Local COVID-19 patients record no lingering effect

| 21/08/2020 | 32 Comments

(CNS): With reports from around the world of serious post-COVID medical problems in patients who weren’t necessarily very ill with the virus, officials here have also been monitoring local patients. But so far there has been no record of anyone having significant health concerns since being infected. On Friday another 230 COVID-19 test results were reported and were all negative, as the country continues to be free of community transmissions. However, the mysteries of COVID-19 continue, even as doctors and public health experts learn more about it.

Here in Cayman, Medical Officer of Health Dr Samuel Williams-Rodriguez said that all of the people who had tested positive with this coronavirus, both symptomatic and asymptomatic, were asked to contact Public Health or their primary care provider if they develop any additional symptoms or develop health trouble after being infected with COVID-19.

In response to CNS questions, Dr Williams-Rodriguez said that so far, public health has not been made aware of any “long term impact on any of the individuals who tested positive for the disease in the Cayman Islands at this time”.

Meanwhile, local physicians are aware of the possible long-term impact of COVID-19 infection on patients and public health constantly keeps up to date with international peer-reviewed articles on this and other relevant topics regarding Coronavirus infection.

However, there is growing evidence of diverse lingering health problems in many people who had the virus but who were not hospitalized and didn’t necessarily even have severe symptoms. The list of the issues emerging in some patients includes fatigue, a persistent loss of a sense of smell or even more serious organ damage.

But despite the amount of research on COVID being done around the world, the hows and whys of the disease remain a mystery. One group of researchers in Italy found that 87% of patients who had been hospitalized for acute COVID-19 were still struggling two months after later. Another study based on data from an app that collected information from people in the US, the UK and Sweden found as many as 15% of people even with mild symptoms took a very long time to recover.

But as the virus has been with us for less than a year, no one can be sure how much of an impact the virus will have on those who have been infected and survived and whether it could trigger the onset of chronic disease that healthcare services everywhere, including in Cayman, may have to deal with in the future.

Cayman has seen 205 COVID-19 cases in patients that were mostly asymptomatic, but around a dozen people were hospitalized and several also suffered varying degrees of the diverse symptoms associated with this virus.

Although Cayman lost its COVID-free status on Wednesday after two tests were positive, both from samples taken from travellers in quarantine, all of the other 1,633 tests carried out this week were negative and there were no community transmissions.

There are currently 90 people in mandatory isolation after one more person was released from quarantine since yesterday.  


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Comments (32)

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  1. What now says:

    Now check this article.

    https://www.foxnews.com/health/live-coronavirus-meat-seafood-study

    Do you realize we have been eating meat from the US? We had better stop eating meat.

  2. Anonymous says:

    New research suggests that long lasting immunity is achieved if you are infected with Covid19. It is also suggest that people with very slight symptoms achieve long lasting immunity as well.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    All this isolation pretty pointless since the antibodies are gone after 6 months.

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    • Anonymous says:

      T cells that recognize and fight the virus are not gone.
      In either case reading about it could drive anyone nuts.
      Born to be hanged, won’t drown.

  4. Anonymous says:

    It’s logical to assume some people fully recover, while we also know that some unknown percentage may not feel they have lingering effects until they do again. Because of the way cells are hijacked by the virus it is impossible to self-diagnose your own wellness and level of viral load. We need to be humble enough to understand that there’s a lot that still isn’t known about how the virus works, and where it can hide in the body, and incubate at undetectable levels until, perhaps, a later resurgence. We already know this happens in an unknown number of some, and for unknown reasons.

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    • Anonymous says:

      If has been already said that nothing is logical when it comes to Covid19. It doesn’t behave in predicted ways.

  5. Anonymous says:

    All people with lingering effects should be asked (at least):

    – were they vaccinated against flu
    – do the live in 5G cities
    – what is their daily sun exposure
    – how much time do they spend indoor vs.outdoor

    Without asking these questions doctors/scientists would never know if environment, as well as flu vaccination plays role in developing chronic post COVID symptoms.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    I rarely get sick. I felt like I had pneumonia late December of 2019. Terrible dry cough and congestion. Was sick to a greater or lesser degree for 5 months. (Never happens to me) I had a virtual doctor visit during lockdown and received some antibiotics for pneumonia. I’m better but still have shortness of breath. Pretty sure I had it but never tested. I’ve heard others tell similar stories.
    I wouldn’t be surprised if the virus was present here as early as November of 19.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Thank you for sharing. At this point you won’t know. But it does appear you had COVID19.

      My sister works in a hospital and she said that many nurses were really sick for weeks with cold that progressed to pneumonia in January-February.

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    • Anonymous says:

      You had regular flu.
      You can get antibody testing for free if you really think you had it though.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Not IF he really thinks he had it. Now. Because he is telling people he had it. I had a similar experience. Got the antibody test and guess what – it wasn’t Covid, just some other bug.

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh wow, it must be Covid. Add another one.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yet still nobody dead.

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    • Anonymous says:

      That is the flu, not Covid. But the antibody test is available on island, has been for months, so go get a test rather than pointlessly speculating and then you know for sure!

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      • Anonymous says:

        And you can get tested for Covid & for antibodies for free at HSA. Stop speculating & get tested!

        • Anonymous says:

          No you can’t. They admitted they don’t know what they are doing. Besides they test for the wrong antibodies.

          • Anonymous says:

            What are you talking about?Testing got wrong antibodies? Please provide source for your post.

    • Anonymous says:

      Get the antibody test. Until then, this is just conjecture.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Over the past months I’ve been reading reports on after-effects of COVID-19. It’s quite disturbing that many, if not most, of them could also be attributed to side-effects of needlessly aggressive medical treatment. I think as this pans out we might find that a lot of questions start being asked about the way this was handled in some countries.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Like a 19 year old Canadian dying because of a blood clot. Got in an accident last year. Because of Covid he missed some routine treatments at the hospital and died! Who cares though, he didn’t die of Covid so his death simply doesn’t make the daily tally. Written to all those who only care about their family not dying of Covid.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    two or three months is ‘long term’?

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