Dr. Malcolm Grant, District Medical Officer for the Southern Grenadines, while speaking on radio earlier this week discussed Long COVID. Long Covid is a term used to describe the effects of Covid-19 that continue for weeks or months beyond the initial illness.
“About ten to fifteen percent of individuals who do come down with any form of COVID, including asymptomatic COVID, are prone to getting long COVID.” Grant said.
Dr. Grant said that the symptoms of long COVID can persist for an indefinite amount of time.
He drew reference to the case of chikungunya, where a lot of people that contracted that disease suffered long lasting effects.
“I just want to use the example of chikungunya, which a lot of people came down with eight to ten years ago and quite a few people still report joint pains, tiredness, you know, other symptoms relative to the chikungunya; and from all reports COVID is likely to have more significant symptoms; the symptoms that tend to be even more severe and can possibly be more long lasting.”
Dr. Grant said that taking the COVID-19 vaccine not only protects you from dying from COVID-19 but also from being affected by the complications that come along with it.
A few of the complications that Dr. Grant mentioned are heart issues such as; myocarditis and pericarditis, as well as scarring of the lungs.
