Remind Patients: COVID-19 Survivors Can Have Severe Lung Damage After Recovery

Even with a U.S. death toll in the hundreds of thousands, some people remain skeptical of vaccines, the value of social distancing, and the overall dangers of COVID-19. The CBS affiliate in Dallas ran a story recently that might make a dent, however. It quotes a trauma surgeon and assistant professor at Texas Tech University as saying that survivors are likely to have some degree of lung damage after recovering—with their x-rays sometimes worse than those of people who are lifelong smokers. Dr. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall says some patients she’s treated have experienced collapsed lungs, clots, and shortness of breath that “lingers on, and on, and on.”  JUCM actually published the first major study of chest x-rays in patients with COVID-19. You can read Chest X-Ray Findings in 636 Ambulatory Patients with COVID-19 Presenting to an Urgent Care Center: A Normal Chest X-Ray Is no Guarantee, in our archive.