Heart Risk
COVID-19 is a major heart risk. While COVID-19 is most known as a respiratory infection, significant evidence links it to heart damage, too. Autopsies found traces of the coronavirus’s genetic material in the heart. Actual viral particles discovered within the heart’s muscle cells. Experiments have found that SARS-CoV-2 can destroy lab-grown versions of those heart cells.
Cardiologists are seeing patients with signs of inflammation and scar formation in their hearts even after recovery from COVID-19. Several studies now show that roughly 10 to 30 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had high levels of troponin—a protein released into the blood when the heart’s muscle cells are damaged. Such patients are more likely to die than others with no signs of heart injury.
For that reason, anyone who plans on participating in vigorous exercise and was sick with COVID-19 for three or more days should get a cardiac screening before working out or participating in their sport, said Dr. Steven Erickson, medical director for Banner University Sports Medicine and Concussion Specialists in Phoenix.
Stay mobile. Keep walking. Nothing too strenuous. Please be careful. Wear a mask. You don’t know how this deadly virus will affect you. It is a major heart risk especially with those with pre-existing conditions.