“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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“ARPA-H… is spending $150 million to create what it calls ‘an immune system for every building.’”
“I believe that a provision of pure air for children (and adults) to breathe should be looked upon as of equal importance to the provision of pure water”
“Dr. Green, herself an expert on airborne microbes, started the program at ARPA-H to work toward those solutions: BREATHE, for Building Resilient Environments for Air and Total Health. The goal is to have buildings fight disease the way they fight fires.” nytimes.com/2026/06/19/sci…
“SafeTraces, a California company, leads a group building an air sampler.. Air flows through the box into a cartridge, where chemicals break down cells and isolate genes they contain.
“When lab mice with dormant breast cancer cells were infected with either influenza or SARS-CoV-2, the animals were significantly more likely to develop aggressive lung tumors.”
“something similar appeared to be going on in the human population.”
“Analysis of records from the U.K. Biobank showed cancer survivors who contracted COVID in 2020.. were significantly more likely to die of recurring cancer than patients who didn’t get the virus, particularly within the year after their COVID infection.” latimes.com/science/story/…
“Analysis of a separate U.S. breast cancer database found that breast cancer patients in remission who got COVID were significantly more likely to develop metastatic lung tumors than patients who did not contract the virus.” latimes.com/science/story/…
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.