Two new studies paint a comprehensive picture of current long COVID cases in the United States, and both suggest the condition limits daily activities for a significant proportion of those affected.
Comments closedTag: long COVID
Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario
Why doesn’t Doug Ford’s government want you to know if you have this dangerous disease?
Comments closedTransparency is crucial to public health, but far too little effort has gone into informing the public about the long-term health hazards posed by repeated COVID-19 infections. That needs to change. A good place to start is by providing free rapid tests to enable Ontarians to gauge their risk and that of their loved ones. Its messaging would be clear: Results still matter.
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
We can, and must, do more to protect students in higher education from the risks of post-COVID condition
Canada’s postsecondary institutions have a responsibility to protect students and others on campus from the risks of post-COVID condition as a matter of campus safety.
Canada’s Chief Science Advisor, Mona Nemer, recently released the report, Dealing with the Fallout: Post-COVID Condition and its Continued Impacts on Individuals and Society.
Post-COVID condition (PCC), also known as “long COVID,” refers to the poorly understood and often serious health damage left by the SARS-CoV-2 virus after the acute illness appears to have passed.
Universities, colleges and schools have a duty to take reasonable precautions to protect students, staff and faculty from foreseeable harms. They must ensure the water on campus is safe to drink. They must install fire and carbon monoxide detectors and make evacuation plans. Many have adopted a smoke-free policy on campus as part of a commitment to an international charter on health promotion in universities and colleges. Yet there is little pandemic health promotion on Canadian campuses.
Comments closedTopic: the pandemic is not overView all posts for the topic: the pandemic is not over
Opinion: This holiday season, let’s spread kindness, not COVID
Comments closedIt can be surprisingly simple to protect our health and the health of others — by masking in public with high-quality masks (such as KN95 or N95), testing before gatherings, increasing ventilation, and staying home if sick.
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Almost a third of preteens, teens with long COVID still not recovered at 2 years, study shows
A new study from UK investigators shows that — while most COVID-19 patients ages 11 to 17 who reported long-COVID symptoms 3 months after the initial infection no longer experienced lingering symptoms at 2 years — 29% still did.
The findings, published in the journal Communications Medicine, come from the National Long COVID in Children and Young People cohort study, which followed up on thousands of young people after their COVID-19 diagnoses.
Comments closedTopic: vision lossView all posts for the topic: vision loss
Experimental study shows connection between COVID infection and age-related blindness
An experimental study in mice shows that SARS-CoV-2 infection can damage the retinas, with long-term implications for vision. Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection include various neurocognitive symptoms, suggesting the virus can affect the central nervous system. The eyes are also part of the central nervous system, but little is known about the virus’s effects on these organs.
Comments closedTopic: pro-virus policiesView all posts for the topic: pro-virus policies
Stanford Doctor Tapped for Key Post by Trump Advocated for Letting COVID Spread
President-elect Donald Trump’s choice this week to lead the National Institutes of Health is a controversial Stanford researcher who was highly critical of the COVID-19 pandemic response, drawing pushback from the medical community and some still suffering from the long-term effects of the disease.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of health policy and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, was one of three co-authors of a 2020 letter that challenged policies like lockdowns and mask mandates, and called for speeding up herd immunity.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Analysis of 25 studies shows reduced risk of long COVID after vaccination
A new meta-analysis of studies involving more than 14 million people published in the Journal of Infection shows that COVID-19 vaccination is associated with a lower risk of developing long COVID, with two doses reducing the odds by 24% and one dose reducing the odds by 15%.
In the 25 studies published up to February 2024 that were included for analysis, long COVID was defined as persistent symptoms at 3 months or beyond, and all studies compared long-COVID symptoms between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, with the number of doses received by participants specified. All studies included were observational trials and included in total 14,128,260 participants.
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Everything Wrong with Canada’s Proposed Long COVID Recommendations
Researchers involved in the organizations Cochrane Canada and the McMaster GRADE Centre at McMaster University are developing guidelines to prevent and treat Long COVID in Canada. Their effort is supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada and their recommendations would likely have major sway in the way Long COVID is treated if adopted.
Every month, they release new recommendations and provide an opportunity for public comment. On November 20th, the group released a new set of Canadian Post-COVID Condition (CAN-PCC) recommendations which propose harmful and ineffective treatments: Exercise to prevent Long COVID and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat post-exertional malaise (PEM).
Comments closedTopic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta
The story of Alberta’s rural long COVID program that never was
As better diagnosis and symptom management emerged for people with long COVID, researchers in Alberta set to work creating a program that could remotely connect urban specialists and rural patients. Between development and clinical implementation, the project was shelved.
With the province closing its clinics dedicated to treating people with long COVID, the story of Alberta’s innovative rural outreach program appears destined to remain incomplete.
Long COVID, or post COVID syndrome, refers to patients who are still experiencing symptoms twelve weeks after the initial infection. According to Health Canada, the condition affects about 1 in 9 adults who have had COVID.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Long Covid could cost the economy billions every year
Working days lost to long Covid could be costing the economy billions of pounds every year as patients struggle to cope with symptoms and return to work, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
Comments closedTopic: QuebecView all posts for the topic: Quebec
About 2,000 patients are on the long COVID clinic waiting list
(Montreal) The rehabilitation process is long for patients with long COVID, which can limit professionals in their acceptance of new patients. This issue, added to the other ills of the healthcare system, means that some 4,000 patients end up in the network of long COVID clinics, half of whom are on the waiting list.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Difficulty in accessing care for healthcare workers who have contracted long COVID
While on the front line at the height of the COVID-19 health crisis, many healthcare workers are struggling to access care after contracting long COVID. Only 12% of healthcare workers who suffer from it have received rehabilitation care, according to a research report by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).
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