Thousands Who Got COVID-19 in March Are Still Sick

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

For Vonny LeClerc, day one was March 16.

Hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson instated stringent social-distancing measures to halt the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, LeClerc, a Glasgow-based journalist, arrived home feeling shivery and flushed. Over the next few days, she developed a cough, chest pain, aching joints, and a prickling sensation on her skin. After a week of bed rest, she started improving. But on day 12, every old symptom returned, amplified and with reinforcements: She spiked an intermittent fever, lost her sense of taste and smell, and struggled to breathe.

When I spoke with LeClerc on day 66, she was still experiencing waves of symptoms. “Before this, I was a fit, healthy 32-year-old,” she said. “Now I’ve been reduced to not being able to stand up in the shower without feeling fatigued. I’ve tried going to the supermarket and I’m in bed for days afterwards. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.” Despite her best efforts, LeClerc has not been able to get a test, but “every doctor I’ve spoken to says there’s no shadow of a doubt that this has been COVID,” she said. Today is day 80.

COVID-19 has existed for less than six months, and it is easy to forget how little we know about it. The standard view is that a minority of infected people, who are typically elderly or have preexisting health problems, end up in critical care, requiring oxygen or a ventilator. About 80 percent of infections, according to the World Health Organization, “are mild or asymptomatic,” and patients recover after two weeks, on average. Yet support groups on Slack and Facebook host thousands of people like LeClerc, who say they have been wrestling with serious COVID-19 symptoms for at least a month, if not two or three. Some call themselves “long-termers” or “long-haulers.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/thousands-who-got-covid-19-in-march-are-still-sick/ar-BB152oAQ?li=BBnb7Kz

[iemitsu]

1. Interesting and frightening.

I hope that we will not have too many new cases of Covid in the near future.

[Wounded Bear]

2. One of the big problems with the disease is the 'turnaround' in hospitals...

In manufacturing, we used to call it cycle time, in how long does it take to get raw materials into the factory and turn that into sellable product going out.

In medicine, they have a similar cycle time based on how long someone with the condition has to stay in the hospital. Covid seems to take a long time to 'cure,' even without being intubated. A typical flu sufferer might spend a few days in a hospital bed, while a covid patient often seems to need several weeks to recover. That's why we tried to 'flatten' the curve to slow the influx at the front end to where the hospitals have enough beds to handle the full recovery cycle of those in treatment.

That part of it is based on pure math and statistics, and without adequate testing, which we still don't have, we can't predict if our hospital capacity is adequate to handle what's coming. NY has been the worst case stateside, and WA perhaps the best case, as our hospital system never got as close to saturation as NY did.

But with all these demonstrations, you have to expect another big wave of cases in the next week or two, which won't resolve for another month or more.

[Celerity]

3. K & R

[crickets]

4. Not good. K&R for visibility.