A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with 106,543 coronavirus patients initially admitted between March and July found that one in 11 was readmitted two months after discharge, with 1.6% of patients readmitted more than once.
In another study of 1,775 coronavirus patients discharged from 132 VA hospitals in the first months of the pandemic, almost a fifth was hospitalized again in 60 days. More than 22% of them needed intensive care and 7% of ventilators.
And in a report of 1,250 patients discharged from 38 Michigan hospitals from mid-March to July, 15% were readmitted within 60 days.
Recurrent admissions do not only involve patients who were seriously ill the first time.
“Even if they had a very light course, at least a third had significant symptoms for two to three months,” said Dr. Eleftherios Mylonakis, head of infectious diseases at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine and Brown University’s Lifespan hospitals, which co – wrote another report. “There is a wave of readmissions that is growing, because at some point these people will say, ‘I’m not doing well.'”
Many who were readmitted were vulnerable to severe symptoms because they were over 65 or had chronic illnesses. But some younger, previously healthy people have also returned to hospitals.
When Becca Meyer, 31, of Paw Paw, Michigan, contracted the coronavirus in early March, she initially stayed home, taking care of symptoms such as difficulty breathing, chest pain, fever, extreme fatigue and hallucinations that included visions of being attacked with a sponge in the bath.
Meyer, a mother of four, ended up being hospitalized for a week in March and again in April. She was readmitted for an infection in August and for severe nausea in September, according to medical records, which labeled her “Covid-19 long distance” condition.