The heartbreaking loss of our friend @Sciencing_Bi has led a lot of folks to ask a very understandable ?:

"I thought she was getting better! What happened?!"

This raises the issue of what happens when someone survives critical illness generally, and COVID specifically.

THREAD
We& #39;ve known for a long time that surviving to leave the ICU & then leave the hospital is just the first step on a long road to recovering from critical illness.

Many people have lots of problems for quite awhile after an ICU stay, affecting many body systems. (2/n)
Fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, hair loss, problems with thinking & concentration, problems with language & memory, joint pain, muscle loss, PTSD... these & many other issues are common after an ICU stay.

It& #39;s so common, there& #39;s a specific name for it. (3/n)
It& #39;s called post-intensive care syndrome, or PICS. In the last several years, specific clinics have been formed to try to better treat PICS.

But, what causes PICS? Research is ongoing, but there& #39;s a *ton* we don& #39;t know about this. We do know some, but not nearly enough. (4/n)
So, that& #39;s w/ any illness that requires ICU care. What about COVID?

We still don& #39;t even know the specifics of what COVID recovery looks like. Is it the same as other critical illness from a viral pneumonia? Maybe.

Many think there are additional problems unique to COVID. (5/n)
Blood clotting problems, blood vessel injuries in multiple organs (e.g., brain, kidneys, lungs, others?), maybe scarring in some organs, possibly autoimmune issues, & likely things we haven& #39;t even seen yet.

Remember, no one had even heard of COVID 6-8 months ago. (6/n)
So, even if severe COVID behaves just like other critical illnesses, recovery will be long & complicated for many people.

COVID *could* turn out to be much worse than other critical illnesses. We just don& #39;t know yet.

So, it is VITALLY important to do what we know works. (7/n)
1. Wear a face mask. They work.

2. Wash your hands.

3. Maintain physical distance.

4. Don& #39;t gather in crowds.

5. Be guided by the science and the true experts. Not politics. Not celebrities. Not charlatans. Not wishful thinking.

(8/8)
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