"A 35-year-old acquaintance drops dead from a hemorrhagic stroke. A friend in her 40s, and another in his 70s, experience recurrent spells of extreme dizziness, their hearts pounding in their chests when they stand. A 21-year-old student with no prior medical history is admitted to the ICU with heart failure, while a 48-year-old avid tennis player, previously healthy, suddenly suffers a heart attack. A relative is diagnosed with pericarditis, an inflammation of the protective sac surrounding the heart.
I can’t confirm the exact etiology of all these cases. But every one of the people I mentioned had a history of COVID either days or months beforehand–and all of them experienced only mild cases of infection at the time.
Is it possible, despite everything we know, that we still underestimate COVID’s reach and danger? It is not normal for me to know so many people with severe conditions. Not normal at all."
When people with COVID-19 started getting strokes and heart attacks, scientists began researching the connection. They soon realized that the virus was attacking not just the respiratory system, but the vascular system as well.
There’s a good reason why: this novel coronavirus attaches itself to the human body via receptors called ACE-2. “Those ACE-2 receptors are quite prevalent in a lot of places in the body, especially the endothelium layer of the arteries and veins,” says Dr. Swartz. “The virus can get in there and inflame the blood vessels.”
