HEALTH systems must start ramping up services for helping people recover from intensive care treatment for coronavirus, doctors are warning. After spending several weeks on a ventilator, people will need extensive physical and mental rehabilitation for weeks or even months.

Patients with COVID-19 who developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) could have a greater risk of long-term health issues. Additionally, people requiring intensive care are at increased risk for mental health issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. Impaired lung function from SARS-CoV-2 infection can negatively affect other organs like the heart, kidneys, and brain, with significant health impacts that may last after getting over the infection.

Young, healthy people can suffer for far longer than even a bad flu, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found. One in five adults between the ages of 18 and 34 said they didn't feel back to normal two or three weeks after their diagnosis. "A lot of people don't realize, even if the virus is gone, that doesn't mean you're done with it," said Sullivan. "It's done its damage."