Category Archives: Covid-19

Several highly effective vaccines were developed at an unprecedented speed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. During the phase 3 clinical trials, mRNA vaccines had vaccine efficacy of 9495% in preventing symptomatic infections. After the rollout, real-world evidence showed that the mRNA vaccines provided ~90% effectiveness against infection. Then came the variants. The wave after wave of new variants, with ever-increasing transmissibility and capacity to escape existing immunity, challenge the ability of vaccines to prevent infection and transmission. The effectiveness of a primary series of mRNA vaccines (two doses) to prevent hospitalization and death is also being chipped away by these highly immune-evasive variants. Vaccine-mediated protection became shorter-lived, especially with the emergence of Omicron variants. People look at these data and wonder, what is the point of getting the vaccines if they will not prevent symptomatic infections, and the protection does not last? Well, to expect robust protection from just the primary series of any vaccines is unreasonableand was always likely to bebut somehow society has placed too high a bar on what is considered an acceptable number of doses for COVID-19 vaccines. Instead, we need to understand that were going to be getting boosters in the foreseeable future, and to appreciate their benefits.

Vaccines against other infectious diseases are given in multiple doses. Many of our childhood vaccines require multiple doses5 doses for (diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis), 4 doses (Haemophilus influenza type b, pneumococcal conjugate, inactivated poliovirus), or 3 doses (hepatitis B) are all commonly given before the age of 18 years. These doses are required and not considered optional to achieve immunity. In adulthood, many of these vaccines need periodic booster doses to maintain immunity. The influenza virus requires annual vaccination doses for all ages. Yet, people dont complain about having to get their 60th dose of the influenza vaccine. We should think of COVID-19 vaccines the same way.

Why do we need booster doses? The primary series of vaccines kick-starts the immune response by engaging lymphocytes, white blood cells that detect specific features of the pathogen to expand in numbers and become instructed to eliminate the pathogen. Most of these cells disappear over time, except for a small subset of cells that are kept by the body for future use. These memory cells are responsible for long-lasting immunity against a given pathogen. What boosters do is stimulate these memory lymphocytes to quickly expand in numbers and to produce even more effective defenders. The booster also selects for B cells that can secrete antibodies that are even better at binding and blocking virus infection and spread.

The primary series can be thought of as the high school for lymphocytes, where nave cells receive basic instructions to learn about the pathogen. Boosters are like a college where lymphocytes are further educated to become more skilled and mature, to fight off future infections. Periodically, these college graduates need refreshers by more booster doses given later in life. This is the case for all vaccines. Booster doses provide the immune system the education it needs to prevent severe diseases from infections.

COVID-19 vaccines also need booster doses for the same reasons. We need to educate, maintain, and improve T and B cell responses to prevent severe disease. Boosters provide significant benefits to people who received the primary series in preventing hospitalization and death. In the U.S. in April 2022, people older than 50 years of age who received no vaccine, primary series only (no booster dose), or one booster dose had 38 x, 6 x, or a 4 x higher risk, respectively, of dying from COVID-19 compared to those with two or more booster doses. During the Omicron-predominant period, the booster dose provided protection from hospitalization even in previously infected people, whether older (>65 years of age) or younger (<65 years of age). Among children and adolescents, a primary series (two doses) of vaccination was less effective in preventing COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care encounters during the Omicron wave compared to the Delta period. Immunity also decreases with time since primary vaccination. No significant protection was detected more than five months after a 2nd vaccine dose among adolescents aged 1617 years. However, a third booster dose restored vaccine effectiveness to 81% in this age group. There is thus a clear benefit of a booster dose across a broad range of age groups studied to date.

Can booster vaccination be improved in the future? Absolutely. We need improved boosters that can provide more durable protection, are effective against variants we encounter moving forward, and do a better job of preventing infection and blocking transmission. For example, booster-induced immune protection wanes within 4-6 months during the current Omicron period. We need vaccine strategies that provide more durable protection. Boosters are now being developed to match the circulating Omicron variant BA.5, which should provide better protection than boosters based on the original strain. However, because of the rapidly mutating nature of SARS-CoV-2, going forward, we will need boosters that can provide coverage against not just the existing but future variants of concern.

Boosters that work against a wide range of SARS-CoV-2 variants, now or in the future, as well as against other coronaviruses that may cause future pandemics need to be pursued. Coronaviruses have made the jump from animals to humans multiple times in history which resulted in pandemics. Vaccines that can broadly protect against a wide range of coronaviruses will also prevent future pandemics. In addition, future boosters should be given as nasal spray vaccines to provide local mucosal immune protection, capable of reducing infection and transmission at the portal of entry for the virus, and reducing long COVID risk. Ultimately, we need booster strategies that can be more easily implemented worldwide and have higher acceptance and uptake rates to provide much-needed immune protection for everyone. An over-the-counter nasal spray booster can bring us closer to that goal.

Researchers and industry are furiously working on developing next-generation vaccines as they did with our current vaccines, which have saved more than 14 million lives during the pandemic. But for now, take the booster doses you are eligible to keep your immune system educated and up to date so it has the best chance of protecting you from COVID-19 in the upcoming winter season and so we can prevent the enormous loss of life we experienced last winter with more than 300,000 people dying in the U.S. from a disease that can be prevented by current boosters.

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Bacterial and fungal isolation from face masks under the COVID-19 pandemic | Scientific Reports - Nature.com

A Coral Princess cruise ship with more than 2,000 passengers onboard is stranded at sea.

Strong winds and 20-foot waves are preventing the ship from safely docking in Australia, per reports.

This isn't the ship's only challenge in recent days. Last week, it reported 120 cases of COVID-19 onboard.

Passengers on the Coral Princess cruise ship, now stuck off Australia's coast, can't seem to catch a break.

Last week, the ship reported 120 cases of COVID-19. Now, its 2,000-plus passengers are stranded at sea.

Strong winds and 20-foot waves are preventing the vessel from safely docking, according to news reports from The Daily Mail and Sky News Australia. The ship was supposed to dock in Brisbane at 7am local time Friday, the last day of its weeklong voyage, with stops along the Queensland and New South Wales coasts, but bad weather has made that impossible.

It's unclear when the ship will be able to dock.

"The Port of Brisbane is closed ... " a Princess Cruises spokesman told The Daily Mail Australia, citing "adverse weather conditions associated with the East Coast Low off Queensland."

The ship's arrival and reopening of the port will depend on when conditions improve, the spokesman said.

The ship has been hit with waves measuring roughly 20 feet, according to passenger footage cited by The Daily Mail. Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issued a warning for winds with gusts up to roughly 55 miles per hour, for parts of the southern Queensland coast Friday.

Princess Cruises did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Cursed cruise ship where 120 passengers tested positive for COVID-19, now is facing 20-foot waves and brutal wind, stranding it off Australia - Yahoo!...

Coronavirus cases and deaths among nursing home residents rose statewide for the second straight month after a long period of decline, according to data from AARP Virginia, the state chapter of the national advocacy group for Americans aged 50 and older.

Rates are still far lower than in the early days of the pandemic, when the virus swept through long-term care facilities largely unchecked. From late April to mid-June, resident case rates in Virginia increased from 2.74 per 100 to 4.14, while death rates increased from .04 per 100 to .06, according to a Thursday news release.

Data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicates that just over 84 percent of nursing home residents in Virginia are fully vaccinated and boosted, and the states continued low death rate among those vulnerable patients speaks to the strong protection vaccines convey against severe disease and death. But the rise is still concerning, advocates say, amid the continued spread of highly infectious subvariants. Until the most recent increase over the last two months, both cases and deaths had been steadily declining in nursing homes following the states historic winter surge.

Rising deaths and cases of COVID-19 among nursing home residents and staff nationally show that for their sakes, we must remain vigilant, David DeBiasi, the advocacy director of AARP Virginia, said in a statement. And we must hold nursing homes accountable for providing high quality care and safe environments.

For much of the pandemic, cases and deaths in nursing homes have been a bellwether for spread in the broader community. When transmission is high, it increases the risk of staff members catching and spreading the virus to elderly patients.

Eighteen counties and localities in Virginia are currently seeing a high level of transmission, including the city of Richmond, according to data from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. And statewide, case numbers are still on the rise, driven largely by the highly infectious omicron subvariant BA.5, which shows signs of being able to evade immunity from previous vaccines and infections.

The New York Times reported that the subvariant is driving a new wave of cases, reinfections and hospitalizations across the country, and theres also been a rise in COVID admissions statewide, according to data from the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. Deaths currently remain at their lowest level since the start of the pandemic, based on reporting from the Virginia Department of Health.

But on average, case rates across Virginia are roughly four times higher than they were last summer, according to the most recent report from UVAs Biocomplexity Institute, which provides modeling and projections to state health officials. Hospitalization numbers are also rising more quickly than cases, which thanks to the proliferation of at-home testing are going unreported to a much larger degree than earlier in the pandemic.

AARP Virginia said the increase of cases and deaths among some of the most vulnerable Virginians heightened concerns that a new surge is upon us. But health experts continue to emphasize that COVID-19 vaccines are still highly protective against severe disease and death, even with immune-evading subvariants.

In late June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration directed vaccine manufacturers to develop booster doses that targeted newer omicron variants. Those shots are expected to be released in the fall, and UVA researchers urged anyone already eligible for a fourth dose to get one as soon as possible.

BA.4 and BA.5 are both capable of causing reinfections among those with natural and vaccine-induced immunity, they wrote. Models suggest these two subvariants may cause a small case surge in the coming months.

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COVID-19 cases and deaths in Virginia nursing homes rise for the second consecutive month - Virginia Mercury

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Thursday, July 14, 2022

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, and their collaborators have discovered that people of European and African ancestries who were hospitalized for COVID-19 are more likely to carry a particular combination of genetic variants in a gene known as OAS1 than patients with mild disease who were not hospitalized. People with this combination of genetic variants also remain positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection longer. However, interferon treatment may reduce the severity of COVID-19 in people with these genetic factors. Interferons are a type of protein that can help the bodys immune system fight infection and other diseases, such as cancer.

The study appears July 14 in Nature Genetics.

These findings build on previous studies that have suggested that genetic factors, such as genetic variants affecting OAS antiviral proteins that facilitate the detection and breakdown of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, may influence the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The NCI researchers and their collaborators found that treatment of cells with an interferon decreased the viral load of SARS-CoV-2. The researchers also analyzed data from a clinical trial in which patients with COVID-19 who were not hospitalized were treated with the recombinant interferon pegIFN-1 and found that treatment improved viral clearance in all patients; those with the OAS1 risk variants benefitted the most. The results suggest that interferon treatment may improve COVID-19 outcomes and specifically in patients with certain OAS1 genetic variants who have impaired ability to clear infection.

Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D., and Oscar Florez-Vargas, Ph.D., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute

Genetic regulation of OAS1 nonsense-mediated decay underlies association with COVID-19 hospitalization in patients of European and African ancestries appears July 14 in Nature Genetics.

About the National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI leads the National Cancer Program and NIHs efforts to dramatically reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of people with cancer. NCI supports a wide range of cancer research and training extramurally through grants and contracts. NCIs intramural research program conducts innovative, transdisciplinary basic, translational, clinical, and epidemiological research on the causes of cancer, avenues for prevention, risk prediction, early detection, and treatment, including research at the NIH Clinical Centerthe worlds largest research hospital. Learn more about NCIs intramural research from the Center for Cancer Research and the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI website at cancer.gov or call NCIs contact center at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

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Interferon treatment may reduce severity of COVID-19 in people with certain genetic factors - National Institutes of Health (.gov)

The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in the United States and the world. To slow down the spread of the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends testing often, especially if youve recently been in contact with people who have symptoms or test positive.

When it comes to at-home testing, the BinaxNOW COVID-19 test is one of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-authorized at-home COVID-19 tests under emergency use authorization (EUA).

You can use this test whether you have symptoms. If you dont have symptoms, the manufacturers advise you to take the test twice in 3 days.

Heres what you need to know about this test kit, safety precautions, price, and more.

The BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test is an FDA-authorized at-home test kit for detecting active infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in people with and without symptoms.

According to the company, this test kit can screen for many SARS-CoV-2 strains, including the Delta and Omicron variants.

The BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test is a rapid test that uses a shallow nasal swab sample to check for the presence or absence of proteins from the virus that causes COVID-19.

Heres how it works:

Healthline senior associate Sydney Hanan tested out the BinaxNOW COVID-19 kit and found it to be fairly similar to other at-home testing kits that are available.

It came with pretty much everything I needed to take the two tests, including two test cards, two dropper bottles, two swabs, and an instruction sheet, she said. The only thing I needed to provide myself was a time, which was easy enough to do on my phone.

Sydney noted that shes taken different types of at-home COVID-19 tests and that BinaxNOW was straightforward and easy.

[It] takes about 20 minutes in total (5 to perform the test, and 15 to get the results), she said.

According to the CDC, if your results are positive, you can trust the accuracy of an at-home COVID-19 test kit. This includes the BinaxNOW COVID-19 test.

However, you may not be able to rely on this test kit (or similar at-home options) if your results show negative. You might still have COVID-19, especially if youre showing COVID-19 symptoms.

The manufacturers recommend testing again after 24 to 48 hours to confirm your results. If it still shows negative despite your symptoms, its best to consult your doctor.

If you see an invalid result, the test didnt work, and youll need to take another test.

The FDA highlighted a study that found that the BinaxNOW COVID-19 test kit was 91.7% accurate at detecting positive cases and 100% reliable at finding negative cases.

That being said, the FDA also stated that because the study was small, it estimates that the kit can correctly identify 73% to 98.9% of positive cases.

Another study that tested people who had been showing COVID-19 symptoms for at least 7 days saw that the kit was 84.6% accurate at correctly identifying a person with COVID-19. It was also 98.5% accurate at detecting a person without COVID-19.

Other studies suggest that you can rely on the kit to detect the Omicron and Delta variants, and other variants of concern (VOC).

BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test is a product of Abbott Laboratories, an internationally recognized healthcare technology company.

However, Abbott Laboratories is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau and currently has a rating o 1.06 out of 5 stars. In the past year, the company has closed 65 complaints. Most complaints are about products other than the BinaxNOW COVID-19 test, but some note that the companys customer service is poor.

The test kit is rated 4.7 out of 5 stars from 10,540 global ratings on Amazon. Most of the reviews were positive, noting that the kit was easy to use and worked well for detecting COVID-19.

A few complained about the boxs contents. Some said that the box came with only one kit instead of two. Another mentioned that the boxs seal had already broken on arrival.

You can get the BinaxNOW COVID-19 test at retailers like:

According to the FDA, you can get a negative result even when you have COVID-19 (this is called a false negative). Still, the company doesnt mention the possibility of getting a false-positive result. Although there arent any reported false-positive cases with this test kit, its still something that you should be aware of.

A 2021 study observed that rapid COVID-19 tests detected infection with SARS-CoV-2 in 72% of people with symptoms and 58% without symptoms.

As of early 2022, people with a health plan or health insurance can get any FDA-authorized at-home test for free or be reimbursed for paying for the at-home test. You can contact your provider for more information.

People 15 years and older, vaccinated or unvaccinated, with or without COVID-19 symptoms, can take this test. But if youre without symptoms and your results show negative, take another test in 24 to 48 hours.

An adult can administer the test for children 2 years or older.

At-home rapid COVID-19 test kits are quick, cost-effective ways of testing to see whether you have COVID-19. You can also take these tests wherever you are and get your results in minutes.

The BinaxNOW COVID-19 test is an FDA-authorized COVID-19 test kit under a EUA that can detect whether you have the virus. Your results will be available within 15 to 30 minutes.

While this test kit is FDA-authorized, it isnt 100% accurate and can still reflect false or inconclusive results. You can consult your doctor or take an in-person PCR test for more accurate results.

Frances Gatta is a freelance healthcare writer with experience writing on general health, womens health, healthcare technology, mental health, and personalized nutrition. You can connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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BinaxNOW COVID-19 Test Reviews: What You Should Know - Healthline

The WHO Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline contains the Organizations most up-to-date recommendations for the use of therapeutics in the treatment of COVID-19. The latest version of this living guideline is available in pdf format (via the Download button) and via an online platform, and is updated regularly as new evidence emerges.

This tenth version of the WHO living guideline now contains 19 recommendations, including two new recommendations regarding fluvoxamine and colchicine. No further updates to the previous existing recommendations were made in this latest version.

Other COVID-19 therapeutics that are currently under consideration by WHO include fluvoxamine, colchicine and anticoagulants. This guideline will be updated if/when sufficient new evidence warrants this.

Guidelines regarding the clinical management of COVID-19 patients are included in a further document, COVID-19 Clinical management: Living guideline, that can be accessed via an online platform and in pdf format (or click PDF in top right corner of online platform).

To view previous (now outdated) versions of this guideline, please see the links below:

This document was updated on 14 July 2022

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Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline - World Health Organization

In a new study, people with lupus who received an additional COVID-19 vaccine dose or booster shot were significantly less likely to contract a subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection also known as a breakthrough infection. An immediate increase in antibody levels also occurred when administered a booster even in people on immunosuppressive therapies who did not respond to the initial round of vaccination.

Researchers monitored 163 fully COVID-19 vaccinated men and women with lupus to see who developed the disease. Of the group, only 125 had received a booster shot. Of the 125 people with lupus who received a booster shot, only 22% developed COVID-19, while 42% of those who had not received a booster shot developed the disease.

The unlikely development of severe COVID-19 disease in vaccinated people with lupus after receiving a booster shot is reassuring. Talk to your healthcare provider about receiving a COVID-19 vaccination and/or booster, and continue to follow the Lupus Foundation of America for breaking news about lupus and the novel coronavirus and learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine and lupus.

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Study Finds COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Beneficial for People with Lupus - Lupus Foundation of America

The pandemic pushed back years of progress in the fight against deadly superbugs as hospital-acquired infections and deaths rose considerably in 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said in a report this week.

Nearly 30,000 people died from superbugs a bacteria, virus, parasite or fungus resistant to antimicrobial drugs most associated with health care settings. Two out of every five people who died in 2020 acquired the infection in a hospital, a 15% increase from 2019.

COVID-19 created a perfect storm, the report said.

There were sicker patients who were hospitalized for longer periods compared to before the pandemic, which left patients especially vulnerable to infections associated with long hospital stays.

About 80% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 received antibiotics.

While some of this prescribing can be appropriate when risks for related bacterial or fungal infections are unknown, this high level of prescribing can also put patients at risk for side effects and create a pathway for resistance to develop and spread, the report said.

The risk of contracting a bacterial or fungal infection typically increases the longer someone stays in a hospital.

The longer someone is on a ventilator or a catheter, for example, or is getting their blood drawn often means that there is more access to the closed off spaces in your body than normal, where bacteria and fungus can slip in, Dr. Lori D. Banks, an assistant professor of biology at Bates College in Lewiston, said.

Its a twofold thing where its got new access that it didnt have before and your immune system is not strong enough to fight it off, Banks said.

And it is common that patients with viral respiratory tract infections to develop a co-occurring bacterial infection, Central Maine Medical Center pharmacist Heather Bowman said. Bowman also co-leads the hospitals antimicrobial stewardship program with Dr. Imad Durra.

At the outset of COVID-19, the prevalence and incidence of bacterial co-infections was not known and given the high mortality seen in the beginning of the pandemic, there was a more liberal use of antibiotics seen nationally, Bowman said.

We now have better data to support that bacterial co-infection is less common than initially thought and have better treatments, such as the antiviral Paxlovid, to treat COVID-19, she said.

Overprescribing of any antimicrobial in this case, antibiotics can inadvertently weed out the superbugs from among the pack, Banks said.

Microbes like viruses and bacteria are constantly replicating themselves and unlike humans, whose cells completely regenerate on the order of every 25 to 30 years, these microbes are replicating in a matter of minutes or hours.

Every time one of them replicates, theres room for error. That error is a mutation, some of which are resistant to antimicrobial treatments. In the case of antibiotic resistance, for example, Banks said the bacteria make these sort of PacMan-looking enzymes that are able to literally like chew on the drug and make it ineffective, Banks said.

There may only be a couple microbes with these mutations out of a few million or billion, but what the antimicrobe will do is kill all the mutation-less microbes and single out the superbugs.

Youre selecting for or enriching the environment to allow for their survival, Banks said. And so thats what we see is that in these repeat exposures to antibiotics were actually creating the population thats dangerous.

But with nearly 80% of COVID-19 patients on an antibiotic, this process is repeated on a massive scale, Banks said.

Staffing and supply shortages nationwide may have also contributed to lapses in infection control and prevention in hospitals.

When anyone is asked to work harder and longer hours with less support, fatigue develops, shortcuts may be created and it can result in adverse events, such as ultimately the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, Joanne Kenny-Lynch, CMHs system director of infection prevention, said.

While all three hospitals in CMHs network CMMC, Bridgton Hospital and Rumford Hospital did not have any documented or notable increases in antimicrobial-resistant infections, Maine saw some increases statewide.

According to the Maine CDCs annual infectious disease report, there was a 14% increase in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, infections in 2020 compared to 2019. The U.S. CDC report identified MRSA as a serious public health threat.

While superbugs are a very real and present danger made worse by the pandemic, there are a few easy ways to combat these infections, Banks said.

First: Throw out that antibacterial hand soap. Or hand lotion. Or all-purpose cleaner. Antibacterial products and antibiotics attack all cells the same, whether it is the good kind or the bad kind.

And so if we are trying to kill off the bad guys but also killing off the good guys, thats not helpful or healthy, she said. Outside of clinical settings, Banks said to avoid antibacterial products.

Second, while people like Kenny-Lynch and Bowman at CMMC are working directly with prescribers to avoid prescribing antibiotics when they are unnecessary, Banks said it is always helpful to have a discussion with your provider before they prescribe antibiotics to decide if that is the best course of action.

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'COVID-19 created the perfect storm' for superbugs, CDC report says - Lewiston Sun Journal

If you do a simple Google search for COVID symptoms, you get a long list. And if you search for long-term COVID symptoms, you may find another long list. From loss of taste and smell to brain fog and lung issues, the lasting symptoms vary widely and unfortunately, there is no firm answer on when or if the symptoms will go away.

Lawrence resident Caroline Trowbridge noticed her first COVID symptom in January 2021. After cooking virtually with her niece, her meal didnt taste right. Then she realized she wasnt actually tasting the Brussels sprout pizza shed made. Shed been exposed five days before, but had had two negative tests.

I remember thinking: oh, this could be a symptom of COVID. My only symptoms were a light headache and loss of taste. Not smell. Only taste. It seems my case is an odd one because I only had a couple of light symptoms, but it has been over a year and a half now, and I still have no taste, she said. Unfortunately, at that time, vaccines were not available to me yet so I wasnt vaccinated. Now I am fully vaccinated and boosted and will continue to get boosters to protect myself from contracting it again.

Trowbridge, a retired journalist, said she sometimes thinks she may be tasting a food or drink, but when she holds her nose, she realizes thats not the case.

Caroline Trowbridge

I enjoy eating very aromatic foods because that sometimes makes it seem that I am tasting them. Ive gotten fairly creative, trying to adapt by adding spices to my meals, but I cannot taste sweets. And some foods, such as steak and mashed potatoes, taste faint and different, even though I can smell them, she said.

Though Trowbridge considers herself lucky to have contracted such a seemingly mild case of COVID, loss of taste is no small symptom. Chad Johanning, MD, a doctor with Lawrence Family Practice, said he has seen an array of post-COVID symptoms in his clinic.

Fortunately with vaccination, we have seen less of lost taste and smell and more non-specific fatigue, shortness of breath, cough and chest pain, he said. We dont know tons but what we do know is if patients who have more severe cases of COVID often have longer-lasting symptoms afterward. The frustrating part as a doctor is not being able to give my patients a specific timeframe when their symptoms will go away. I can give them a general range but some may not ever fully go away.

Dr. Johanning said a good course of action after having COVID is to visit your primary care provider for an evaluation and check-up. Sometimes there may be a useful treatment or your symptoms may be related to another underlying health condition. Regardless, it may give you more peace of mind than what Dr. Google has to say.

Researching your symptoms and learning from Dr. Google is not necessarily a bad thing, however, it can lead to more anxiety and not always the root cause of the issue, he said. It is important not to blame all your symptoms on COVID so we advise you to come and see your doctor, especially if symptoms havent begun to resolve 3-4 weeks post-COVID.

The sooner you call your doctor about your COVID diagnosis and symptoms the better. Some treatments have been proven effective at helping reduce the effects of COVID-19.

Paxlovid is a medicine that is a great treatment for mild to moderate COVID. It is an oral medication taken over five days and can aid in stopping the infection, Dr. Johanning said. Its use is similar to Tamiflu that we use for Influenza but much better and much more effective against COVID.

Krishna Rangarajan, MD, a pulmonologist with Lawrence Pulmonary Specialists, said he has seen many different post-COVID symptoms, but the most have been intense brain fog and lasting lung issues.

I have had a few patients who became hospitalized with severe COVID pneumonia and still require oxygen, he said. Most had no known lung disease before and were not on oxygen. For some, these issues are still present themselves even close to a year later. These are individuals in the prime of their lives that have developed these long-lasting COVID symptoms.

Dr. Rangarajan agreed with Dr. Johanning that it is important to check in with your healthcare team, as sometimes these symptoms may occur from something unrelated to COVID.

Most people I see have recovered significantly, however, there are some that still battle the effects of COVID daily, he said. There may not be anything at this moment that can relieve and take away the lasting symptoms, but we can do our best to advise and walk with you to manage your symptoms.

Dr. Rangarajan recommends some level of activity for his patients at whatever level you can. Moving your body in any way is important even if it is just standing, taking short walks or pool exercises. Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet can also support managing symptoms and keeping you as healthy as possible.

As I mentioned, most have recovered, but those who havent got hit hard. Getting your vaccine and staying up-to-date on your boosters are incredibly important tools to help you avoid severe complications with COVID-19, he said. It is never too late to get your vaccine or to start making small changes to help you live a healthier life each day.

Have you heard about Paxlovid? Yale Medicine online describes it as an oral, antiviral pill that can be taken at home to help keep high-risk patients from getting so sick that they need to be hospitalized. If you test positive for COVID, this drug aids in lowering your risk of hospitalization or severe effects.

It is important to contact your primary care provider within the first 5 days of your symptoms with positive COVID test. This is when it is most effective, Dr. Johanning said. If youre high risk for COVID complications, you should contact your primary care doctor to determine if Paxlovid is right for you. It is a safe and effective treatment than can help reduce the long-term effects and save your life

To learn more, visit our website at http://www.lmh.org or call your primary care provider.

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The long term effects of COVID-19 - LMH Health