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symptoms in March 2020, my heart still raced even though I was resting,” Melissa reported. “I could not stay in the sun for long periods; it zapped all of my energy. I had gastrointestinal problems, brain fog, extreme fatigue, ringing in my ears and chest pain.”

Melissa said her condition improved but reported that she was still feeling symptoms nearly three years after her initial COVID infection.

Amanda, 35 e report also notes there’s a signi cant overlap between long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. One resident named Jane described suffering from that condition.

Amanda reported testing positive for the coronavirus in November 2020. “COVID has wrecked the person I thought I was before. I now have been forced to go back to full time work against my cardiologist recommendations,” she said.

“ is was in fear of losing my job I’ve had for 7 years! I am 35 years old and have heart problems I’ve never had before,” including a racing heart rate that becomes elevated from a laying down position to standing.

“I am newly engaged and scared to think about having children due to what COVID has done to my body.

“ e illness severely limits my participation in my grandchildren’s lives, and my own daily life. I can only be vertical for one to one and a half hours at a time, and then I have to rest for an extended period,” she said. “I miss out on so much, and activities of daily living such as housekeeping, exercising, and socializing are severely limited.” e long COVID report is the rst such annual summary authored by e O ce of Saving People Money on Healthcare for the governor and e state aims to develop baseline data and monitor the e ects of COVID-19 on Colorado’s economy, workforce, medical and long-term care needs, health care a ordability and educational attainment. e report notes the illness is uncharted territory, both for medicine and government policy. It recommends better data collection and disease surveillance, collaboration between various institutions and improved care access for patients facing challenges at home, work or school. e o ce has also hired a senior policy advisor on long COVID, Dr. Mirwais Baheej, who was unavailable for an interview.

Another data point about the impact of long COVID comes from insurance claims. e Center for Improving Value in Health Care provided the state with a dataset of claims from a database of state insurance carriers, including Medicaid and Medicare.

It found around 16,000 Coloradans had gotten a long COVID diagnosis between Oct. 1, 2021, and Aug. 31, 2022. e report’s authors said that was likely an undercount based on several factors.

“As far as we know, there are no other states undertaking similar work at this time although the White House has published two reports on long COVID,” said Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera in an introductory letter to lawmakers and the governor. “We do hope to partner with the federal government as we move forward.” is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t news source. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.