Long haul carriers mark two years of COVID-19 pandemic

San Diego (KGTV)-For millions of Americans, the second year of the coronavirus pandemic is not a celebration. It reminds us how long they have fought to regain a normal sense in their lives.

“It was frustrating,” says Jenika Harris, a resident of San Marcos. She has been fighting a long COVID since April 2020. “I couldn’t be myself. I couldn’t take care of the kids. I couldn’t do it before.”

The CDC estimates that 10-30% of people infected with COVID will develop long-term COVID in some way and the symptoms will last for weeks, months, or even years after the infection has subsided.

The fact that nearly 80 million Americans have been infected in the last two years means that 8 to 24 million people in the United States have long COVIDs.

“I used to tell patients that long COVIDs can last for months,” says Dr. Lucy Horton. “But now I say it can last months to years.”

Dr. Houghton runs a long COVID clinic at UC San Diego Health. They were one of the first in the country dedicated to helping people recover from long-term COVID symptoms.

“I’ve learned a lot in the last 18 months,” says Dr. Houghton. “But compared to what we know about acute COVID, we are still really far behind.”

Harris’s case is the epitome of a mystery in which a long COVID was brought into a pandemic, where doctors and patients are vying for answers.

At the time of ABC10News First talked to her in December 2020She had been dealing with her symptoms for almost a year already.

“I am here [with] This lot of doctors I have to go see and try to understand why my heart rate is so high. I can’t move from the sofa and I can’t breathe after 2, 3, or 4 months. [getting COVID-19]”She told ABC10 News.

Now, more than a year later, she says she’s “95%” back to normal.

“About a year and a half after COVID was when I really started watching that turn, and it was me again,” she says.

At that time, Jenika met countless doctors, passed more than a dozen prescriptions, gave physiotherapy, and enrolled in eight scientific studies to find the right combination of medicines and treatments to regain her life. Did.

She still has a small bag of inhalers, blood pressure monitors, and oxygen meters everywhere.

“These things keep me alive,” she says. “This breathes into my lungs and helps me become a parent of my children.”

Harris has discovered “New Normal,” but millions of other people are still struggling to get it right.

Andrew Metze, who lives in Encinitas, cycled up and down the Pacific Coast Highway. However, he became infected with COVID-19 in December 2019. At that time, he thought it was just a bad flu. Since then, he has been in and out of hospitals and long-term care facilities.

More than two years later, he is still in the respiratory tract.

“I can’t walk,” he told ABC10 News. “I can hardly roll around the bed. I can hardly feed myself.”

In addition to fighting the effects of the long COVID, Maetze says he is also fighting the medical system. Initially, many of his doctors were unaware of the long COVID.

“We had to educate doctors and nurses along the way,” says Maetze.

He found support from online groups like Survivor Corps. Listening to others facing similar struggles helped Maetze know that he was not alone.

“The medical system doesn’t provide psychological counseling that should really go away,” he says.

New studies are published almost every month with possible methods for treating long-term COVID symptoms. But Dr. Houghton says it’s difficult because the symptoms of every patient are unique.

“Sure, I wish I had a kind of magic bullet in my long COVID, but so far I have nothing and I haven’t noticed anything on the horizon,” says Dr. Horton.

Meanwhile, patients like Jenika, Andrew, and millions of others say they keep fighting. They hope that by sharing their stories, people around the world will have a better understanding of what COVID patients are dealing with.

“For some, it’s gone,” says Maetze. “But not all of us. It just doesn’t go away.”

“Just sympathize,” says Harris. “We are all doing our best.”