{"id":234158,"date":"2022-03-24T05:28:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T12:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?p=234158"},"modified":"2022-03-23T17:42:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T00:42:29","slug":"long-covid-inequities-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_ko\/health\/coronavirus\/2022\/03\/long-covid-inequities-california\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018An enormous disabling event\u2019: Long COVID could have inequitable impact on Californians"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t\n\t\t
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In summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

Latino, Black and low-income people with inadequate health care could suffer the most. California doesn’t have many long COVID specialists, and disadvantaged communities are underserved.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n

Lea este art\u00edculo en\u00a0espa\u00f1ol<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been two years since Angela Meriquez Vazquez was infected with COVID-19, but some of her most debilitating symptoms remain. Migraines, fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations, insomnia and sometimes even a fever are among the symptoms that disrupt her day-to-day life.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisette Duarte still needs an inhaler eight months after her COVID-19 infection, and damage to her voice box occasionally leaves her struggling to speak. She can\u2019t return to work, so she relies on Medi-Cal for her health coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long COVID<\/a> is a mysterious, debilitating and difficult-to-diagnose compilation of post-infection problems that have affected perhaps millions of Californians. And health experts fear that the toll will be especially harsh for Latinos, African Americans and low-income residents, who already face a disproportionate impact from COVID-19 <\/a>as well as less access to quality health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least 20 specialized, post-COVID programs<\/a> have been set up at medical centers in California to help treat these long-haul patients. But they already are overburdened, and experts fear that long COVID could go largely unaddressed or misdiagnosed in people who have few resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we know is that because the greatest amount of exposure happens in low-income communities, they will have the highest burden of long COVID,\u201d said Dr. Neeta Thakur<\/a>, a pulmonary and critical care doctor at UC San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People with long COVID “feel frustrated. They\u2019re told it’s anxiety or to be patient, that symptoms will get better on their own.\u201d\u201d<\/p>Dr. Jeffrey Hsu, UCLA Health\u2019s long COVID program<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Long COVID patients often need a team of specialists because cardiac, respiratory and neurological problems have been documented. As a result, people with Medi-Cal or no health insurance may struggle to find proper care and pay for expensive tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some vast regions of California have few doctors experienced in diagnosing and treating long COVID conditions. Of the 20 post-COVID clinics and programs in California, according to a crowdsourced list collected by a patient advocacy group,<\/a> nearly all are in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. Of those listed, only one is in the Central Valley. None are in the San Joaquin Valley, an eight-county region where hospitals were inundated<\/a> during previous COVID-19 infection waves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general experience (of patients) is that they\u2019ve been seen by numerous providers in the community. They feel frustrated,\u201d said Dr. Jeffrey Hsu<\/a>, a cardiologist who is on a team of physicians treating patients at UCLA Health\u2019s long COVID program<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re told it’s anxiety or to be patient, that symptoms will get better on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studies have estimated that more than one in four COVID-19 patients<\/a> experience symptoms that last for months, known as \u201clong haulers.\u201d In California, that could mean as many as 2 million people among the 8.5 million COVID-19 cases may have long COVID, including more than 100,000 African Americans and one million Latinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s hard to know how many people actually suffer from long COVID, largely because it is still being defined: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says symptoms are considered long-term if they last more than four weeks after an infection; the World Health Organization says it\u2019s 12 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The California Department of Public Health is collaborating with UCSF and UCLA on a national study<\/a> tracking the aftermath of COVID infections through patient surveys. Without providing details, the department also said it is working on partnerships with the University of California system to expand access to post-COVID information and care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demand for long COVID care exceeds capacity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At UCLA, the long COVID team includes four primary care doctors who evaluate patients and then connect them to the appropriate specialist \u2014 cardiologists, neurologists, pulmonologists, psychiatrists and others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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