Greater understanding is being assembled for what "long COVID" is and why it persists even after the COVID is gone.

Free article in NYT

[url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/well/covid-long-term-health-damage.html?unlocked_article_code=1.204.ILLK.dVVuRRrZDHFK&smid=url-share][color=#000080]A Clearer Picture of Covid’s Lasting Effects on the Body

of note to brass players..

Covid irritates the lungs and can cause long-term issues, like persistent shortness of breath and coughing...

The cause: The virus invades cells along the airways, causing inflammation that can attack and sometimes destroy healthy lung tissue. This can impair the lungs’ ability to deliver oxygen throughout the body...

As the lungs try to recover and repair, they form scars. But scar tissue itself can stiffen the lungs and reduce lung capacity, leading to lasting symptoms such as a cough and shortness of breath.

Of the body systems surveyed in the article, the lung problems may be the best-understood. However, the permanent damage from temporary inflammation seems to be a common thread among all.

From what I’ve been told, after my recent week stint in the hospital for Flu A and Pneumonia, that is precisely the reason why I had a hard time getting rid of the fluid.

The joys of having Covid three times I suppose…not to mention the industrial chemicals and grinding without use of PPE.

Another article on Long Covid effects

This article should be free to read.

[url=https://wapo.st/3QOUEre][color=#404040]‘Something was wrong with my brain’: How covid leaves its mark on cognition

Five years after the pandemic began, the neurocognitive effects of long covid are numerous and troubling. And some of these cognitive losses may extend to people who quickly recovered.

...“I could tell very early on that something was wrong with my brain,” she said after getting sick with covid-19.

And Davis had quantitative proof — her score for processing speed on a cognitive test dropped from the 96th percentile right before the pandemic to the 14th percentile after her coronavirus infection...

I had (have?) long Covid, and have every one of the symptoms you report from that article. They all affect my ability to play music. It sucks, but whatcha gonna do?