Long COVID Awareness Day is Wednesday

SANDUSKY — People suffering from long-haul COVID are invited to participate Wednesday in the first International Long COVID Awareness Day. The organizers for the day, set for March 15, include a Sandusky native, filmmaker Joshua Pribanic. Pribanic also is the founder of the Long COVID Action Project. "In March 2022, an estimated 23 million Americans suffered from Long COVID. Today, studies suggest that number could be as high as 41 million people battling Long COVID in the United States. Yet, there's no cure or treatment," said Pribanic, a Long COVID patient. "On March 15th we act in solidarity calling for an end to the Long COVID crisis through bi-partisan support to find a cure." People participating in Long COVID Awareness Day are being asked to go on social media and post black and white pictures of something they can no longer do because of Long COVID and use the hashtags: #LongCovidAwarenessDay and #LongCovid. That will raise awareness of the issue and help people dealing with the condition find each other, organizers say. Angela Laffin, one of the main organizers for Wednesday's event, hopes to convince the United Nations to recognize Long COVID Awareness Day. Estimates on the number of people who have Long COVID, also known as "Post-COVID Conditions," vary sharply, although apparently everyone agrees the number runs into the millions. The Brookings Institution for example estimated in August that around 16 million working-age Americans have Long COVID. The CDC says that a good number isn't available yet: "Estimates of the proportion of people who had COVID-19 that go on to experience Post-COVID Conditions can vary." The CDC defines Long COVID as experiencing long-term health effects from the disease. "Most people with COVID-19 get better within a few days to a few weeks after infection, so at least four weeks after infection is the start of when Post-COVID Conditions could first be identified," the CDC's Long COVID website says. The CDC has a long list of possible Long COVID symptoms, including fatigue, fever, difficulty breathing, coughing, chest pain, headaches, changes in smell and taste and many other symptoms. Plenty of research into the condition is needed, the CDC says. The CDC says that in July 2021, Long COVID became a recognized condition that could result in a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Pribanic's Long COVID Action Project has organized a letter-writing campaign to elected officials asking them to take action to deal with Long COVID, including letters to every member of Congress. Information on that effort is available at https://actionnetwork.org/letters/help-end-the-long-covid-crisis.