COVID-19's "Long-Haulers"

I've beome a big fan of the The Atlantic's COVID-19 and political coverage, especially the articles written by Ed Yong. They've just published another one by him, about COVID-19's "long-haulers", people who get sick stay sick, with a v ariety of sometimes unusual symptoms. 

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.

1've been seeing anecdotal reports about this for quite a while now, but Yong's article is the best summary of the situation I've seen so far. It should give everyone pause, and even more reasons to practice social distancing and proper hygiene. Note that many of the people mentioned in the article are young, not the oldsters like me who are most at risk. 

In this Washington Post article, the two authors discuss their experience with post-viral illness (not from COVID-19) 

Tying into Yong's article is this one from Medium.com, which posits that COVID-19 may be primarily a disease of the blood and not a respiratory infection. 

An infection of the blood vessels would explain many of the weird tendencies of the novel coronavirus, like the high rates of blood clots. Endothelial cells help regulate clot formation by sending out proteins that turn the coagulation system on or off. The cells also help ensure that blood flows smoothly and doesn’t get caught on any rough edges on the blood vessel walls. 

“The endothelial cell layer is in part responsible for [clot] regulation, it inhibits clot formation through a variety of ways,” says Sanjum Sethi, MD, MPH, an interventional cardiologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “If that’s disrupted, you could see why that may potentially promote clot formation.”

Whatever the final outcome of research into the disease, it's clear that six months into the pandemic, there's a lot we don't know about it.