Doctor describes the state of a COVID-19 patient's body while using ventilator
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — At any of the hospitals in El Paso, ventilators are being used to help treat COVID-19 patients, but doctors pioneering the fight against pandemic said using a ventilator is the last resort in fighting the virus.
“It’s a machine that will help you meet your breathing requirements,” the chief of infectious disease at Texas Tech’s Health Science Center in El Paso Armando Meza said.
Ventilators are they’re literally a lifeline for those on the steepest climb to recovering from COVID-19.
“You have to be clinically ill to be in the need of a ventilator,” Meza said.
As of July 28, 52 COVID-19 patients are dependent on the machine in El Paso.
KFOX14 spoke with Meza to get a better understanding of the actual state one’s body is in when on or needing a ventilator.
“If you are no longer able to breathe fast enough and deep enough, you’re going to need to be helped,” Meza said.
Using paper towels as an example, Meza described one as being dry, which represents a healthy person or mild case of COVID-19, and another as wet, representing inflammation in a clinically ill patient.
It’s an inflammatory process that happens in the lungs,” Meza said. “The inflammation in the lungs is a barrier that is too difficult to overcome.
The inflammation prevents oxygen from flowing through your lungs, requiring a ventilator, according to Meza.
“The ventilators have been very helpful to keep you, basically, alive,” Meza said.
Doctors have said if you have any underlying health conditions and catch the virus, your case could be more severe.
“The mortality is higher than normal [in patients on ventilators],” Meza said.
Meza said the same factors apply to those who have wound up needing a ventilator, where statics show it’s harder to recover at that point.
“It really takes into account the amount of morbid conditions and previous illnesses that you had before,” Meza said.
In a city press conference Monday, El Paso’s Health Authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza said that it’s taking people longer to seek help if they are sick.
Meza said that if you do not start recovering five to seven days after you begin to show symptoms, not to hesitate and to go to a doctor.
Below is a COVID-19 case tracker:
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