A thread on X highlighted a TikTok video that inspired panic among commenters who have had COVID-19 too many times. Those who have suffered repeated infections reported difficulties with concentration and getting through a sentence without having to pause to think.
Since 2020, researchers have published a long list of alarming studies on the virus’ impact on various organs and systems, including the brain.
“They have brain damage”
Writer and director Becca Roth drew attention to the issue in an X thread on Monday. The TikTok video from a young user complains that she feels like she’s “getting dumber” and that she has to think every time she wants to say something because her “words get jumbled up.”
This video and the rest of the TikToker’s content has disappeared, but Roth thinks she knows the answer.
“Crying reading young ppl in TikTok comments discover in real time that they have brain damage from past covid infections,” she wrote. “No one’s ever told them that it’s connected and they’re panicking because they’ve had Covid so many times. So heartbroken and angry that we’ve let this happen.”
Roth supported this theory with studies and screenshots of other TikTokers reporting similar symptoms in the comments.
One user wrote, “wait cus i had covid 5 times and i cant even speak without stopping mid sentence to think.”
“I’ve had it and it’s causing so much brain fog,” said another. “My mind has never been the same fr.”
Others report constant confusion, dwindling vocabulary and writing abilities, and say they feel like they’re “slowly deteriorating.” Person after person agrees, with many expressing that they thought they were the only ones experiencing this.
What the research says on COVID-19 and brain damage
Roth further supported her theory that the main cause of this issue is repeated COVID infections with a thorough list of studies.
One from 2024 involving multiple universities found that “more than 60% of people who had Long COVID have neurological symptoms that impact their cognitive function and quality of life, even two and three years after COVID-19.”
Another from the same year reported that among those with Long COVID, defined by the World Health Organization as COVID symptoms that last three months past the initial infection, half of those do not seem to recover from brain fog even as other symptoms subside.
Long COVID seems to put people at the highest risk for these enduring cognitive symptoms. Researchers have said for years now that every repeated infection increases one’s risk of developing this syndrome.
Due to the fact that the virus is still infecting many thousands of people every week, the number of people who have suffered from Long COVID reached around 400 million people worldwide by 2024, costing nations $1 trillion collectively every year.
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