Photo/Illutration An infographic posted on Twitter that illustrates the gap in perceptions of COVID-19 symptoms between the public and doctors (Provided by Kosuke Yasukawa)

A doctor is leveraging the power of social media to warn people how large the gap is between how they view the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and how medical professionals understand them.

And his effort is attracting tremendous attention in Japan.

Kosuke Yasukawa, 39, a physician who treats COVID-19 patients in the United States, made an infographic that illustrates this difference in perceptions and posted it on Twitter. It quickly went viral.

The graphic warns that someone with moderate COVID-19 symptoms will likely experience the most difficult struggle of their life when battling the illness.

The public, however, thinks that someone with moderate symptoms will simply experience some difficulty in breathing.

Patients with moderate symptoms are likely to have a fever, cough and struggle to breathe well for days due to pneumonia.

“For many people who have never experienced a serious illness, it will be the most difficult condition they experience in their lives,” said Yasukawa, an assistant professor at the medical department of Georgetown University.

If it becomes necessary to administer oxygen to a patient, they would be classified under “moderate II.” But based on the U.S. standard, they would fall into a category of “serious.”

If patients are put on ventilators, their condition would be considered “serious.” But according to the U.S. standard, they would be categorized under “critical.”

Yasukawa is trying to give people a reality check about the dangers of COVID-19. Even for patients with moderate symptoms, their pneumonia can worsen within just a few days and their condition might become serious.

He created the illustration out of concern that the public does not understand the terms describing the severity levels of COVID-19 symptoms in the same way that the medical community does.

Just 10 days after posting his graphic on Twitter on July 20, 14 million people had seen it.

According to the graphic, the general population views mild symptoms as being “like a cold,” while doctors recognize them as “not needing help breathing.”

Yasukawa said that all patients without pneumonia are categorized as “mild” in Japan.

But mild symptoms vary greatly from person to person.

Some patients only have a fever or cough for a short time, while other people also suffer from vomiting, diarrhea or other symptoms.

“Many people suffer greatly from a variety of symptoms for days and days,” he said. He added that some people also suffer from side effects, such as malaise, shortness of breath and taste disorders, for months.

“Please don’t think of it as just a cold,” he said.

The stark warning comes as the much more powerful Delta variant rages like wildfire in Japan and abroad.

Yasukawa is urging people to continue to take basic anti-virus measures such as wearing masks, washing their hands, social distancing, getting vaccinated, and ensuring that there is proper ventilation.

(This article was compiled from reports by Haruna Ishikawa and Yoshiaki Abe.)

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