'If even 1% of people getting COVID have long-term symptoms, that's a major public health crisis.'
People who get COVID-19 are also more vulnerable to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome . This affects what's known as the autonomic nervous system, which regulates blood circulation, and includes those things that happen in your body without your having to think about them, like breathing, heartbeat, and digestion. POTS can cause common long COVID neurologic symptoms, including headaches, fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, and problems thinking and concentrating.
But it's clear a significant number of people are facing long-term health struggles because of COVID-19, which has infected at least 580 million people globally and 92 million – likely many more – in the U.S., according toEven a small increased risk of conditions like heart disease or diabetes translates to a huge number of people, Horwitz says.