It's uncertain how many Nebraskans have post-COVID, and doctors are still searching for answers

It's been a little more than five years since the World Health Organization identified COVID-19 as a pandemic. Yet, there are still many unknowns about long-COVID, or post-COVID, the illness that causes long-lasting effects that persist more than 30 days after a COVID-19 infection. That’s according to doctors with the Nebraska Medicine Post-COVID clinic.

And with potential cuts from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, clinic director and associate professor of internal medicine Dr. Andrew Vasey said it’s uncertain how research for the illness will be affected.

"From a research standpoint, we're not sure how that's going to completely play out," Vasey said. "The one big study that we're involved here, the Recover study, is finishing up here in the next six months. So again, the question is: 'What is the change in the funding? How's that going to affect me?' We don't really know that yet.”

At this point, Vasey is unsure exactly how much funding post-COVID research could potentially lose.

He added that the varied symptoms of post-COVID also make it difficult for patients to understand what is affecting them. The illness can cause anything from dysfunction of the nervous system to extensive fatigue and what's known as "brain fog."

Sometimes it helps patients to go to a post-COVID rehabilitation clinic to help with nerve dysfunction, but sometimes it doesn't. That's where some of the doctors' questions still lie: Why do some people get post-COVID while others don’t? Why does it affect different people in different ways?

Even four years after it opened, doctors at Nebraska Medicine’s Post-COVID clinic still estimate their patient numbers do not reflect the true number of Nebraskans affected by long-COVID.

"We don't really know how big of an issue it is in Nebraska, just because, yes, we see a small amount of people that come through our clinic, or some of the other places that are doing long-COVID-related things," Vasey said. "We just see probably the tip of the iceberg."

The clinic sees approximately 20-25 post-COVID patients a month. The majority are from Nebraska, but patients also travel in from Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas and Missouri.

Vasey said the best way to mitigate post-COVID symptoms is to reduce the risk of getting the disease. That can be done by getting vaccinated, following propper hand hygiene and using other mindful health practices. Overall, he added, the best thing for people to do if they suspect they are suffering from post-COVID is to talk to their doctor about it.