If you believe COVID-19 is something you catch but recover from completely after mild symptoms, you may be wrong. That’s because the long tail could debilitate you for months, even if you are in your fifties and good health. We begin our journey into this fascinating topic by exploring the persistent symptoms of the COVID long tail. Remember us when you finish reading because more will follow.
Unraveling the Persistent Symptoms of the COVID Long Tail
It took a while for scientists to unravel long COVID, and its treatment according to David Cox for BBC Future. ‘We thought it would be like the flu, it would all go away’ Melissa Heightman, consultant respiratory specialist told the reporter.
A year later, a third of her clinic’s patients are still unwell, and largely unable to work. Disturbingly, over half never admitted to hospital for inpatient COVID-19 treatment. Could their number just be a tip of the COVID iceberg, we wonder? These often young people, with no underlying health conditions typically display recurring, chronic symptoms.
Recurring Symptoms these Mostly Young Healthy People Display
The stories these young people related to Melissa Heightman reveal the following pattern:
1… An apparently mild infection followed by a strange ‘constellation of ailments’
2… Symptoms persisting for weeks, even months after virus should have left their bodies
Those patients initially bypassed the system, Melissa Heightman told BBC Future reporter David Cox. That’s because most hospitals lacked budgets to open dedicated clinics to attend to persistent symptoms of COVID long tail. But more recently they became her main focus. The discussion continues in our next post here.
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Preview Image: Delayed Return to Usual Health
