Living with the ongoing coronavirus | News Segovia Day

The president of the Spanish Persistent Research Network said that “COVID-19 is still there, and so is the persistent new coronavirus.” At least 700,000 Spaniards have suffered from this disease in three years, and now it has become a chronic disease. Covid (REiCOP), Pilar Rodriguez Ledo.

A year after the organization was founded, Rodríguez Ledo reports that the network he chairs will launch a campaign in October to make visible the change that the disease has “diluted” in the context of the pandemic ”, but very disabling, it has a huge impact on the world of work due to lack of awareness, and is estimated to affect 6% to 8% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2.

When most countries stopped providing data due to the end of the international emergency, the World Health Organization warned weeks ago that deaths were rising in Asia and hospitalizations in Europe.

In Spain, the latest data shows the incidence rate in September was 137 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, four times higher than at the end of June, but hospitalizations are currently holding steady.

The president of the Spanish Society of General Practitioners and Family Doctors (SEMG) also admitted that the incidence of ongoing coronavirus infections may have fallen by “two to three points”, estimated at 6% to 8% of total infections. Coronavirus.

However, he stressed that “6-8% is a total that cannot be ignored.”

Regarding chronic diseases, Rodríguez Ledo leaves the door open for the emergence of curative treatments, as with other viral diseases such as hepatitis C, which went from being fatal to being treated with medication.

The campaign by REiCOP, a network of 66 scientific and professional associations and patient associations, will be launched in a few weeks to the entire population, health professionals and authorities to collaborate to quantify the number of people affected.

It involves patients identifying the center they are going to attend for procedures, professionals indicating the number of patients and reference populations they serve to make more precise estimates, and management providing transparent information.

higher consciousness

The expert said that if we knew how many people there were, we could devote the necessary resources. In a nutshell, the three pillars of the campaign are: visibility, coding and diagnosis.

“We are caught in the paradox of wanting to forget the pandemic, but there are still patients with COVID-19 who we need to remember,” the SEMG president warned.

Rodríguez Ledo does not believe that current mutations and mutations are more likely to produce persistent new coronaviruses: “This has less to do with mutations and more to do with the immune status of the population and the vaccines they have received, ” he explained.

Of these symptoms, he insists there are dozens, and they hinder quality of life and greatly affect the workplace. However, the most common are attention and concentration deficits, mental fogginess, and extreme fatigue that can even prevent you from carrying out daily activities.

In the face of this disabling disease, Rodríguez Ledo warns that some patients think they are cured because they exhibit milder symptoms, but also because of human adaptability, this lack of attention will Internalized as normal. , weakness or mental fog.

He believes that the “biggest surprise” in Spain is the lack of recognition and difficulties in the workplace. A study by SEMG confirmed that 27% of people with ongoing coronavirus infection are on sick leave, 19% face “many restrictions” in their daily work and 10% have lost their jobs.