We've been tracking the issue of COVID-19 for some time now. Australia is in an enviable position compared to many other countries... but we are certainly NOT isolated from the problems that getting COVID-19 can cause.
In a recent Lancet (a respected international medical journal) study the following issues were found to occur in people 6-months AFTER they recover from COVID:
- from 230,000 patients who had recovered from COVID-19, 34 percent were diagnosed with a neurological or psychiatric condition within six months.
- The most common conditions were anxiety (17 percent of patients) and mood disorders (14 percent). For 13 percent of patients the disorders were their first diagnosis of a mental health issue.
- Incidence of neurological disorders such as brain haemorrhage (0.6 percent), stroke (2.1 percent) and dementia (0.7 percent) was lower overall than for psychiatric disorders, but the risk for brain disorders was generally higher in patients who had severe COVID-19. It is also much higher than occurs in the general population and also significantly higher in people who suffer effects from severe flu.
There were some interesting findings for people who got COVID-19 and whether they had mild symptoms (not needing to go to hospital), those who went to hospital and those who were admitted to ICU(e.g. need a ventilator support) also:
- Patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 were at great risk of developing long-term conditions, according to the analysis.
- Almost half (46 percent) of patients who needed intensive care were later diagnosed with neurological or psychiatric conditions within six months of recovery.
- That 2.7 percent of people needing intensive care suffered a subsequent brain haemorrhage, compared to 0.3 percent of people who weren't hospitalised.
- Nearly 7 percent of those needing ICU care suffered a stroke, compared with 1.3 percent of patients who didn't.
Read the plain English article about the study here
The full scientific study can be accessed here
So what does this all mean?
While Australia has been relatively well off, there is around 19,000 people currently whom have recovered from COVID-19. When considering the above, that means there are potentially a lot of people whom will need more support for some years (or the rest of their life... like from the NDIS) into the future. And as COVID-19 continues to mutate and escape into our communities the future proportion of people whom will live with some form of acquired disability from this disease will ALSO continue to go up.
So what can be done and how can people stay safe?
This is where vaccines come in. A vaccine may NOT stop people from getting COVID-19. But it will mean if they do become infected (positive) they will have much miler problem and may not need to go to hospital at all.
Since going to hospital reflects increasing severity and symptoms... and is now linked to increasing chance of psychiatric or neurological disability... it also means vaccines are the best way to avoid longer term complications which might truly alter how we all live our lives.
We support vaccination At SchemeWise. We also understand it's a personal choice and vaccines are not without their problems. But the above highlights that while some problems like feeling unwell for 2-7 days may not seem the best... it means a person's immune system is working... it also means lifelong complication from getting COVID-19 can be potentially avoided.
If people would like to learn more about COVID-19 vaccines they can go here
NSW health information is available here
ACT information about COVID-19 is available here
For people with disability staying safe means continuing to practice social distancing (even after a person has been vaccinated), being aware of where service personnel may have travelled to recently (it OK to ask them), and also using PPE like masks etc for closer services where it is NOT possible to socially distance. The NDIS has issued new CORE line items to ensue participant can purchase PPE for their and their supports use.
Also remember to wash hands in preference (kills coronavirus)... or use sanitiser if this is not possible (sanitiser reduces the number of virus particles only). More NDIS COVID-19 information is available here
SchemeWise is proud to be an employer of people living with disability.
