OE INSIGHT: Long-Term Health Impact of COVID-19 Emerging Updates

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly spread globally with more than 20 million confirmed cases and over 700,000 deaths. he clinical manifestation of COVID-19 can vary among infected individuals – some people have only mild symptoms while others become seriously ill and require hospitalization. Individuals at high risk of infection and serious illness include older people and those with other medical conditions including heart and lung problems, diabetes, or cancer. Although majority of the infected people recover from COVID-19, there is now growing recognition of the long-term health impact of the disease. This impact is not limited to the respiratory system and can have diverse physical and mental health consequences. In this context, a secondary pandemic of a wide variety of medical concerns is a real possibility. Understanding the aftermath of COVID-19 from a clinical perspective is necessary for health care systems to prepare for a future with many unknown challenges.

SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly spread globally with over 18 million cases and counting while crippling the healthcare systems and economies of many countries. Given the magnitude of the detrimental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its uncertain future discourse, the scientific community has rushed to identify safe and effective treatments to combat the global public health crisis. In many ways, the progress has been remarkable – scientists have managed to conduct research that typically takes a few years in a few months. However, driven by the urgent need for rapid information, the methodological rigour of these research studies is often compromised. Low-quality evidence leads to weak recommendations for patient care. Examining limitations of the current body of evidence can help identify areas of improvement for future studies, as well as make well informed decisions based on the findings of current studies.

Burnout has emerged as a major problem at the forefront of the modern medical world. Several largescale studies and meta-analyses have reported that 1 in 2 medical trainees face burnout and that this rate does not change as new physicians proceed in their practice. The effects of burnout are far-reaching, certainly affecting physicians' quality of life, with burnout being linked to more broken relationships, alcoholism, and physician suicide, but equally affects the health care system. It is estimated that physician burnout has cost the health care system $4.6 billion annually.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an enormous global effort to develop vaccines against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Vaccines play a critical role in achieving long-term prevention and control of the virus. Given the magnitude of the current public health crisis, vaccine trials are moving at an unprecedented speed and trying to accomplish what usually takes years in months. As of July 24, 2020, there have been 25 vaccine candidates in clinical evaluation and 141 candidates in preclinical evaluation. Yet, there are a myriad of challenges that must be overcome before a vaccine can be available for use and disseminated in an equitable manner.