Some COVID patients may feel effects of coronavirus long after pandemic ends

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Long COVID could result in what health authorities are calling a “generation affected by disability.”

News 8 spoke with Dr. Christopher Doehring, vice president of medical affairs at Franciscan Health, who explains why doctors are so concerned.

“Certainly people who’ve been hospitalized with COVID were severely ill and survived. … It’s understandable they are going to be debilitated in ways that are part of the recovery process,” he said. “They may for the rest of their life be dealing with complications of COVID. But, what we’re also seeing are younger, healthier folks who didn’t get hospitalized also having lingering COVID long-hauler symptoms.”

Doehring says people are dealing with a whole host of lingering problems, from brain fog and lung issues to kidney damage and heart problems. A recent study shows 1 in 8 long-haulers suffer from myocarditis, a type of heart inflammation that reduces the heart’s ability to pump blood. 

Doehring adds that even though we have entered Year 3 of the pandemic for the coronavirus, many questions still remain about long COVID, questions we need answers to.