COVID-19 and the various types of flu are all caused by viruses. They are all respiratory diseases, primarily, and their complications can cause death in a small proportion of cases. Like all serious diseases, survivors may have to endure a long tail of lethargy. But there the similarities stop.
Flu is typically a couple of days in bed. Catching COVID-19 can mean a week or more initially, often for two or three weeks. For some people symptoms then recur and can become bad enough to require hospital treatment. Serious symptoms can then sometimes persist for months, be they serious lethargy and/or chronic pain. That is known as "Long COVID".
HOW COVID-19 AFFECTS THE BODY
If the virus gets into the bloodstream, such as having caused damage in the lungs, it can damage any such organ.
These microclots can themselves do damage to organs. They can also cause strokes, even in younger people.
The microclots can also reduce the ability of the blood to accept oxygen from the lungs. A triple whammy.
These effects are regardless of age. Young and old. Younger people are mistaken to think this is only an older person’s worry.
Children can also be affected, but usually less seriously. Here is the NHS advice
But that doesn’t adequately reflect the possibility of MIS-C, Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, which is a similar multi-organ problem as affects adults.
This all makes COVID-19 a far more serious disease than flu, for all ages including children. Our response as a society to COVID-19 needs to be very different from that to flu.
LongCOVID
Ongoing symptoms like these are termed “LongCOVID”. Here’s a discussion from the British Medical Journal published mid July.
This article includes a quote from Paul Garner, a professor of infectious diseases, who had the disease and was one of the first to bring LongCOVID to the attention of the medical profession. He describes it as “frightening and long.”. He reported a long list of symptoms lasting weeks and leaving him "feeling unable to function".
This BMJ article also reports that “researchers from Italy reported that nearly nine in 10 patients (87%) discharged from a Rome hospital after recovering from covid-19 were still experiencing at least one symptom 60 days after onset”…” fatigue (53%), dyspnoea (43%), joint pain (27%), and chest pain (22%). Two fifths of patients reported a worsened quality of life.”
Other studies also suggest that a large proportion of people who have had COVID-19 have long-term symptoms, even when they haven't needed hospital treatment,
This study from Holland covered 1622 COVID-19 sufferers of which 91% had not been to hospital.. (If your translation of the title says "homeowners" it should be "home sitters"), "The average age is 53 [so younger as well as older], by far the largest group (85 percent) say their health was good before the corona infection. Now that is only 6 percent. Almost half indicate that they can no longer exercise after corona, more than 6 in 10 even have problems with walking. "That is shocking," says Michael Rutgers. “60 percent of those surveyed had not previously been treated by a doctor. These are just healthy people who are now wondering if they will ever fully recover from corona." ”
Very little from the BBC, and nothing that I have seen hit their main headlines. This graphic is interesting though. This is from a Italian study of a small number of people, but is hopefully indicative. Note that only around 1% of people with COVID symptoms die. After two months diarrhoea, the least common symptom, is more common than dying, Joint pain and chest pain are each around 20%., unrelated to lungs . Fatigue and breathlessness each affect around half of people. LongCOVID is a big issue:
If that isn't enough to persuade you that you don't want to catch COVID-19, here are reports of hair loss, here and here due to a condition called "Telogen Effluvium"
So serious is the LongCOVID issue that the NHS is launching a rehabilitation service, and are opening rehabilitation centres around the country, supported by teams of physiotherapists, nurses and mental health specialists.
So serious is the LongCOVID issue that the NHS is launching a rehabilitation service, and are opening rehabilitation centres around the country, supported by teams of physiotherapists, nurses and mental health specialists.
There is also now a British study focused on people who have been hospitalised, called the PHOSP COVID study, being PostHOSPitalised. This was launched in early July by the NHS with support from the Health Secretary Matt Hancock, in which he is quoted as saying "As we continue our fight against this global pandemic, we are learning more and more about the impact the disease can have not only on immediate health, but longer-term physical and mental health too.".
So why isn't LongCOVID prominent in government publicity? Indeed why seemingly absent! Why aren't younger people and parents being warned that COVID-19 isn't just a danger to older people/?
People who don’t have the classic initial symptoms can also suffer from LongCOVID symptoms. For children, it is surprising that the NHS website doesn’t make any mention.
A
QUESTION FOR JOURNALISTS
There are very few articles about LongCOVID in the press or other media. In literally the last 24 hours here's one from Anna Gross in the Financial Times, basically echoing what I have written above.
So journalists. You love reporting on death. It is the topic that fills newspapers and airtime. But if LongCOVID really is going to be "the story about COVID", as experts say, now's your chance to shine with a new focus on LongCOVID. Are any more of you prepared to step forward? In print or on air?
UPDATE 6 AUGUST 2020
The MSM are beginning to wake up to the LongCOVID issue. Today:
UPDATE 6 AUGUST 2020
The MSM are beginning to wake up to the LongCOVID issue. Today:
- The Telegraph put this article onto their front page (behind paywall)
- "The iPaper" published this letter
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