DOH Physician Talks Long COVID
During the weekly Government House briefing, Dr. Tai Hunte-Ceasar from the V.I. Health Department said symptoms of what is commonly called long COVID can show up weeks after the infection and affect every organ in the body.
2023-02-28 13:25:35 - VI News Staff
In 2021, researchers began studying long COVID, which can last weeks, months and longer, and they found symptoms can affect every part of the body and even mental health, Hunte-Ceasar said.
“Today, long COVID is described as a complex disease that can affect nearly every organ in your body and is not one condition but instead possibly several overlapping conditions with different causes and different symptoms,” she said, adding that at least 200 symptoms have been reported affecting every part of the body.
Statistics from U.S. Health and Human Services indicate one in every five persons between the ages of 18-65 who have contracted the virus suffers from long COVID, and one in every four people over the age of 65 have post-infection symptoms.
Additionally, 44 percent of long COVID victims cannot work at all and 51 percent can only work part-time, at the cost of approximately $50 billion in lost wages annually and health care expenses, according to Hunte-Ceasar.
VIDOH also will begin studying long COVID in V.I. residents with a federal grant.
“The takeaway from all this research is that long COVID is a real condition. It is having a significant impact on a large part of the U.S. population and most likely will occur as new infections happen. This is a major public health concern,” she said