If youre sick and dont have supplies, see if a friend can pick them up for you, or if a grocery store or bodega will deliver. (Tip well!) Either way, avoid contact: Whether its a friend or a delivery person, have the bag left outside your door, and dont open the door until the delivery person is gone.

Over-the-counter drugs may not be enough. In particular, the coughing and nausea caused by Covid-19 can be severe enough to warrant prescription medication.

For my husband and me, benzonatate (for the cough) and promethazine (for the nausea) were lifesavers. Some colleagues were prescribed codeine-based cough medicine or Zofran. If you feel you might need them, ask your doctor about medications sooner rather than later. Dont wait until youre doubled over coughing or cant keep anything down.

If you dont have a primary care doctor, some urgent care clinics offer virtual appointments, and some pharmacies offer prescription delivery.

Dry air can exacerbate some symptoms such as coughing and chest tightness. If you have a humidifier, use it. If not, a hot shower works.

Several readers reported that they felt better when they lay on their stomach. A woman in Britain whose partner was sick for several weeks told me that a particular breathing exercise helped him:

You take a deep breath, hold it for 5 seconds and release. Do that 5 times, then on the 6th time on the release, cough hard. Do that cycle twice, then lie on your front and take slightly deeper breaths for 10 minutes. Try to do it a couple of times a day.

In some cases, your doctor may also prescribe an albuterol inhaler to reduce your cough and ease your breathing.

As soon as you get sick, start a detailed log. Every time you take your temperature do it several times a day, at consistent times log it. Every time you take a pill, log it. Every time you eat or drink, log it. If one symptom resolves or a new one develops, log it.

Continue reading here:

How to Recover From Covid-19 at Home - The New York Times