Senators push for more investment in long COVID research

Angela Meriquez Vázquez said she used to be an active and healthy runner. But when she contracted COVID-19 in March 2020, her condition continued declining long after the initial infection.  

She had severe blood clots and mini-strokes. She struggled with confusion and numbness that eventually resulted in her inability to walk for days. She knew something was wrong within weeks, but Vázquez said doctors dismissed her symptoms.  

Vázquez told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that her story is similar to many Americans struggling with long COVID.

Senators largely agreed during the hearing Thursday that the government must become more involved in long COVID research and provide support for the growing number of Americans struggling with lasting symptoms.   

Her age and ethnicity, Vázquez said, also contributed to her lack of care. She was turned away from the hospital multiple times with serious symptoms, since she did not fit the stereotypical demographic of COVID-19 patients, often white and older. 

“I was a young person of color. Not elderly and white. Now, even the CDC’s data shows that Latina and LGBTQ+ communities are currently experiencing the highest levels of long COVID in the US.”  

Vázquez said doctors originally didn’t acknowledge that her COVID-19 infection could be linked to chronic illness, but her symptoms later matched with “long overdue” research on infection related pathology. 

“High markers for an autoimmune disease, labs that showed my blood was severely clotted, markers of an overactivated and exhausted immune system,” Vázquez said, “all were dismissed by doctors as anxiety.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), committee chair, said long COVID is a crisis that “has not gotten the attention that it deserves from the community, from the media and certainly from members of the congress.”  

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he has been struggling with symptoms of long COVID for four years and said he was upset by the difficulty for people of color and women to be believed and get treatment.  

“Doing a hearing about this has a way of sending a message. You are believed,” Kaine said. 

Long COVID is an assortment of medical issues that can develop after a person has the COVID-19 infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Symptoms vary, with some patients experiencing severe fatigue, shortness of breath, sleep problems or fever. 

Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, said during Thursday’s hearing that long COVID affects at least 20 million Americans across multiple demographics.  

There are currently no medicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat long COVID, which Al-Aly said makes it difficult for patients to find and get insurance to pay for treatment.  

Vázquez said she had to pay $4,000 out of pocket for care her insurance would not cover.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said situations like Vázquez’s highlight significant issues within the current health care system.   

“No one should go broke in this country because they get sick or have a bad accident,” Braun said.  

Sanders said long COVID is an economic issue as well as a health issue. He cited a study from The Brookings Institution estimating that between 2 million and 4 million people are out of work because of the disease. 

If 3 million people were out of work, it could result in a $168 billion loss in annual earnings, while if the number was closer to 4 million, it could be a $230 billion loss, according to the study. 

Al-Aly said the best way to prevent long COVID is by preventing COVID-19 infections and investing in more large-scale research.  

The disease has low recovery rates and more cases due to COVID-19 reinfection, Al-Aly said. The number of people suffering from long COVID is expected to rise unless there are better ways to prevent and treat it.

“People suffering from long COVID need treatment yesterday,” Al-Aly said.