Coronavirus: Long-Term Health Impacts

One topic I've paid attention to are the long-term health problems that arise for those who comes down with COVID-19. In this blog post, it appeared that 10% developed long-term issues.

The New York Times had a couple articles up that looked into the topic again. The first looks at how those who have "recovered" from COVID-19 are having to head back to the hospital. The second looks at the topic of loss of taste and smell.  

New York Times via Yahoo (Dec 30) reports:

“Even if they had a very mild course, at least one-third have significant symptomology two to three months out,” said Dr. Eleftherios Mylonakis, chief of infectious diseases at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School and Lifespan hospitals, who co-wrote another report. “There is a wave of readmissions that is building, because at some point these people will say ‘I’m not well.’”

. . . Many rehospitalized patients have respiratory problems, but some have blood clots, heart trouble, sepsis, gastrointestinal symptoms or other issues, doctors report. Some have neurological symptoms like brain fog, “a clear cognitive issue that is evident when they get readmitted,” said Dr. Vineet Chopra, chief of hospital medicine at the University of Michigan, who co-wrote the Michigan study. “It is there, and it is real.” 

One thing to note is that the percent of those suffering long-term health problems is still not pinned down. As mentioned at the top of this post, in a previous blog post, research was indicating that 10% developed long-term issues. This more recent New York Times article is targeting 33%. 

The article mentions that these significant symptoms are mainly those over 65, but does impact younger people. The United States has more than 23 million people who have recovered from COVID-19. The question (which will be answered over the next few years) is how lingering are these health issues. And if these issues linger, it doesn't sound good for the individual or the United States: brain fog, respiratory problems, blood clots, heart trouble; those just sound like significant medical issues to me.

New York Times via Yahoo (Jan 3) reports on the loss of taste and smell:

Scientists know little about how the virus causes persistent anosmia or how to cure it. But cases are piling up as the coronavirus sweeps across the world, and some experts fear that the pandemic may leave huge numbers of people with a permanent loss of smell and taste. The prospect has set off an urgent scramble among researchers to learn more about why patients are losing these essential senses, and how to help them.

Yeah, not as bad as brain fog and heart trouble, but as the article mentions this can result in the inability to sense danger (fire, gas leaks) and can result in a lack of appetite.