Doctor warns against COVID’s impact on the heart
President of the American Heart Association said the COVID virus can cause blood clots as well as damage to your major organs.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - President of the American Heart Association Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones said COVID is a serious infection that can affect not only your lungs, but other important organs like your heart.
The infection can even cause blood clots, according to Lloyd-Jones.
“One of the things that made us vulnerable to the COVID virus is that we weren’t a very healthy population to start with,” he said. “We had too much obesity, too much uncontrolled high blood pressure, too much diabetes in our population and again, particularly affecting our underserved and under resourced communities. Turns out those three things, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, not only made us vulnerable to this virus, they’re also major risk factors for heart disease and stroke.”
He was concerned that rural and minority communities do not have access to quality healthcare.
Data from the Center for Disease Control showed that pregnant women and young African American adults have some of the lowest rates of vaccinations, even though research shows they are among the most at-risk for COVID complications, and that the vaccine is safe for them.
Lloyd-Jones encouraged everyone to get vaccinated, especially pregnant women.
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