A new report from the Mount Sinai Health System shows that unvaccinated patients with COVID-19 reported sleep, neurological and other symptoms that often lasted for more than a year. As a result, Mount Sinai has warned that the millions of Americans at risk of developing long COVID present a public health emergency.
The most common persistent symptom was fatigue (82%), followed by brain fog (67%), headache (60%), sleep disturbance (59%) and dizziness (54%). More than 8 out of 10 patients reported that their symptoms were worse after physical exertion, followed by stress (69%), dehydration (49%), weather changes (37%), large meal consumption (28%), premenstrual period (22%) and alcohol consumption (22%).
Even more troubling, neurological testing showed that more than 6 in 10 patients had at least a mild cognitive impairment, and nearly 20% had developed anxiety disorders.
A report that was previously released by Grey & Grey and NYCOSH indicated that less than ten percent of workers whose COVID-19 illness would likely be covered by workers’ compensation have filed claims, and less than ten percent of the workers who have filed have pursued their claims and received benefits. This means that more than 90% of the medical treatment costs for work-related long COVID will be paid by union health plans, private health insurers or public benefit systems – instead of by the responsible employers and workers’ compensation insurers.