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Managing COVID-19 At Home With Assistance From Your GP
Dr Aaron Chambers
To cater for the growing number of questions about managing COVID-19 at home, Growlife Medical has produced this guide to managing mild COVID-19 disease at home. We are prepared to support our community, and provide home monitoring support for existing Growlife Medical patients.
Importantly, please only call 000 in a true emergency. Our community cannot afford it's emergency services and health system to be overwhelmed with calls or hospital presentations for patients with no or mild COVID-19 symptoms.
The article below provides details specific to managing mild Coronavirus disease at home with the assistance from your Growlife Medical GP. For more general advice see the Managing COVID-19 at home with assistance from general practice
provided by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
Difference Between Mild And Severe COVID-19
Sustained shortness of breath and extreme fever are symptoms of severe COVID-19 infection. As with any condition, if severe or life threatening, please call an ambulance on 000. In other milder cases, book a COVID-19 Telehealth consultation with a GP at Growlife Medical.
There are some important symptoms which indicate the potential for more severe COVID-19. The following symptoms mean you should seek urgent care from your GP, or more urgent services if you're unable to contact us:
Vital symptoms of concern:
- Worsening shortness of breath
- Fainting, collapse or light-headedness
- Chest pain or tightness in your chest
- Blue lips or face
- Cold and clammy, or pale and mottled skin
- Poor oral intake of fluid, or very much less urine than normal, even if drinking lots of fluid
- Being more confused than normal
- Coughing Blood
- Severe headache, particularly in children
Reference: RACGP Home Care Guidelines for Patients with COVID-19
How To Look After A Coronavirus Patient At Home
You'll be diagnosed with COVID-19 via a positive RAT, Positive PCR test or if you're a close contact who develops symptoms.
Most importantly, everyone in your household needs to isolate at home until they are cleared from home quarantine. This is a public health requirement, to avoid the spread of COVID-19 outside your household. To help with this, enlist the help of family, friends or online delivery services to provide your basic needs like food and other essential items. Be sure to have the person making your delivery leave any necessary items at your door, and only collect them after they have left. Wear a mask.
Being in isolation whilst you are COVID-positive can be a difficult time, especially if you live on your own or are responsible for caring for other family members. At Growlife Medical, we recommend trying to maintain a daily routine for yourself and keeping in touch virtually with friends and family or reaching out to local community organisations. There are also many mental health resources online including Beyond Blue, Healthdirect, Head to Health
and Kids helpline.
It is helpful to keep an eye on others in your household, and monitor yourself and/or each other using a symptom diary. Working as a team, those who are less unwell can care for those who develop more significant symptoms. You should plan to have a formal "check-in" with each other at least twice a day. If someone is in their room alone, don't presume they are fine. Ensure you check. Increasing fatigue, dizziness or confusion are concerning signs and should prompt medical review. It might only be a family member who notices this change, as very unwell individuals may not recognise the change themselves.
Certain symptoms are very common with COVID-19, and are considered normal or expected. They are:
- Fever or Chills
- Fatigue
- Aches
- Cough and Mild Shortness of Breath
- Runny Nose
- Sore Throat
- Headache
Tips For Managing COVID-19 At Home For Adults
The management of COVID-19 at home is similar to managing any other viral illness. Plenty of rest, maintaining adequate hydration and eating healthy, nutritious food are the main measures you can take to assist your recovery. Otherwise, home treatment is directed as symptom relief whilst awaiting natural recovery.
If you feel well enough, gentle exercise is OK, and can be especially useful if you have an outdoor area like a garden or balcony that will provide you a mental break, and some fresh air, whilst not posing any risk of close contact with neighbours.
For most people, paracetamol or ibuprofen can provide helpful relief of ache and fever symptoms. Anyone with heart problems, high blood pressure or stomach ulcers should avoid taking ibuprofen.
Sore throat can be helped with saline or betadine gargle.
Once you have enrolled in remote monitoring with Growlife Medical, we will be in regular contact every 2 to 3 days to ensure your symptoms are resolving. More frequent review will be arranged for those at higher risk of deterioration. As well as monitoring your wellbeing, your doctor will be able to help you with alternatives for symptoms outside of those mentioned above. We will work with you to escalate your care to face to face or hospital based care should you develop any concerning symptoms indicating more serious disease.
Remember, if your symptoms rapidly get worse, seek urgent care by phone, and do not wait for your next scheduled review.
Maintaining good hygiene in your home is a good idea whilst you are isolating at home.
If you are COVID-positive, you can help stop the spread of the virus via:
- Washing your hands thoroughly and frequently and using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser if your hands are not visibly dirty
- Wearing a P2/N95 face mask
- Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces you have touched
- Using a tissue or covering your sneeze or cough with your elbow
These infection control measures can help reduce the spread. However, we know that the omicron strain of COVID-19 is incredibly infectious, and infection between household members is close to universal. You should expect that most people living together will eventually develop COVID-19. There may be an exception in those who have recently received their booster. We have now seen a number of cases where a recently-booster family member avoids infection, despite all other household members developing COVID.
Managing Students At Home With Coronavirus
On average, children and adolescents continue to experience more mild symptoms than adults when they become COVID-19 positive. In this age group, continuing to learn and develop is particularly important. The pandemic has caused huge disruption to our children through home leaning, and it is important we allow them to continue their education. If your child feels well enough, the should engage in online learning where it is offered by their school. If online learning is not available, try contacting your child's teachers for some work they can complete at home.
For younger children, using the time to read together, do maths puzzles or draw can be helpful to pass the time and distract them from their symptoms and the boredom of isolation.
It is important that children in a household with COVID-19 quarantine in accordance with the public health guidelines to avoid spread to others in their school.
Don't forget Growlife Medical is now taking bookings for COVID-19 vaccinations for 5-11 year olds. For more information see our guide on Coronavirus vaccinations for children.
How Long To Recover From COVID-19 At Home
Most children and vaccinated adults can expect COVID-19 to resolve after 7 to 10 days. You may be allowed to leave isolation at this time, pending meeting the Queensland Release from Isolation Criteria for COVID-19. If you are unsure whether you meet the criteria to leave isolation, you should remain home and contact your Growlife Medical GP to discuss whether it is OK for you to finish isolating.
As of January 2022, Queensland Health Guidelines allow you to leave isolation 7 days after your positive test and your symptoms have resolved for 48 hours.
If you still have symptoms at 7 days after your test, you must remain isolating until 10 days.
Once you have reached 10 days from the date of your positive test, Queensland Health Public Health Guidelines deem you to be minimal risk of infection to others, and you may therefore leave isolation at this time even if you have residual symptoms.
Once you leave isolation under these rules, we suggest that you should continue wearing a mask at all times in public until your symptoms have completely resolved and you have felt entirely well for 48 hours. To be kind to your community, you should be cautious in the few days after you leave isolation, not socialise, and only leave your home for essential shopping.
Book A Telehealth Covid-19 Appointment With Growlife Medical
Existing patients of Growlife Medical can enrol in our COVID-19 monitoring service by completing our digital enrolment. Please note this service is only available to existing patients at this time. We will contact you within 1-2 business days, and monitor you regularly until you are well enough to leave home isolation. Enrol in the Growlife Medical COVID-19 Monitoring Service.
Our Coronavirus vaccination service
will be extended for children at our Highgate Hill clinic, Sherwood clinic
and Oxley clinic. We are experienced with immunisation, with many qualified GPs and nurse immunisers, and have provided many thousands of COVID-19 vaccinations. And we vaccinate
thousands of children each year with flu vaccines
under the national immunisation program, as well as providing travel vaccinations
and being an accredited Yellow Fever Vaccination prov ider at our Sherwood Medical Centre. Our advanced digital systems allow for seamless reporting of your vaccinations to your My Health Record
and to the Australian Immunisation Register.
Book a consultation
with Growlife Medical
today.
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Dr Aaron Chambers
General Practitioner
BSc, MBBS(Hons), FRACGP, Dip Child Health
BSc, MBBS(Hons), FRACGP, Dip Child Health
Experienced author Dr Aaron Chambers
has worked in General Practice since 2006. He is passionate and an authority on family practice, paediatrics and obstetric care. After completing his medical degree with honours at the University of Queensland, Dr Chambers served as an RAAF Doctor, conducting humanitarian missions and evacuating wounded servicemen from the Middle East. Dr Chambers now works alongside the combined medical experience of 20+ Doctors at Oxley, Sherwood
and Highgate Hill Growlife Medical Clinics.