Life After Covid and its repercussions.

From Pandemic to Endemic - The new Normal

For a world grappling with the new coronavirus, it’s becoming increasingly clear that even when the pandemic is over, it won't really be over. For patients who become severely ill have recovered and cleared the virus, physicians have begun seeing evidence of the infection's lingering effects. IN Lungs, Liver, Heart Kidneys Brain, endocrine system, and blood system. Even those who survived mild and severe disease alike, the researchers found that many of the biological measures had "failed to return to normal."

COVID-19 is not just a respiratory disorder, It can affect the heart, the liver, the kidneys, the brain, the endocrine system and the blood system.

Dr. Harlan Krumholtz

Given SARS-CoV-2's affinity for lung tissue, doctors quickly suspected that some recovered COVID-19 patients would sustain lasting damage to their lungs. In infections involving the coronavirus that cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) about one-third of recovered patients had lung impairment after three years, but those symptoms had largely cleared 15 years later. And researchers found that one-third of patients who suffered Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) had scarring of the lungs — fibrosis — that was probably permanent.

Dr. Owen Tsang Tak-yin, director of infectious diseases at Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong, told reporters that some patients “might have around a drop of 20 to 30% in lung function” after their recovery.

Citing the history of lasting lung damage in SARS and MERS patients, a team led by UCLA radiologist Melina Hosseiny is recommending that patients who have recovered from COVID-19 get follow-up lung scans "to evaluate long-term or permanent lung damage including fibrosis."

What they do know is that when COVID-19 patients show symptoms of infection, the function of many organs is knocked off course. And when one organ begins to fail, others often follow.

Add to that chaos the force of inflammation, which flares in those with severe COVID-19. The result can do damage throughout the body, prying plaques and clots from the walls of blood vessels and causing strokes, heart attacks and venous embolisms.

Calling this Virus "the beast" as Mr. Coumo has dubbed it is an understatement. This is an insidious, "Evil Beast" that has the potential to attack each vital organ, it is theorised in some papers that by displacing the Haem from RBC, it causes hypoxia, and the excess iron has no place to go but to damage organs and cause deaths.

What will the new normal look like? A Senior World Health Organization (WHO) figure warned that Covid-19 "is going to be a virus that stalks the human race for quite a long time to come".

The fact that this disease causes multi organ failures, and has shown to have limited immunity, long term vaccine is not a possibility. Annual vaccination is probably going to be needed. People most at risk will need annual x-rays to ensure their lungs are clear, and no sign of fibrosis, or Pneumonia is present.

Social distancing will be the norm, cough and colds will need to be checked right away with a rapid test to ensure covid or covid strained virus is not present.

Annual testing and providing a certificate of health maybe required to show in order to enter social places.

Rapid testing done at airports for all arriving people from nations with high incidents should be made mandatory, paid for by Airlines as tax.

A certificate for each human being showing "no virus found" should be the focus for WHO to declare victory. Nothing short of this is acceptable.

Policy Regulatory Changes - short term and intermediate.

Short Term

The Government should focus on winning this battle. This is a battle like no other seen before. Now we have a different battle to fight. We can’t lower our guard.

The total number of confirmed cases around the world is approaching 2 million. There are millions more that we are not able to identify. Anywhere from 20% to 50% of these unidentified COVID-19 infections are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. We shouldn’t let anyone into our country without a 14-day quarantine and a negative test result at the end of the quarantine period.

Since asymptomatic patients spread this virus very effectively. Everyone in public places should be required to wear masks.

Rapid diagnostics will be the backbone of tracing efforts and can identify candidates for early intervention.

Make it mandatory to have each person in the nation get rapid test done. If needed, authorities should go door to door with volunteers and administer the test. Positive households should be quarantined and strict oversight maintained to ensure no violations happens. Posting a policeman outside the house if necessary to creating alarms/perimeters.

Given the fast and easy tests recently approved by FDA, testing and tracing all population and tracking their movement will help track the virus better and slow the spread.

Use of mobile technologies like Bluetooth trace apps and perimeter radio collars to quarantine positive cases should be considered.

Intermediate Actions:

Antibody testing to establish acquired immunity and increased cleanliness and hygiene, states and employers can work to get people screened before they return to work without putting them at risk.

Rapid tests will also help governments move from broad mitigation to targeted contact tracing and isolation.

High-risk individuals will stay isolated, and social distancing strategies will remain the rule, but parts of the population could begin to live a relatively normal life.

The reopening will be crucial for the economy, and responsibly doing so will help divert resources to areas that are still at the height of an outbreak. 

Permanent policy:

Annual testing and providing a certificate of health maybe required to show in order to enter social places. A certificate for each human being showing no virus should be the focus for WHO to declare victory. Nothing short of this is acceptable.

Rapid testing done at airports for all arriving people from nations with high incidents should be made mandatory, paid for by Airlines as tax.

X-rays to identify lesions on lungs using AI to alleviate pressure on the health care professionals.

Social Impact:

Short term impact on daily wage earners is already devastating. More people will die from starvations than the virus. Those folks making less than 5 USD per day and living on daily income are now left with no means to feed themselves, or buy the essentials items. This will lead to serious social dislocation. Millions of people globally are affected by this.

Business and economies will be dislocated, and entire societies will collapse in parts due to this dislocation. The gig economy, daily wage earners the bottom of the pyramid folks will be the hardest hit. Estimates by IMF are already calling for half a billion people without jobs, and over 1.5 billion people who will be displaced. Will we go back to socializing like before?

A very dystopian view could be we will all carry "virus free" cards to get into any public place.

AI's Role in Mitigating Global Health Crises

Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds transformative potential for anticipating and managing global health crises. By integrating AI with healthcare data systems, it's possible to analyze vast amounts of health data in real-time. This allows for the early detection of emerging health threats, enabling quicker responses and potentially saving millions of lives. AI can enhance disease surveillance systems, predict outbreaks, and optimize resource allocation during crises, ensuring that help is directed where it's most needed. As we continue to face global health challenges, the role of AI will be crucial in crafting more proactive and effective public health strategies.