The novel coronavirus is still spreading throughout the world, though cases in the United States have reached their lowest levels since July 2021 — the summer after vaccinations began.
However: Experts recently told the Hindustan Times that people are experiencing different COVID-19 symptoms after being infected with the omicron variant. And there’s been a major difference in how people experience those symptoms.
What they said: “Each person is different with a variable immune response, hence the chances of getting prolonged symptoms after Covid differ from person to person. Post recovery from Covid, approximately 50%-60 % of patients have persistent symptoms for 3 weeks or longer,” Dr. Ashutosh Shukla, the senior director of internal medicine at the Max Hospital in Guragon, India, told the Hindustan Times.
- “People with comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, cardiac diseases, chronic kidney disease, elderly age group, cancer patients, patients on immunosuppressant medication are prone to get severe disease after getting infection with omicron variant of Covid-19,” Dr. Santosh Jha, a pulmonologist, told the Hindustan Times.
Symptoms to consider: So what COVID-19 symptoms should you expect after surviving COVID-19? Per the Mayo Clinic, here’s a rundown of the most common long-COVID-19 symptoms:
- Fatigue.
- Shortness of breath.
- Difficulty breathing.
- Cough.
- Joint and chest pain.
- Loss of smell or taste.
- Dizziness.
- Worsened symptoms after physical activities.
- You can read more long-COVID symptoms at the Mayo Clinic.
Treatment: So what can you do if you’ve suffered long COVID-19? Experts told The Washington Post that rehabilitation should begin with gradual increases in activity.
- Recovery could take time.
- “With Covid, one of the hallmarks of the fatigue symptom is what we call post-exertional malaise, meaning that if you exert yourself too much, you can feel like garbage,” Daniel Karel, a primary care provider who works at George Washington University, told The Washington Post. “You can feel very sick for the next day or two, sometimes longer.”