Many among the most ill may emerge with debilitating infirmities that will present major challenges in care.
The surge of Covid-19 patients is declining in New York and several other cities, but in its wake, another surge is underway. Many Covid-19 survivors are suffering serious medical problems that will continue to tax the resources of hospitals, rehab centers and other medical providers.
Over the next weeks and months, these patients will tell us what “survival” from Covid-19 really means. We have plenty of data on rates of death versus survival from the virus, butnot much on the quality of survival. But what we do know from the limited data about survivors of Covid-19, and about how ventilated and critically ill patients fare after spending weeks in intensive-care units, raises significant concerns.
These patients often end up on ventilators, in which a tube is inserted into the mouth and down into the airway. Imagine a tongue depressor thrust down your mouth 24/7 for a week. Patients are sedated on medications because of the discomfort and to stabilize their breathing. They can’t move or eat. Their muscles atrophy. About 90 percent of Covid-19 patients on ventilators develop acute kidney injury, with about a quarter needing renal replacement therapy such as dialysis, according to early studies.
Making matters worse, patients who end up in I. C. U.s for extended periods often develop post-intensive-care syndrome, which can include cognitive, muscular and neurological problems, as well as PTSD. These problems can persist for months and even years. In Britain, as of mid-May, about a third of Covid-19 patients in I. C. U.s were still there after 20 days, putting them at high risk for these conditions.
