system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How can we know the 'long term' effects of COVID-19 if we have not had it for a long period yet?
gpt
I think it has to do with short term damage to biological structures that we know will have long term effects.  Certain types of damage to the pancreas, heart and lungs are just known to have long term effects regardless of what caused the damage to begin with.  Doctors are noticing some of this damage specific to the heart and lungs is occurring in some Covid cases.  So even though we don't know that Covid specifically causes long term effects, the short term damage caused by Covid to these organs is the type of damage that will last for a long time if not permanently.