We know people with diabetes are at a higher risk for the coronavirus, but turns out the coronavirus may cause someone to develop diabetes. 

According to research in the "Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism" journal, about 14% of people hospitalized for severe COVID-19 later develop diabetes. 

A nurse practitioner at the Florence Endocrine office, Daniel Ruck, said they've seen a slight increase in patients diagnosed with diabetes, but he said Type 1 diabetes is often linked to viral infections. 

“It’s not really a surprise that the COVID virus is causing an increase in incidents because we’ve known that other viruses kind of have this association," he said.

Ruck said the office is always busy, but looking back, he's noticed an increase of diabetes patients since the pandemic began. There's currently no conclusive research showing the correlation between the coronavirus increasing the likelihood of developing diabetes. 

“We don’t know the exact how’s and why’s it happens. What we know is there is an association, and so that association tends to extend to multiple viruses, and COVID seems to be one of them," said Ruck.

Ruck said if you're pre-diabetic and get the coronavirus, or any viral infection, the illness could be the tipping point to having diabetes.

“If you’re on the verge of having Type 1 diabetes, this could help push you over the edge."

He said the coronavirus hasn't been around long enough to know the long-term effects and impacts of the virus causing diabetes.