HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Long COVID is when the virus has left your body but the symptoms persist. Doctors believe it is still too early to tell how bad it will be.
“Headaches and migraines nonstop, daily. Unrelenting light sensitivity, sound sensitivity,” said Dr. Sharon Stoll, a neurologist who recovered from COVID back in spring 2020 but then battled symptoms long-term.
She is not alone.
“We know that with the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants, we were seeing long-haul COVID between 10 and 30% of the cases,” Stoll said.
While omicron is less potent, it is still too early to tell the long-term effects. Doctors say studies do show the more you have COVID, the longer the symptoms last.
“It seems to be higher in people that had COVID already, and now are having COVID either for the second time or third time,” Stoll said.
Symptoms can include anything from fatigue, to joint pain and headaches, to what they call brain fog, a lack of concentration. The same symptoms are also being found in children.
“Whatever it triggers, the inflammation that it causes in the brain, the heart, the joints, any other organ tissue, then it can persist for a long time,” said Dr. Juan Salazar, physician-in-chief at Connecticut Children’s.
It can be months or more than a year, but Salazar said it affects around 2 to 3% of those who have COVID.
Connecticut Children’s has a long-haul clinic, where they are not only treating long COVID but have launched a new study looking into the different ways the virus affects the body.
“What are the complications, the long-term complications. Like everything about COVID, this is something new, and we will learn and we will study and we will act depending on the findings,” Salazar said.
If your child has long COVID, Connecticut Children’s is still looking for participants for their study. You can reach out to them for more information.