Opinion: A new self-triage tool can help you decide if you need medical care for Covid-19
If you have a cough, fever, or shortness of breath, how can you tell if you’ve got Covid-19, a common cold, the ordinary flu, or a bad case the worries? Should you get tested? When should you seek medical care —and when should you just stay home?
Two of us (M.H. and M.W.) are primary care doctors who have received numerous calls from concerned patients with symptoms such as cough, fevers, or shortness of breath. Those calls prompted us — with the help of several colleagues — to develop a simple self-triage tool to help individuals decide when to treat their symptoms safely at home and when to seek medical help. One of the most important things each of us can do during the ongoing pandemic is to free up medical providers to concentrate on the seriously ill.
