The Not Good Mild Long Haul COVID Ramifications #86

With all the stress posts running around… I hesitate to point to a new one. But I tire of the repeated if you are young no problems news coverage. COVID does not merit if it doesn’t kill you it’ll make you stronger stupidity. There is increasing evidence of long term negative effects from even mild cases of the virus. This article’s audience was other physicians and care givers.

I awoke on a Monday morning with a headache, and I am not a headache person. Fever followed, and the next morning my blueberry yogurt tasted of nothing. Thick emptiness. I knew I had it. Now, after more than 3 months of living with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the fatigue that has kept me couch-bound, I have had ample time to reflect on what it means to be a patient, how an illness ripples through family and community, and how I will use this experience to be a better physician. Here is what I have learned.

Mild Illness Can Have Dramatic Effects

I have what is referred to as a “mild” case. I have no preexisting conditions, was never hospitalized, had minimal respiratory symptoms, and even managed to do limited office work throughout the acute illness. For this, I am grateful because I have seen first-hand how awful COVID-19 can be for others. And yet, living with this has been anything but mild. I quarantined in the basement for 40 days, staying isolated from my family because low-grade fevers continued, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance was unclear for people like me. I talked to my children only through FaceTime or walkie-talkies and saw my wife only by looking up between the balusters of the stairwell. Embraces were out of the question when what I needed most was human connection.

Link to Article

RT Journal Article
A1 Siegelman, Jeffrey N.
T1 Reflections of a COVID-19 Long Hauler
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2020
DO 10.1001/jama.2020.22130
SN 0098-7484
AB I awoke on a Monday morning with a headache, and I am not a headache person. Fever followed, and the next morning my blueberry yogurt tasted of nothing. Thick emptiness. I knew I had it. Now, after more than 3 months of living with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the fatigue that has kept me couch-bound, I have had ample time to reflect on what it means to be a patient, how an illness ripples through family and community, and how I will use this experience to be a better physician. Here is what I have learned.
RD 11/13/2020
UL https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.22130