Five years ago this week, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
Half a decade later, COVID has transformed — for many — into a much more acute infection. But a chronic condition that develops out of the virus — long COVID — has continued to evolve and infect people, confounding doctors and researchers.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that one in nine people who caught COVID saw it progress into long COVID. Since 2020, at least 20 million people have been diagnosed with the chronic condition, and many people still suffer from its effects.
Dr. Nisha Viswanathan, director of the UCLA Long COVID Clinic, says even though the original virus is less worrisome than it once was, long COVID is creating a lasting public health crisis.
She estimates there could be more than 2 million Californians who currently need treatment for long COVID. However, she points out that we still don’t know a lot about the condition.
“We are in a new, what I would call, generation of knowledge. … We are realizing in a lot of studies that having COVID repeatedly increases a person’s risk of developing long COVID, and that seems to be regardless of age or risk factors.”
Long COVID has persistent symptoms that occur after a COVID infection, which can wax and wane, and can start at any point. They vary by individual but might include blood clotting, shortness of breath, brain fog, and fatigue, among others. In total, the CDC estimates that more than 200 symptoms can fall under the long COVID umbrella.
“For many of our patients, these are symptoms that are continuing to persist after having had COVID four or five years ago,” Viswanathan says.
Yet, no approved medications or treatment options exist for those diagnosed with long COVID. But Viswanathan says researchers and doctors have used information from other post-viral syndromes to successfully offer patients care.
“A lot of our understanding of how to treat, for example, the fatigue or brain fog in long COVID is informed by the research done on patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome,” Viswanathan says. “So it is important for patients to know that just because you have a diagnosis of long COVID, it doesn't mean that there aren't treatment options out there to help manage your condition.”
Read more: Long COVID: Millions have it. Why do we still know so little?
However, she notes that it is still difficult for many doctors to identify long COVID because these types of post-viral syndromes were not that common until the pandemic. Plus, many insurance companies have been hesitant to cover treatments, especially for MedCal patients, because they’re not FDA approved, Viswanathan says. “So it is really going to take a coordinated effort to ultimately get all of our patients the care they need.”