<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/2/1582578903410.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>
By
NICK GOSNELL
Hutch
Post
HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — 
Hutchinson cardiologist Dr. Michael Hagley says we still are learning about COVID-19 and its effects on the cardiovascular system."You can see cardiac issues both in people who have pre-existing problems and in people who don't," Hagley said. "One that gets a lot of press is myocarditis or inflammation of the heart muscle."Hagley says that problem is significant."We'll see bumps in cardiac enzyme levels in people who have the COVID infection and it's kind of a question mark right now about whether that's going to cause long-term problems or not, but some of the speculation is that as time goes on, even as people have recovered from the viral infection that we may see an increased rate of congestive heart failure, due to the myocarditis."No one has had the infection long enough ago to know for sure."There are other findings that are more subtle," Hagley said. "One thing we're seeing is that people who have had this infection oftentimes tend to just have a fast heart rate for a while, even though their rhythm mechanism is normal. They seem to have a hard time regulating heart rate. That's kind of an odd finding. Even though it's not dangerous, it can be troubling to people who have that problem just because they can be at rest and they feel like their heart's racing. We also seem to see more frequent atrial fibrillation in people with COVID-19."In addition, Hagley notes that deep vein thrombosis and the tendency for those clots to migrate to the lungs has been found to be more likely, as well.

Cardiologist: We don't know yet what COVID-19 does to the heart long-term