Long COVID stay here

As COVID-19 (new coronavirus infectious disease) The virus continues to move forward as news headlines rise and fall.

Cases and hospitalizations are rising again in most states, researchers track Recombinant omicron variant Strains such as BA.4 and BA.5 also evade immunity from previous infections. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that most Americans have had her COVID-19, but Omicron’s dominance Hope for herd immunity.

And then there’s the pandemic’s lost headline: long covid It could become the greatest public health burden of our lifetimes. Long suffers from his COVID, also known as acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) about 23 million Americans So far, can last over a year Or more.

At least 30% of people who have recovered from COVID-19 suffer from this chronic disease, Recent meta-analysis A prevalence of long-term COVID symptoms of 43% was found among infected people. Often overshadowed by other news, this is one of the most pressing global health threats I’ve seen since I fought it. HIV/AIDS.

With COVID fatigue looming large, this is a difficult message to deliver. But facts and science call for action to reverse our recent complacency.

Think numbers. CDC data suggests that COVID-19 infected nearly 200 million people in a country with a population of 330 million. The likelihood of re-infection increases as new variants emerge and re-infect. Detected An interval of less than 30 days. Add 30% to 30% of 200 million and calculate Over 60,000 new COVID cases Every day, the number of potential long COVID patients is increasing at an alarming rate every day.

As we learn more about it, resultwe know long covid It disproportionately affects women and strikes at least half a million children across the country. It varies from person to person, with two-thirds of her patients presenting with one or more symptoms of multi-site pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and cognitive impairment.

White House declared long COVID hindrance under the Americans with Disabilities Act announced Long-term COVID research agenda among institutions, with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) publishing more long-term COVID findings. While these are positive steps, urgent action is needed to stem the spread of COVID-19 and Long COVID.

our first generation vaccination The spread cannot be stopped. Although mRNA vaccines have shown phenomenal success, we know that this technology provides temporary protection and does not block forward transmission. no corroborative evidence. These limits are important. Because we are likely to face more and more waves of increasingly contagious variants that leave countless long-term COVID victims.

Early in the pandemic, I noticed that most long-term COVID cases looked a lot like fibromyalgia, a condition I had studied and treated for 25 years. In a database survey of over 50,000 long-distance patients, over 40% reported fibromyalgia-like multisite pain. Opioid use was observed in his 36% of these patients and was more commonly used in patients with persistent fatigue and insomnia.Findings have serious physical and Impact on mental health Address a growing underserved patient population who desperately need safe and effective options for relief and recovery.

As Government Officials and Observers Worldwide It argues that both vaccines and therapeutics need to reach higher goals. We can and should do more now to slow down the COVID variants and stem the pernicious rise of COVID over the long term. We have the scientific and pharmaceutical ingenuity to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and slow the long-distance surge. It’s time to mobilize those abilities.

Congress enacted legislation providing billions of dollars to tackle COVID-19, but sees no viable plan to combat the seemingly endless stream of variants and long COVID cases . Three years into the battle, government-funded research projects are welcome, but not enough. We need to use federal funding and additional resources to accelerate the delivery of advanced long-term COVID treatments and provide better vaccines to protect against the virus in the first place.

Our country is not prepared for the short-term or long-term consequences of a long unchecked COVID. Until we have the next generation of vaccines and treatments to confront and defeat COVID-19 and long-term COVID-19, we must face it relentlessly.