Even the simplest daily activities become a burden for some children and young people who suffer the long-term effects of infection. The doctor at a rehabilitation center explains how young people with Long Covid are doing. Meanwhile, hospital admissions of patients with the virus are increasing.
“These are young people in the prime of their lives. They know exactly what they would want to do if they could,” says pediatrician Beate Biesenbach. The problem: They can’t, because even simple daily activities like brushing their teeth are a burden for some.
The trigger for this exhaustion, which Biesenbach calls ‘fatigue’, was Corona in her young patients. Since March 2021, the doctor and her team have cared for approximately 150 children and young people with Long Covid, that is, the long-term consequences of an infection, in the rehabilitation center ‘kokon’ in Rohrbach. Symptoms such as dizziness, headache or stomach ache vary.
“You never have a full battery”
However, enormous depletion often occurs, which Biesenbach explains as follows: “You never have a full battery, you start the day with 60 or 70 percent, but you can’t charge it anymore, you can only prevent the battery from being completely discharged . It’s an exhaustion that doesn’t end even after you sleep or panic.
During rehabilitation, the teenagers learn, among other things, how to distribute their energy throughout the day. For example: brushing your teeth while sitting. Five of the 150 patients in Rohrbach had to be discharged early because they were unable to adhere to therapy due to exhaustion.
The number of hospital admissions is increasing
Even after the most recent waves of infections, young people with Long Covid have already ended up in a rehab clinic in Rohrbach. The virus is also becoming increasingly noticeable in hospitals: in calendar week 47 at the end of November, 200 patients with Covid were admitted to hospitals in Upper Austria, three of whom were in intensive care. In calendar week 28 in July there were only five admissions with Covid (see graph below).
And many more are currently at home with an infection: of the 60,750 absenteeism reports from Upper Austria to the health insurance fund in the previous week, 9,586 were related to Covid.
Three days of runny nose, coughing, hoarseness, that’s all there was to Corona. But then the normal fatigue after a cold turned into a constant low that seems endless. With very little prospect of returning to a normal life. This is how Long Covid patients describe what happened to them. And not only seniors who are sick several times, but also half of children and young people.
Experts’ warnings about the consequences of the pandemic are increasingly proving true. Of course you can still refuse them. But reality cannot be distorted even by the most confused minds.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
