Two years after COVID came to this country and shut it — and the world — down, Americans are eager to move on from this historic and devastating pandemic. The United States alone has lost close to one million people and nearly 80-million Americans have been infected with the virus. While we’re all understandably sick of COVID-19, some of us are still just sick. Experts say long COVID is an alarming “parallel pandemic” and one that is not getting the attention or urgency it needs. By some estimates, as many as half of people infected with COVID-19 will face lingering symptoms. And yet, long COVID is still so unknown. On this episode of Next Question with Katie Couric — part 1 of a two-part series — Katie attempts to understand long COVID — what it is, what it can do to the body, who is affected, and how it is upending lives.

More about the groups and resources mentioned in this episode

• Survivor Corps
• Body Politic
• Mount Sinai Post COVID Care Center

More about some of the guests mentioned in this episode

• Yale Prof. Dr. Akiko Iwasaki [Twitter]
• Yale Prof. Dr. Harlan Krumholz [Twitter]
• Chimére L. Smith
• Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason [Aphro Chic]
• Diana Berrent, Survivor Corps

More information on long COVID

• The CARE for Long COVID Act
• The COVID-19 Long Haulers Act
• Yale researchers unlock secrets through study of long-term effects of COVID [Yale Daily News]
• Is long COVID worsening the labor shortage [The Brookings Institute]
• Science and tech spotlight: Long COVID [The Government Accountability Office]

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