13 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the illness that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 causes, and more than 570,000 deaths. While experts initially thought that the illness was principally a respiratory infection, doctors treating critically ill patients quickly recognized that its effects are far more widespread. “I was on the frontlines right from the beginning,” says Dr.
Aakriti Gupta, who was one of the first cardiology specialists to be deployed to COVID-19 intensive care units at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “I observed that patients were clotting a lot, they had high blood sugars even if they did not have diabetes, and many were experiencing injury to their hearts and kidneys.” In early March 2020, there was little.