Road To Recovery For COVID-19 Patients Can Be Much Longer Than Expected, Doctors Warn
Even when patients are discharged from the hospital that doesn't mean their recovery from COVID-19 is complete. Many patients find they are struggling to return to their normal levels of health weeks after getting infected. In other news: the virus's damage to the body isn't limited to the lungs, scientists race to understand the mysterious symptoms showing up in kids, doctors pull back on the use of ventilators and more.
The New York Times:
Surviving Covid-19 May Not Feel Like Recovery For Some
When Morena Colombi tested negative for the coronavirus on March 16, the official tallies counted her among the Covid-19 recoveries, a success amid the tragedies overwhelming Italy. But she was nowhere near recovered, her cough and crippling fatigue nowhere near gone. Five weeks later, on April 21, she returned to her job developing colors for a cosmetics company, but with shortness of breath and aching muscles, she found herself unable to take even short walks. (Horowitz, 5/10)
The Washington Post:
How Coronavirus Attacks The Human Body
Deborah Coughlin was neither short of breath nor coughing. In those first days after she became infected by the novel coronavirus, her fever never spiked above 100 degrees. It was vomiting and diarrhea that brought her to a Hartford, Conn., emergency room on May 1. “You would have thought it was a stomach virus,” said her daughter, Catherina Coleman. “She was talking and walking and completely coherent.” But even as Coughlin, 67, chatted with her daughters on her cellphone, the oxygen level in her blood dropped so low that most patients would be near death. (Bernstein and Cha, 5/10)
The New York Times:
Mysterious Coronavirus Illness Claims 3 Children In New York
A mysterious syndrome has killed three young children in New York and sickened 73 others, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Saturday, an alarming rise in a phenomenon that was first publicly identified earlier this week. The syndrome, a toxic-shock-like inflammation that affects the skin, the eyes, blood vessels and the heart, can leave children seriously ill, with some patients requiring mechanical ventilation. Many of the symptoms bear some resemblance to a rare childhood illness called Kawasaki disease, which can lead to inflammation of the blood vessels, especially the coronary arteries. (Jacobs and Sandoval, 5/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
Some Doctors Pull Back On Using Ventilators To Treat Covid-19
It is another medical mystery of the coronavirus pandemic: Large numbers of Covid-19 patients arrive at hospitals with blood-oxygen levels so low they should be unconscious or on the verge of organ failure. Instead they are awake, talking—not struggling to breathe. Although nobody is quite sure what about the coronavirus causes these patients to react this way, they are rapidly changing how many doctors are treating the disease. Instead of rushing to put such patients on mechanical ventilators for fear of them suddenly getting worse and dying, some doctors are now holding off on the invasive treatment, believing that many of these patients will do just fine without them. (Toy and Roland, 5/10)
Modern Healthcare:
Finding Answers About COVID-19 Risk In The Data
Physicians and data experts at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, located in one of the first COVID-19 hot spots, have developed a risk score that aims to maximize resources and direct treatment.They devised a set of criteria that typically indicate how sick COVID-19 patients will get. If they are male, over the age of 60, have a body-mass index of at least 30 and have comorbidities like diabetes or heart conditions, they are more likely to get sick, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center experts’ analysis of nearly 7,000 emergency department visits revealed. (Kacik, 5/9)
ABC News:
People With Coronavirus Are Dying 10 Years Earlier Than They Would Have Naturally: Study
Even as the global death toll from COVID-19 continues to rise, the impact of the virus may actually be understated, according to a new study from the University of Glasgow. Using a statistical measure called "years of life lost," researchers found that COVID-19 strips more than a decade away from a person's life, on average. For men, the viral infection takes away about 13 years of potential life lived. For women, it's more like 11 years. Both numbers account for underlying long-term conditions. (Amin, 5/10)
The Associated Press:
AP FACT CHECK: Trump Falsely Declares Kids Safe From Virus
President Donald Trump is falsely suggesting that children are safe from the coronavirus as he pushes to reopen the country now and schools in the summer or fall. Although Trump is broadly correct that the disease is most deadly to the elderly and to people with existing health problems, his statement that “the children aren’t affected” is heedless. Some have died from it. His recent comments also skirt the threat to healthy adults in their 50s and younger. (Woodward, 5/7)
