Originally Posted by
aeroengineer
I get concerned anytime you put cognitive and FAA in the same sentence. With Rona we've crossed into another realm medically because no one really knows what it can or can't do. The FAA tends to leans conservative without a lot of hard data one way or another. A lot of health issues are visible for examination. Cognitive issues don't always present as black and white. Remember that conversation on cognitive decline from two lifetimes ago in context with age 65 and above for pilot age limits?
Rona is a coronavirus, which is a well known family. It's not anything special or magical, other than that we don't have any natural immunity to it (yet) and it looks to be more contagious than the typical flu. There are other coronaviruses in circulation, some of which cause the symptoms we generically refer to as "the common cold".
No particular reason to think it will have lingering effects in most people (any virus can have a weird course and cause longer-term issues in some people, but most people clear this kind of virus and recover fully).
The FAA is not going to ground people based on a positive COVID test... that might end up shutting down the air transport system even if the economy doesn't.
We all get cog screens anyway... our primary cog screens are annual/semi-annual sim rides and the casual conversation you have with your AME every six months. That later is also your mental health assessment.