Opinion: Strokes, heart attacks, sudden deaths: Do we not understand the long-term risks of catching COVID?

Strokes, heart attacks, sudden deaths: Does America understand the long-term risks of catching COVID? There are early signs that COVID infections and reinfections are leading to a rise in life-threatening conditions, says physician and author Carolyn Barber. Fortune

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In a study that included patients from the initial wave of the pandemic, scientists from the University of Florida found that survivors of severe COVID-19 had two-and-a-half times the risk of dying in the year following illness compared to people who were never infected. Of note, nearly 80% of downstream deaths were not due to typical COVID complications like acute respiratory distress or cardiac causes.

“The results suggest that a severe impact of COVID-19 exists beyond the cost and suffering of the initial hospitalization,” says Arch Mainous, one of the study’s authors. ...O