The majority of COVID-19 deaths in Georgia still occur among elderly and people with underlying conditions.
11Alive spoke with Northside's Dr. Nokuthula Msimanga, who specializes in geriatric medicine, about why that is.
"Older patients sometimes don't present the way we expect, or what we find other COVID-19 patients might present," she said.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released a list of common symptoms. The list included fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Recently the CDC added chills, muscle pain, headache, and loss of taste and smell to the list.
Msimanga said COVID-19 cases involving elderly patients are complicated, as they may not show any of the above symptoms.
"We might normally see what is called apathy, basically disinterest or not being engaged," she described. "We might see them increase in confusion, we may see weakness, we may see them stop eating or not eating as much."
