“If Covid is quietly accelerating cognitive aging… in working-age adults, the consequences will ripple through workplaces & health systems for years.”
“The incidence & prevalence of Alzheimer’s is going to just escalate,” he says. “It’s a huge public-health problem.” #LongCovid
“Almost 5 years later, #LongCovid has had one of the fastest rises in diagnoses and become one of the most economically disruptive chronic conditions in modern medicine… Another analysis… put the annual economic toll of LC at $1 trillion” — @jwgale bloomberg.com/news/features/…
@jwgale “That scale in turn raises a troubling question: whether Covid is not only leaving millions chronically unwell but also accelerating the slow neurological processes that end in dementia—a pattern that has long been observed after some viral infections.” bloomberg.com/news/features/…
@jwgale “To study possible hidden effects.. they deliberately infected healthy young adults.. and none reported lasting problems, but after a year they performed slightly worse.. before being infected. The difference was roughly comparable to 6 IQ points” @jwgale bloomberg.com/news/features/…
@jwgale “In a study published this January.. Those who developed persistent neurological symptoms showed a clear rise in phosphorylated tau, a protein commonly used as an early warning sign of brain degeneration” — @jwgale #LongCovid bloomberg.com/news/features/…
@jwgale “The picture that emerged was of a slow shift playing out beneath the surface of entire populations: a rise in cognitive problems…declines in functional capacity…medical implications are troubling enough, the economic ones are beginning to register too” bloomberg.com/news/features/…
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6 years ago today I went on my last run (pic left) — today I’m 36 and I’ve spent my entire 30’s with #LongCovid struggling to walk up and down the block, or work more than 1-2 hours a day.
Heres 4 things I never thought I’d lose at this age:
1. Music — I used to listen to music 4-6 hours a day, it was my favorite thing to do. Also used to play music.
Now I have to rigously pace in 10 minute increments (and some days can’t listen at all), when I listen for a few mins too long, brain goes haywire with awful migraine.
2. Biking and Tennis — I used to bike 10 miles a day to work and back, and play tennis regularly. I miss the freedom to exert my body to its fullest limits, and go/do whatever whenever. Now, body goes haywire if I sit at my desk for too long — and have to plan outings weeks out.
About a year ago, @juliamv and I published an op-ed in @statnews making the case that #LongCovid patients have the right to try off label meds and clinicians have an obligation to consider, especially since 1 in 5 meds are already prescribed off label. /2
Once the op-ed was out in the world, I found myself thinking OK well what would I give somebody whose mind we changed — either a #LongCovid patient who is willing to start trialing some meds or a clinician who is willing to take a look with an open mind. /3
“After practicing medicine in so many different settings, he never imagined his profession could so completely fail his own child at her time of greatest need.”
‘I’m profoundly disappointed,’ he said.” #LongCovid
“Focusing her eyes on written words or television brings severe headaches. Music she once enjoyed feels like an assault of noise her brain can’t process. She dons noise-canceling headphones & an eye mask, & lies still” #LongCovid bostonglobe.com/2026/02/20/met…
“During the first year of her illness, Crausman could walk down the driveway and manage a staircase… The second year, she needed a wheelchair. Now, she rarely goes out at all.” #LongCovid bostonglobe.com/2026/02/20/met…
Turn 36 today & I’ve spent my entire thirties with #LongCovid. When I turned 30 I was biking to work 10 miles a day, & since my mild covid infection — I struggle to walk more than a block or work more than a few hours a week.
Here’s 4 things I wish everyone knew:
1. The risk of this happening today is the same as in 2020. A new @NIH study shows risk of developing #LongCovid has not declined over time. We see new ppl every month in support groups from reinfections.
People do not understand this, & public health needs to communicate it.
"Every subsequent infection increases the risk of #LongCovid & places people who already have it in greater danger. Here's what we don't know, is what it does to reinfect children over.. & over again with no endpoint in sight from the day they were born. We are about to find out”
"It is neglect of the highest order to look children in the eyes & say, 'We knew how to protect you & didn't do it. We have access to a technology to prevent airborne disease.. that millions of our ancestors.. would kill for, & we refuse to use it,'"today.com/health/violet-…
“We can recognize filtered air as a human right, as intuitively as we do filtered water," Affleck said. "We can create clean air infrastructure that is so ubiquitous and so obviously necessary, tomorrow's children don't even know why we need it." today.com/health/violet-…
“A growing number of scientists believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus may be subtly altering our immune systems. If correct, their hypothesis will change how we understand everything from RSV to shingles to sepsis.”
“It’s certainly impacting our immune health & probably.. overall health”
“SARS-CoV-2 is linked to ‘an unusually high level of *indiscriminate* killing of T cells’.. reminiscent of measles, which can cause immune amnesia by depleting memory B cell, leaving people vulnerable to pathogens they were previously immune to.” bmj.com/content/390/bm…
“‘Immunity debt,’ a theory to explain the global surge in non-covid infections since pandemic restrictions were lifted, is increasingly being challenged by emerging evidence.” bmj.com/content/390/bm…