Category: Corona Virus

Feds buried partnership between NIH, Wuhan to 'engineer' coronavirus, Rand Paul says

by JACKSON WALKER | The National Desk

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), speaks during a ceremony awarding the Nobel Prize medal and prize to Harvey J. Alter, Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, at NIH in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (TND)

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Tuesday announced new findings in his research on COVID-19 which he feels may prove Americans were lied to about the disease.

The senator has been aggressively digging into the origins of COVID-19 ever since the pandemic. Earlier this month, he launched a bipartisan investigation to uncover the origins of the disease with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.

Dr. Anthony Faucis National Institutes of Health lab, the senator said via X Tuesday, partnered with Wuhan researchers who were engineering a coronavirus since as early as 2018. At least 15 federal agencies allegedly knew of the Wuhan researchers' project and said nothing despite being pressed by several major politicians.

The project, stemming from a grant proposal, proposed inserting a furin cleavage site into a coronavirus to create a novel virus similar to COVID-19, according to an op-ed written by Sen. Paul Tuesday.

Reacting to the news was Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., who exclaimed Fauci should be in prison! New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Chuck Morse added businesses were shut down, students were deprived of their classrooms, and hardworking Americans lost their jobs over the course of the pandemic.

We deserve honest answers, Morse continued.

Fauci has consistently refuted claims he lied about NIH being linked to such research, telling Sen. Paul during a July 2021 hearing the lawmaker does "not know what" he is "talking about."

Sen. Paul's findings are the latest to arise from closer examinations of the pandemic. Watchdog group Open the Books told The National Desk (TND) last month it uncovered pharmaceutical companies had paid hundreds of millions in third-party royalties to government scientists during the pandemic.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice seized over $1.4 billion of COVID relief funds which were stolen during the last three years. At least 3,500 defendants received federal crime charges, which totaled more than $2 billion.

TND reached out to NIH for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. This story will be updated if a response is received.

Follow Jackson Walker on X at @_jlwalker_ for the latest trending national news. Have a news tip? Send it to jacwalker@sbgtv.com.

Load more...

Visit link:

Feds buried partnership between NIH, Wuhan to 'engineer' coronavirus, Rand Paul says - News3LV

(WKBN) The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force released its 2024 report Tuesday.

Since its inception in 2021, the task force has charged 3,500 people for losses of over $2 billion.

The task force investigations have led to over $100 million in settlements and judgments and over $1.4 billion seized or forfeited.

The fraud is domestic and foreign. The task force said some of the fraud is committed overseas and that strike forces have been assigned to investigate those complex and harmful cases.

Fraud has occurred with U.S. unemployment benefits, business loans and grants, as well as other COVID-19 relief programs.

Our work is not over. We will continue our efforts to investigate and prosecute pandemic relief fraud and to recover the assets that have been stolen from American taxpayers., said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Garland is asking for the statute of limitations to be extended and for funding to be appropriated to continue investigations and prosecutions.

The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was set up by Garland through the U.S. Department of Justice.

See the original post here:

Report: 3,500 charged, $2 billion in COVID-19 fraud - WKBN.com

{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}

How vast was the Great COVID Cover-up?Well, my investigation has recently discovered government officials from 15 federal agencies knew in 2018 that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was trying to create a coronavirus like COVID-19.

These officials knew that the Chinese lab was proposing to create a COVID 19-like virus and not one of these officials revealed this scheme to the public.In fact, 15 agencies with knowledge of this project have continuously refused to release any information concerning this alarming and dangerous research.

Government officials representing at least 15 federal agencies were briefed on a project proposed by Peter Daszaks EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Dr. Anthony Fauci adjusts his face mask during a Senate hearing on the federal response to the coronavirus on Capitol Hill, March 18, 2021. (Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images)

This project, the DEFUSE project, proposed to insert a furin cleavage site into a coronavirus to create a novel chimeric virus that would have been shockingly similar to the COVID-19 virus.

THIS WILL BE THE END TO FAUCI'S NIH AS WE KNOW IT

For years, I have been fighting to obtain records from dozens of federal agencies relating to the origins of COVID-19 and the DEFUSE project. Under duress, the administration finally released documents that show that the DEFUSE project was pitched to at least 15 agencies in January 2018.

What does this mean?

It means that at least 15 federal agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic that EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were seeking federal funding in 2018 to create a virus genetically very similar if not identical to COVID-19.

RAND PAUL DEMANDS FAUCI, NIH SCIENTISTS DISCLOSE PHARMACEUTICAL ROYALTIES

Disturbingly, not one of these 15 agencies spoke up to warn us that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been pitching this research. Not one of these agencies warned anyone that this Chinese lab had already put together plans to create such a virus.

Peter Daszak concealed this proposal. University of North Carolina scientist Ralph Baric, a named collaborator on the DEFUSE project, failed to reveal that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had already proposed to create a virus similar to COVID-19.

And now we know that 15 agencies heard the proposal and when each agency discovered that COVID-19 was strangely similar to DEFUSEs proposed virus creation, not one agency head stepped forward to warn the public that the virus might be man-made and therefore already adapted to transmit freely among humans.

THE ARROGANCE OF ANTHONY FAUCI

Not surprising to some of us, Dr. Anthony Faucis National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) was not only briefed on Wuhans desire to create this virus, NIAID was actually listed as a participant in the initial DEFUSE pitch. Faucis Rocky Mountain Lab was named as a partner alongside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the proposal.

These documents also reveal that a scientist whose lab has received millions of dollars from EcoHealth was also part of the original plan to create these chimeric coronaviruses. This researcher, Ian Lipkin, also later became one of the authors of "Proximal Origins," a journal paper commissioned by Fauci and National Institutes of Health head Francis Collins to throw shade on anyone arguing that the virus might have come from the lab. Yet, Ian Lipkin never revealed to the public the DEFUSE proposal.

Did NIAID warn us? Did Anthony Fauci warn us? No! All lips remained sealed.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER

Millions of people died from COVID-19. We now know that over 15 government agencies, as well as the investigators Peter Daszak, Ralph Baric, Ian Lipkin and scientists at NIAIDs Rocky Mountain Lab, all knew of the Wuhan Institute of Virologys desire to create a coronavirus with a furin cleavage site, a virus pre-adapted for human transmission.

And no one spoke up. We only know of this DEFUSE proposal because a whistleblower, one brave Marine, Lt. Col. Joseph Murphy, came forward with the truth.

Likely, hundreds of people in the government knew of this proposal to create a COVID-19-like virus and virtually every one of these people chose to keep quiet, to obscure, and ultimately to conceal information that might have saved lives by letting the world know this was no sleepy animal virus with poor transmission.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

No, all evidence suggests COVID-19 was a laboratory-enhanced virus purposefully adapted for human transmission.

Shame on all those who covered up the DEFUSE project! Of course, they all should be punished but likely wont. At the very least, though, the perpetrators should be made to admit the truth and Congress should finally put in place sufficient oversight to make sure dangerous gain of function experiments are sufficiently vetted and, if necessary, prevented.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM SEN. RAND PAUL

Continued here:

The Great COVID Cover-up: Shocking truth about Wuhan and 15 federal agencies - Fox News

This article has been reviewed according to ScienceX's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

trusted source

proofread

close

New research from the University of Georgia suggests that something as simple as a cup of tea can help in the fight against COVID-19.

Tea has been renowned globally for its many health benefits, and Malak Esseili, a virologist with the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, wanted to know if it may also affect SARS-CoV-2.

When the first rumblings of the pandemic began, no one had to convince Esseili of the seriousness of the matter because of her background studying viruses. She immediately began looking for ways to help protect herself and her family. She needed something that was easily accessible and palatable, so she turned to the humble tea leaf. After a quick trip to her local grocery store, she was ready to begin her research.

"Having something that is accessible, easily prepared, and suitable for all the family would be ideal," said Esseili, who was also inspired by her tea-loving kids.

Her team's findings, published in the journal Food and Environmental Virology, demonstrate how certain teas inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in salivain some cases by up to 99.9%. This is important because the virus infects and replicates inside the oral cavity, passing through the oropharynx before reaching the lungs.

"Inactivating SARS-CoV-2 in the mouth and the throat matters because that potentially reduces the introduction of the virus to the lower respiratory system," Esseili said.

Esseili and then-graduate student Julianna Morris, who graduated with her master's degree in food science in 2023, studied 24 different types of commercially available teas, some of which claim to aid in respiratory health. Of those, they found five that significantly reduced the virus in saliva: raspberry zinger, eucalyptus mint, mint medley, green tea and black tea, with black tea showing the greatest reduction. All testing was done in the laboratory in simulated conditions.

The team tested the efficacy of tea both as a drink and as a gargle to provide an option for those do not want to drink tea but want a highly concentrated rinse that would provide the same benefits as drinking a cup of tea.

Researchers prepared a drinkable infusion concentration using one tea bag per cup steeped for 10 minutes, with no additions such as milk or sugar. All five teas reduced the virus by at least 96% within 10 seconds in the mouth. Black tea was the most effective, reducing the virus by 99.9%. When tested as a gargle, they brewed the tea at four times the concentration of the drinkable infusion, finding that all five varieties of tea reduced the virus by 99.9% within 10 seconds when gargled.

Clinical trials are needed to understand better what effect these results may have on a patient who is ill with COVID-19, Esseili said, stressing that tea is not a replacement for medical care. Still, the initial results are both promising and exciting for those looking to supplement medical care.

"At this stage, we are not suggesting tea as a stand-alone intervention against SARS-CoV-2, because the virus also replicates in the nose and may have already reached the lung by the time a person tests positive," Esseili said. "But tea can be an additional layer of intervention that the patients and their families can easily adopt on a routine basis."

More information: Julianna N. Morris et al, Screening Commercial Tea for Rapid Inactivation of Infectious SARS-CoV-2 in Saliva, Food and Environmental Virology (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s12560-023-09581-0

View original post here:

Can a cup of tea keep COVID away? Study demonstrates that certain teas inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in saliva - Medical Xpress

Specialty

Please choose I'm not a medical professional. Allergy and Immunology Anatomy Anesthesiology Cardiac/Thoracic/Vascular Surgery Cardiology Critical Care Dentistry Dermatology Diabetes and Endocrinology Emergency Medicine Epidemiology and Public Health Family Medicine Forensic Medicine Gastroenterology General Practice Genetics Geriatrics Health Policy Hematology HIV/AIDS Hospital-based Medicine I'm not a medical professional. Infectious Disease Integrative/Complementary Medicine Internal Medicine Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Medical Education and Simulation Medical Physics Medical Student Nephrology Neurological Surgery Neurology Nuclear Medicine Nutrition Obstetrics and Gynecology Occupational Health Oncology Ophthalmology Optometry Oral Medicine Orthopaedics Osteopathic Medicine Otolaryngology Pain Management Palliative Care Pathology Pediatrics Pediatric Surgery Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Plastic Surgery Podiatry Preventive Medicine Psychiatry Psychology Pulmonology Radiation Oncology Radiology Rheumatology Substance Use and Addiction Surgery Therapeutics Trauma Urology Miscellaneous

Read this article:

The Multi-faceted Effects of COVID-19 on Female Reproductive Health: An Updated Narrative Review - Cureus

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that 15 federal agencies were aware of a proposed project from 2018 that would have allowed virus research organization EcoHealth Alliance to genetically engineer a virus similar to SARS-CoV-2, sparking concerns about the extent to which the Trump administration should have been aware of the risks of research into dangerous viruses before the start of the COVID pandemic.

The project ultimately was not funded, but EcoHealth Alliance-funded research in Wuhan, China, has been at the center of speculation on the part of congressional investigators about the origins of the coronavirus.

At least 15 federal agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic that EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were seeking federal funding in 2018 to create a virus genetically very similar if not identical to COVID-19, Paul said on Tuesday. Disturbingly, not one of these 15 agencies spoke up to warn us that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been pitching this research.

Documents revealed by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, of which Paul is the top Republican member, indicate that several agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of Homeland Security, were aware of EcoHealths hope to create in China what Paul calls a novel chimeric virus with pandemic potential.

EcoHealth, a research nonprofit organization with the goal of preventing pandemics, has played a central role in the congressional investigation into the origins of COVID because of the grant funding the organization receives from the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies.

Since 2021, Paul has drawn attention to a 2018 grant proposal from EcoHealth to the Department of Defense under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The research proposal, referred to as the DEFUSE project, would have been conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

House Republicans recently uncovered information indicating that EcoHealth President Peter Daszak may have misled DARPA as to how much of the research would have been done in the United States rather than China in order to ensure that the DOD was comfortable with [the] team.

If the project had been funded by DARPA, the research would have involved manipulation of the spike proteins on various viruses related to SARS-CoV, which would have subsequently been injected into humanized mice to assess [the modified viruses] capability to cause SARS-like disease.

Paul said that the DEFUSE project would have specifically inserted a furin cleavage site onto a coronavirus, a key feature of SARS-CoV-2 that makes it easily transmissible among humans.

Paul announced first in an opinion piece on Tuesday that he had received documentation from the Biden administration that key agencies in public health and national security were made aware of the DEFUSE project at an event hosted by DARPA before the outbreak of the pandemic.

Because the DEFUSE project was submitted to the DARPA under the PREventing EMerging Pathogenic Threats, or PREEMPT, program, EcoHealth and the WIV were invited to participate in the so-called PREEMPT Proposers Day.

Under duress, the administration finally released documents that show that the DEFUSE project was pitched to at least 15 agencies in January 2018, Paul said.

According to Paul, this means that these agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic about the project, including the NIH and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the leadership of then-Director Anthony Fauci.

Did NIAID warn us? Did Anthony Fauci warn us? No! All lips remained sealed, Paul wrote in his op-ed.

Daszak participated in a closed-door transcribed interview session with the House Oversight and Energy and Commerce committees in November.

Discrepancies between Daszaks testimony and documents about the DEFUSE project uncovered via Freedom of Information Act requests prompted the committees to schedule a public hearing to question Daszak about the project.

Daszak is slated to appear for public testimony on May 1.

When asked about Pauls revelation, a spokesperson for the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic told the Washington Examiner that members will be likely asking Daszak about the degree of federal knowledge about the DEFUSE project outside of DARPA.

Dr. Peter Daszak has many questions to answer when he appears before the Select Subcommittee in May, said the subcommittee spokesperson. The American people deserve a full transparent investigation into the relationship between EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, including any funding federal agencies reviewed and granted prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A spokesperson for EcoHealth said in a statement that Pauls opinion piece is full of several unfounded and false claims.

EcoHealth Alliance did submit a proposal for a project named DEFUSE to DARPA for funding, but the agency declined to select the project for support and the proposed research was never done, the spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson maintained that EcoHealth did not pursue funding from any other federal agency for the DEFUSE project.

In response to a different opinion piece from Paul published in February related to dangerous pathogen research, the EcoHealth spokesperson previously told the Washington Examiner that the research conducted at the WIV had nothing to do with SARS-CoV-2.

The fact is that the bat coronavirus research conducted by EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology could not have started the COVID-19 pandemic, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said that if the DEFUSE project had been approved by DARPA, it would have been carefully monitored by the DOD.

Read more from the original source:

Fifteen agencies were aware of controversial EcoHealth coronavirus research, Rand Paul says - Washington Examiner

Rates of long COVID have begun to flatten. About 1 in 10 adults with COVID have reported having long COVID since rates fell in 2023, according to a KFF analysis of the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If the rate continues to hold steady, new forms of prevention or treatment may be important to achieve future reductions in long COVID.

As of March 2024, 7% of all adults (17 million people) reported that they have long COVID. Among the 60% of adults who reported ever having had COVID, roughly 3 in 10 reported having long COVID at some point and about 1 in 10 reported currently having it. The ongoing gap between the two long COVID rates indicates that people are continuing to recover, even as rates stabilize.

Long COVID rates are highest among adults who are transgender or who have disabilities. Among the 17 million currently affected, 79% report having any activity limitations, and 25% report that long COVID limits their activities a lot. These limitations can lead to employment and material hardships, with 4 in 10 reporting food insecurity, 2 in 10 reporting difficulty paying rent or mortgage, and 1 in 10 reporting that they had to stop working for a period of time.

People with long COVID also report greater challenges accessing and affording health care. As COVID is treated more and more as another respiratory virus, this group could face greater barriers to health care going forward.

See the original post here:

Long COVID Rates Appear to be Stabilizing, Affecting About 1 in 10 Adults Who Have Had COVID - KFF

CLEVELAND, Ohio Two area men created a slew of fake businesses to get $4.2 million in fraudulent government funds meant to help small businesses and employees survive the coronavirus pandemic, according to federal prosecutors.

Joseph Oloyede, 61, of Medina, and Edward Oluwasanmi, 61, of Willoughby were charged Friday in federal court in Cleveland with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, nine counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.

Both pleaded not guilty at their arraignments and were released on $20,000 unsecured bonds.

Oluwasanmis attorney, Henry Hilow, said its early in the case, and he looks forward to reviewing the evidence. A message was left for David Johnson, Oloyedes attorney.

Oloyede is the owner of Available Tax Services, Inc., a tax consultant business in Bedford Heights. Oluwasanmi owned Dayspring Transportation, a charter bus service based in South Euclid.

The duo created several other businesses that did little or no real business, lied on applications for the loans and recruited others to fill out fraudulent forms, according to the indictment.

Those who filled out the forms paid Oloyede and Oluwasanmi kickbacks for organizing the fake filings, according to court records.

Oloyede used some of the money to pay a contractor $24,473 for work on his Foote Road home, according to court records.

Oluwasanmi used $224,880 to buy a commercial property at 422 S. Green Road in South Euclid, where he moved his Dayspring business, court records say.

Prosecutors are seeking to seize Oloyedes home, which he bought in 2021 for $130,000, and Oluwasanmis commercial building.

Adam Ferrise covers federal courts at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. You can find his work here.

The rest is here:

Willoughby, Medina men accused of getting $4.2 million in fraudulent coronavirus relief funds - cleveland.com

(The Center Square) Lawmakers plan to interrogate the head of Eco Health Alliance, the group accused of conducting dangerous coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic will hold a public hearing May 1 where Dr. Peter Daszak is expected to testify. Daszak is the president of Eco Health Alliance, a U.S. nonprofit health research company that used taxpayer-funded grants to conduct coronavirus research.

The lawmakers on the committee allege that newly obtained documents show Daszaks previous testimony misled the committee or misrepresented the facts.

These revelations undermine your credibility as well as every factual assertion you made during your transcribed interview, the letter said. The Committees have a right and an obligation to protect the integrity of their investigations, including the accuracy of testimony during a transcribed interview. We invite you to correct the record.

One of those obtained documents appears to show Daszak saying he plans to work with Wuhan researchers.

A federal grant database shows that Eco Health Alliance received millions of dollars from the federal government since 2014 to study coronaviruses that originate in animals and in some cases can transfer to humans, with an emphasis on China.

A key and highly disputed part of the inquiry is whether Eco Health Alliance research included making coronaviruses more dangerous.

Under former President Donald Trump, the federal National Institutes of Health cut all funding to the group in question over the controversy.

Under the Biden administration, funding has been restored, and NIH has emphatically stated that Eco Health Alliance did not play a role in the start of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, in the absence of a definitive answer, misinformation and disinformation are filling the void, which does more harm than good, NIH said in a 2021 statement. NIH wants to set the record straight on NIH-supported research to understand naturally occurring bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, funded through a subaward from NIH grantee EcoHealth Alliance. Analysis of published genomic data and other documents from the grantee demonstrate that the naturally occurring bat coronaviruses studied under the NIH grant are genetically far distant from SARS-CoV-2 and could not possibly have caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Any claims to the contrary are demonstrably false.

In 2022 and 2023, NIH awarded Eco Health Alliance a total of at least $1,230,594 to research the potential for future bat coronavirus emergence in Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam.

The idea that the COVID-19 virus began in a Wuahn lab was once denounced as a conspiracy theory but has now gotten more widespread credibility.

The FBI announced last year after its investigation that COVID-19 most likely came from the Wuhan lab. That news came just after the Department of Energy also said the Wuhan lab was most likely the origin of COVID-19, though neither agency expressed a high degree of confidence in that theory.

Other groups have suggested it came from the Wuhan wet market, though no definitive answer has been settled on.

Read this article:

Wuhan-linked coronavirus researcher to testify before Congress - The Livingston Parish News

British Columbia

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share by Email

Posted: April 08, 2024

For Vancouver resident Farrell Eckman, having a long conversation or attending a workout classwithout breaking into coughs is a majoraccomplishment.

The 50-year-old is one of many people whoresearchers saydeveloped pulmonary fibrosisa condition that thickens the tissue in lungs and can affect breathingafter experiencing asevere caseof COVID-19.

In January 2022, Eckman was admitted to Vancouver General Hospital because she was having trouble breathing along with flu-like symptoms.

"Ispent over amonth in ICU. I was on a ventilator. Not once, but twice. [My family]thought they were gonna lose me," she recalled. "It was the scariest time we've ever been through."

Eckman'stime in hospital was caused by her second bout of COVID. She had received three vaccines for the coronavirus that causes the disease.

While she eventually recovered and was released to go home along withsix litres of oxygen, which isthe maximum amount a patient can be discharged with. Eckmanwas later diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis,caused bythe toll that COVID took on her lungs.

"The damage that was sustained to my lungs from COVID pneumonia was severe. They've looked at my lungs numerous times.I don't know if I'll ever fully recover. I'm functioning, which is tremendous. ButI could possibly be dealing with this for the rest of my life."

A meta-analysis published in the Annals of Medicine & Surgeryin April 2022 found almost 45per centof recovered COVID-19 patients developed pulmonary fibrosis, and those patients often suffered persistent symptoms such as coughing, chest pain and fatigue.

The research also drew a link between severity of COVID-19 symptoms and severity of consequent pulmonary fibrosis.

It's something Daniel Marinescu, a respirologist at Vancouver General Hospital, says he is seeing more often, adding that patients are more prone to developing pulmonary fibrosis depending on how severe scarring of their lung tissue is.

Marinescu says he's seen "several dozen" of these cases.

"Most of the time it is a fairly mild disease and most of the time people slowly get better over months and years," he said. "But sometimes people take a big hit if they're in the ICUfor a long time or on the ventilator for a long time."

Janet Pope, a rheumatologist and professor of medicine at Western University in London, Ont., says while research is limited, factors like age and smoking could affect the likelihood of patients developing the condition.

"We know that COVID pneumonia can cause pulmonary fibrosis. Not in most people who get COVID pneumonia, but if it's more severe, older age groups, more severe inflammation of the lungs from COVID," she said.

Pope adds patients may feel frustrated with their symptoms, but recommends sharing concerns with health-care professionals.

"They would take astethoscope and listen to the bottom of the lungs. It takes four seconds to do. If they hear what we call 'crackles' then theycan do a chest X-ray," she said.

"Have a listen to people if they say they'reshort of breath, if they're coughing, if they have a cold that's not improving," she advises.

For Eckman, recovery remainsa constant in her life. She says she works daily on improving herbreathing, and does pilatesregularly. However, shestill occasionally hasto use oxygen at night to help with her breathing.

"I just passed my two-year anniversary. I'm still dealing with it. It's an ongoing process," she said.

If youor someone you knowhas been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis,the Canadian Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation has resources availablethat can help.

Link:

Severe COVID leads to higher risk of pulmonary fibrosis: research - CBC.ca