Maybe people had these conditions before they caught COVID and didn't get their checkups until they sought COVID treatment because it was too expensive, they do

Maybe people had these conditions before they caught COVID and didn't get their checkups until they sought COVID treatment because it was too expensive, they don't trust the medical system, etc. Maybe people are suffering from the added stressors related to isolation, job precarity, malaise, distrust in the members of society around them, being stuck at home with people they don't like or who actively harm them, etc. Maybe the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes neurological issues when it inhabits the nervous system. Could be any of these. The title can be easily misinterpreted as "COVID is the direct cause of everyone's issues" if the reader has a naive understanding of how people interact with healthcare based on pre-existing socioeconomic, etc. factors. To be fair, the article body's language is careful to avoid a specific attribution, as I'm sure the people who ran the study were avoiding claiming such conclusions. But since only about 40% of people read past the headline this isn't doing anything to help the general collective trauma we are experiencing surrounding this pandemic.