For those of us with any long-covid issues, also know as covid long haulers.

Nearly 18 months after getting the coronavirus and spending weeks in the hospital, Terry Bell struggles with hanging up his shirts and pants after doing the laundry.


Lifting his clothes, raising his arms, arranging items in his closet leave Bell short of breath and often trigger severe fatigue. He walks with a cane, and only short distances.

He’s 50 pounds lighter than when he was struck by covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.


Bell, 70, is among millions of older adults who have grappled with long covid — a population that has received little attention even though research suggests seniors are more likely to develop the poorly understood condition than younger or middle-aged adults…….

Only now is the impact on older adults beginning to be documented. In a study published in the journal BMJ, researchers estimated that 32 percent of older adults in the United States who survived covid infections had symptoms of long covid up to four months after infection — more than double the 14 percent rate an earlier study found in adults ages 18 to 64. (Other studies suggest symptoms can last much longer, for a year or more.)

The BMJ study examined more than 87,000 adults 65 and older who had covid infections in 2020, drawing on claims data from UnitedHealth Group’s Medicare Advantage plans. It included symptoms that lasted 21 days or more after an infection, a shorter period than the CDC uses in its long covid definition. The data encompasses both older adults who were hospitalized because of covid (27 percent) and those who were not (73 percent)…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/26/long-covid-seniors/