October 14th 2023.
According to doctors who spoke to NBC News, getting COVID-19 more than once can have devastating consequences; particularly among Black people. Emergency room physician in Maryland and Virginia, Dr. Geoffrey Mount Varner, explained that the virus poses a serious threat due to the wide range of symptoms one person can experience when they are infected with the virus a second time.
"Some of the data clearly showed that Covid impacted Blacks disproportionately, so it only makes sense that it’s going to be the same with multiple infections because there are so many people who had it," said Dr. Varner. He went on to explain that due to the prevalence of comorbidities such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity in the Black community, multiple infections can be particularly detrimental.
A 2021 meta-analysis study on the impacts of Covid revealed that Black people were much more likely to need to be admitted into the Intensive Care Unit after being infected. This is likely due to their lower likelihood of having health insurance, access to quality health care, or even clinical safety information. Dr. Jayne Morgan, a cardiologist and the executive director of the Covid task force at Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta, went on to explain that the exacerbated effects of Covid among people of color is “creating a cycle of hardships that could stunt family growth.”
Unfortunately, due to Covid’s intelligence, particularly the Omicron variant, the virus tends to have a combination of initially mild symptoms while being the most “infectious variant” to date. This often prompts people to continue on with business as usual, without knowing the devastating risk of reinfection. Morgan explained, “It’s so incredibly successful, infecting people over and over again and making people say, ‘Oh, this is nothing.’ But it keeps swirling around. Reinfection doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be protected from the next evolution of the variants, which are hurting people now. So people have to take protective measures over reckless behavior, which, we are seeing now, is not without consequences.”
Successful Atlanta attorney Willian Matos opened up to NBC about his experience with repeatedly catching COVID-19. Matos, who had Covid three times, described having migraines and body aches the first time. In between catching it again Matos got the vaccination and booster shot, so thankfully he experienced more mild symptoms with the second two rounds. However, he admitted that having Covid “was murderous” and that he was afraid of the long term impacts of having it more than once.
"The impact of long Covid lingers," he said. “People said it would be like the flu. Well, you get the flu and you get over it, hopefully, and you move on. That’s not what doctors are telling us about what they are seeing with Covid. You get it multiple times and it’s doing something to the body that the flu hasn’t.”
It is imperative that individuals take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their community from this deadly virus. It is clear that the virus has a different effect on different populations, and we must remain vigilant in order to mitigate the risks for everyone.
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