TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — It’s a lingering effect of the coronavirus pandemic for COVID long- hauler Maureen Marshall.
"I would still have somewhat good days then go down again then up and down again it was not a quick process,” Marshall said.
Last December the National Institutes of Health received 1.15 billion dollars in federal funding to study long COVID syndrome and the goals is to develop treatments over the next 4 years.
“Talk to a provider I had to at one point because I was getting frustrated, because I wasn’t back to normal. I like to work out and it just wasn’t coming back,” Marshall said.
Marshall works at a Banner Health COVID clinic and says she tested positive earlier this year and can't seem to shake one of her symptoms.
"Last weekend I played tennis and I was exerting myself and I have this slight deep cough which is that familiar COVID cough,” Marshall said.
The term long-haulers has also become known as long COVID syndrome. The NIH released new data that says at least 1 out 10 healthcare workers who got COVID are still dealing with health issues.
"They’re frustrated because they’re not getting better like they normally would in a shorter period of time. They want to go back to work, they want to feel good, they’re not able to do their normal activities,” Marshall said.
According to the CDC the lingering symptoms include:
Fatigue, brain fog, headache, loss of smell or taste, dizziness, heart palpitations, chest pain, breathing problems, cough, joint and muscle pain, depression or anxiety and fever.
"A lot of patients are getting depressed and it's affecting a lot of mental health. We are here to support patients with that as well and provide any resources they need,” Marshall said.
Meanwhile, Banner University Medicine Tucson is in the process of opening a new long-hauler COVID treatment center in the near future.
