in the elderly's respiratory function.

Copyright image, no permission to reprint

At the same time, for the elderly with underlying diseases, attention should be paid to whether the symptoms of their original underlying diseases have worsened. When the symptoms of the original underlying diseases worsen, they also need to seek medical attention in time.

02

Elderly people infected with the new coronavirus

What should I pay attention to?

Most elderly people who are infected with the new coronavirus have mild symptoms, mainly upper respiratory tract symptoms. For these elderly people, do not take medicine blindly. If fever, cough, nasal congestion and other symptoms are severe after infection, you can take some symptomatic drugs, but they must be used reasonably under the guidance of the instructions and in combination with the age of the elderly.

On the other hand, if the elderly have a tendency to become seriously ill, it is not recommended to buy drugs for COVID-19 treatment on their own. Drugs for COVID-19 treatment need to be used under the guidance of professional doctors and are not recommended to be used alone.

Copyright image, no permission to reprint

03

After the elderly "Yang to Yin"

What should I pay attention to?

Being infected with the new coronavirus and testing negative does not mean the battle is over.

Fever and cough during the infection process is a process in which the body fights the virus through the immune system. In this process, the body consumes a lot of energy and a large number of immune system cells die.

Therefore, after this battle with the virus, our immunity is relatively low and our nutritional status is worse than before. During the recovery period after the test turns negative, the body also enters a relatively fragile period.

During this period, the risk of secondary infection is high, and the risk of other complications is also high. At this time, the elderly should maintain a regular schedule , strengthen nutritional supplements , and allow the immune system to repair.

Copyright image, no permission to reprint

04

How to strengthen protection for the elderly in nursing homes?

The elderly in nursing homes are a particularly vulnerable group. Many of them are often disabled and have dementia, and their physical functions are not as good as those of ordinary elderly people. In addition, the living density in nursing homes is relatively high, so the elderly in nursing homes are particularly in need of protection.

Therefore, two layers of barriers are established.

The first layer is to establish an immune barrier . When conditions permit and underlying diseases are stable, the elderly in nursing homes should be vaccinated.

The second layer is to establish a physical barrier . The staff of nursing homes must implement closed-loop management and fully implement personal protection to minimize the chances of infection for the elderly in nursing homes.

05

Peak of returning home

How to prevent infection among the elderly in rural areas?

Returnees should monitor themselves. If they have fever or cough on the way or before returning home, they should be isolated from the elderly at home for 7 days after returning home. They can live with the elderly again when they are basically non-infectious after 7 days.

At the same time, the elderly should also pay attention to reducing contact with people returning home and take good personal protection.

Source: CCTV.com, CCTV News, Lizhi News

The cover image and the images in this article are from the copyright library

Reproduction of image content is not authorized