Through her tears, Mahi’s mother saw the temperature reading her thermometer had just produced – fever! “Please not my little baby girl who has already suffered so much in her life!”, she said to herself.
Many parents are desperate. They are hardly able to protect themselves against the COVID-19 virus. They have to hit the busy streets to buy food. And when going to work they often depend on overcrowded buses and trains. But if you are hardly able to find face masks or sanitary gel for yourself, how do you keep your children safe? With the current infection numbers, it seems as if you are no longer safe anywhere. Entire families are infected and so many people are sick because of the virus. Or worse.
Fortunately, in these difficult times sometimes we hear the news that gives people some courage. Like the story of little Mahi. Getting pregnant had not been easy for her mother, but to make matters worse she also almost lost her baby. Mahi was born a little over 32 weeks into her pregnancy. The little girl fought for her life, while her mother and father looked on helplessly. Fortunately, Mahi was in a good hospital. The doctors were able to save her. She is now 8 months old and she is doing fine.
That is: until two days ago.
With the huge increase in the number of infections, COVID-19 also got closer to Mahi’s family. In the neighborhood where the family lives it is impossible to keep your distance from other people. For many people, it is difficult to comply with all protective measures. So, it should not come as a surprise that during the last few weeks Mahi’s mother heard about more and more people getting infected. And the number of deaths also grew day by day.
And then one day the virus reached Mahi’s family too. First, her uncle became infected, then her elder sister who is just 5 years old. Then her grandparents. Mahi’s mother and father tried to take care of them as best they could. But then her father tested positive as well.
Mahi’s mother tried to keep the sick family members separate from her siblings who were not infected. She kept her in a room, disconnected from her family.
However, Mahi’s family was lucky. When Mahi was born she was very weak as she was born premature, so her pediatrician asked her mother to keep a chart of Mahi’s body temperature. As a mother, she was trying hard with the digital thermometer, but she was not happy so she shared her discomfort with her aunt who works in the medical industry. Her aunt presented her a good thermometer and gave her very important advice. “As soon as you suspect anything is wrong with Mahi – short of breath, coughing, panting, listless – you need to keep a close eye on her body temperature. Here, use my thermometer. Doctors always say that you should measure for fever twice a day. But in this case, please measure little Mahi’s body temperature much more often. Because as soon as you see her temperature starts to rise, she has to go to the hospital immediately. Because a fever means she might have become infected as well”.
That same evening, Mahi started to cough in her sleep. Her mother picked up the Exergen TAT-2000C her aunt had given to her. It is a very easy-to-use thermometer that measures the temperature using infrared. All she had to do was switch on the thermometer and gently swipe it across Mahi’s forehead. That is all it took to measure her temperature accurately. Even better, she could do so while Mahi was asleep.
Mahi’s mother followed her aunt’s advice and decided to measure Mahi’s temperature every 15 to 20 minutes. After a few hours, Priyanka’s body temperature began to rise. Her mother called her aunt who immediately came over. Together they brought little Mahi to the hospital. Fortunately, there were still some beds available. Mahi was admitted and closely monitored by the doctors and nurses.
Fortunately, the situation turned out to be not as bad as her mother had feared. After 2 days her body temperature started to come down and Mahi is feeling much better now.
When her aunt called again yesterday to ask about Mahi’s condition, her mother was happy to inform her that she will probably be able to come back home again soon.
“Fortunately, with the Exergen TAT-2000C, we had an easy-to-use and very reliable thermometer,” her aunt said. “Many people underestimate COVID-19 and are not aware of the fact that fever is an early warning signal that they may have become infected. Therefore, always and as often as you can measure for fever as soon as a child or adult becomes short of breath or starts to cough. As soon as you see their body temperature start to rise and they develop a fever, see a doctor as quickly as possible. Because chances are they have been infected and need treatment. Go see a doctor as soon as you can. It will greatly improve your chances of getting well again.”