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Recent research indicates the extent to which the CDC has failed to ascertain the health deficiencies created by a COVID-19 infection, especially when patients are hospitalized. It appears that the number of patients who experience health deficiencies greatly exceed the number of those who die as a result of infection.
<<New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital reported 63 percent of hospitalized Covid-19 patients studied had heart damage that could lead to heart attacks, pulmonary embolism and heart inflammation.>>
How much will the health deficiencies created among COVID-19 survivors burden the U.S. economy and health care system in coming years?
"Asymptomatic" individuals also need to be concerned about the long-term consequences of having contracted COVID-19.
<<Some of the possible long-term effects can affect even patients who are asymptomatic or have mild cases of COVID-19.
"I think it's an argument for why we take this disease so seriously," says Dr. Poland. "People who are thinking, especially young people: '(It's a) mild disease, you know. I might not even have any symptoms, and I'm over it.' Whoa. The data is suggesting otherwise. There's evidence of myocardial damage, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, decreased ejection fractions, pulmonary scarring and strokes.
"And then in the more acute phase, extending out for a month or two, has been this really interesting issue of coagulation abnormalities, which have been responsible for both small-vessel and large-vessel arterial and venous occlusions. So this can be a really wicked virus in some people," says Dr. Poland.>>
Autopsies help confirm often pernicious impact of COVID-19 infections
The Trump and DeSantis administrations have misrepresented the seriousness of the COVID-19 epidemic by assuming there are no health deficiencies among survivors, and certainly by not emphasizing the potentially serious consequences of contracting COVID-19 for persons of any age.
A Trump administration revision of a regulation requiring autopsies in unexplained deaths has greatly impaired the understanding of the COVID-19 epidemic.
<<Indeed, since 1950, pathologists in the U.S. have gone from conducting autopsies on nearly half of all patients who died in hospitals to less than 5 percent of them. In part, that’s because advances in imaging technology have given physicians more confidence in their diagnoses. But “our ability to determine the cause of death is pretty bad unless you do an autopsy,” says Mary Fowkes, a pathologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She says about a quarter of autopsies reveal something the clinician did not know about the patient’s cause of death....
In 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), under pressure from President Donald J. Trump’s administration to cut regulations, removed a requirement that hospitals attempt to secure an autopsy in cases where deaths were unusual or could serve an educational purpose like teaching physicians about how a particular disease kills patients. “I don’t think that CMS really recognizes what they’ve done,” says Victor Weedn, a forensic pathologist at The George Washington University. But, he says, the previous autopsy requirement “was so diluted at that point — so disemboweled, so emasculated, that it really had very little meaning anymore.”>>
<<As those autopsies began, though, pathologists started to make discoveries that could change the way physicians and researchers understand the effects of Covid-19 on the body. “When you look at autopsies now,” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci told CNN in April, “we’re seeing things that we didn’t expect.
In particular, early autopsies showed that Covid-19 was causing blood clots all over the body. Some were fatal: Fowkes says that in the first 17 patients her team autopsied, four had died from pulmonary emboli, blockages in the blood vessels of the lungs. Jeffrey Jhang, a pathologist at Mount Sinai who runs laboratory tests for living patients, had noticed some large clots in blood samples he received early on. As autopsies also demonstrated the pervasiveness of clotting, the team at Mount Sinai decided they should treat Covid-19 patients with blood thinners and regularly test for signs of clotting....
Autopsies have also built on observations made by physicians. As patients exhibited neurological symptoms like confusion and loss of smell, Fowkes and her team found the virus in the frontal lobe of a patient’s brain. The finding, published in the Journal of Medical Virology in April, provided some of the earliest evidence of the virus invading the central nervous system. But she was surprised to also find the virus in the lining of the brain’s blood vessels. The pathologists continued searching other organs for signs of SARS-CoV-2 infiltration and found clues that the virus may hide in vasculature throughout the body. She and her team now wonder if some patients may have low levels of virus “hanging around in the body” with the potential to reignite infection — a question that has inspired extensive debate among experts....
Rapkiewicz says many doctors have reported Covid-19 patients exhibiting signs of myocarditis, a dangerous type of heart inflammation often associated with viral infections.>>
Note that medical scientists have not ruled out that those infected with COVID-19 will remain infected for life. Finding the virus in the brain is very problematic, as treating infections and diseases of the brain is very difficult, as proven by the futile attempts to develop a treatment for Alzheimer's. Likely only because our President and many of his partisan enablers compare COVID-19 with the flu virus do Americans assume the COVID-19 virus is more akin to the flu virus than to the AIDS virus. So the entire Republican argument, unsupported and unconfirmed by medical researchers, that the COVID-19 virus will "just go away" is possibly, if not likely, a faulty one. By basing public policy on such a weak argument threatens the future health of millions of Americans, beyond those who die or develop chronic conditions.
Even as newspapers and magazines now explore the plight of COVID-19 long haulers, the CDC has done a poor job of identifying and especially of quantifying the health deficiencies associated with COVID-19 infections. Just as the Trump administration has attempted to minimize testing resources, it probably also has quashed efforts at the CDC to look a the COVID-19 epidemic in terms other than deaths.
This article is behind a pay wall and I haven't read it yet. I'm told it's available on Apple News.
<< The long-term side effects of COVID-19 can be as puzzling to doctors and patients as the virus itself. It can cause inflammation in the heart, lungs and other organs.
One Utah man who was sickened by the virus in March hopes he can actually enjoy a meal again someday.
"It's been almost eight months now, and my taste and smell still haven't recovered yet," said Matt Newey, who caught the virus in Steamboat Springs along with four of his friends in early March.
In the last many days, at least three likely NFL-caliber university quarterbacks have tested positive for COVID-19 -- Wisconsin's Graham Mertz, Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, and Illinois' Brandon Peters. If one or more of these superbly conditioned young athletes are lost for the season, implying serious complications such as myocarditis, perhaps it will encourage persons, especially young persons who falsely have been told that they face little risk from the disease, to exercise more caution....
[Utah] Gov. Gary Herbert has said his granddaughter has experienced similar nausea around foods after her bout with COVID-19.
"It's a chore to eat," Newey said. "I forget that I'm hungry."
The 24-year-old has lost 20 pounds. At some point, he thinks his body went into survival mode.
"I now can eat foods," he said. "I still don't desire them. But, I can manage just to get by to eat them."
Post 165 discusses the impact of a COVID-19 infection on athletes. The post also discusses how the virus sidelined Boston Red Sox ace Eduardo Rodriguez, and it remains uncertain if he'll ever return to his former level of competitive excellence. See also post 181 in this thread for a discussion of the long-term impact of a COVID-19 infection.
Even robust testing and social distancing procedures, as those at the White House, often prove inadequate against the COVID-19, and then there is the issue of mutations. COVID-19 outbreaks in SEC and Big Ten football conferences also show the difficulty of containing the COVID-19 virus. Given the experience of Rodriguez, it will be interesting to see the impact of recent infections of likely NFL-caliber university quarterbacks (Trevor Lawrence, Graham Mertz, and Brandon Peters).
<<The signature of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is comprised of about 30,000 genetic bases and it mutates roughly every second transmission between people, or about every two weeks. While the vast majority of those mutations don’t affect the behavior of the virus, the change is enough to give researchers a hint of where the virus might have originated.>>
Americans are assuming that we'll have an effective vaccine for COVID-19 within months, but scientists continue to warn that mankind has NEVER developed an effective vaccine for a coronavirus. If we do develop a COVID-19 vaccine, it will be a medical achievement comparable to the development of the polio vaccine.
Deaths per capita are now higher in the U.S. than in the U.K. and Italy. The U.S. per capita death rate is almost 20 times higher than in Australia. It's also likely that the U.S. many, many more patients per capita who have developed long-term health deficiencies than in Australia. Health care costs and economic costs likely are much less as well in Australia.
Illinois.................80
Arizona................82
Dist of Columbia....92
Mississippi...........112
Rhode Island.......113
Louisiana.............127
Connecticut..........129
Massachusetts......145
New York..............172
New Jersey...........184
....the North East is winning by a landslide....if you call that winning
Illinois.................80
Arizona................82
Dist of Columbia....92
Mississippi...........112
Rhode Island.......113
Louisiana.............127
Connecticut..........129
Massachusetts......145
New York..............172
New Jersey...........184
....the North East is winning by a landslide....if you call that winning
Actually, for several months, the northeast states have had much better success in mitigating the COVID-19 epidemic than Florida. E.g., Florida is now number 9 on a cumulative basis in total cases per capita, despite a much inferior testing program than currently exists in northeast states. Florida residents are being exposed to the health deficiencies associated with COVID-19 infections more than any other state with a population of over 7 million. Sort this table by cases/1 million population.
Florida is at 37,810; New York at 28,173; and New Jersey at 27,713.
Northeast states were slammed at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in the U.S., when no travel bans or quarantines were in effect, when testing was very limited, knowledge of the virus was limited, no drugs were available, and best treatment regimens were still being developed.
According to the "Total Deaths" interactive charts below, here are the death totals for New Jersey, New York, and Florida through May 31, June 30, and October 31: NJ (13,278; 15,050; 16,479); NY (30,509; 32,129; 33,668); FL (2,452; 3505; 16,769).
So since June 30, here are the deaths per state: NJ 1,429; NY 1,539; FL 14,317. Likely, NY and NJ also are more comprehensive in reporting COVID-19 deaths than FL. E.g., deaths at home of persons with COVID-19 symptoms are included even though there never was a positive COVID-19 test for the deceased. NY and NJ also doesn't exclude "non-residents" as does Florida.
Clearly, the DeSantis administration performance in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic has been pathetically bad since June 30. The likelihood is that on a per capita basis (if someone did the calculations) since June 30, Florida is among the worst 10, and perhaps even the worst 5 states in managing the COVID-19 epidemic. It certainly is very bad compared with other large states which have superior resources compared to smaller states.
Also, the likelihood is that given Florida's relatively poor mask-wearing and social distancing policies, despite a large, generally cautious elderly population, that Florida will break into the cumulative "top ten" death per capita list in the not too distant future.
No objective person could give the DeSantis administration a grade of better than "D" IMO in its management of the epidemic. And the Trump administration's policies, generally enabled by Republican governors and certainly DeSantis, have made the U.S. statistics extremely poor compared to many major, democratic nations, especially, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, and even Canada. U.S. cases/capita are over 4 times Canada, and per capita deaths 2.5 times as great. Search this interactive table by cases and deaths per capita.
AND, the case disparities mean that many more Americans on average are being exposed to the health deficiencies associated with COVID-19 than in many other developed, democratic nations.
We won't even discuss the economic harm, and education deficiencies that have, and will result from the continued mismanagement of the epidemic in the U.S.
Actually, for several months, the northeast states have had much better success in mitigating the COVID-19 epidemic than Florida. E.g., Florida is now number 9 on a cumulative basis in total cases per capita, despite a much inferior testing program than currently exists in northeast states. Florida residents are being exposed to the health deficiencies associated with COVID-19 infections more than any other state with a population of over 7 million. Sort this table by cases/1 million population.
Florida is at 37,810; New York at 28,173; and New Jersey at 27,713.
Northeast states were slammed at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in the U.S., when no travel bans or quarantines were in effect, when testing was very limited, knowledge of the virus was limited, no drugs were available, and best treatment regimens were still being developed.
According to the "Total Deaths" interactive charts below, here are the death totals for New Jersey, New York, and Florida through May 31, June 30, and October 31: NJ (13,278; 15,050; 16,479); NY (30,509; 32,129; 33,668); FL (2,452; 3505; 16,769).
So since June 30, here are the deaths per state: NJ 1,429; NY 1,539; FL 14,317. Likely, NY and NJ also are more comprehensive in reporting COVID-19 deaths than FL. E.g., deaths at home of persons with COVID-19 symptoms are included even though there never was a positive COVID-19 test for the deceased. NY and NJ also doesn't exclude "non-residents" as does Florida.
Clearly, the DeSantis administration performance in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic has been pathetically bad since June 30. The likelihood is that on a per capita basis (if someone did the calculations) since June 30, Florida is among the worst 10, and perhaps even the worst 5 states in managing the COVID-19 epidemic. It certainly is very bad compared with other large states which have superior resources compared to smaller states.
Also, the likelihood is that given Florida's relatively poor mask-wearing and social distancing policies, despite a large, generally cautious elderly population, that Florida will break into the cumulative "top ten" death per capita list in the not too distant future.
No objective person could give the DeSantis administration a grade of better than "D" IMO in its management of the epidemic. And the Trump administration's policies, generally enabled by Republican governors and certainly DeSantis, have made the U.S. statistics extremely poor compared to many major, democratic nations, especially, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, and even Canada. U.S. cases/capita are over 4 times Canada, and per capita deaths 2.5 times as great. Search this interactive table by cases and deaths per capita.
AND, the case disparities mean that many more Americans on average are being exposed to the health deficiencies associated with COVID-19 than in many other developed, democratic nations.
We won't even discuss the economic harm, and education deficiencies that have, and will result from the continued mismanagement of the epidemic in the U.S.
Only to delusional, deceitful, and/or highly biased minds, in any case, totally unable to explain what is claimed to be so obvious.
Last edited by WRnative; 11-04-2020 at 02:57 PM..
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Heart damage to hospitalized COVID-19 patients
