Story at a glance
- While most people with COVID-19 recover and return to normal health, some patients have gone on to have “long COVID,” experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, and joint pain for weeks or months.
- Those who experience “long COVID” appear to be a diverse population and don’t just include those who have been hospitalized with severe illness.
- A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Washington found about 33 percent of COVID-19 patients who were not sick enough to require hospitalization experienced symptoms for months.
Centers to help treat COVID-19 patients experiencing long term symptoms of the coronavirus are popping up across the country.
While most people with COVID-19 recover and return to normal health, some patients have gone on to have “long COVID,” experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, joint pain for weeks or even months in some instances. Other symptoms may include difficulty thinking or focusing — also known as brain fog — depression, muscle pain, headache, intermittent fever and heart palpitations among others.
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Health experts are still working to understand the details of long COVID and its effects on patients, and now new recovery clinics are opening up across the country to help treat “long haulers.” While there’s no specific treatment for long COVID, doctors are focusing on treatment based on the symptoms reported by the patient.
According to CNN, New York’s Mount Sinai was the first in the U.S. to open a clinic for patients experiencing long-term COVID-19 symptoms in May. The news outlet reports the center has had more than 1,600 patients and has a months-long waiting list for appointments.
Since the center first opened in May, similar post-COVID care centers have opened in more than half the states across the country, bringing multidisciplinary teams from across various specialties to help treat patients experiencing such a wide range of symptoms, according to grassroots group Survivor Corps.
“We now realize it goes way beyond the standard post viral syndrome,” William Li, a physician who has been researching COVID-19 for nearly a year, told CNN.
“These symptoms can last for nine months. And we’re going on to a year now, we’re still seeing new symptoms unfold,” Li told the outlet. “This could potentially be a second pandemic coming in, being birthed out of the first crisis.”
Those who experience long COVID appear to be diverse and don’t just include those who have been hospitalized with severe illness. A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Washington found about 33 percent of COVID-19 patients who were not sick enough to require hospitalization experienced symptoms for months, such as fatigue, loss of smell or taste and brain fog.
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