Health
5 Years After the Pandemic Began, Many Patients Still Live With the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
For many people, COVID-19 is still not behind us.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly three in 10 adults who’ve been infected with the virus at some point have experienced long COVID, or long-term health problems from the virus.
While clinical research is still underway, advocates say more help is needed for those living with long COVID. It’s a chronic illness that happens after infection from the virus and lasts at least three months. People with long COVID can experience a wide range of ongoing symptoms.
Jerry Krishnan, a medical researcher at the University of Illinois Chicago, said there’s a lack of medical tests to diagnose long COVID, making it challenging to identify and fully understand.
“We don’t have a medical test that we can do where we can draw blood,” said Krishnan. “The diagnosis is based on symptoms, and because most of the symptoms are not specific for long COVID, it could be because of other illnesses. I think people are struggling to be able to tell, ‘Is this long COVID, or is this something else?’”
Marta Cerda, a health care executive, got COVID-19 in October 2020 and never fully regained her senses of taste and smell. With other symptoms such as stomach pain, fatigue, brain fog and respiratory issues, she said she’s worried her long COVID has gotten worse over the years.
“People will look at me and think I’m fine, but I’m very, very tired and I have to rest,” said Cerda. “I actually had to stop working for the first time. I had to stay home because my stomach issues were so severe. I was too fatigued to be able to even do Zoom meetings.”
Cerda said she struggles with her symptoms while trying to lead a busy work schedule as a leader in her company, balancing several meetings and responsibilities while quietly battling the effects of long COVID.
Maynard Sasis contracted COVID-19 in April 2020 while working as a nurse caring for patients. He ended up getting hospitalized a month after infection, and now has to plan his life around keeping up with medications, therapy and rest breaks.
“That’s been the hardest struggle for me — the loss of identity because I know I will never be that same person again,” said Sasis. “I thought I was doing everything possible to prevent this. And the fact that it failed was very difficult for me to accept.”
His new life navigating memory loss, debilitating fatigue and muscle aches is a stark contrast from his life before, where he was very active — running half-marathons and working multiple jobs. Sasis has been unable to work and has been on disability benefits, which are soon running out.
Sasis took money out of savings to try a wide variety of treatments to manage his symptoms. He said he hopes that medical research can fill in the gaps of knowledge about how to prevent and treat long COVID.
“A lot of people are complacent and don’t want to hear about COVID,” said Sasis. “I just feel like people are needlessly suffering.”
Krishnan said more people need to be educated on what long COVID can look like and what types of care people who live with it need.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” said Krishnan. “When a new problem develops, we need medical school curriculum. We need nursing school curriculum and continuing medical education to train people to recognize this new problem.”
Despite her long battle with long COVID, Cerda said she’s hopeful she can one day overcome her health issues.
“It’s like a storm that takes over your body,” said Cerda. “It’s just a nightmare for me and I’m trying to maintain hope that there will be these treatments and cures, but it’s sometimes very hard to have hope.”
