Covid, long term risks to younger people - is the government studying this?

[RepeatSwan]

For a long while I have been fretting that whilst young(er) people don't get the acute symptoms, and the respiratory failure, that they could be left with unseen issues.

Last week (I think) an academic was widely reported as saying long covid would be a bigger public health problem than the immediate crisis of the intensive care admissions and deaths.

I read this article www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/04/long-covid-the-evidence-of-lingering-heart-damage and wonder why the government isn't more worried about e.g. students catching it in large numbers?

The bit that made me most was the German study where three-quarters had heart damage only seen on scans. They were average age 49 and had only mild symptoms.

I really want to brush it all off but we just know so little still - does anyone know what the government is doing to study this?

I think the government DO know this and that it is for this reason that the rhetoric changed from flatten the curve to the measures we have just now, almost an elimination strategy or at least suppression until we get a vaccine.

@PJsEveryday - Really? I am not aware of any strategies that are attempting to eliminate or even suppress the virus. What are they?

Announced today by head of NHS England:

*Sir Simon said £10m would be invested this year in setting up long-Covid clinics in every area across England, to provide one-stop services for physical and mental health issues.

Patients will have access to assessments for health issues, memory problems or mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety.*

Long Covid is being recognised above - isn't it? Officially.

dustballs perhaps not elimination isn't the SD measures a way of suppressing the virus, not allowing it to rip through the population? I'm in Scotland and we've just had more measures ut in place today to keep the virus from spreading even further. That counts as suppression.

@Ecosse

I think it’s really unfortunate that Simon Stevens and the NHS are referring to a condition that just does not exist.

There is no such thing as ‘long COVID’- a very small minority of people do suffer post-viral syndrome. But this is not a new thing- every virus results in a small number of patients suffering after-effects.

This level of denial is mindboggling.

I am fascinated by this mix of ignorance and arrogance, that allows you to declare "There is no such thing as long COVID."

What is your medical specialism, @Ecosse, neurology or cardiology or what? What research institutions are you associated with?

This is a new virus. Research is still working out the myriad ways it affects different organs and the nervous system.

Do you honestly think medical research is unaware of the existence of post-viral syndrome? Do you honestly think they are too dim to differentiate between variants of that and long covid?

Why are you so determined to believe there is nothing significant or distinct about long covid in terms of ramifications for the population who will deal with it - is it fear and an inability to consider that some things in the world are a bit scary? Like I say, fascinating!

Research needs to be international, it's true, but support for long-term sufferers needs to be accessible around the country. My friend (40) had Covid in March. Was very unwell but didn't need hospital admission. She couldn't get seen by a medical professional until the summer, despite ongoing respiratory problems and finally got a scan in September revealing a collapsed lung and pulmonary damage. I saw on the news tonight that more clinics are being set-up for long-term sufferers. The effects of Covid will probably impact the NHS ling after the actual pandemic is over.

I'm not sure any of this relates specifically to young people...? We seem to have wandered far from the OPs question....