Southwest Virginia health districts launching long COVID study

An image of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. (Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rocky Mountain Lab)

As COVID-19 rates rise in Virginia and around the nation this summer, the prevalence of long COVID is underreported. Virginia’s health department wants to better understand it, so it’s about to conduct a new study.

The latest study will focus on Southwest Virginia residents after an initial analysis on Central Virginia last fall.

Long COVID is diagnosed when symptoms persist for months or longer after a person’s initial viral infection. It’s something that John Bolecek of Richmond unfortunately knows very well.

After his family’s January 2022 bout with the virus, Bolecek said the disease “derailed” so many aspects of his life. He experienced insomnia, weight loss, and constant malaise. The fitness enthusiast had to trade his arduous runs and bike rides for gentle walks, though he often must rest most of the time.

“My life looks nothing like it used to. I was an employed, active father of two who loved taking his kids on bike rides, hiking, and adventuring,” he wrote in a guest column for Virginia Mercury last year. “If you see me out in the world, I may look normal, but just know I’m still suffering, as are many others experiencing long COVID, and I’m expending my very limited energy budget in strategic ways so my family can function as normally as possible.”

With long COVID a relatively new medical phenomenon, his symptoms also overlap with another lesser-studied condition — Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) . With little known about either condition, Bolecek is hopeful that lawmakers can bolster research through funding.

A preliminary report based on interviews with 68 participants from last fall’s central Virginia-anchored inquiry found that 88% of the participants with long COVID symptoms were not up to date on their vaccinations. At the onset of Bolecek’s contraction of COVID and subsequent symptoms, he was vaccinated and boosted, but he did have asthma.

High blood pressure was common among participants and the majority of people with long COVID symptoms reported severe or moderate symptoms during the initial infection that may have triggered the lingering symptoms.

Such triggers included physical activity, stress and mental activity. About 57% of participants were able to work, but with difficulty, while others needed to reduce hours, work remotely, or found themselves terminated.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine has also struggled with long COVID symptoms and has used his personal experience to spearheaded efforts at the national level, including research, to address the disease. .

Earlier this year the National Institutes of Health redirected $515 million in federal funding for the RECOVER Initiative, first launched in 2021. By the time funding was running low last summer, advocates had been skeptical of the trials conducted so far .

Bolecek believes a permanent office should be created to focus on long COVID research and treatment because “without a permanent program, there is little incentive for new doctors and academic researchers to specialize in this field.”

For his part in Congress, Kaine continues to press for passage of the bipartisan Long COVID Support Act , which he and U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, introduced last summer.  If passed, the bill would authorize centralization of data sets regarding patients with long COVID and related conditions for future research.

“I’m glad that the Virginia Department of Health is conducting this study and that the Biden Administration has taken steps to better support Americans with Long COVID,” he said in an email. “ I will keep pushing to pass my bipartisan bill to accelerate research on Long COVID, educate providers, and expand resources to patients.”

Southwest Virginia residents with either a Long COVID diagnosis or similar symptoms may fill out this survey to participate in the data collection.

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