Long Haul COVID

While many people get over COVID with only minor issues, many also suffer chronic lingering illness. They're known as "long haulers" who for months after infection continue to have problems such as extreme fatigue and brain fog.

I remember early in the pandemic talking with a heart surgeon colleague in New Orleans. While looking at tissues from COVID autopsy victims, he noticed small areas of bleeding in the kidneys, liver, lungs as well as the brain. That tells us COVID-nineteen can have a major impact on multiple organ systems.

One British study looked at organ damage in fifty thousand COVID patients discharged from hospitals. Compared to matched controls, a third had to be re-admitted with more than ten percent dying from post-COVID illnesses. This is four times the readmissions and eight times the deaths of the control group of patients. The COVID patients were also twenty seven times more likely to develop chronic respiratory disease and three times more likely to get cardiovascular disease. In another study, COVID patients developed diabetes at a rate six times higher than the non-COVID patients.

Overall, it is estimated that at least ten to thirty percent of those who recover from COVID will face some type of lingering or "Long Haul" symptoms. And we don't know how long these symptoms will last or if they'll be lifelong. So far thirty million people in the US are long haulers and they're going to need resources possibly for years to come.