A long haul with long COVID-19
UC expert shares why poor, middle income Americans appear to be hit hardest
An array of symptoms, including fatigue, breathing problems and debilitating pain, have come to be known as “long COVID-19".
The condition can affect anyone, but a growing body of evidence suggests those in the low- and middle-income brackets are more likely to develop long COVID, to suffer longer with its symptoms and to endure job loss, eviction and other serious consequences because of it.
That's according to recent Yahoo! News reporting, which originally appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Census survey last year made a similar connection that the poorer the household, the greater the chance it was home to a long COVID sufferer.
The reason for the disparity is unclear. But physicians, activists and public health leaders suspect lower income people suffer more from long COVID for the same reason they suffer more from heart disease, diabetes and other health concerns. They have less access to what contributes to good health, from quality medical care and insurance to healthy food and affordable housing.
When the pandemic began, many public health leaders predicted those with less would suffer most.
“That’s exactly the way it played out,” said Richard Becker, MD, the physician who leads the University of Cincinnati’s long COVID clinic. He also serves as director of the UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute and an internal medicine professor in the UC College of Medicine.
While COVID is caused by a virus, the cause of long COVID symptoms that linger after the virus is gone is more mysterious.
Featured image at top: Illustration of coronavirus. Photo/istock/peterschreiber.media.
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