Long COVID has contributed to thousands of deaths

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Long COVID has contributed to more than 3,500 U.S. deaths By Jamie Ducharme Health Correspondent At this stage of the pandemic, when most people have been vaccinated several times and treatments are available, it’s tempting to forget about the virus. In my view, Long COVID is among the most compelling reasons not to. Millions of people have developed long-lasting, sometimes debilitating symptoms after getting infected, even if they were vaccinated or had a mild case. And, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics, Long COVID contributed to more than 3,500 U.S. deaths from January 2020 to June 2022. The report doesn’t go into much detail about how these people died (the research was based on death-certificate data, which tells a limited story), but experts told me Long COVID may have caused or exacerbated conditions including organ damage, heart disease, and blood clots. To keep things in perspective, the 3,500 deaths mentioned in the report account for less than 1% of fatalities attributed to COVID-19 in the first 30 months of the pandemic. But that number may be an undercount, since lots of people aren’t properly diagnosed with Long COVID or suffer complications that aren’t obviously linked to their initial COVID-19 cases. And any number of unnecessary deaths is a tragedy—especially when we have tools, like masks and vaccines, that can help prevent illnesses in the first place. READ THE STORY.   Share the story

What else to read This App Could Fix Your Social Media Addiction By Billy Perrigo The app one sec helps wean users off social media rather than cutting it off entirely. Read More » As the Virus Surges, China Cuts Back on Reporting COVID-19 Case Numbers By Dake Kang / AP As China relaxes its strict zero-COVID policy, ending mass testing requirements, it has grown more difficult to gauge the true number of cases. Read More » These Factors Increase the Risk of Kidney Cancer By Markham Heid Hypertension, obesity, hereditary risk factors, and chemical exposures can all play a role. Read More » ‘They Took My Phone and Asked for My Passwords.’ Detained Zero-COVID Protesters in China Share Their Stories By Eva Rammeloo/Shanghai TIME reports from inside China on the protest movement against President Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policies—and the arrests that followed. Read More » The Best Way to Rehydrate That Isn't Water By Markham Heid After a serious sweat, you need more than straight H2O. Here's the surprising alternative. (Originally published in 2017.) Read More »

One Last Read Why doctors don't believe women in pain Doctors routinely dismiss women's pain across all areas of health and medicine, reports Lindsey Bever for the Washington Post. They often chalk it up to psychological causes, and women's health suffers as a result. One neurologist with pounding head pain, for example, was ignored when she asked for a brain scan. "I was told I knew too much, that I was working too hard," she said. When a doctor finally gave in and ordered one, she learned she had a brain tumor. Read More »

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