The COVID-19 pandemic may be over, but long-haul carriers continue to grapple with the lingering effects of the viral disease. Many of them are struggling to return to normal life. So while their condition remains incurable, they advocate for people to continue wearing masks in the post-pandemic era.
The COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project is a movement that provides a platform for chronic COVID patients to share their stories and their fight for better research and resources.
“Help us fight for safe and equitable access to health care! The people and places we seek help shouldn’t put us at risk,” the project tweets On Tuesday, Stress members and organizers called for masks to be preserved in healthcare facilities.
Cynthia Adinig and her son Aiden are among those advocating for prolonged exposure to COVID-19. They were infected with SARS-CoV-2 in March 2020, and their lives have changed dramatically since then.
during an interview so, published Wednesday, Adenig shared that they only started with mild cases. To their surprise, they started experiencing mysterious symptoms months after initially contracting the virus.
“I started very early on with very severe long-term COVID, was bedridden, incapacitated very quickly, and nearly starved to death a few times because of my reactions,” she said.
The Vienna, Va., resident said her first mysterious symptoms were severe allergic reactions to food and water. While doing simple work, her heart also started beating wildly. Years later, she barely leaves the house because she has a technical handicap.
Meanwhile, Aiden only started experiencing long-term COVID symptoms last year. Adinig said his symptoms were barely noticeable at first. However, after playing with his friends, things quickly turned for the worse for them.
“He went from a barely noticeable long COVID to sleepovers after playing with friends, fluctuating heart rate, fluctuating oxygen,” Mom said.
Adinig acknowledged in interviews that they decided to join the movement after struggling to get proper treatment and convincing doctors of what they believed to be lingering symptoms from COVID-19.
Long-distance transporters can feel safe by keeping masks in medical facilities. It also prevents other people from catching the virus and possibly developing lingering symptoms like them.
“One extra hurdle is too much. It sounds small, but it’s very important to us … we should have at least one safe space,” Adinig said.
according to Kaiser Family Foundation, about 15 percent of U.S. adults have had prolonged COVID symptoms at some point.At the same time, a random survey Nearly 19 million Americans are living with long-term COVID, the City University of New York found.
Published by Medicaldaily.com