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“All of this is quite disturbing to individuals and I don't think it should be dismissed at all,” De Serres said. The complaints include intense fatigue, difficulties concentrating, memory problems, anxiety, and insomnia. “We see in a substantial proportion of them that, you know, months after being sick, they still have problems,” De Serres said. Researchers at the INSPQ have followed healthcare workers to see how long COVID-19 symptoms persisted beyond the acute phase of infection. “Long COVID is a real problem that is quite unique,” unlike other common respiratory illnesses, De Serres said. Not only is the hospital network straining to provide patient care without them, but there is no guarantee they will all fully recover and be able to return to work quickly. Particularly worrisome is a large number of healthcare workers – some 20,000 of them, Quebec’s health minister said on Thursday - who are off sick with COVID-19. The sheer number of people who have been infected over the course of the pandemic is so large, that “even if they represent a small proportion of all cases, that's a substantial number of Quebecers who will have this problem,” De Serres said. Gaston De Serres, an epidemiologist at the Quebec Institute of Public Health (INSPQ). “For sure long COVID will be a lasting legacy of this pandemic,” said Dr. The significant impact of long COVID will be felt in Quebec soon and in the long term, the chief physician of the province’s scientific immunization group said in an interview with CTV News. “You feel there's something lingering, you do feel tired,” Falcone said, adding it’s allowed her to gain a better understanding of what her patients have been going through. “The first thing and the absolute predominant concern I had was, oh my goodness, am I going to have long-COVID symptoms, how will I be able to continue my work, if I have any kind of compromise in my abilities?”įour weeks later she's functioning and working harder than ever during this fifth wave, but she’s still battling her way back from the illness. “I counted more than seven acute symptoms,” during the active phase of infection, she said, including extreme fatigue.
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The specialist began to suffer some of the same symptoms as the patients she’s been treating for the last two years at the CHUM, where she also works. She was double vaccinated and was about to get her booster when she got sick. Falcone caught COVID-19 from one of her young children. And it's just unbelievable to see the extent to which these individuals’ lives have been compromised.”Īnd then in mid-December, the virus hit home. “I’ve actually heard so many different accounts. And they're basically taking early retirement in some cases,” said Falcone. Several who were very high functioning, very healthy now find themselves in a situation where they just cannot go back to work. “Even individuals who have very mild symptoms or even no symptoms can develop long-term sequelae (after-effects) of COVID,” she said, adding that applies to people who are vaccinated and unvaccinated.Īs the director of the Long-COVID Research Clinic at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montreal (IRCM), Falcone has seen patients who are 18 months post-infection and still have lingering and sometimes serious health problems. Emilia Liana Falcone said, explaining that nobody should be under the impression that catching Omicron, or any other variant, is a good idea. “This isn't like a regular cold,” infectious diseases specialist Dr.
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A top long-COVID researcher in Montreal who’s recovering from a recent infection herself is urging the population to get vaccinated, and beyond that, to do whatever it takes to avoid catching the virus altogether.