Phoebe seeing COVID-19 patients with a larger variety of symptoms

ALBANY, Ga. – For Dougherty County, the peak of the pandemic began in April. At that time Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany was treating nearly 200 patients for COVID-19 symptoms. The number of hospitalizations dropped to the low 30’s a few weeks ago but with the spike in new coronavirus cases, the hospital’s been hovering around 50 COVID-19 patients.

Dr. James Black

“We are definitely seeing an uptick in the number of cases,” says Dr. James Black, medical director for Phoebe’s emergency services.

And with the new cases, Black says a different set of symptoms are becoming prominent.

“Early on in March and April, it was almost always high fevers and respiratory distress, and now we’re seeing a lot more people with GI symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea; people with a loss of a sense of smell, loss of sense of taste, altered mental status and just a wider variety of symptoms than we saw earlier.”

Although Phoebe staff are seeing patients with a variety of symptoms, Black says the hospital has adapted to meet the COVID-19 needs of the community.

Source: Phoebe

“Treatments have been optimized, we’ve learned a lot over the last several months and we have compiled a ton of data.”

And until more information becomes available about the novel virus, Dr. Black says to keep up to date with known symptoms and to rush to the hospital if those symptoms become severe.

“If you’re having nausea, vomiting and diarrhea so much that you cannot hydrate yourself or cannot keep any food down then you have to be put in the hospital to treat those conditions.”