CDC: One-Third of Covid Survivors Report Long Term Health Issues

A recent study from the CDC reported up to one-third of people who recovered from the coronavirus experience lingering symptoms two months after the infection, according to Fox News 5.

The CDC report derived from a random sample of 366 adults who received a positive COVID-19 test between April 1 – December 10, 2020. People ages 40 and above had a greater risk of lasting symptoms.

In another CDC survey, 65.9% of 698 people who had a bout of coronavirus experienced symptoms a month after their recovery.

The phenomenon of “long haul Covid” is being studied, but medical experts say much is still unknown, as well as why it is reported more in certain demographics rather than others.

Dr. Mady Hornig, an immunologist and professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, said long haul symptoms persist even among people who had relatively mild coronavirus cases and did not have respiratory issues or needed to be hospitalized.

These people are “describing prolonged fatigue, they’re having fevers that sort of come and go,” she said, adding, “I’m one of those people, I’m in my eleventh week” of experiencing symptoms.

Another symptom many people report are “Covid toes,” where their feet painfully swell up and they develop red or purple lesions on their toes and fingers. A more serious issue is tachycardia, when the heart pumps abnormally fast and causes the pulse to race and disrupts blood flow throughout the body.

Other long-term symptoms included fatigue, loss of sense of smell, shortness of breath, joint pain, chest pain, muscle pain, and a “brain fog” that clouds thinking and concentration. More serious and rarer symptoms include inflammation of the heart muscle, lung issues, and kidney failures.

“Estimating population-level frequency of specific long-term symptoms among the general population and patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 could help health care professionals better understand the types and prevalences of symptoms their patients might experience and could help guide health systems in preparing care management strategies for patients with post-COVID conditions,” the CDC researchers said.

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smarcus@hamodia.com