COVID-19 Treatment: How to Decide If You Should Go to the Emergency Room [Video]

With COVID-19 cases on the rise, we want to make sure you’re aware of when you should seek emergency medical assistance.

Oscar telemedicine provider Dr. Stephanie Reznick reviews some important symptoms in this "From the Frontlines” video (opens in new tab).

Video Transcript

“Hi, I'm Dr. Stephanie Camaglia Reznick. I'm an internal medicine physician and one of the doctors on call through Oscar. Today, I'll be answering some questions regarding COVID-19 also known as the novel coronavirus.

A lot of people have been asking, "when do I know if I need to go to the hospital or not?" That's a really good question. To answer it, I first want to address a common misconception. A lot of people hear that 80% of infected people have a mild case, that means a mild nagging cough or a case of the sniffles.

Mild infections can actually feel pretty bad. You might have muscle aches, high fevers, a horrible cough and not want to get out of bed, but it's still considered a mild case. Cases aren't considered severe unless you're hypoxic meaning you don't have enough oxygen in your blood or over half of your lung fields are affected by the virus.

So, when do you need to go to the hospital? Well, here's a list of some of the reasons you might want to call 911 or go to your local emergency room. First, if you feel severely short of breath, meaning you can't even say a sentence or two without huffing and puffing for air or you can't walk a few feet to the bathroom without taking a break and catching your breath. That's severely short of breath and you should go to the emergency room.

If you notice you're coughing up blood, truly coughing up blood (not a few streaks of mucus - that normally means that your airways are dry and some nasal saline or a humidifier can be helpful), but if you're coughing up true blood like a teaspoonful, that is a reason to go to the emergency room.