‘This Is Not A Bloody Joke’: Months After Recovering From COVID-19, Frustrated Maltese People Warn Of Persistent Symptoms
Over 100 million people have contracted COVID-19 in the last year. And while more than 75 million have already recovered, the virus’ side effects have persisted long after for some.
“Eleven months since ‘recovery’, and on most days all I can smell is smoke,” one young Maltese woman said on Facebook over the weekend. “Plus, two months ago, egg white has started to taste like metal.”
“It makes my blood boil when people come and stand less than two metres away from me without a mask or their noses hanging over their mask,” she continued. “This is NOT. A. BLOODY. JOKE.”
“You might think, hey you got it, you weren’t careful yourself- well no, I got it when the world was still open, no lockdowns, I was on an eight-hour flight full of people – for work, and the instructions were not to wear masks,” she recounted. “Other people got it because of morons like the above that come and stand close to them.”
But she was definitely not alone; within minutes, the young woman was joined in the comments section by other tales of long-term COVID-19 side-effects.
“You got the same as well, crazy,” one person reflected.
“I completely agree,” another added. “My sense of smell and taste are not the same anymore after experiencing COVID-19. Especially smells…”
“I was diagnosed three months ago yesterday, and when I got over it, I smelled burnt popcorn and my husband smelled cigarette smoke quite often,” another said. “Now mine has changed to smoke almost all of the time.”
“Luckily, I can smell stuff again, but when there’s no strong smell, I smell smoke inside my nose,” the original post finished. “So please, use the information that we luckily have now and keep those around you safe!”
This weekend, Malta bolstered its vaccine arsenal with the delivery of AstraZeneca's first batch of doses... but for people infected and recovered months ago, some symptoms persist to this day
Just this morning, Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci confirmed that COVID-19’s long-term effects are not being studied in Malta.
Answering a question by the Malta Independent, Gauci said that while specific studies of this sort are not being conducted on the island, the University of Malta is carrying out antibody tests on people who have recovered from COVID-19.
This, Gauci said, is being done because not everyone who had the virus automatically becomes “immune” to it.
Meanwhile, a study conducted by the American Medical Association found that 10% of all the people who contracted COVID-19 have suffered some sort of long-lasting symptoms, from months-long loss of taste to respiratory issues.
However, much of this research is still in its early days, and most experts agree that, while it may take time much longer than usual to recover from such symptoms, these effects will not be permanent.
What do you make of this? Let us know in the comments and share this if you think more people need to be reminded about these potential COVID-19 side-effects
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