Long Covid

Health
Written By Alysha Rashid

29% of Southerners who previously had Covid currently suffer from Long Covid symptoms. In West Virginia, it’s 41%.

Long Covid estimates, Mar 1-13, 2023

Percent of adults who previously had Covid, with symptoms lasting 3 months or longer

Long Covid continues to impact millions of Americans across the nation. Among those who previously had Covid, 29% of Southerners (and 26% of non-Southerners) are currently experiencing prolonged symptoms, known as Long Covid.1 Consistent with the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey results, experts find that one-third of Covid patients experience Long Covid symptoms.2,3 Long Covid largely affects immune and circulatory systems, as well as the brain and lungs.4,5,6,7

Days before ending the the Covid national emergency, the Biden administration released a fact sheet detailing their efforts to raise awareness, deliver high-quality care, and make services and supports available to Long Covid patients over the last year.8,9 Still, many Long Covid patients struggle to receive the appropriate healthcare. A recent study finds that patients who experience Long Covid symptoms were more likely to report unmet health care needs in the last year because of costs, difficulties finding doctors, and difficulties using health insurance.10

Safe and effective treatments for Long Covid patients are crucial to the nation’s economic recovery, as persistent Covid symptoms sidelined approximately 500,000 workers in 2022, equivalent to $62 billion in per-year value of labor loss supply. (Total jobs).11

  1. “Long COVID: Household Pulse Survey”. CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm 

  2. “Incidence, co-occurence, and evolution of long-COVID features: A 6-month retrospective cohort study of 273,618 survivors of COVID-19”. Taquet, Dercon, Luciano, Geddes, Husain, and Harrison. PLoS Medicine.  September, 2021. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003773#pmed.1003773.s003

  3. “What Causes Long COVID Symptoms? NYU Langone Researchers Net $52 Million Federal Grant to Find Out”. Katz, Horwitz, and Troxel. NYU Langone. https://nyulangone.org/news/what-causes-long-covid-symptoms-nyu-langone-reSearchers-net-52-million-federal-grant-find-out#:~:text=Studies%20show%20that%20up%20to,issues%2C%20anxiety%2C%20and%20depression.

  4. “Immunological dysfunction persists for 8 months following initial mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection”. Phetsouphanh, Darley, Wilson, Howe, Munier, Patel, Juno, Burrell, Kent, Dore, Kelleher, and Matthews. Nature Immunology. January, 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-021-01113-x

  5. “Persistent Exertional Intolerance After COVID-19, Insights From Invasive Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing”. Singh, Joseph, Heerdt, Cullinan, Lutchmansingh, Gulati,  Possick, Systrom, and Waxman. January, 2022. https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(21)03635-7/fulltext

  6. “Nervous system consequences of COVID-19”. Spudich, Nath. Science.org. January, 2022. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm2052

  7. “The Investigation of Pulmonary Abnormalities using Hyperpolarised Xenon Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients with Long-COVID”. Grist, Collier, Walters, Chen, Eid, Laws, Matthews, Jacob, Cross, Eves, Durant, Mcintyre, Thompson, Schulte, Raman, Robbins, Wild, Fraser, and Gleeson. MedRxiv. February, 2022. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.01.22269999v1

  8. “Biden ends COVID national emergency after Congress acts”. NPR. April, 2023. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/one-billion-days-lost-how-covid-19-is-hurting-the-us-workforce 

  9. “FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Makes Progress in the Whole-of-Government Response to Long COVID”. HHS. April, 2023. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/04/05/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-makes-progress-whole-government-response-long-covid.html 

  10. “Health Care Access and Affordability Among US Adults Aged 18 to 64 Years With Self-reported Post-COVID-19 Condition”. Karpman, Zuckerman, Morriss. Jama Network. April, 2023. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2803645 

  11. “THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ILLNESSES ON WORKERS”. Goda, Soltas. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w30435/w30435.pdf

Alysha Rashid
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