A new M Health Fairview clinic is confronting an exhausting disorder that has afflicted more children since the pandemic and caused alarming spikes in heart rate, blood pressure and breathing.
Dr. Matthew Ambrose said it is disheartening to see so many more cases of the condition known as POTS. But the increase at least spurred awareness, and accelerated plans for a clinic in Minneapolis that can better diagnose and treat children who in the past were dismissed.
"Sometimes they're being told outright that they are making it up, that it's all in their head," said Ambrose, a U pediatric cardiologist and the clinic's director. "It's really dispiriting to hear. They can't even be at school because they are too tired."
POTS emerged prior to the pandemic in about one in 500 children and young adults, usually after infectious diseases triggered overly aggressive responses by their immune systems. So doctors weren't shocked when POTS became more of a problem during the pandemic. An estimated 96% of Minnesota children had been infected by the end of 2022 with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, based on a federal review of pediatric blood samples, creating a huge risk pool for the development of the disorder.
The condition bears similarities to long COVID, the lingering cognitive and physical problems that people experience after coronavirus infections, but with at least one distinguishing characteristic. POTS is short for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and it is defined by a severe and immediate increase in heart rate whenever people switch positions by sitting or standing up.
Anna Burt, 14, was a bubbly dancer, skier and cheerleader from Sioux Falls, S.D., when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in October 2020. The resulting exhaustion left her struggling to walk, and often was marked by a pounding heartbeat that raced up to 160 beats per minute.
"Its like a big drum," the girl said.
Burt's mother, Jody, said she felt fortunate to eventually connect with Ambrose, who had observed cases of POTS prior to the pandemic and had taken a clinical and research interest in the condition. Mayo Clinic in Rochester also has specialists who treat POTS, but they didn't have appointments when Anna got sick. Her daughter had developed stomach problems and couldn't sit up, even to ride in the car to the doctor's office, along with episodes of dizziness and pain.
"She really was trapped in the house," her mother said.
Depression and anxiety often occur alongside POTS, so much that they are often mistaken as the causes of children's lethargy, research has shown. Just finding a clinician that believed Anna and her family was vital, her mother said. "We weren't getting that. Most of the time, we were getting, 'its just constipation.'"
Drinking water can reduce POTS flareups, and regular exercise and physical therapy can help patients regain function, Ambrose said. But patients often need poorly understood and even controversial medication regimens. Naltrexone treats opioid addiction but appears to reduce POTS-related fatigue. Steroids regulate water and sodium levels and can prevent or reduce attacks.
Paradoxically, beta blocker drugs that lower blood pressure were thought to worsen POTS, but studies show they help. POTS is related to the autonomic nervous system, or the portion of the nervous system that controls subconscious functions such as heart rate and body temperature.
The drugs temper the body's reaction to signals from that system, Ambrose said. "It's like being at a rock concert but wearing hearing protection."
The clinic's goal is to package together treatments that patients and families often struggled to access separately, and to keep tabs on patients through online check-ups and counseling. By following patients over time, the clinic also hopes to prove which treatments work best and how much progress children with POTS can expect to make.
"When I tell people I think we can get them to a place where they are fully functional, I mean it," Ambrose said. "But it does take work and time and trial and error ... and an Avengers Team of physical therapists."
The clinic sometimes looks for little successes, Ambrose added, giving fluid infusions to one recent patient so she had the energy just to go to prom.
Anna Burt has progressed from a wheelchair to braces to walking on her own, but she still can't run without exhaustion. She has replaced her old pursuits for now with swimming and archery. As a fidgety girl with sensitive skin, she has invented a non-irritating slime toy that she plans to sell under the brand Rainbow Slime.
She said her pain and other symptoms are under better control now, as long as she keeps up with therapy exercises and remembers her medication. She rides a recumbent bicycle at home for exercise and has returned to school for her English and writing classes. Changes day to day are imperceptible, but Anna said she has made long-term improvements and dreams of getting back to old activities.
"Sometimes I get sad. I'm just tired of doing this over and over and over again, but I wouldn't change the experience I had," she said. "Definitely a lot of parts suck, like most of it, 99% sucks. But I wouldn't be who I am now without it."
Four years after hospitals in New York City overflowed with Covid patients, emergency physician Dr. Sonya Stokes remains shaken by how unprepared and misguided the American health system was.
Hospital leadership instructed health workers to forgo protective N95 masks in the early months of 2020, as covid cases mounted. “We were watching patients die,” Stokes said, “and being told we didn’t need a high level of protection from people who were not taking these risks.”
Droves of front-line workers fell sick as they tried to save lives without proper face masks and other protective measures. More than 3,600 died in the first year. “Nurses were going home to their elderly parents, transmitting Covid to their families,” Stokes recalled. “It was awful.”
Across the country, hospital leadership cited advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the limits of airborne transmission. The agency’s early statements backed employers’ insistence that N95 masks, or respirators, were needed only during certain medical procedures conducted at extremely close distances.
Such policies were at odds with doctors’ observations, and they conflicted with advice from scientists who study airborne viral transmission. Their research suggested that people could get Covid after inhaling SARS-CoV-2 viruses suspended in teeny-tiny droplets in the air as infected patients breathed.
Ignoring this body of research was convenient at a time when N95s masks were in short supply and expensive, said Peg Seminario, an occupational health expert, and a former director at the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, which represents some 12 million workers.
Now, she and many others worry that the CDC is repeating past mistakes as it develops a crucial set of guidelines that hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and other facilities that provide health care will apply to control the spread of infectious diseases. The guidelines update those established nearly two decades ago. They will be used to establish protocols and procedures for years to come.
“This is the foundational document,” Seminario said. “It becomes gospel for dealing with infectious pathogens.”
“If we applied these draft guidelines at the start of this pandemic, there would have been even less protection than there is now — and it’s pretty bad now,” Seminario said.
In an unusual move in January, the CDC acknowledged the outcry and returned the controversial draft to its committee so that it could clarify points on airborne transmission. The director of the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health asked the group to “make sure that a draft set of recommendations cannot be misread to suggest equivalency between facemasks and NIOSH Approved respirators, which is not scientifically correct.”
The CDC also announced it would expand the range of experts informing their process. Critics had complained that most members of last year’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee represent large hospital systems. And about a third of them had published editorials arguing against masks in various circumstances. For example, committee member Dr. Erica Shenoy, the infection control director at Massachusetts General Hospital, wrote in May 2020, “We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection.”
Although critics are glad to see last year’s draft reconsidered, they remain concerned. “The CDC needs to make sure that this guidance doesn’t give employers leeway to prioritize profits over protection,” said Jane Thomason, the lead industrial hygienist at the union National Nurses United.
She’s part of a growing coalition of experts from unions, the American Public Health Association, and other organizations putting together an outside statement on elements that ought to be included in the CDC’s guidelines, such as the importance of air filtration and N95 masks.
But that input may not be taken into consideration.
The CDC has not publicly announced the names of experts it added this year. It also hasn’t said whether those experts will be able to vote on the committee’s next draft — or merely provide advice. The group has met this year, but members are barred from discussing the proceedings. The CDC did not respond to questions and interview requests from KFF Health News.
A key point of contention in the draft guidance is that it recommends different approaches for airborne viruses that “spread predominantly over short distances” versus those that “spread efficiently over long distances.” In 2020, this logic allowed employers to withhold protective gear from many workers.
For example, medical assistants at a large hospital system in California, Sutter Health, weren’t given N95 masks when they accompanied patients who appeared to have Covid through clinics. After receiving a citation from California’s occupational safety and health agency, Sutter appealed by pointing to the CDC’s statements suggesting that the virus spreads mainly over short distances.
A distinction based on distance reflects a lack of scientific understanding, explained Dr. Don Milton, a University of Maryland researcher who specializes in the aerobiology of respiratory viruses. In general, people may be infected by viruses contained in someone’s saliva, snot, or sweat — within droplets too heavy to go far. But people can also inhale viruses riding on teeny-tiny, lighter droplets that travel farther through the air. What matters is which route most often infects people, the concentration of virus-laden droplets, and the consequences of getting exposed to them, Milton said. “By focusing on distance, the CDC will obscure what is known and make bad decisions.”
Front-line workers were acutely aware they were being exposed to high levels of the coronavirus in hospitals and nursing homes. Some have since filed lawsuits, alleging that employers caused illness, distress, and death by failing to provide personal protective equipment.
One class-action suit brought by staff was against Soldiers’ Home, a state-owned veterans’ center in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where at least 76 veterans died from Covid and 83 employees were sickened by the coronavirus in early 2020.
“Even at the end of March, when the Home was averaging five deaths a day, the Soldiers’ Home Defendants were still discouraging employees from wearing PPE,” according to the complaint.
It details the experiences of staff members, including a nursing assistant who said six veterans died in her arms. “She remembers that during this time in late March, she always smelled like death. When she went home, she would vomit continuously.”
Researchers have repeatedly criticized the CDC for its reluctance to address airborne transmission during the pandemic. According to a new analysis, “The CDC has only used the words ‘COVID’ and ‘airborne’ together in one tweet, in October 2020, which mentioned the potential for airborne spread.’”
It’s unclear why infection control specialists on the CDC’s committee take a less cautious position on airborne transmission than other experts, industrial hygienist Deborah Gold said. “I think these may be honest beliefs,” she suggested, “reinforced by the fact that respirators triple in price whenever they’re needed.”
Critics fear that if the final guidelines don’t clearly state a need for N95 masks, hospitals won’t adequately stockpile them, paving the way for shortages in a future health emergency. And if the document isn’t revised to emphasize ventilation and air filtration, health facilities won’t invest in upgrades.
“If the CDC doesn’t prioritize the safety of health providers, health systems will err on the side of doing less, especially in an economic downturn,” Stokes said. “The people in charge of these decisions should be the ones forced to take those risks.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
The global economy seems to have come to a halt. Per International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva “we have entered a recession", which might be worse than 2009. However, on a brighter note, global economic growth can significantly rebound in 2021, provided the spread of the deadly virus is contained and companies can address the current liquidity and solvency issues.
COVID-19 has now affected199 countries. and impacted the United States deeply, infecting nearly 142,900 people and taking 2,489 lives. Globally, about 723,997 have been infected so far, with highest fatalities in Italy and Spain.
With no drug or vaccination yet, researchers are at present working overtime to find a cure and are making advancement in technology to diagnose infected patients and prevent the infection from spreading further. The need for personal protective equipment has pushed car makers and other various manufacturers to retooltheir factoriesto make respirator ventilators, which are the need of the hour for treatinginfected people, globally.
Ventilators in Demand
Coronavirus is a highly infectious respiratory disease that affects the lungs, resulting in breathing difficulty. Mechanical breathing devices offer gentle breathing assistance to patients whose lungs have been attacked by the virus
Per the World Health Organization (WHO), one in six coronavirus infected patients becomes seriously ill and can develop breathing difficulties. According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, at present America has 160,000 ventilators available but given the spike in cases, 740,000 could be needed.
Ventilator shortage is a concern and has put governments across the globe in distress. The crisis has brought many automakers onto the forefront who have teamed up with existing ventilator makers to help them ramp up production.
Many of them are exploring ways to retool their factories to make ventilators. For instance, on Mar 27, General Motors Company GM announced that it will be working with Ventec Life Systems to help increase production. General Motors will help ramp up production of Ventec to achieve a target of at least 10,000 units a month or more.
Additionally, Tesla, Inc. TSLA and SpaceX Chief Elon Musk has offered to start manufacturing ventilators for coronavirus patients, as both the companies’ plants are well suited to make ventilators. Tesla and SpaceX both had prior expertise in manufacturing ventilator and life support systems. Tesla's cars do have ventilators, while SpaceX had developed a life-support system for the company's Crew Dragon astronaut taxi. With President Donald Trump’s official confirmation to produce ventilators, the companies are looking forward to revamp and help in the time of crisis.
Mask Makers in Limelight
American mask manufacturing giants like 3M Company MMM and DuPont de Nemours, Inc. DD are failing to meet demand. DuPont that makes personal protective equipment (like masks and protective body suits) needed by first responders has increased production capacity three times. In fact, N95 respirators manufacturer 3M has increased production since the outbreak in Wuhan.
The American Hospital Association believes that hospitals treating coronavirus patients will need up to nine times the protective equipment compared to normal flu. Per Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, the United States only has about 1% of the 3.5 billion masks it needs to combat a serious outbreak. With a steep rise in cases, the government had to import carrying 80 tons of gloves, masks, gowns and other medical supplies from Shanghai on Mar 29.
At the time of crisis, many factories are retooling to make mask instead of hoodies and other clothing. Designers and manufacturers have taken up manufacturing of surgical face masks and other protective gear. Notable among them is Dov Charney who believes his 150,000-square-foot American Apparel factory can produce nearly 300,000 masks and 50,000 gowns in a week.
3 Must-Buy Stocks
Given that demand for ventilators and personal protective equipment has increased amid the coronavirus outbreak, investing in the following three companies seems prudent.
Cardinal Health, Inc. CAH provides customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, and physician offices. The company is ramping up production of masks, gloves and face shields.
The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 1.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s current-year earnings has been revised 5.5% upward over the past 60 days.Cardinal Health sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Next we have, ResMed Inc. RMD, which makes three models of ventilators. Its Astral model supports both invasive and non-invasive use. The company is plans to double or even triple production of hospital ventilators.
ResMed’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 16.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s current-year earnings has been revised 0.5% upward over the past 60 days. ResMed carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Last one on our list is Medtronic plc MDT. The company makes high-performance ventilators for critically ill patients in high-acuity settings. Medtronic has plans to operate factories round-the-clock to ramp production.
ThisZacks Rank #2 company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 8.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s current-year earnings has been revised 0.7% upward over the past 60 days.
(We are reissuing this article to correct a mistake. The original article, issued on March 30, 2020, should no longer be relied upon.)
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An Illinois mother is pushing for pregnant women to get a COVID-19 vaccination after she came close to death because of the virus and had to deliver her son seven weeks early.
Samantha Kelly recently met her newborn son, Holden, for the first time since contracting COVID-19 while pregnant — and being placed in a medically-induced coma after giving birth — according to a GoFundMe set up to benefit her family.
"She is extremely weak and will have a long road to recovery but we can finally see the light after being in this dark place," Kelly's mom, Amy, wrote in an update on the donation page on Sept. 19. "Next step for her to meet Holden we are blessed to have everyone of you in our lives. I believe in the power of kindness and prayer."
Two days later, a picture of Kelly holding her son was shared on the GoFundMe, which has raised more than $16,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
In an interview with WLS-TV, Kelly — who has two other children ages 3 and 5 with her husband, Donnell — said she "was almost dead," adding that there were a "couple of scary times I heard I was close to not making it."
According to the outlet, Kelly was just over seven months pregnant when she and her family contracted the virus. Kelly soon experienced difficulty breathing and a fever, her husband recalled. She had planned to get her first of two vaccine shots later that week.
"A lot of decisions being thrown at you, you try as [a] mom [to] make the best one," she told WLS-TV. "I unfortunately made the wrong one, should've gotten the vaccine."
RELATED VIDEO: FDA Grants Full Approval to Pfizer's COVID Vaccine
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the COVID-19 vaccine for everyone age 12 and older, including women who are pregnant (or want to become pregnant).
Today, Kelly no longer needs to be intubated, but she cannot yet see her two other children.
"I cannot wait until I can see my kids again. I wish I would've gotten vaccinated, I really wish I would've," she told WLS-TV. "I hope every pregnant woman gets it. It's so much better than near death."
As of Wednesday afternoon, 55 percent of people in the United States have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 64 percent have had at least one dose, according to the New York Times.
As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from the CDC, WHO and local public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMe to raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, click here.
Four years ago, a virus brought everyday life in the United States to a screeching halt. On March 15, 2020, officials in places like New York City and Ohio announced some of the first shutdowns and stay-at-home orders in a century, which soon spread across the country like the novel coronavirus itself.
Basically, this means that people experiencing symptoms of a respiratory virus (like fatigue, a fever, the chills, or a cough) can resume their normal activities after they’ve been feeling “better overall” or fever-free for 24 hours. It’s a return to the halcyon days of ignoring the possibility of being contagious, and not thinking about who might be exposed to what otherwise healthy people perceive as a mild illness, or the potential long-term consequences of an infection.
For some people, the CDC’s announcement effectively marked the end of the pandemic, freeing them from the final vestige of Covid-era restrictions: their obligation to avoid infecting others with Covid or other respiratory viral illnesses. But the millions of Americans living with Long Covid, including myself, don’t have the luxury of being able to move on.
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We’re stuck in broken bodies that can still be difficult to recognize as our own, even after inhabiting them for four years. Many of us are immunocompromised: some, for the first time, and others after years of living with other chronic conditions. It has cost us careers, sources of income, homes, relationships, and in some cases, our identity. And now, as more people think of Covid as a problem of the past, those of us with Long Covid are concerned about our uncertain future.
By all accounts, I should have been hospitalized during my first acute Covid-19 infection. But it was the first week of April 2020, and I wasn’t the only person in Queens spending hours each day choking down shallow breaths, taking in just enough air to survive.
With patients spilling out into hallways and tents at my local hospitals, the empathetic but exhausted clinicians on the other end of the city’s Covid hotline told me to stay home — unless I stopped breathing completely — and that while I wasn’t eligible for testing, I was considered a “presumed positive” case. When I called back a month later because my symptoms hadn’t gone away, I was dismissed for the first of what would turn out to be many times: told that Covid-19 infections only lasted two weeks, so I must not have contracted the novel coronavirus after all.
As a bioethicist, I went into the pandemic familiar with the ethical challenges that can arise during public health emergencies, but hadn’t anticipated the hypothetical case studies I taught in class to play out in real life. I began covering them in February 2020, and by June, I was working on my first assignment on what would come to be known as Long Covid.
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Over several months of reporting, I spoke with other people who had Covid in early spring, sought medical attention after at least a month of new or lingering symptoms, and were informed that they were simply the result of aging, anxiety, obesity, or all in our heads. (Physicians and other healthcare workers living with Long Covid didn’t necessarily fare any better, reporting that they “felt dismissed or not taken seriously by their doctors,” according to the authors of a review of 30 studies evaluating their experiences, published March 5, 2024 in the journal PLOS One.)
Remarkably, four years later, it can still be difficult to find doctors who have even a basic — let alone comprehensive — understanding of Long Covid and the myriad ways it can affect the body and brain. While there are clinics dedicated to treating Long Covid patients in hospitals across the country, it’s not unusual for it to take several months to get an appointment.
“There are not enough clinics to serve all those in need — especially vulnerable patients,” says Linda Geng, MD, PhD, co-director of the Stanford Post-Acute Covid-19 Syndrome Clinic, and clinical assistant professor of medicine and population health at Stanford University.
While some existing clinics, like the one at Stanford, have partnered with community health initiatives and primary care providers to expand services and support for Long Covid patients, other programs across the country have lost crucial funding, forcing them to place restrictions on the new patients they accept and the services they offer, or shut their doors completely.
According to Geng, another major challenge for providers trying to care for patients with Long Covid is that there still isn’t a single FDA-approved therapy for the constellation of symptoms and conditions. “We are lacking good tools to treat our patients,” Geng tells Rolling Stone. “While research is advancing, there is an urgent need to find effective and safe therapies for Long Covid.”
Take, for example, neurological symptoms of Long Covid — including cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, dizziness, and headaches — which can be among the most disruptive and destructive to our careers, relationships, and other aspects of our lives. At this point, researchers partially understand what causes post-Covid “brain fog,” and that the virus “leaves an inflammatory footprint on the brain, its cells, vessels, and other structures,” says Anna Nordvig, MD, a neurologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, whose research group is currently studying biomarkers that can be used in future diagnoses and treatments.
In the meantime, doctors have been trying to help people living with Long Covid manage their symptoms using what’s available. “These past four years have been about repurposing all the drugs and treatments we can, from many fields of medicine,” Nordvig tells Rolling Stone.
But having effective treatments and comprehensive care for people living with Long Covid is one thing; being able to afford them is another. On top of the high cost of healthcare in the United States, many people with Long Covid have developed physical and neurological conditions that left them unable to work — at least to the extent they did before getting Covid.
Technically, Long Covid has qualified as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) since July 2021, but, as I reported that October, it’s up to a person’s employer to determine whether the law and its protections apply to them. Although the extent of the impact on the U.S. labor force and economy isn’t yet known, at least twostudies have estimated that roughly four million people are out of work because of Long Covid, resulting in around $200 billion each year in lost wages. Yet the economic burden of Long Covid continues to be widely overlooked.
“There’s been so much discussion about supply chains, worker shortages, and defaulting on debts, but no one wants to talk about the fact that a significant portion of the workforce has been killed or disabled by Covid,” says Froglet Taylor, who first contracted Covid in March 2020, and in addition to their job, also lost their home.
I first interviewed Taylor for a February 2022 article on Long Covid and housing insecurity, and now, more than two years later, they’re “still living in a cabin made of tarps, miraculously, under the same tree” on a dead-end street near the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Last summer, they changed their first name to Froglet in order to process the way Covid “forever altered” their life and identity. “I needed that division between who I used to be — a person I barely recognize anymore — and who I am now,” Taylor explains.
Since then, their attempts to access government services have continued to fail. “There is still no help for most of us, largely owing to the fact that there is not a test for Long Covid, or even established diagnostic criteria,” Taylor tells Rolling Stone. “Without that, it’s impossible to claim disability assistance unless you happen to have a qualifying secondary diagnosis.”
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Lacking that assistance, and financial support from partners, family members, or friends, many people with Long Covid, including Taylor, turn to crowdfunding in order to cover medical bills, as well as basics like food and housing. This also includes Gwen Bishop, who has been living with Long Covid since January 2022, and manages @LongCovidAidBot, an automated account on X (formerly Twitter) that shares crowdfunding campaigns and mutual aid requests.
“Long Covid is expensive and debilitating, and especially hard on those who were underpaid or exploited gig workers prior to becoming disabled,” Bishop tells Rolling Stone. “We have no viable social support in the U.S., so the workers whose health has been sacrificed are left to rot, and are dying. It’s becoming heartbreakingly common for people in my community to die with their last tweet being a crowdfunding request that never gets fulfilled.”
After he was paralysed by polio at age 6, Paul Alexander was confined for much of his life to a yellow iron lung that kept him alive. He was not expected to survive after that diagnosis, and even when he beat those odds, his life was mostly constrained by a machine in which he could not move. But the toll of living in an iron lung with polio did not stop Alexander from going to college, getting a law degree and practicing law for more than 30 years. As a boy, he taught himself to breathe for minutes and later hours at a time, but he had to use the machine every day of his life.
He died on Monday at 78, according to a statement by his brother, Philip Alexander, on social media. He was one of the last few people in the United States living inside an iron lung, which works by rhythmically changing air pressure in the chamber to force air in and out of the lungs. And in the final weeks of his life, he drew a following on TikTok by sharing what it had been like to live so long with the help of an antiquated machine.
It was unclear what caused Alexander’s death. He had been briefly hospitalised with the coronavirus in February, according to his TikTok account. After he returned home, Alexander struggled with eating and hydrating as he recovered from the virus, which attacks the lungs and can be especially dangerous to people who are older and have breathing problems.
Alexander contracted polio in 1952, according to his book, “Three Minutes for a Dog: My Life in an Iron Lung.” He was quickly paralysed, and doctors at Parkland Hospital in Dallas put him in an iron lung so that he could breathe. “One day I opened my eyes from a deep sleep and looked around for something, anything, familiar,” Alexander said in his book, which he wrote by putting a pen or pencil in his mouth. “Everywhere I looked was all very strange. Little did I know that each new day my life was unavoidably set on a path that would become unimaginably strange and more challenging.”
While innovations in science and technology led to portable ventilators for people with respiratory problems, Alexander’s chest muscles were too damaged to use any other machine, and he was reliant on the iron lung for much of his life, according to The Dallas Morning News, which profiled him in 2018. When he was inside the machine, Alexander needed the help of others for basic tasks such as eating and drinking. For much of his life, that help came from his caregiver, Kathy Gaines, Alexander wrote in his book. Alexander launched his TikTok account in January, and, with help from others, he began creating videos about his life. Some addressed broader parts of his life, like how he practiced law from the iron lung.
In other videos, he took questions from his more than 330,000 followers, about more mundane, yet interesting, aspects of his daily life, like how he was able to relieve himself. (A caregiver had to unlock the iron lung, and he would use a urinal or bed pan.) In one video, Alexander detailed the emotional and mental challenges of living inside an iron lung. “It’s lonely,” he said as the machine can be heard humming in the background. “Sometimes it’s desperate because I can’t touch someone, my hands don’t move, and no one touches me except in rare occasions, which I cherish.”
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic. The decision would change the world as we know it — how we live, work, interact with each other — and mark the beginning of a new era in which we coexist with COVID-19.
The pandemic has since been declared over, but the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, continues to circulate, mutate and infect people around the globe.
Although many people who have gotten COVID-19 have recovered and gone on with their lives, some have been left with persistent symptoms and debilitating health problems for which there is no cure — which we now know as long COVID.
It goes by several different names, including post-COVID conditions (PCC), long-haul COVID, and post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC).
Long COVID is not one illness, but rather an umbrella term to describe a wide range of symptoms, conditions and diseases, which can vary from person to person.
Long COVID symptoms commonly include fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, headaches, shortness of breath, joint pain, nerve issues, gastrointestinal problems and many more.
The constellation of long-term health effects can affect every organ system in the body, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the VA St. Louis Health Care System, tells TODAY.com. “Symptoms are on a spectrum from mild to severe and profoundly disabling,” says Al-Aly.
The cognitive deficits associated with long COVID, such as decreased attention and memory, can be especially debilitating.
Some patients experience slower processing speeds and diminished executive functioning, which means they may struggle to synthesize information or make decisions, James Jackson, Psy.D., neuropsychologist at Vanderbilt University and author of the book “Clearing the Fog,” tells TODAY.com.
“Executive functioning impairment is a big reason why we see so many people with long COVID who are no longer in the workplace,” Jackson adds.
A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people with long COVID have IQs that are six points lower on average than people who have never had COVID. The cognitive deficits can contribute to worsened mental health outcomes, and vice versa, says Jackson.
How long does long COVID last?
Long COVID symptoms can last "weeks, months or years," according to the CDC, and may persist or go away and come back again.
Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D., director of the Center for Infection & Immunity at the Yale School of Medicine, tells TODAY.com long COVID symptoms tend to last for two months or more.
Is there a long COVID test?
There are no laboratory tests to diagnose long COVID, the experts note. Due to the multitude of symptoms, there is no universally agreed-upon set of diagnostic criteria either, says Al-Aly.
“A lot of it is patient history and a process of (elimination) of other possible causes, so doctors might perform multiple different tests to exclude other diseases that could be resulting in similar outcomes,” says Iwasaki.
While many people with long COVID have evidence of their acute infection, such as a previous PCR or antibody test, some may have never tested positive or not know they were infected, per the CDC.
A 2023 study published in the journal Nature showed people with long COVID may have certain blood biomarkers, signs of the condition in the body, which could be promising for developing diagnostic tests.
However, as of now, diagnosing long COVID remains a complex and often challenging process. “A lot of times, people are being dismissed, and (told) it’s in their head or this doesn’t exist. … We know it exists, we know it’s a big deal,” says Al-Aly.
How common is long COVID?
In 2022, nearly 7% of adults in the U.S. reported ever having long COVID, according to a report from the CDC. However, the true number of people affected may be higher, the experts note.
“We see a good amount of variation in terms of incidence rates. I’ve seen those numbers range from 5-20% of patients,” Dr. Rainu Kaushal, chair of the department of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, tells TODAY.com. “Depending on how you define long COVID, it can also affect the rates you’re seeing."
There is an ICD-10 diagnostic code for long COVID (which is used for medical records or death certificates, for example), but this code is not uniformly used, Kaushal adds. This can also impact statistics.
Who gets long COVID?
Anyone who gets COVID can develop long COVID — regardless of age, race, gender, severity of infection, vaccination status or underlying health conditions.
“We have kids with long COVID, (and) we have people who are 100 years old with long COVID,” says Al-Aly.
Many people also get long COVID even if they didn't feel sick. “The vast majority of people develop long COVID after a mild infection,” says Iwasaki. Even if you recover fully from the first infection, it’s possible to develop long COVID after each subsequent reinfection.
However, some data indicates that certain groups may be at increased risk.
According to CDC data from 2022, adults between the ages of 35 and 49 were most likely to experience long COVID, and women were more likely than men to have had or currently have long COVID.
People who had a severe acute infection, especially those who needed to be hospitalized or treated in the intensive care unit may also be at higher risk, says Iwasaki, as well as people who have underlying health conditions and those who are unvaccinated.
Health inequities may also put people from certain racial or ethnic minority groups at greater risk, per the CDC.
Studies have shown that compared to white adults, Black and Hispanic adults who had severe COVID-19 were more likely to develop symptoms associated with long COVID, but also less likely to be diagnosed, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Additionally, certain groups may face greater barriers to health care, and a long COVID diagnosis, including those who are low-income.
Vaccination and the antiviral paxlovid can reduce the risk of developing long COVID, says Al-Aly, but the only way to completely prevent it is to not get COVID-19 in the first place.
What causes long COVID?
Scientists do not know exactly what causes long COVID, but there are several theories. One of the main ones is called viral persistence. “Whether the virus is replicating or remnants of viral products are persisting, that can be stimulating the immune responses which results in these symptoms,” says Iwasaki.
The idea is that some individuals do not fully clear SARS-CoV-2 after infection, and the virus or its remnants remain in “reservoirs” in the body, says Kaushal.
A 2023 study published in Cell showed that the gastrointestinal tract may be a reservoir for the virus, and that these reservoirs could impair serotonin production in the body, for example, which can lead to cognition-related symptoms, Al-Aly explains.
Another theory is that the infection with SARS-CoV-2 triggers a type of persistent, systemic inflammation that takes time to resolve or in some cases does not resolve at all, the experts note.
Scientists are also exploring the link between long COVID and autoimmune conditions. “We know that a lot of different types of infections can trigger autoimmune diseases," says Iwasaki. One example is the Epstein-Barr virus, which is linked to multiple sclerosis, according to a 2019 review on published in Viruses.
"I think some people are suffering from autoimmunity caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection,” says Iwasaki.
Finally, some hypothesize that SARS-CoV-2 may be reactivating other, latent viruses in the body. “We all carry multiple latent viruses, particularly in the herpes family, such as Epstein-Barr and the Varicella Zoster virus. The theory is that these can reactivate after an acute infection with SARS-CoV-2 and cause symptoms associated with long COVID,” says Iwasaki.
Is there a treatment for long COVID?
“We don’t have a cure,” says Al-Aly. Although this is a very active area of research, there are still no specific treatments or FDA- approved medications for long COVID, Al-Aly adds.
Instead, treatment is largely focused on managing the different symptoms or conditions, which may involve various specialists and therapies.
“That really represents a collective failure to find treatments for long COVID so far, going into the fifth year of the pandemic,” says Al-Aly. However, there are a number of long COVID clinics that aim to address the needs of patients. Clinical trials are underway, such as the NIH RECOVER Initiative, to evaluate treatments and find answers about long COVID.
In the meantime, what is known is that many people are suffering, and long COVID can affect the whole body. TODAY.com spoke with six patients, who shared how their lives have changed months to years later. Read on for their stories and an in-depth look at the long COVID symptoms that they fight every day.
Charlie McCone, 34, San Francisco
At the start of 2020, Charlie McCone had just turned 30, started a new nonprofit job, and moved in with his girlfriend in San Francisco. McCone was healthy and active, but after getting COVID-19 in March 2020, he developed severe cardiorespiratory symptoms, which limited his physical activity. When McCone was reinfected in 2021, he became house-bound and lost his job. McCone now suffers from extreme fatigue, cognitive issues, migraines and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).
Chimére L. Sweeney, 42, Baltimore
Four years ago, Chimére L. Sweeney was a healthy 37-year-old working as a middle school teacher in Baltimore. But then Sweeney got COVID-19 in March 2020. In the months that followed, Sweeney developed debilitating headaches, fatigue, spinal pain, dizziness, vision loss, gastrointestinal issues, and her mental health declined, among other problems. Sweeney was repeatedly dismissed and discriminated against by doctors, and now advocates for Black women living with long COVID.
Cynthia Adinig, 38, Virginia
Cynthia Adinig is a mother and marketing specialist turned long-COVID advocate from Northern Virginia. After a mild case of COVID-19 in March 2020, Adinig developed a rapid heart rate; intermittent paralysis and weakness in her legs, which put her in a wheelchair for several months; esophageal spasms and tears; severe reactions to certain foods, and more. Adinig also suffers from Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), which causes repeated allergic reactions or symptoms of anaphylaxis. After being repeatedly denied care, Adinig founded the BIPOC Equity Agency.
Dr. Sue Miller, 50, South Carolina
Dr. Sue Miller, 50, served as medical director of the neonatology intensive care unit (NICU) and chair of pediatrics at a hospital in South Carolina before leaving medicine because of her long COVID. While she avoided getting COVID-19 early on, she caught it for the first and only time at a conference in May 2022. About a month later, Miller noticed she new symptoms, including exhaustion, cognitive impairment, gastrointestinal troubles and pain.
Joel Fram, 57, New York
Broadway conductor Joel Fram was part of the early wave of New Yorkers who contracted COVID-19 in March 2020. As he was recovering during lockdown, he noticed he became exhausted when he tried exercising and often felt so tired he fell asleep in the middle of a tasks, such as eating. He’s had COVID-19 four times but does not believe the reinfections worsened his long COVID symptoms.
Tony Marks, 56, North Carolina
Tony Marks has been living with long COVID for over three years. The father of two and former software executive was once healthy, active and regularly coached hockey. When Marks first contracted COVID-19 in February 2021, he had to be hospitalized for a week with pneumonia in both lungs. Marks and his doctors were initially confident that he’d recover, but he never did. The worst of his long COVID symptoms include debilitating fatigue, muscle pain and spasms, and neuropathy, or nerve damage that can lead to pain, numbness and weakness, per the Mayo Clinic.
Brain Fog
"Brain fog" is used to describe the collection of neurological and cognitive symptoms associated with COVID-19 and long COVID. These include issues with memory, attention and executive functioning. They can range from mild to severe and impair a person's ability to work or socialize.
Tony Marks was the director of a software company before his brain fog and other long COVID symptoms, forced him to resign. "Mid-sentence, during a conversation, I'll just stop because I have no idea what I just told you or where I was going. ... (Sometimes) I won't recall the conversation at all, it's like complete amnesia," Marks tells TODAY.com.
Once, while driving, Marks ended up in a random location with no recollection of how he got there. "I got in the car and my brain just entered into this mode. ... I don't remember going through stop lights or stop signs. ... (Another time) I wound up so far away from where I was supposed to be, I got out and checked my truck for dents and to make sure that I hadn't hit anything," says Marks.
Dr. Sue Miller, a former NICU director, realized soon after she had COVID-19 she could no longer multitask. “I don’t like to call it brain fog because I think that underestimates what I have,” Miller tells TODAY.com. “It’s a brain injury. It is an infection-caused brain injury.”
At work, Miller couldn’t complete paperwork with the door open because the hallway noise distracted her too much. She forgot nurses’ names. “I was having word-finding issues,” Miller says. “I speak much slower now.”
With much sadness, Miller realized she needed to stop practicing medicine. “I was worried I would make a mistake,” Miller says. “I save lives. You have to be able to think fast and not be tired and not make a mistake — because seconds matter.”
Studies have shown COVID-19 can damage the brain, and people who recover from an infection tend to have less grey matter in the brain — crucial for information-processing, per Cleveland Clinic — than those who didn’t get COVID-19.
Dizziness
Dizziness and lightheadedness are some of the most common symptoms reported among long COVID patients, per the CDC.
It was one of Chimére L. Sweeney's early long COVID symptoms in March 2020. "When I was standing up, I would feel extremely dizzy," Sweeney tells TODAY.com. It soon became difficult to walk, and showering was a monumental effort. “I was fainting in my bathroom and waking up and not knowing where I was,” says Sweeney.
Some long COVID patients also report experiencing a type of dizziness called vertigo and impairments to the vestibular system, which controls balance.
Vision disturbances
Miller, the former NICU physician, says her ongoing visual disturbances trouble her.
“It’s called imprinting. What happens is light will stay in my eyes,” she says. “Mine lasts for a really long time.”
Sweeney, too, noticed her vision started to change after she got COVID. “By mid-April, I lost vision in my left eye,” she says. “It had been about six months of going to the hospital trying to seek care. I was sent home with lost vision — they could see my vision was blurry, but nobody was telling me why,” says Sweeney.
After months of her vision loss being brushed off, doctors discovered Sweeney had dense cataracts. “I had two of them, one in each eye because of the infection, the inflammation,” says Sweeney. It took another few months for doctors to agree she needed surgery. “Now I have these dark black floaters in my eyes that impair my vision a lot,” she adds.
Rapid heart rate, trouble breathing
In the first few months after developing long COVID symptoms, Cynthia Adinig would notice her heart racing often "to the point where I feared I was having a heart attack,” she says. Her heart symptoms were often brushed off by doctors as anxiety, she says.
Joel Fram says he experiences chest pain, but trying to treat his rapid heartbeat has been frustrating.
“The cardiologist was like, ‘Well your heart rate is quite high. But your ECG is coming back normal. Your ultrasounds are coming back normal,’” Fram, a Broadway conductor, tells TODAY.com. “I was like, ‘OK, but something’s happening.”
Fram's heart rate often skyrockets after physical activity, so he's slowly building up his activity levels through physical therapy.
Before the pandemic, Charlie McCone used to regularly bike 10 miles to work and back. “I got sick in March 2020, and I’ve never been the same,” McCone tells TODAY.com. After his first infection, he developedsevere shortness of breath, chest pain and a rapid heartbeat.
“I felt like I couldn’t take a breath. It was agonizing,” says McCone, adding that he could walk at most for five or 10 minutes. When he was reinfected a year and a half later, COVID-19 took a toll on his lungs and heart once again.
"I ended up getting pneumonia, and I was hospitalized for a night. ... It was a total nightmare,” says McCone. Although his respiratory symptoms have improved slightly, McCone can only engage in limited physical activity, such as walking to another room.
Fatigue
Before getting COVID-19, Tony Marks was a healthy, active individual who could "do whatever he wanted to do," he says. The extreme fatigue has stripped that away from him.
"Now, I fall asleep all the time, for no reason. I’ll be sitting visiting with people, at the pool, and I fall asleep, and nobody can wake me up," says Marks. "Next thing I know I’m waking up in the hospital because I had fallen into such a deep state of sleep (and) it was impossible to wake me," Marks adds.
After being reinfected with COVID in 2021, Charlie McCone’s fatigue rendered him bed-bound. “I couldn’t even sit at a computer for 30 minutes,” says McCone. The once athletic, outgoing young man now rarely leaves his home except to seek medical care.
“I have been severely housebound.I lost my job, am no longer able to work, and I rely on my partner as a full-time caretaker,” says McCone, adding that he’s seen little improvement in three years. “Now I am only really able to function for one to two hours a day to do computer work or stuff around the house,” says McCone.
Fram, the Broadway conductor, says the fatigue felt “really debilitating. ... It’s just not something as a human being you really expect. You’re having lunch with someone and you’re literally falling asleep on them. That’s really hard to fight.”
Fram also experiences post-exertional malaise (PEM), the worsening of symptoms 12 to 48 hours after little physical or mental activity, which can last for weeks, per the CDC.
Fram is now trying a type of physical therapy where he does a few small movements followed by intentional breathing to try to combat his PEM. “You’re retraining your body,” Fram says. “It’s to remind your body to lower your heart rate when you’re finished exercising … but not trigger a fatigue attack with too much exertion.”
Tremors and spasms
Shaking, buzzing and abnormal movements can also be symptoms of long COVID. Adinig has experienced internal vibrations and tremors that occasionally wake her up at night.
“I’ll be waking up choking on my air, having violent tremors in my sleep, and then once I am awake, the tremors don’t stop,” she says. Although she now takes a medication that helps with her tremors, they still come and go during symptom flare-ups.
Marks says that long COVID has left him with "thousands of muscle spasms a minute," mostly in his arms and legs. "Most of that is internal spasms but when they get really bad, I have an external shake or twitch," says Marks.
"One time, I was at work, and out of the blue I had one in my arm. I just happened to have the (computer) mouse in my hand and it goes flying against the wall because the jerk was so bad," he recalls. Three years later, the spasms and twitching have not improved.
In a 2023 study of 423 adults with long COVID, which Iwasaki co-authored, about 37% reported having “internal tremors, or buzzing and vibrations." This cohort also reported having a worse quality of life, more financial difficulties, and “higher rates of new-onset mast cell disorders and neurologic conditions,” compared with long COVID patients without tremors.
Chronic pain
Paint throughout the body, especially in the joints and muscles, is one of the main long COVID symptoms that prevents patients from returning to their old lives.
Fram keeps a bottle of ibuprofen at the ready to help ease his swollen, tender joints, which make his work as a conductor and pianist much harder.
“(It) requires a lot more practice to play the piano as dexterously and accurately as I used to,” he says. “When I conduct, I have always used my hands instead of a baton, but the swelling and stiffness in my joints means I have to manage a fair amount of pain.”
He has discomfort in his feet and legs, too: “It is very similar to restless leg syndrome, where I get uncomfortable tingling in them, and I can’t keep my feet still. My body keeps trying to shake it out.”
One of Sweeney’s early long COVID symptoms felt like a searing migraine. “I felt this fiery pain move from the base of my skull to the bottom of my spine. It felt like someone had poured acid, (or) lit a match down my spine. I knew that something was very wrong,” she says.
By April, the pain moved to the left side of her face. “It felt like someone had hit me with concrete,” she adds.
It took months for Sweeney to get a diagnosis of occipital and trigeminal neuralgia, a type of shocking or shooting pain that follows the path of a nerve due to irritation or damage, per the National Library of Medicine.
"I have never felt anything like the pain that I felt in my skull (with long COVID),” says Sweeney. "Every second of the day, my head is hurting."
Marks describes the pain in the muscles of his legs as "feeling like I was being beat with a baseball bat. ... It can be a dull pain or deep. I have woken up at night feeling like I've been stabbed in the legs."
The neuropathy has also caused severe weakness in his legs. "It almost feels like I'm trying to balance on jello, the muscles in my legs are so weak and they just can't support me," says Marks. The former hockey coach often wakes up wondering whether it will be the last day he can walk on his own.
Digestive problems
Long COVID can infiltrate the digestive tract, leading to symptoms such as diarrhea and abdominal pain.
Long-hauler Chimére L. Sweeney initially had diarrhea during her acute COVID-19 infection, but she now deals with chronic and severe constipation with no relief.
"I am still so constipated that when I had a colonoscopy (recently), they could not complete the process because my body was not even adhering to the prep, after the laxatives and the fasting," says Sweeney. "I suffered and still suffer today."
On Mother's Day in 2020, Cynthia Adinig suffered a reaction while eating one of her favorite foods, shrimp. “I felt strange, my jaw felt tight,I couldn’t swallow, my heart raced,” says Adinig. "I went to the ER and tests showed nothing alarming to the medical staff."
In the following months, Adinig suffered from similar reactions to more foods, as well as gastric reflux and other gastrointestinal issues, but was repeatedly dismissed by doctors.
By September, Adinig had lost 50 pounds and had to be hospitalized multiple times for starvation and dehydration, where doctors discovered an esophageal tear. "I developed esophageal spasms and I've had issues with swallowing and choking since, even on small amounts of food and water," she says.
Although she started to recover in 2021, Adinig is dependent on antihistamines and can only eat a handful of bland foods that won’t cause a reaction. "Even like a sprinkle of pepper will trigger my reflux so badly that it's not worth it," says Adinig.
Grief and gaslighting
Many people with long COVID mourn who they once were.
In 2021, Fram, the Broadway conductor, “went down a terrible mental spiral,” including suicidal thoughts, he says. “I was getting anxious and incredibly depressed. I could no longer manage it on my own.”
He remembers crying after visiting the Center for Post-COVID Care at Mount Sinai in New York City because he "finally found" health care providers who believed him, and he could see a path forward.
Due to her long COVID, Miller says she's had to confront "a loss of identity, the loss of my health, getting old."
“You start to think you’re losing your mind, like this isn’t real,” she adds. “I’m not clinically depressed, but ... I’m crying because this has taken over my life. … People will say it’s anxiety. No. I’m anxious but because I don’t know what this is going to turn into.”
A former middle school teacher, Sweeney, too, "(grieves) over how much I lost. ... I’m now retired due to being medically disabled. It's been one of the most disappointing and hurtful things in my life."
Severe depression and suicidal ideation, which Sweeney manages with medication and therapy, are common for long COVID patients, often due to the burden of their other symptoms, Jackson explains.
And part of this struggle may require convincing health care providers to believe you have long COVID at all.
“I experienced nothing short of humiliation, a lot of sexism and even racial profiling and discrimination,” Sweeney recalls of being hospitalized due to her long COVID symptoms in July 2020.
Adinig testified in front of Congress in 2022 about being dismissed: She sought emergency medical care for a dangerously high heart rate and low oxygen levels, and emergency room staff drug tested her without her consent and threatened to arrest her.
When Miller told her primary care doctor about her long COVID diagnosis, all she offered was a hug, "which is not anything anyone wants to hear from a physician,” Miller recalls.
Although the research on long COVID has advanced rapidly, many patients feel that these these scientific leaps have yet to translate into tangible steps for treatment.
"It's debilitating, devastating and demoralizing ... and you deal with that every single day," says Marks.
Pressley Has Led Efforts in Congress to Expand Access to Long COVID Treatment, Invest in Research, and More
WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued the following statement marking Long COVID Awareness Day while continuing her fight in Congress to support the millions of people in America still living with COVID-19.
“Long COVID remains a national crisis in America that demands a bold, federal response that ensures no one is ignored, left out, or left behind in our recovery. On Long COVID Awareness Day, I’m proud to join national and grassroots advocates across the country to demand action from lawmakers to provide our COVID Long Haulers with the resources and treatment they need and deserve,” said Rep. Pressley. “Congress must immediately pass my TREAT Long COVID Act with Rep. Beyer and Rep. Blunt Rochester to expand access to Long COVID clinics and help Long Haulers access care right in their communities, as well as fully fund the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Long COVID Research and Practice, and make bold federal investments in Long COVID research. As we heal from the COVID-19 pandemic, I want our Long Haulers to know that we see them, their experiences are real, and we will never stop fighting for them.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people with Long COVID may experience a combination of symptoms, ranging from extreme fatigue and cognitive dysfunction to muscle pain and gastrointestinal issues, to difficulty breathing, insomnia, and heart palpitations. Across the country, nearly one in five adults who have had COVID-19 still suffer from symptoms of Long COVID, and more than 65 million people are suffering worldwide. These complications affect people of all ages and all walks of life, with disproportionate impacts reported on women and people of color.
In Congress, Rep. Pressley, along with Representatives Don Beyer and Lisa Blunt Rochester, has introduced the TREAT Long COVID Act to increase access to medical care and treatment for communities and individuals struggling with Long COVID and its associated conditions. The bill would fund the expansion of Long COVID clinics and empower health care providers—including community health centers and local public health departments—to treat Long COVID patients in their own communities. A summary of the bill can be found here, and the bill text is available here.
Rep. Pressley has also held a series of virtual and in-person roundtable discussions with patients, health care providers, and advocates in the Massachusetts 7th to discuss the Long COVID crisis. Watch their roundtable here.
Rep. Pressley has been a longtime champion for people suffering from Long COVID and for disaggregated demographic data on COVID-19 to better address the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on communities of color.
In October 2023, Rep. Pressley joined Boston RECOVER in discussing policy priorities to address Long COVD and advance health equity.
In March 2023, Reps. Pressley and Blunt Rochester led 41 colleagues in a FY24 appropriations letter requesting $167.5 million for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support Long COVID research initiatives and deliver immediate care to those living with Long COVID.
In December 2022, Rep. Pressley celebrated the $10 million secured in funding for Long COVID research at Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in the FY23 budget. The agreement includes $10,000,000 for health systems research on how best to deliver patient-centered, coordinated care to those living with Long COVID, including the development and implementation of new models of care to help treat the complexity of symptoms those with Long COVID experience.
In May 2022, Rep. Pressley, in a House Financial Service subcommittee hearing, discussed the crisis of Long COVID as a disability justice issue and outlined how the status quo has relegated disabled Americans—including those with Long COVID—to a second-class standard of living.
In March 2022, Rep. Pressley led 23 of her colleagues in urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to help ensure a just and equitable pandemic recovery by including robust, dedicated funding to support people struggling with Long COVID in a future coronavirus relief package.
In January 2022, Rep. Pressley and Rep. Don Beyer (VA-08) sent a letter to the CDC urging it to publicly report findings on the prevalence of Long COVID, including disaggregated demographic data. Later that month, she held a virtual roundtable with healthcare providers, advocates, and patients on how to address the crisis of Long COVID.
In late January, she held a virtual roundtable with healthcare providers, advocates, and patients on how to address the crisis of Long COVID.
In December 2021, Rep. Pressley and Sens. Warren and Markey wrote to CDC and HHS urging them to monitor, report, and address racial and other ethnic demographic disparities in breakthrough COVID-19 cases nationwide.
In December 2021, with omicron surging, Rep. Pressley wrote to Governor Baker urging him to pursue a data-driven and holistic statewide plan to combat COVID-19 and to continue publishing comprehensive, disaggregated data on vaccination rates and COVID infection, including breakthrough cases.
In August 2021, with the new delta variant surging, Rep. Pressley called on Governor Baker to step up efforts to reduce COVID spread in Massachusetts and resume comprehensive data collection on who is contracting COVID-19.
In July 2021, Rep. Pressley and Senator Warren urged Governor Baker to continue reporting demographic data on COVID-19 hospitalizations.
In February 2021, Rep. Pressley, Senator Warren, and Rep. Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) reintroduced the COVID-19 in Corrections Data Transparency Act, bicameral legislation that would require the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the United States Marshals Service, and state governments to collect and publicly report detailed statistics about COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccinations in federal, state, and local correctional facilities.
In February 2021, Rep. Pressley, Senator Warren, and Senator Markey led your colleagues in re-introducing the Equitable Data Collection and Disclosure on COVID-19 Act, legislation to require the federal government to collect and publicly release racial and other demographic data on COVID-19.
In January 2021, Rep. Pressley and Senator Warren applauded President Biden’s executive order to ensure an equitable pandemic response and recovery, which contained several provisions championed by the lawmakers.
In December 2020, at the request of Congresswoman Pressley and Senator Warren, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) agreed to investigate how COVID-19 relief funds have been distributed to disproportionately affected communities.
In July 2020, Congresswoman Pressley and Senator Warren wrote to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) asking for HHS’s report on the administration’s efforts to address racial disparities in health care access and outcomes, as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In April 2020, Rep. Pressley urged Governor Baker to rescind the Commonwealth’s proposed Crisis of Care Standards that would have disproportionately harmed Black and Brown communities and the disability community.
In April 2020, Rep. Pressley and Senator Warren led their colleagues introducing the Equitable Data Collection and Disclosure on COVID-19 Act, legislation to require the federal government to collect and publicly release racial and other demographic data on COVID-19.
In April 2020, Rep. Pressley, Sen. Markey, and Sen. Warren also sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) calling on the agency to immediately release racial and ethnic data of Medicare beneficiaries who are tested or hospitalized for COVID-19.
In March 2020, Rep. Pressley and Sen. Warren urged HHS to collect racial and ethnic demographic data on testing and treatment for COVID-19 to identify and address racial disparities.
US health officials announced that Americans can no longer order free at-home COVID-19 tests after March 8.
Before the upcoming deadline, Americans can order four free rapid antigen tests through COVID.gov or USPS.
“ASPR (Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response) has delivered over 1.8 billion free COVID-19 tests to the American people through COVID.gov and direct distribution pathways and will continue distributing millions of tests per week to long-term care facilities, food banks, health centers and schools,” an ASPR spokesperson told CNN.
According to the ASPR, a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services, all orders placed on or before Friday will be fulfilled.
The change is related to the decrease in COVID cases and the public health emergency of the pandemic claiming the pandemic has been over since May 2023.
However, COVID-19 hospitalization rates remain high, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control data chart. So for people who remain concerned about the deadly virus and haven’t placed a kit order since Sept. 25, 2023, they can order two sets of four tests to receive a total of eight kits.
As people begin to receive their at-home kits, some may notice an expired date on the packaging but the US Food and Drug Administration has extended those expiration dates.
For example, a box with a printed expiration date of “2022-10-08” has been extended to “2023-08-08,” according to the FDA.
Overall, the testing kits should work through the end of the year.
Although the infectious virus spread has simmered down, the CDC encourages people to use the at-home kits if they notice any COVID-19 symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough, fever or chills.
Unlike in the past, when people contracted the illness or had symptoms, they were advised to isolate for a few days. However, in an a report previously disclosed by The Post, the CDC has rolled back its five-day isolation guidance for people who have contracted COVID-19.
The report revealed that “under the updated guidelines, the CDC says those infected with the coronavirus can return to work or the public just one full day after their fever subsides.”
CDC Agency Director Dr. Mandy Cohen released a statement clarifying how to operate without the former isolation guidelines.
“However, we still must use the commonsense solutions we know work to protect ourselves and others from serious illness from respiratory viruses — this includes vaccination, treatment, and staying home when we get sick.”
According to the study, in some patients, cranial nerve palsies were also detected. In this condition the individual take longer time than usual to move their eyes. The condition can even lead to vision loss.
COVID-19 can cause redness, dryness and itchy eyes (Image: Freepik)
New Delhi: COVID-19 symptoms are not just related to fever, cough or breathing difficulties, it is more than that. A recent study found an increasing link between coronavirus infection and people experiencing eye problems such as dryness, redness and itchy eyes.
The traditional belief regarding COVID-19 was that it was only a respiratory infection, but the revelations regarding the impact on the ocular system paved a new path for the researchers. A team of researchers from the Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine Nova Southeastern University found a long-lasting impact of COVID-19 on eye health. The study published in the Cureus: Journal of Medical Science detected conjunctivitis as the most common ocular symptoms with nearly one in every ten patients having the symptoms linked with COVID-19.
Impact of Covid on eyes
As per the researchers, these symptoms reported more severe complications like episcleritis a benign, inflammatory disease which affects the clear tissue that covers the white part of your eyes and is not linked to COVID-19 infection. The other one is Ophthalmoparesis a kind of weakness or paralysis of any of the ocular muscles that garner movement of the eye. The third one is central Retinal Artery Occlusion (CRAO) — a serious eye disease in which the main artery supplying the retina is blocked due to an atherosclerotic plaque.
In some patients, cranial nerve palsies are also detected. While experiencing this the individual took longer time than usual to move their eyes. The condition can even lead to vision loss.
The corresponding author Deepesh Khanna from the varsity’s Department of Foundational Sciences of the study stated that after finding out this, they immediately isolated the patients and started the treatment to restrict the spread of this virus. The study has been presented after reviewing 233 research papers from 2020 to 2024. During this, some patients may show signs of ocular symptoms as the first signal of COVID-19 infection.
According to the team of researchers, the major reason behind this is the presence of ACE2 receptors that are present in the eye which acts as an entry point for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to infect the cells and cause COVID-19.
Men's skin temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate increase more than women's with Covid-19. According to a study by researchers from Liechtenstein and Switzerland, the higher coronavirus mortality rate among men could be linked to this.
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“The results emphasise the importance of taking gender into account in the medical treatment and care of Covid-19 patients,” the researchers wrote in the study, which was published on Wednesday in the journal Plos One.
The scientists led by Lorenz Risch from the private University of Liechtenstein (UFL) and Inselspital Bern had around 1,100 people wear a wristband with a sensor for the study. This sensory bracelet is already used to monitor the female menstrual cycle. It measures, among other things, breathing as well as heart rate and skin temperature.
Comprehensive data set
The study involved recording 1.5 million hours of data – the equivalent of more than 171 years. During the study period, which spanned 2020 and 2021, 127 participants tested positive for Covid-19, 82 of whom had sufficiently high-quality data to be included in the analysis.
According to the analysis, heart rate, respiratory rate and skin temperature not only increased more in men than in women during a coronavirus infection; they also remained at significantly higher levels during the recovery phase.
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“Considering the higher mortality and hospitalisation rates observed in male Covid-19 patients, our results may reflect gender-specific biological responses to the infection,” the researchers wrote in the study. It was therefore possible that female and male bodies not only showed different symptoms, but also reacted biologically differently to an infection.
The researchers emphasised in the study that it was important to take gender differences into account in medicine. “Historically, women have been underrepresented in clinical trials, which has meant that medical solutions have tended to focus on men, increasing the risk to women’s health,” the researchers wrote.
Adapted from German by DeepL/mg/amva
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More people have been killed by the new coronavirus than the 2003 SARS outbreak, according to latest figures.
A total of 910 people have died from 2019-nCoV, dubbed the Wuhan virus, compared to 774 killed by SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Both are types of coronavirus which originated in China and virologists say they are genetically close.
The majority of deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak are concentrated in mainland China, although there has been one death in the Philippines and another in Hong Kong.
Outside of China, the virus has spread to 24 countries.
The latest key points on the global coronavirus outbreak:
France announced on Saturday that it would close two schools in the Alps after five British citizens, including a nine-year-old child, were confirmed to have caught the disease at a French ski resort.
"This cluster of cases in France illustrates how the coronavirus can spread to countries indirectly of China," Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said.
"The French ski resort will have citizens from numerous other countries there, so there are implications for potential onward transmission."
The first victim to be officially identified was 34-year-old doctor Li Wenliang , who died on Friday after testing positive for the virus, Chinese state media said.
Dr Li had been one of the first to warn about the new virus but was punished by authorities for "rumour-mongering".
He became ill after treating a patient with the virus at Wuhan Central Hospital.
Although the number of deaths from the Wuhan virus now outnumber SARS deaths, the fatality rate is lower for the Wuhan virus.
The fatality rate for SARS was 9.6%, while around 2% of those who contracted the Wuhan virus have died.
New infection cases on Saturday recorded the first drop since 1 February, falling back below 3,000 to 2,656 cases. Of those, 2,147 cases were in Hubei province.
Joseph Eisenberg, professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan, said it was too early to say whether the epidemic was peaking due to the uncertainty in the number of cases.
"Even if reported cases might be peaking, we don't know what is happening with unreported cases," he said. "This is especially an issue in some of the more rural areas."
A World Health Organisation-led international team investigating the outbreak will leave for China on Monday or Tuesday.
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Hong Kong began enforcing a 14-day quarantine for arrivals from mainland China on Saturday. The territory has refused to completely seal its border but hopes the quarantine will dissuade travellers from the mainland.
China's leaders are trying to keep food flowing to crowded cities despite anti-disease controls and to quell fears of possible shortages and price spikes following panic buying after most access to Wuhan and nearby cities was cut off.
Cities across the country have enforced travel bans and Beijing supermarkets have begun requiring customers register their personal information and have their temperatures taken before being allowed to enter.
Millions of people will return to China's big cities on Monday after the biggest holiday of the year.
The Spring Festival holiday was extended over concerns about the virus' spread, but many workplaces are expected to remain closed with many employees continuing to work from home.
The virus has been a blow to China's already-slowing economy, with Goldman Sachs cutting its first-quarter GDP growth target to 4% from 5.6% previously and saying a deeper hit is possible.
Chinese president Xi Jinping spoke with his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday and urged the US to "respond reasonably" to the outbreak, echoing complaints that some countries are overreacting by restricting Chinese travellers.
Could simple breathing exercises, coupled with a sprinkle of nutritional science, hold the key to overcoming the lingering effects of a virus that has touched the lives of millions globally? A study published in the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine sheds light on this very possibility, exploring the potential of combining breathing exercises with creatine to combat the symptoms of long coronavirus disease, a condition marked by persistent fatigue and lung discomfort well beyond the initial infection phase.
Long COVID, or post-COVID-19 fatigue syndrome, affects a significant portion of individuals who have recovered from the initial infection of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Characterized by long-lasting fatigue and lung discomfort, long COVID can severely hinder daily activities, necessitating effective rehabilitation strategies.
The International Task Force has highlighted the importance of pulmonary rehabilitative exercises and adequate nutrition for COVID-19 survivors. Among the recommended interventions, breathing exercises stand out as a simple, cost-effective method to enhance physical health. However, the integration of nutritional supplements such as creatine in the rehabilitation process for long-COVID patients remains largely unexplored.
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that plays a vital role in energy production at the cellular level. Its effectiveness, when combined with exercise, has been documented across various health conditions, but its application alongside breathing exercises for long-COVID rehabilitation has not been thoroughly investigated until now.
“As a medical doctor, I’ve encountered numerous patients grappling with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), especially post-COVID-19 pandemic, with limited nutritional interventions available,” said study author Sergej M. Ostojic, a professor of nutrition at the University of Agder and head of the Applied Bioenergetics Lab at the University of Novi Sad.
“After reviewing scientific literature on metabolic disruptions in CFS, it became evident that creatine deficiency might be implicated in this multifaceted condition. Consequently, I embarked on a study to explore the potential effects of creatine supplementation, combined with breathing exercises, in individuals experiencing long-COVID.”
This randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial involved eight long-COVID patients who were experiencing moderate fatigue and respiratory discomfort for at least three months post-infection, without any other underlying cardiopulmonary conditions. Participants were divided into two groups: one received daily creatine supplementation (4 g) in addition to performing breathing exercises, while the control group performed breathing exercises alone.
These breathing exercises were designed to strengthen respiratory muscles, particularly the diaphragm, and reduce breathing effort. Patients were monitored over a three-month period, during which their adherence to the program and any changes in their condition were closely followed.
Participants who received creatine supplementation alongside breathing exercises showed a significant increase in tissue creatine levels across various locations, including muscles and brain areas, indicating a large effect of the combined treatment on creatine amplification. Moreover, this group experienced a reduction in post-exertional malaise and improved exercise tolerance, as demonstrated by a notable increase in time to exhaustion during physical activity.
In contrast, the control group, which only engaged in breathing exercises, did not show significant changes in creatine levels or time to exhaustion, although both groups reported reduced breathing difficulty and respiratory discomfort by the end of the study.
“Our data suggest that a three-month regimen of dietary creatine, when combined with breathing exercises, may be beneficial in alleviating fatigue associated with long COVID, as well as in ameliorating metabolic imbalances in the brain and skeletal muscles,” Ostojic told PsyPost. “Patients undergoing this intervention also showed modest improvements in exercise capacity, with no significant side effects observed.”
Despite these promising results, the study’s authors acknowledge its limitations, including the small sample size and the short duration of the intervention. They call for further research to validate these findings in a larger group of long-COVID patients over a longer period. Additionally, future studies should consider controlling for factors that might affect creatine homeostasis, such as age, gender, diet, and physical activity levels, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the potential benefits of creatine supplementation in long-COVID rehabilitation.
“Our study recruited a relatively small number of middle-aged patients, thus we were unable to determine whether these beneficial effects extend to elderly individuals or children, if there are any gender differences, or if shorter or longer treatment intervals would be equally effective,” Ostojic said. “Additionally, we did not analyze respiratory function, which could be crucial in long COVID. Finally, we did not assess the vaccination status of our patients, which may also impact disease severity and individual response to treatment.”
“This is a preliminary study, and further research is necessary to confirm our findings in larger studies with longer treatment durations. However, adding creatine to the treatment regimen of long COVID patients could be a cost-effective and safe option.”
Background: Post–acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) syndrome (PACS, long COVID), with symptoms persisting for >4 weeks, affects 5% to 30% of patients after acute infection. Preliminary observational studies suggest that changes in the gut microbiome that accompany severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection occur commonly in patients with long COVID and that modifying the gut microbiome may have a beneficial effect on the composition of the microbiome and on symptoms.
Methods: This study included patients who had ≥1 of the 14 long COVID symptoms. The intervention included SIM01 preparation containing 10 billion colony-forming units of 3 bacteria strains (Bifidobacterium adolescentis, B bifidum, and B longum) and 3 prebiotic compounds improving the growth of those bacteria: galacto-oligosaccharides, xylo-oligosaccharides, and resistant dextrin. The content of the sachet with either the preparation or an identical placebo was administered directly by mouth or after mixing with room-temperature drinks twice a day for 6 months. The main outcome measure was resolution of symptoms by the follow-up visit at 6 months.
Results: The study included >460 Chinese patients (2/3 women, mean age ~50 years). The average number of symptoms in both groups was >8, including fatigue (~85% of all patients), memory loss (80%), difficulty in concentration (70%), insomnia (66%), mood disturbance (close to 60%), hair loss (46%), shortness of breath (over 60%), coughing (53%), chest pain (over 30%), muscle or joint pain (~60% each), inability to exercise (41%), gastrointestinal upset (80%), and general unwellness (64%).
The probability of resolution of each of the symptoms was higher in the actively treated group, reaching the level of statistical significance for all except hair loss, chest pain, and mood disturbance. For example, difficulties in concentration resolved in 62% versus 39% of patients, fatigue in 63% versus 43%, memory loss in 42% versus 27%, inability to exercise in 78% versus 60%, and coughing in 79% versus 67%. Additional findings included normalization of gut microbiome.
Conclusions: The authors concluded that SIM01 increased the probability of resolution of multiple symptoms of PACS at 6 months.
McMaster editors’ commentary: The results of this study bring some hope for patients with this long-term condition that lacks effective treatment options. However, prior to widespread use, those results require replication—not only because they seem almost too good to be true, but also because the study included a relatively small number of participants of a single ethnicity. The probiotic class effect versus the effect of a specific formulation will also be of utmost importance. So far, the findings may likely be described as very promising.
Many symptoms of COVID-19 have surfaced in the years since cases of the SARS-CoV-2 virus surfaced in late 2019. Although respiratory symptoms have received the most attention throughout the pandemic, eye pain is also a common complaint.
Eye pain, burning, and soreness can all develop with a COVID-19 infection. This article will explore why these issues develop, what eye pain symptoms you could have, and what a COVID-10-related eye problem means for your overall health.
Why Eye Pain Is a Symptom of COVID-19
You may develop eye pain with a COVID-19 infection for a few reasons.
On the simplest level, medications designed to help reduce congestion or treat cough can have a drying effect that can impact your eyes. Headaches, sinus pressure, and coughing or sneezing can also lead to eye symptoms like irritation, soreness, watering, or dryness.
Eye pain usually appears during the first week of a COVID-19 infection but can increase or appear later if your infection becomes more severe. Some of the most common eye-related complaints with a COVID-19 infection include:
Grittiness or the feeling of a foreign object in the eye
The eye is a known entry point for the virus. COVID-related eye infections like conjunctivitis (pink eye) have been documented throughout the pandemic. Some evidence suggests eye secretions or drainage can transmit the virus to others.
Some studies have suggested that the proximity of the eyes to nasal passages can also increase eye symptoms, especially since the viral load (measurement of the amount of virus in the body) of SARS-CoV-2 in the nasal passages is usually higher than in the throat.
Plus, headaches, nasal congestion or drainage, fever, and other symptoms of a COVID-19 infection can also cause head pain or pressure that can affect your eyes.
There also may be a connection between neurological and immune-related complications of COVID-19 and eye pain. COVID-19 infections have been found to increase your risk of neurological disorders associated with inflammation or nerve damage.
These viral infections have also been linked to autoimmune reactions (in which your immune system attacks your own cells), which could increase sensitivity in different areas of the body or even cause your own tissues to work against themselves.
Variation by Variant
Several versions (variants) of the virus that causes COVID-19 have appeared since it was first recognized. While there are some consistent symptoms across all variants, symptoms can vary among variants.
For example, losing your sense of smell is a symptom associated most with the Delta variant, while congestion and headache were more prominent with the Omicron variant of the virus. The JN.1 variant circulating in early 2024 more frequently featured gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea.
How COVID affects your eyes and vision may depend on the variant you were infected with and any previous health or vision problems you had before the infection.
Long COVID and Eye Pain
Dryness, irritation, and soreness in your eyes with an active viral infection aren't that uncommon, but some lasting eye symptoms have been included in lists of long COVID symptoms.
"Long COVID" is the term for the symptoms and ongoing complications people may experience long after their COVID-19 infection is considered resolved.
Inflammation is common with most forms of COVID-19, and ongoing eye problems are thought to stem from continued inflammation, nerve damage, and changes to your immune system after your acute illness.
Some documented eye problems that have been linked to long COVID include the following:
"Cotton wool" spots from inflamed and damaged tissue on the surface of the eye
Blood clots blocking arterial blood flow to the eye causing a retinal artery occlusion, a type of "eye stroke"
Blood clots blocking the flow of blood out of your eye, or retinal vein occlusion, leading to increased fluid and swelling in the eye
Retinal bleeding caused by blood clots or damage to blood vessels in the eye
Some of these eye problems can affect your vision and result in permanent damage.
Treatment and Management for COVID-Related Eye Pain
Most eye symptoms associated with COVID-19 resolve on their own. One study found that eye symptoms with a COVID infection went away within two weeks the active infection resolving.
For ongoing symptoms that continue after the infection, it's important to schedule an appointment with an eye care provider to rule out other conditions or complications.
Issues like dry eye, irritation, and even infection can be treated with things like eye drops, ointments, or antibiotics as recommended or prescribed by a healthcare provider. For more serious complications linked to blood clots that could affect or even destroy your vision, more intense treatments may be required.
One option for treating eye problems related to blood clots after a COVID-19 infection is intravenous medication that dissolves the clots, like Activase (alteplase). Even if the clot resolves, you could require ongoing treatment to address any permanent damage.
Generally, people who develop serious eye problems have severe forms of COVID-19 infection. Outside of the severity of the initial infection, COVID-related eye problems tend to happen more in people with preexisting conditions like:
When to See a Healthcare Provider
In terms of your COVID-19 infection, it's important you see healthcare provider if your symptoms become severe, resulting in problems like:
For eye problems, specifically, over-the-counter lubricating eye drops and at-home remedies like a warm compress may help most.
Don't wait, though, if your symptoms become worse or you notice that your vision is being affected. Retinal bleeding and blood clots usually appear with a sudden total loss of vision without pain. They must be treated as a medical emergency to avoid permanent vision loss.
Summary
COVID-19 infections can appear with a wide range of symptoms, including eye pain. Eye pain, soreness, and irritation usually fade in a week or two as the infection resolves. However, some COVID-related problems can lead to more severe eye problems and even vision loss.
Call your healthcare provider to schedule a more in-depth evaluation if you have vision changes during or after your COVID-19 infection.
The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit our coronavirus news page.
Professor Deepak Sehgal, Virologist, Department of Life Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR highlights that The Omicron variant JN.1, which is currently circulating globally, has been classified by the WHO as a Variant of Concern (VOC) because of its global distribution and rise in infection. The spike region of the parent virus, which is crucial for the virus’s transmission into the host cell, has been found to include more than 30 mutations in the SARS sub-lineage strain JN.1
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been reported to have multiple variants worldwide, in the past. Like other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is always evolving because of spontaneous mutations that occur sometimes in the viral genome. The Omicron variant JN.1, which is currently circulating globally, has been classified by the WHO as a Variant of Concern (VOC) because of its global distribution and rise in infection. The spike region of the parent virus, which is crucial for the virus’s transmission into the host cell, has been found to include more than 30 mutations in the SARS sub-lineage strain JN.1. The viral infection leads to symptoms like fever, runny nose, sore throat, headache, mild gastrointestinal problems, and troubled breathing. Safety measures, such as mask-wearing, social distancing, sanitisation, seeking medical assistance at the outset of symptoms, and improved ventilation are necessary to prevent the infection.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration), USA and CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention), USA have declared that this variant will not lead to more drastic health concerns as compared to others present during COVID-19, despite significant mutations in its genome. The genomes of the previous variants of alpha, delta, or Omicron are somewhat different from those of JN.1, a sub-lineage strain of Omicron, but this will not significantly alter their transmissibility or infectibility of the new variant. Second, because of the vaccination, booster dose and infection received during COVID-19, our bodies can handle this strain. However, the number of antibodies, raised through vaccination, may reduce after 12 to 18 months and subsequently require the application of the booster dose to increase their titre in the body. Healthcare providers must decide whether to administer a booster shot to everyone or just to those who are immunocompromised or have co-morbidities. FDA and CDC have previously recommended that the booster dose be implemented for all in the United States. Further, the CDC’s notification that the medications and prior immunizations given during COVID-19 will be effective against this strain as well, offers some respite. Furthermore, the standardised therapeutic monoclonal antibodies produced earlier during COVID-19 or the antibiotics like Paxlovid, Veklury, and Lagevrio, are supposed to remain effective against JN.1 too. Therefore, no more time needs to be spent to generate new medicines against this variant.
To get ready, the Indian government has instructed states to evaluate the oxygen cylinders, ventilators, beds, and other necessities of their hospitals. Every three months, a simulated trial will be held to gauge how well the healthcare system is equipped. The monitoring mechanism for whole genome sequencing of positive case samples is being strengthened further in order to track mutations through the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).
Summarily, there’s no need to panic as we begin to confront the problem, but prudence and following the advice are still crucial. It is imperative to acknowledge and embrace the truth that coronaviruses are here to stay and that we must adapt ourselves to co-exist with them. Strong precautions need to be followed in winters since it is the optimal time for other viruses to infect too. The expectation of three viruses emerging at roughly the same time SARSCoV-2, influenza, and RSV has led to the prediction of a “tripledemic” in recent years. It is advised to take the vaccine against respiratory viruses like Flu, which is available in the market.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart spoke out Saturday about his battle with COVID-19 after testing positive for the coronavirus, saying he believes the “worst part" has passed.
“It’s a tricky bug because just when I thought I was over it or I was pretty close to getting over it, the fever will come back,” the Florida Republican said during his first on-camera interview on NBC's "Nightly News."
Diaz-Belart, 58, recalled the symptoms he said “hit him like a ton of bricks” last Saturday after he voted on a coronavirus response bill on the House floor, describing a headache that quickly developed into a fever and cough.
“Now luckily, I have not had an issue breathing so I’ve never had a scary moment but obviously very, very unpleasant with headaches, with coughing, and with a pretty intense fever — all coming at the same time it seems,” he recounted.
Rep. Ben McAdams, 45, the second congressman who has tested positive for the coronavirus, detailed a similar experience.
“I’m feeling about as sick as I’ve been,” the Utah Democrat said during a CNN interview on Friday. “I got really labored breathing. I feel like I have a belt around my chest, really tight. When I cough, my muscles are so sore so I just feel pain every time I cough, which is frequently. I feel short of breath, and I have a fever of about 102. So, it’s pretty bad.”
Diaz-Balart said he has continued with his work while self-quarantining in Washington, D.C., but said there are constitutional questions that need to be answered before allowing fellow lawmakers to vote from home.
“I know that the leadership, House and Senate — bipartisan — they're looking at ways to make sure that they keep people safe and allow Congress to proceed, so we just got to make sure it's done right and it's done safely, but also that it's done constitutionally,” Diaz-Balart said.
As of Saturday evening, there were more than 25,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 307 deaths in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine’s database.
CORRECTION: Mario Diaz-Balart’s name was misspelled in a headline in an earlier version of this article.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more serious diseases like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The most recent addition to this family is the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the disease we know as COVID-19.
First detected in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 rapidly spread across the globe, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it a pandemic in March 2020. The disease quickly impacted every aspect of life, causing lockdowns, travel restrictions, and a significant strain on healthcare systems worldwide.
Symptoms and Transmission
COVID-19 primarily affects the respiratory system. Symptoms can vary from person to person, but some of the most common ones include fever, cough, tiredness, loss of taste or smell, and shortness of breath. In severe cases, the virus can lead to pneumonia, respiratory failure, and even death.
The virus spreads mainly through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. These droplets can be inhaled by others or land on surfaces, where the virus can remain viable for a certain period. People can then become infected by touching these surfaces and then their faces.
Impact of the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the world. Millions of people have been infected, with many sadly succumbing to the disease. Healthcare systems were overwhelmed in many countries, struggling to cope with the surge in patients.
Beyond the health crisis, the pandemic also triggered a global economic recession. Lockdowns and travel restrictions disrupted businesses and supply chains, leading to job losses and financial hardship. Social distancing measures also caused isolation and mental health concerns for many people.
Vaccination and Treatment
The development of vaccines against COVID-19 was a significant scientific achievement. These vaccines have significantly reduced the severity of the disease and hospitalization rates. Vaccination campaigns have been crucial in controlling the spread of the virus and allowing a return to some normalcy.
While there is no specific cure for COVID-19, several treatment options are available to manage symptoms and improve outcomes. These include antiviral medications, corticosteroids, and oxygen therapy for severe cases.
The Road Ahead
As of today, March 4, 2024, COVID-19 remains a global health challenge. New variants of the virus continue to emerge, and certain populations remain vulnerable to serious illness. However, with ongoing vaccination efforts, improved treatments, and a better understanding of the virus, the world is in a much better position to manage the pandemic compared to the initial outbreak.
Looking ahead, continued vigilance and research are crucial. Ensuring equitable access to vaccines and treatments worldwide remains a priority. Additionally, ongoing research into new variants and potential future outbreaks is essential for preparedness.
Living with COVID-19
Many countries have transitioned to a phase of living with COVID-19. This means integrating measures like masking and social distancing into daily routines while minimizing disruptions to daily life. Public health recommendations continue to evolve based on the latest data, and staying informed from trusted sources is vital.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a defining moment in history. It has highlighted the importance of global cooperation, scientific advancement, and robust public health systems. As we move forward, the lessons learned from this pandemic will undoubtedly guide us in preparing for future health challenges.
This single-center, retrospective observational, case–control study was performed in patients ≥ 18 years old admitted to the ICU of Nagoya University Hospital due to COVID-19 with respiratory failure requiring IMV between January and April 2022 (EMS therapy group) and age-matched controls admitted between March and September 2021 (historical control group) with length of stay > 24 h in the ICU. Patients who died in the ICU, who were not intubated, and who did not receive rehabilitation therapy in the ICU were excluded.
In all patients, COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 from any specimen. Our clinical setting and management of COVID-19 were reported previously5,18. Management of COVID-19 requiring IMV in the ICU was based on the “ABCDEF (Assess & manage pain, Both spontaneous awakening trials and spontaneous breathing trials, Choice of sedation and analgesia, Delirium assessment & management, Early mobilization and exercise, and Family engagement)” bundle19. Patients requiring < 4 L of O2 were transferred to the general COVID-19 ward. Rehabilitation therapy was performed by a multidisciplinary critical care team. The first stage of rehabilitation performed in patients with Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS) score ≤ − 2 consisted of positioning or range of motion exercises. In patients whose condition stabilized, rehabilitation proceeded to the second stage consisting of sitting on the edge of the bed, standing, transferring to a chair, and active muscle training until discharge from the ICU.
Electrical muscle stimulation
EMS therapy was incorporated into the rehabilitation program in all patients in the EMS therapy group once they had progressed beyond the initial very acute phase after discontinuing neuromuscular blockade. Patients with skin lesions, cardiac pacemakers, infection or trauma of the extremities, those who were unable to walk before hospital admission, and those who could not speak Japanese were excluded from the EMS therapy group. EMS was applied to the bilateral upper and lower limb muscles (biceps brachii, quadriceps femoris, and gastrocnemius muscles: middle of the upper arm and approximately 2 cm above the cubital fossa for biceps brachii, approximately 5 cm below the inguinal fold and 3 cm above the upper patella border for the quadriceps femoris, and approximately 3 cm below the popliteal fossa and immediately above the proximal end of the Achilles tendon for the gastrocnemius muscles) with a stimulator (Solius; Minato Medical Science, Osaka, Japan) using self-adhesive surface electrodes (40 × 80 mm). The EMS intervention included as part of the standard rehabilitation therapy for patients with respiratory or circulatory failure and postoperative patients in the ICU in our institution was reported previously20,21,22. We applied EMS with a variable-frequency train that began with high-frequency bursts (200 Hz), followed by low-frequency stimulation (20 Hz), and EMS was applied as a symmetrical biphasic square wave with 0.4-s pulses of direct current followed by a 0.6-s pause. Pulse groups consisting of 10 impulse trains were delivered to unilateral muscle groups at 10-s intervals during the session, and the output current was adjusted to ensure visible muscle contraction. EMS was applied by trained physiotherapists for 30 min per day, 6 days per week, for up to 2 weeks until the discharge from the ICU. We set the discontinuation criteria during the EMS session as follows: (1) change in systolic blood pressure > ± 20 mmHg; (2) increase in heart rate > + 20 beats/min; (3) development of sustained ventricular arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, and paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia; (4) decrease in blood oxygen saturation > − 4%.
Data collection
The Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium Mortality Score was calculated for each patient on admission to the ICU23. The worst Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores, both of which were also calculated within 24 h after ICU admission, were used in the analyses. The clinical frailty scale was used to assess the degree of frailty prior to ICU admission, with scores ranging from 1 (very fit) to 9 (terminally ill)24.
Physical function and clinical outcomes
Physical function was evaluated in each patient at the time of discharge from the ICU. Muscle strength was determined based on the Medical Research Council (MRC) sum score, which assesses the strength of each muscle group in the upper and lower limbs with scores for each muscle group ranging from 0 to 5 and higher scores indicating greater muscle strength (total score range: 0 = worst to 60 = best, minimal clinically important difference 4 points)3,25; MRC sum score < 48 points was taken as the definition of muscle weakness26. Handgrip strength was also measured to assess muscle strength with the patient performing two maximal isometric voluntary contractions of each hand for 3 s with the elbow joint fixed at 90° flexion in the supine position using a Jamar dynamometer set to the second handle position (DHD-1 Digital Hand Dynamometer; Saehan Corporation, Seoul, South Korea). The greatest strength expressed as an absolute value (kg) was used in the analyses. The grip and release test and foot tapping test, involving measurement of the number of times the patient could flex and stretch the fingers of each hand in 10 s and tap the sole of each foot in 10 s while keeping the heel in contact with the floor and with the knees at 90° flexion, were performed with the patient in the supine position to evaluate upper and lower peripheral extremity motor function, respectively27,28. The analyses were performed using the highest scores obtained for both grip and release test and foot tapping test.
Clinical outcomes, including length of stay in the ICU, unplanned readmission to the ICU, and the location of hospital discharge (i.e., home or to another department/institution/ward/facility), were included in the analysis. At ICU discharge, we calculated the ICU mobility scale score for each patient determined on an 11-point ordinal scale ranging from 0 (lying/passive exercises in bed) to 10 (independent ambulation). The time taken to first mobilization (defined as ICU mobility scale score ≥ 3, i.e., sitting on the edge of the bed or higher) was assessed29.
Statistical analysis
Continuous variables are expressed as the median and interquartile range (IQR), and categorical variables are expressed as numbers and percentages. Differences between groups were evaluated by the Mann–Whitney U test for continuous variables and Fisher’s exact test for dichotomous variables. The primary outcome was MRC sum score at ICU discharge.
Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) and R version 3.2.1 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). In all analyses, a two-tailed P < 0.05 was taken to indicate statistical significance.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Nagoya University Hospital, and was performed in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and the Japanese Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects. Informed patient consent was obtained, and the patients agreed to reveal their facial photos for academic purposes. All participants were informed that they were free to opt out of participation in the study at any time.
It’s been seven months since Patrick Hobart contracted COVID-19 and he still remembers being scared he would die in his sleep.
Hobart had the sensation of not being able to get enough air, especially at night, so he stayed up — afraid he’d stop breathing if he let himself doze off.
He was seriously ill for 10 days in March, complete with a high fever and other coronavirus warning signs, but was never hospitalized.
Hobart’s symptoms eventually went away, but the night can still come with terrors.
“Even to this day, I still have some anxiety about sleeping,” Hobart, a 41-year-old web developer who lives in Fairfield, Connecticut, told TODAY.
“While I'm lying down, I get this involuntary gasp for air… all of a sudden, it's like my body shoves air down my throat.”
He’s not alone. Half of patients recovering from COVID-19 reported difficulty sleeping as one of the lingering symptoms in a survey of more than 1,500 people in the Survivor Corp Facebook group (a resource for COVID-19 survivors with over 100,000 members). About 16% reported sleeping more than normal. Members of the group are sometimes called “long-haulers” because they discuss long-term effects of the disease.
Dr. Meir Kryger, a sleep researcher and professor at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, has seen patients with several types of “really significant” long-hauler symptoms related to sleep. Most survivors were never sick enough with COVID-19 to be hospitalized, but still struggle with long-term psychological and physiological issues.
Related:
Some develop severe insomnia — a fear of falling asleep because they think something horrible is going to happen to them, similar to what Hobart experienced.
One patient even ended up with severe depression and became suicidal months after his initial bout with COVID-19 because of his underlying fear of dying in his sleep, Kryger said. He likened the psychological impact to post-traumatic stress disorder, but with different symptoms.
Some COVID-19 survivors wake up short of breath and have low blood oxygen, indicating chronic respiratory symptoms after the initial disease. Others appear to have developed an abnormality in their central nervous system.
“I think what they have is a problem in the way their brain is controlling their breathing during sleep. In those patients, the virus has interfered with the normal control of breathing,” Kryger noted.
“We don't have enough medical literature yet to understand what is going on with these patients.”
It reminded Kryger of his experience as a physician in the intensive care unit during the early days of HIV, when it wasn’t known how that virus worked and what its full consequences were.
When it affects sleep, a person’s entire life can be disrupted.
Franco, who asked that his last name not be used in this article for privacy reasons, is an academic in Boston who had a suspected case of COVID-19 in March. He tracked his blood oxygen levels for months because of the frightening nights he experienced during the initial course of the disease.
“When I fell asleep or started to fall asleep, it felt like I would stop breathing and my body would kick awake and I'd be gasping for air,” Franco, 37 recalled about a two-week period this spring.
“It felt like you were drowning… it's terrifying.”
He was never hospitalized, but he enrolled in a sleep study and wore a pulse oximeter on his own. A normal reading is usually at least 95%, but his blood oxygen levels sometimes dropped into the 80s, and once in the 70s. It rattled Franco, whose father once nicknamed him “Napoleon” for his ability to soundly fall asleep anywhere.
He only stopped wearing the pulse oximeter at night in September and is now sleeping better, but is still not back to normal. Franco felt his brain was “basically kind of like shot” for four months. He was always worried and tired.
Hobart also said his brain hasn’t been functioning at the same capacity as it was before he contracted COVID-19. He feels he hasn’t had a good night’s rest in a long time, has been “living pretty tired” and waking up later than he normally would.
Related:
It’s another long-hauler symptom Kryger is seeing in his sleep clinic: Some patients develop brain fog, weakness, fatigue and sleepiness during the day that isn’t well understood yet.
“We don't know whether the brain fog is there because there’s something that has been damaged in the nervous system. Or do they have a sleep disorder where they're not sleeping as much and therefore the brain fog is really a manifestation of severe sleepiness?” Kryger said.
“Right now we just don't have all of the answers.”
Patients can be treated with oxygen, if that’s what the issue is. If they have central sleep apnea — where the brain temporarily stops sending signals to the muscles that control breathing — a CPAP machine that keeps the airway open can help treat the problem.
Those who develop a fear of falling asleep, but don’t actually have low blood oxygen at night or never stop breathing, may benefit from psychiatric counseling.
Kryger keeps watching COVID-19 survivors in his sleep clinic, trying to understand what happens to the body in the long term.
“I look at sleep as kind of the canary in the mine,” he said. “Sleep is a very early indicator that there's something wrong… there are a lot of important lessons to be learned about COVID.”
Breathing+ by Breathing Labs has passed peer review in a randomized controlled clinical trial that was recently published in SCI Q2 journal Pediatric Pulmonology. Research done by @bezmialem Full text is available in a link here: https://www.breathinglabs.com/clinical-trials/research-breathing-labs-and-nintendo-clinical-trial-is-published-in-journal-pediatric-pulmonology-sci-q2-impact-factor-3/?fbclid=IwAR2wNhSgurdbrrf3gzOOkHthgiWfXJ1x8RWvnMhkSo6fi33QPZEGzxzd6jM
BREAKING: @breathinglabs and @Nintendo clinical trial is published in journal Pediatric Pulmonology (SCI Q2, Impact Factor > 3), full text: https://breathinglabs.com/Nintendo%20&%20Breathing%20Labs%202022 #telemedicine #telehealth #mhealth
Clinical mouthpieces 10pcs packages are now available at 45€/50USD (shipping cost not included). Learn more: https://www.breathinglabs.com/latest-news/announcement-breathing-mouthpieces-for-clinical-and-professional-use-are-now-available/
BREATHING VR: Lately we are sourcing this VR headset for use in Breathing VR application. It allows easiest installation of both breathing+ headset cable, and USB charging cables, which is essential in professional use: https://www.banggood.com/VR-SHINECON-G5-VR-Glasses-3D-Virtual-Reality-Glasses-VR-Headset-For-iPhone-XS-11Pro-Mi10-p-1679808.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN
Update: Each purchase of Breathing+ will now include three machine washable mouthpieces. Previous buyers will be supplied with those by their country representatives but will have to cover shipping costs. Please be patient while we arrange distribution. https://www.breathinglabs.com/latest-news/announcement-breathing-mouthpieces-for-clinical-and-professional-use-are-now-available/
Update: We moved servers + relocated all our games to our servers, please be patient while google reviews all that (showing unsafe website atm). Use duckduckgo or non-chromium browsers to reach our pages in the meantime. Everything ok + new product addons coming out in a month!
Registration and all functionalities at http://breathinglabs.com (and in our iOS and Android games) are fixed and fully working. If you find any issues -> [email protected]
We are back in stock with Breathing+, currently searching for VR supplier, and setting up mass production for toys and tens stimulation + in November we will be signing up new erasmus traineeships, research projects, bilateral, FP(eu), and asia-pacific ->[email protected]
BREAKING: Nintendo Co. Ltd (Japan) is implementing Breathing Games by @breathinglabs in FDA approved clinical trial for children with bronchiectasis: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04038892
Notice to b2b partners: we are running late with some minor upgrade-> briefly running out of stock -> retail and b2b sale is closed until early october. To get a list of partners with stock to sell contact us at [email protected] Thanks, we'll go strong again in winter 💪