Prolonged or long-term covid-19 has potentially affected up to 23 million Americans and left one million people permanently unable to work, according to a recent report by the US Government Accountability Office.
But also a study published earlier this month in the scientific journal Nature concluded that almost half of the patients who suffered from symptomatic covid they had not recovered several months later.
During the videoconference “Covid Largo: the next pandemic“, organized by Ethnic Media Services, Dr. José Luis Pérez, medical chief of the South Central Family Health Center, said that there is no definition of what covid with long-term consequences is, but it has been given several names and they all refer to a variety of symptoms that affect daily life, and can last for weeks, months and sometimes longer.
“Most of the patients who have experienced long covid presented severe symptoms, but in other cases they have been mild. Basically they can experience a combination of severe and mild”.
He indicated that the number one most common symptom is tiredness and general fatigue.
“People cannot do a lot without feeling very tired, sick and that they are not them”.
They also have palpitations, they are short of breath, and those who used to go to the gym or run regularly can no longer do it or train.
“Those who already had problems staying in shape find it even more difficult for them to do the least amount of exercise”.
On the neurological level, the complaint is that it is difficult for them to concentrate. “People have to leave their jobs because they can’t think the way they used to. They suffer from headaches, trouble sleeping, dizziness, a bland taste, depression and anxiety while diarrhea and upset stomach are minor”.
He added that there are those who experience muscle and joint pain, itching; and women have changes in their menstrual cycle.
In August of this year, the Brookings Institution published a study that revealed that about 16 Millions of Americans were suffering from long covid, and about 4 million were not working as a result of the aftermath.
“About long covid, there are many unsatisfactory answers even for the medical and research community because they don’t know much about the pathology that occurs with prolonged covid. We hope to have answers in the near future”.
However, he mentioned that people with severe covid are particularly at risk of developing long covid and especially those who were hospitalized.
“People with diabetes, hypertension, asthma , obesity have a greater possibility of suffering severe covid, and with this comes the danger of long covid.”
Then he said that the first thing is to make sure to make the correct diagnosis; and then apply the appropriate treatments based on the symptoms”.
He pointed out that those who work in supermarkets, restaurants, construction, hotels, mostly Latinos and Afro-Americans, because they are in contact with more people, they have a higher risk of contracting the virus.
“Until now there is no cure for a patient with long covid, and it is a difficult disease because the symptoms can be confused with other things. Joint or knee pain may be due to repetition at your job. The important thing is to treat the person as a whole”.
But also train health providers to identify long covid, he said.
“The most important thing to prevent covid infection is to get vaccinated, wash your hands, wear a mask and keep your distance. If we manage not to get covid, we are going to prevent prolonged covid.”
Dr. Nisha Viswanathan, director of the long-term covid program at the University of California in Los Angeles, said that they created this program 18 months ago in order to help patients with persistent symptoms after a covid infection-19.
“We want to determine two things: if it is really long covid; or a medical condition resulting from having covid. We have often seen that many of our patients take a long time to really talk about their symptoms, their various medical illnesses, and realize that this is related to something they may have had before covid.”
He gave as an example the case of a patient who had previously had a stroke; and that, ultimately, most of his symptoms may come more from the stroke than from the covid infection.
Therefore, he mentioned that the first thing is to make sure you have the correct diagnosis and then figure out what treatment is appropriate for patients based on their symptoms.
On what is the best way to protect yourself from prolonged covid, he said that more research is needed, but the best answer is not to contract covid at all because there is no other way to avoid prolonged covid.
Michelle Burroughs, Director of Community Engagement and Outreach atl Community Center Healthy from the University of California at Riverside, said that in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, there are 160,000 African-Americans who are not yet vaccinated due to mistrust in the government.
“There is a belief that African-American lives are not valued and that vaccines of covid are another way to annihilate them”.
But there is also the fear of potential damage that the vaccine can cause them, and the side effects.
“Due to disparities in health care for the African-American community, the long-term impact could be It is more devastating than covid”.
Indicated that Afro-American people do not receive the same quality of care as their counterparts, and that contributes to a reduction in the life cycle.
“The disparity is so significant that the African-American community is 3.5 times more likely to die of covid than their white counterparts.”
Revealed that members of the African-American community who have participated in long-term community meetings on covid at the Center for Healthy Communities, have reported that they face challenges in getting their health providers to even believe that they have symptoms and appropriately address your health care concerns.
“It is a real challenge that providers refuse to diagnose prolonged covid. We need to really work with them so that they are open to listen because they are not doing it”.
He added that for this reason they must advocate and stand firm so that the African-American community receives care, diagnosis and treatment for the long covid.