COVID survivors are at risk from a separate epidemic of opioid addiction, given the high rate of painkillers being prescribed to them, according to health experts. A new study in Nature found alarmingly high rates of opioid use among COVID survivors with lingering symptoms at Veterans Health Administration facilities. About 10 percent of COVID survivors develop “long COVID,” struggling with often disabling health problems six months or longer after a diagnosis. For every 1,000 long-COVID patients—sometimes referred to as “long haulers”—who were treated at a Veterans Affairs facility, doctors wrote nine more prescriptions for opioids than they would have otherwise, along with 22 additional prescriptions for benzodiazepines, including Xanax and other addictive pills used to treat anxiety. Although previous studies have found many COVID survivors experience persistent health problems, the Nature article is the first to show they’re using more addictive medications, said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, the paper’s lead author. …