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There is a common misconception that people who come down with COVID-19 experience one of two disease courses: They have minimal or no symptoms that clear up in a week, or they get extremely ill and either die or recover after receiving intensive care treatment.

But now that the coronavirus has been under sharp focus for more than six months, physicians are noting that this binary belief is inaccurate. Some patients in both categories experience lingering symptoms and are at risk for long-term damage to organ systems weeks and months later.

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While the majority of those who test positive for the virus recover fully, there are a growing number of people who can’t seem to shake unusual symptoms that linger months later.

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Experts from Fyzical Therapy & Balance of Palm Beach County and Seniors Helping Seniors have been sharing insights for senior citizens who won their battle with COVID-19 and are now looking ahead to the future.

The road to recovery has been a challenge for everyone who has suffered the devastating effects of the virus, but for seniors in particular, it looks a little different.

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While the physical symptoms are one aspect of having COVID-19, a recent study indicates that mental health conditions accompany the illness.

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Micaela Ashton spent almost two weeks at UPMC Shadyside fighting for her life with COVID-19. She tested positive for the virus back in March and says it’s still a battle to catch her breath and work a full day without taking multiple breaks.

“I flat out asked the nurses if I was going to die,” she says.

Ashton remembers asking that question right before she was about to be put on a ventilator.

“It was very surreal in the ICU with all these tubes and drains coming from everywhere. It was insane,” she says.

The 34-year-old newlywed now looks back and said she still can’t believe she’s dealing with some side effects more than five months later.

“I think the biggest thing is the strength and endurance from being wiped out,” says Ashton. It’s something she’s currently going to physical therapy for help with.

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BERLIN (AP) — Germany held a pop concert Saturday to see how those attending could spread coronavirus if they had it.

German researchers studying COVID-19 packed part of a Leipzig arena with volunteers, collecting data in a “real life” simulation of a pop concert but one with strict health and safety controls.

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UMSL is now offering virtual psychosocial rehabilitation groups for individuals 50+ who were hospitalized with COIVD-19.

Dr. Ann Steffen, an UMSL professor in the department of psychological sciences says, "We’re first in the St. Louis area that we know of. We've had individuals whose hospitalizations were over a month. And some that were short as a week or two weeks."

They developed this evidence-based rehab approach is based on communications with colleagues from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, building from programs developed for patients experiencing Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS).

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Even healthcare professionals may not be aware and prepared for a condition called Post-ICU Syndrome (PICS) that can occur in the aftermath of COVID-19. What about those who were hospitalized for COVID-19, treated in ICU, and are unaware of the possible long-term impact and rehabilitation phase? There is a tendency to think that once the patient is discharged from the hospital, has tested negative, and looks well, the problem is resolved. However, the struggle of COVID-19 survivors and family members or caregivers may not end there.

PICS is an ongoing challenge that may potentially present as a public health crisis. PICS is a term used to describe the group of impairments faced by ICU survivors. It can persist for months or years. PICS encompasses a combination of physical, neurological, social, and psychological decline (Jaffri & Jaffri, 2020). The physical impairments include intensive care acquired weakness, classified as critical illness myopathy, neuropathy, and neuromyopathy. Cognitive and psychological impairments involve impaired memory, language, delirium, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Inoue et al., 2019). Especially in COVID-19 ICU patients, some of these impairments are not just because of critical illness, but the invasion of virus in multiple tissues (Papathanassoglou, Manhas, & Kusi-Appiah, 2020).

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When COVID-19 first took root in the United States, Iowa City resident Nora Boerner joined many nationwide in staying home as much as possible to keep her husband and four children safe. However, these precautions weren’t enough to prevent her from contracting the disease in mid-April.

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While 2020 has been an unprecedented year around the world, this is especially true for the health workforce who are working tirelessly in the fight against COVID-19.

This new disease has required health professionals to stop, reflect and quickly adapt in order to care for patients with COVID-19.
And physiotherapists are one key group working hard to help people throughout this pandemic. Currently, there are more than 35,000 physiotherapists working in Australia and about one in five are working in a hospital on the frontline caring for patients with COVID-19. This work often begins in the intensive care unit (ICU), where the sickest of patients are cared for.

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When it comes to COVID-19, a doctor’s job is far from done when their patient is sent home. The aftermath of having the coronavirus can be as harrowing as the virus itself, especially because doctors have so little data thus far on the lingering effects of the illness. Recovering patients can experience everything from organ damage, to shortness of breath and decreased endurance, to mental health effects.

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Last year's winner of the Care and Compassion category, Kate Tantam, says the Parliamentary Awards allowed her team to push for the creation of rehabilitation, respiratory and discharge teams for every Covid-positive patient that came through the hospital.