A Lifford GP has said up to half of their patients who had coronavirus are suffering from long Covid, with symptoms varying from mild to very severe.
Dr Martin Coyne told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show that the Delta variant is ’going through’ entire households and that the virus does not recognise the border.
“East Donegal and Derry, we’re linked through work, we’re linked through families, through socialising, we’re linked commercially, so the border doesn’t exist as I’ve said many times when it comes to the virus, so patients from Donegal do travel into the North, they go for an indoor dining experience,” Dr Coyne said.
“Personally I wouldn’t be into it, but I’m not sure that is the cause – I think it’s more that we’re inseparable from our colleagues in Northern Ireland.”
Dr Coyne added that his practice had been ‘a little bit blindsided’ by the cyberattack on the HSE, which meant that it is only now that they are getting reports on patients who contracted the virus.
“They’re starting to trickle in now, but what we are seeing is that where we get reports in a household, Delta is going through that whole household, where the Alpha variant might have done 50 per cent to 60 per cent of people, so some people were escaping it.
“Delta is utterly transmissible in any sort of close contact, we are seeing an increase in cases obviously in younger patients because they’re the unvaccinated.”
Gardaí conduct an Operation Fanacht checkpoint at Lifford Bridge. (North West Newspix)
Dr Coyne said he was worried about young people as they did not seem to realise how dangerous the virus was.
“It’s not just about going into hospital, it’s not just about dying, it’s about all of the morbidity that you’re going to suffer if you get Covid.
“Long Covid is very real and we’re seeing it in 50 per cent of our patients that have had Covid, we’re seeing large amounts of morbidity from mild to quite severe – I encourage people to get out there, to get vaccinated, to keep their distance and wear masks, keep it simple.”
The symptoms of long Covid being suffered by his patients include fatigue, breathlessness on even mild exertion, chronic cough, brain fog, he said.
“Symptoms that you can’t quantify, symptoms that when a patient comes into me and tells me that they have them, I can’t measure them. I just have to go on how they subjectively feel. But it’s a pretty miserable experience.
“They do dissipate over time, but I’ve a sizeable cohort of patients who have not gone back to work six to eight months after Covid.”
Dr Coyne added that he could not understand the decision of British prime minister Boris Johnson to move the regulations on wearing face masks from mandatory to advisory. There will always be a cohort who only think of themselves, he warned.
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