(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers heard testimony this week on how to address long COVID.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 7% of adults who contracted COVID-19 experienced long COVID symptoms in 2022, with most of them being women.
Health care officials estimate about 14% of Illinoisans who contracted the coronavirus have experienced long COVID symptoms, with underserved communities the hardest hit.
During an Illinois Senate Public Health Committee hearing this week, Dr. Melissa Simon from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said Latinos have the highest rates of long COVID symptoms.
“Minoritized populations have lower rates of vaccinations for COVID and then that lack of vaccination puts them more at risk for severe COVID and also then long COVID,” Simon said.
Some health officials are calling for the state to provide funding for a study to analyze the impacts of long COVID on underserved communities.
“Your constituents are being left behind,” said Beth Finta from the Southern Illinois Center for Independent Living. “I ask that funding be considered to fund long haul COVID clinics.”
Rush University in Chicago is part of a nationwide collaboration involving eight medical centers studying long COVID. It is called COVID Inspire and has been ongoing for three years.
Dr. Jerry Krishnan from UI Health warned that Illinoisans haven’t seen the last of viral outbreaks.
“This isn’t the last pandemic, this isn’t even the last of the COVID pandemic,” said Krishnan. “What we’re seeing is low levels of continued problems, including deaths, but that doesn’t mean another virus is not coming next year or three years from now,” said Krishnan.
