NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced an aftercare program that will help people suffering from "Long COVID," in which COVID-19 patients experience symptoms that last for weeks or months after the initial infection.
The aftercare program, which will be run by the Test and Trace Corps, will focus on supporting so-called "COVID long-haulers" in the five boroughs.
Dr. Amanda Johnson, of NYC Health + Hospitals, said symptoms of Long COVID include shortness of breath, chest discomfort, lightheadedness, cough, anxiety, depression and other symptoms that patients didn't have before their infection and that last for weeks or months later.
The new aftercare program begins on Wednesday. The Test and Trace Corps will begin reaching out to people who indicated they were still experiencing symptoms through the end of their isolation period.
The patients will be offered resources via text message, including resources offering physical and mental health support, as well as financial support and community support.
The program will be offered regardless of ability to pay or documentation status. More information can be found here at nychealthandhospitals.org.
Examples of the resources offered include referrals to the COVID Centers of Excellence, as well as post-COVID clinics across the city. Two of the COVID Centers of Excellence have opened in Tremont in the Bronx and Roosevelt in Queens. A Bushwick site in Brooklyn is coming in July.
Resources also include diagnostic testing, primary care referrals, virtual support groups, support for accessing paid sick leave and educational resources so people can find ways to get through their day-to-day.
"A lot of New Yorkers are still feeling the effects of COVID months and months later, and we've got to help them. We've got to make sure that folks who are still experiencing negative symptoms, having really tough after-effects of COVID, that we're there for them," de Blasio said.
The mayor said there are disparities in the people who are experiencing the long-term effects.
"The folks who are feeling these after-effects are particularly feeling it in communities that have been suffering the most—in immigrant communities, in communities of color, in lower income communities. In the places where COVID hit hardest, people are feeling these effects longest," de Blasio said.
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