ADDITIONAL LONG COVID INFO “I’m Young I Don’t Need to Worry!” You can more easily catch Covid and Long Covid if you are a smoker, have diabetes, or have a weakened immune system, among other pre-existing conditions. Not just old people or sick people are catching Covid, plus this winter experts believe we will see a surge in people getting the flu and other respiratory diseases.
I Wear a Mask, What Else Can I Do? Keeping your immune system strong means getting enough sleep, proper nutrition, and keeping yourself healthy so that your body can fight off an infection when it needs to. That’s not always possible, but doing what you can is better than doing nothing. Just these things alone will not protect you from Covid, you also need to be up-to-date on your vaccines. You can go to vaccines.gov to find a place near you for free Covid vaccinations and boosters. If you’re using drugs, keeping up on healthy habits can offset some of the physical toll regular drug use may take on your body.
I Got Covid, Now What? If you are feeling sick, it is important to Stop, Rest, and Pace. Ignoring all your body’s signals and pushing yourself harder will make your recovery time longer and can increase the chance you will experience Long Covid or lingering symptoms. Check out these helpful tips for recovering from Covid: So You Got Covid
RESOURCES CDC Long Covid Survey Covid causes heart damage in many people, including those who were relatively healthy before Covid and people who didn’t get very sick when they initially had Covid. These long term effects are still being studied but it’s clear that Covid causes damage to many different organs. If you are experiencing symptoms you can be part of a research project conducted by the The National Institutes of Health (NIH) to understand how people recover from a COVID-19 infection and why some people do not fully recover and develop long COVID or post-COVID conditions.
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RECOVER: Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19 (nature.com) The supply of COVID antivirals is increasing, but many patients aren’t using them