OHIO — COVID-19 numbers were increasing prior to the holidays, and doctors are concerned they will continue to go up now that the holidays are over. Dr. Amy Edwards with University Hospitals said that the numbers are going "up, up, up."

What You Need To Know

  • COVID-19 cases are on the rise after the holidays

  • There is a new variant called JN1 and people have speculated the effects it has on one's heart

  • Heart failure has always been a risk with COVID, despite which variant it is 

Some people have speculated that the new COVID-19 variant, JN1, has caused increased heart failure. Edwards, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, explained that heart failure has always been a concern for people with COVID-19.

“There’s not a virus in the world that can’t cause heart failure," she said. "The question is to what extent. COVID more than most is very well known to cause heart failure. That’s not new."

Edwards explained there doesn't seem to be an increased risk of heart failure with the new variant.

“I saw a headline saying, you know, we’re going to have a pandemic of heart failure," she said. "Which is just nonsense."

She explained that some of the speculation could be coming from a Japanese study, in which researchers infected heart cells with the virus.

“When the heart muscle had like a prolonged viral presence, so when the virus didn’t clear out of the heart tissue fast enough then it was a lot harder for the heart cells to recover to full function which presumably could be part of the reason that COVID patients are getting heart failure," she said.

The research in conjunction with rising COVID-19 numbers has likely caused more people to speculate that the new variant is linked to increased heart failure. Edwards said to make sure to get information from trusted sources.