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For months, doctors have insisted that the vast majority of patients they see requiring medical attention for COVID-19 have not been fully vaccinated prior to infection.
Not only are vaccinated individuals better protected against severe cases of COVID-19, health officials say they are more likely to develop “mild to moderate” symptoms if infected with the coronavirus.
But what does COVID-19 generally look like in a revolutionary case?
“A bad cold would be the best way to describe it,” said Dr. Liam Sullivan, infectious disease specialist for Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids.
Sullivan reviewed a list of common symptoms in breakthrough cases, most of which are isolated from the upper respiratory tract, such as sneezing, nasal congestion, sinus pressure, headaches, and runny nose. In some cases, individuals report fever, fatigue, sore throat, cough, nausea, gastrointestinal problems, and loss of taste and smell.
What is particularly absent in most groundbreaking cases, Sullivan added, are the symptoms that would indicate that the virus has reached the lungs. There are rarely reports of breathing difficulties that unvaccinated people experience, and if there is a fever and / or cough, it is less serious for those who have some level of protection against the disease. virus.
“If you’re vaccinated it’s mostly confined from here,” Sullivan said, nodding his chin to the top of his head. “This is exactly what the vaccine was designed to do.
The available COVID-19 vaccines work by teaching cells in the body how to make a protein found in the coronavirus. This then triggers an immune response and results in faster immune responses in the event of future coronavirus infections.
“Respiratory viruses, they initiate infection in your nasal passages… that’s where they settle down and start to replicate and if you have no immunity to that particular virus, the virus goes lower down in the airways and does it in your lungs and that’s when things can really go wrong, ”Sullivan said.
“The virus is still able to infect your nasal passages and start to replicate, but the immune system, because it recognizes the virus after being vaccinated, it kicks in within 24 to 48 hours of being vaccinated. infection, while if you haven’t. if you are immune it may take 5-7 days to work.
Breakthrough cases usually last about a week, plus or minus a few days. Some people are asymptomatic, while others have an illness worse than the flu.
One of the less fortunate breakthrough cases was Jody Watts, 50, of Portage. Although she had no respiratory symptoms, her illness lasted for about 12 days and included gastrointestinal symptoms, abdominal pain, body aches, mild fever, headache, and general fatigue.
Watts was among the first wave to be vaccinated in December 2020. When she felt ill last month, she thought she had food poisoning, before testing positive for COVID-19.
Comparing her battle with COVID to her 2015 flu case, she said the coronavirus causes more downtime and longer lasting symptoms than the flu.
“I wouldn’t consider my experience to be like a bad cold,” Watts said.
In the past eight months, more than 91% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated, as were more than 91% of the 6,033 deaths from COVID-19 in the state during that time.
When healthcare workers see groundbreaking cases ending up in hospital rooms, it’s usually because they have a weakened immune system due to age, medications, or some other condition that has prevented their body to have a strong initial response to the vaccine.
“We are not seeing healthy 40-year-old vaccinated people admitted to hospital with COVID,” said Dr Sullivan. “They catch a bad cold, they are home for 10 days, they are recovering and they are going on with their lives. “
For those who become infected with the coronavirus after being fully immunized, the CDC recommends self-isolation for 10 days, from the onset of your symptoms or when you have your test taken – whichever comes first.
If your symptoms have improved and you don’t have a fever after 10 days, health officials say you can go back to your normal routine without worrying about being contagious.
In most cases, people who are fully vaccinated will not need to see a doctor after developing COVID-19. However, symptoms to watch out for that might require medical attention include severe shortness of breath, prolonged high fever, and severe weakness.
As of September 28, about 32,800 of the more than 5.26 million Michiganders who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have had breakthrough cases. It’s about 0.7%.
To find a vaccine near you, visit the Michigan COVID-19 vaccine website or go to VaccineFinder.org.
Learn more about MLive:
Home COVID tests hard to come by, but supply set to double soon
Pfizer seeks FDA clearance to begin immunizing children ages 5 to 12 against COVID-19
Scolded and questioned: School board meetings turned untenable amid mask mandates and critical race theory
Coronavirus data from Thursday, October 7: UP counties become Michigan hotspots
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