NEWARK, N.J. (WCBS 880) — The pandemic might be winding down, but there are still plenty of people suffering from the long-term effects of coronavirus.
In March, WCBS 880 reported that anywhere from 2% to 25% of all COVID survivors have logged some form of post-COVID syndrome symptoms – many for weeks and even months after their recovery.
While much is still unknown about the long-term effects of the virus, there is hope for those struggling in the form of an online advocacy and support group boasting over 170,000 members.
“Survivor Corps is the world’s largest COVID movement,” said Diana Berrent, founded of Survivor Corps.
Berrent, a resident of Newark, says she first saw the struggles of people dealing with long-term COVID symptoms when the group was working on collecting plasma donations.
“We realized that many patients were surviving but, they were not recovering and that's when we also became a patient advocacy movement,” she said.
She stressed there are still hundreds of thousands of patients dealing with long-term effects of COVID-19.
"This is our shadow pandemic and if COVID was our war, these are our veterans,” Berrent said.
She notes that for some, the symptoms can even be critical.
“For some people, COVID can really act like a ticking time bomb in the system,” said Berrent.
She tells WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell that she would like to see a national COVID registry to help people deal with the long-term effects of being infected by the virus.
“Not only do we need to be able to retroactively offer people the wraparound services that they will need going forward but, we need prospectively to track people longitudinally.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram