12-Year-Old Manhattan Girl Shares Her ‘Long-COVID’ Story
In early March, there was a scarcity of COVID-19 testing kits. Sixth-grader Maggie Flannery from Manhattan and her parents fell ill with signs of the virus.
Three weeks later, both her parents recovered. While Maggie seemed to get better, although briefly, she suffered a relapse which almost incapacitated her.
In The New York Times report, the 12-year-old girl said, "It felt like an elephant sitting on my chest." She added it was difficult taking a deep breath; that she used to be nauseous "on a regular basis"; and, she felt she didn't need to eat. She used to be very light-headed once she stood up, or even when sitting down. She also experienced "joint ache and extreme fatigue."
Initially, specialists interpreted the symptoms of Maggie as probably psychological, partly due to the fact that there were no confirmed signs of lung harm or coronary heart infection.
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Healthcare workers have to start to worry about the long-term side effects of COVID-19, also called long-COVID, which can affect the youths, as well.
Signs of 'Long-COVID'
According to Amy Wilson, Maggie's mom, they did not know anything about 'long-COVID' at that time. She added that the doctors "mentioned it was anxiousness." She also said she used to be fairly positive that was not true.
Dr. Amy DeMattia, Maggie's pediatrician, has since validated the COVID-19 prognosis, grounded mostly on the past medical history of the child, as well as the truth that each of her parents tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies.
Now more than half-a-year into this global health crisis, such occurrence has changed into a more and more evident fact that a lot of sufferers with each severe and extreme illness do not totally get better.
Several weeks after publicity, these so-called COVID 'long-haulers,' as they have been called, continue to experience various signs, along with dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive damages.
Typically, children are considerably less dangerous than older people for severe problems and death from COVID-19. However, the long-term effects on them, if any, have not been specifically clear.
Even though medical doctors recognize a small variety of young individuals experiencing an uncommon inflammatory syndrome shortly following an infection, there may be little reliable information about the exact number of infected youngsters who have reported complaints such as that of Maggie Flannery. That may change, The New York Times reported, due to the rising ratio of kids who are infected.
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Handling Her Condition
To handle her condition, the 12-year-old needs to limit her activities. Reports said, even though she has been able to attend socially distanced face-to-face classes at her small Upper West Side-private school, Maggie does not walk the 15-block distance anymore to school and back.
She's experiencing difficulty concentrating, so doing her assignments takes quite long. She has also stopped attending her online ballet classes. Prior to the pandemic, Maggie attended four ballet sessions each week.
Maggie shared, "some days are a lot better than others." She added, if she does too much on better days, she feels quite worse the next day or two, and some days, she could not do anything, "If it is a bad day."
Long-Term Effects
In mid-October, news site Independent reported that much remains unknown about the long-term effects of COVID-19. In February, health experts said it was similar to common respiratory diseases like the flu. This is the reason a well-tested flu pandemic model was adopted.
To date, it is clear that COVID-19 is operating differently. One more aspect of this deadly virus that has infected more than 41 million and killed over one million people worldwide is its duration.
On October 12, the national medical director for England, Stephen Powis said, hospitals in north-east and north-west England have seen a seven-fold rise in COVID-patients in their ICUs or intensive care units in the past four weeks.
In connection with Powis's announcement, healthcare professionals were reportedly not just concerned about older people's hospital admissions. They are also starting to worry about the long-term side effects of COVID-19, also called long-COVID, which can affect the youths, as well.
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Oct 23, 2020 07:00 AM EDT
