Tough to Tell COVID From Smoke Inhalation Symptoms — And Flu Season’s Coming BY MARK KREIDLER California Healthline
T
he patients walk into Dr. Melissa Marshall’s community clinics in Northern California with the telltale symptoms. They’re having trouble breathing. It may even hurt to inhale. They’ve got a cough, and the sore throat is definitely there. A straight case of COVID-19? Not so fast. This is wildfire country. Up and down the West Coast, hospitals and health facilities are reporting an influx of patients with problems most likely related to smoke inhalation. As fires rage largely uncontrolled amid dry heat and high winds, smoke and ash are billowing and settling on coastal areas like San Francisco and cities and towns hundreds of miles inland as well, turning the sky orange or gray and making even ordinary breathing difficult. But that, Marshall said, is only part of the challenge. Facilities already
24 | The Bulletin
