Factors Affecting Flattening of Coronavirus Curve. Free Essay

Decision-making is an essential aspect in which its employability in the health system can help to reduce the mortality rate. Patients find themselves in an awkward position when sick since they must balance between internal and external factors related to their suffering. Decision-making can yield a profound intent if applied with care. This study seeks to determine both internal and external factors affecting my decision after infection with the coronavirus. The elements analysis is in the form of symptoms, severity, disease conceptualization, cultural, personal, choice arrived, and things employed to defeat the virus.

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In December 2019, the world woke up to the news of a new respiratory disease that emerged from the city of Wuhan, China. The initial information given was that the virus was transmitted from animals to human beings without spreading among humans. The condition was known as a coronavirus (Gennaro et al., 2020). Symptoms of Coronavirus are fever, cough, dyspnea, headache, sore throat, and rhinorrhea (Gennaro t al., 2020). He noted that a chest scan in patients with coronavirus had some related abnormalities associated with common pneumonia. The severity of the disease is that the virus passes through the nasal and mucosa to the lungs. The condition causes a reduction in antibodies production, causing respiratory failure.

The patient in critical conditions requires to be supported in an intensive care unit for their survival since here they are assisted to breathe (Lu et al., 2020). Additionally, other factors that contribute is this severity is age and underlying diseases. Patients above sixty-five years and with historical diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, and other common chronic diseases are prone to succumb to death, compared to the other population free from the described features (Lipsitch t al. 2020). Coronavirus's conceptualization explanation is by the adoption of the model called the Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Removed (SEIR) framework (Lin, 2020). Lin et al. (2020) noted that the sample under investigation is divided into two groups. One group contains severe, critical, and death cases, while the second group includes reported and non-reported cases. Wu and McGoogan (2020) found that 81% of cases had mild symptoms, 14% severe conditions, and 5% in critical situations. Before being diagnosed, I saw on media platforms the symptoms of the disease. After five days of high fever, I opted to go for a test where I turned positive, I was put under treatment for ten days and discharged after the test turned negative.

Every disease is associated with cultural and personal factors that affect patients seeking medical assistance. One of the cultural factors is that the coronavirus is like common pneumonia. The second factor is that the patient must have animal exposure before the disease (Cui & Shi, 2019). According to Cui and Shi (2019), suggested that the corona causative agent originated from the animal market. The research also found animals such as bats and rodents were immediate hosts of the virus. Another factor is that pneumonia is associated with coughing since corona symptoms involve coughing; it is visible society view corona as a typical ailment. Personal factors include media awareness, sensitization by community-based health organizations, and World health organization alerts about the virus. Believes about the illness and information which was at my disposal prompted me to seek medical attention.

The lay referral system involves the description of family members, friends, and neighbors (Freidson, 1960). Schoenberg et al. (2003) pointed out that process of decision making during treatment is broad, socially delineated, and essential to understanding for maximization of health outcomes. According to Strain (1990), patients draw advice concerning their therapy from their social network. Stoller (1998) found out that social ties reinforce self-care, helps people to interpret their symptoms, provision of social comparisons, promote or erode urged to consult professional, suggest alternative methods, and affirming individual morale in fighting the disease. Prohaska (1998) indicated that lay referrals could be of great importance to aged people in society. Lay consultation helps in symptoms diagnosing, health beliefs in existential, and history health of the patient (Strain, 1990). I employed a lay system before I went for testing. I would talk to my close comrades concerning my symptoms, and their immense advice to seek further treatment was imperative since the virus treatment before it reached a critical stage.

After my discharge, I assumed the role of doing things differently concerning the coronavirus. First of all, I opted to create more awareness about the disease to hack the social stigma associated with it. According to WHO (2020), social stigma is one of the main factors contributing to increased deaths. WHO argued that people with the virus are stigmatized and contribute to psychological problems, which can lead to death. WHO (2020), noted stigma could make people hide their illness, prevent people from seeking medical care, and discourage in following health guidelines. The result is the virus can spread more than in the presence of awareness. Additionally, it was my responsibility to follow WHO guidelines such as wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, and sanitizing (WHO, 2020).

In conclusion, the patient sensitization to seek health care to defeat any disease. Factors affecting the patient are both internal and external factors such as cultural, personal, the conceptualization of the illness, lay referral network, and symptoms of the disease. Adherence to set guidelines yields a positive result of flattening the curve to the spread of the coronavirus.

References

Lu, R.; Zhao, X.; Li, J.; Nit, P.; Yang, B.; Wu, H.; Wang, W.; Song, H.; Huang, B.; Zhu, N.; et al. Genomic characterization and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: Implications for virus origins and receptor binding. Lancet, 2020, 395, 565–574. [CrossRef]

Lipsitch, M.; Swerdlow, D.L.; Finelli, L. Defining the epidemiology of covid-19–Studies needed. N. Engl.

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Di Gennaro, F., Pizzol, D., Marotta, C., Antunes, M., Racalbuto, V., Veronese, N., & Smith, L. (2020). Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) current status and future perspectives: A narrative review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(8), 2690.

Lin, Q., Zhao, S., Gao, D., Lou, Y., Yang, S., Musa, S. S. ... & He, D. (2020). A conceptual model for the outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, with individual reaction and governmental action. International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Cui, J., Li, F., & Shi, Z. L. (2019). Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 17(3), 181-192.

World Health Organization. (2020). Mental health and psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak, 18 March 2020 (No. WHO/2019-nCoV/Mental Health/2020.1). World Health Organization.